ds. This work
continued four years, from 1822 to 1826, and subsequent duties in the
cabinet of the commission employed nearly two years more.

The field service of this engagement was anything but light work, much of
it being performed in the depth of winter with a temperature fifty degrees
below zero. The principal food of the party was tallow and some other
substance, which was warmed over a fire on stopping at night. The snow was
then removed to a sufficient depth for a bed, and the party wrapped one
another up in their buffalo robes, until the last man's turn came, when he
had to wrap himself up the best he could. In the morning, after warming
their food and eating, the remainder was allowed to harden in the pan,
after which it was carried on the backs of men to the next stopping place.
The work was all done upon snow-shoes, and occasionally a man became so
blinded by the glare of the sun upon the snow that he had to be led by a
rope.

Upon the 1st of June, 1821, Whistler was made second lieutenant in the
First Artillery, in the reorganized army; on the 16th of August, 1821, he
was transferred to the Second Artillery, and on the 16th of August, 1829,
he was made first lieutenant. Although belonging to the artillery, he was
assigned to topographical duty almost continually until December 31, 1833,
when he resigned his position in the army. A large part of his time during
this period was spent in making surveys, plans, and estimates for public
works, not merely those needed by the national government, but others which
were undertaken by chartered companies in different parts of the United
States. There were at that time very few educated engineers in the country,
besides the graduates of the Military Academy; and the army engineers were
thus frequently applied for, and for several years government granted their
services.

Prominent among the early works of internal improvement was the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad, and the managers of this undertaking had been successful in
obtaining the services of several officers who were then eminent, or who
afterward became so. The names of Dr. Howard, who, though not a military
man, was attached to the Corps of Engineers, of Lieut.-Col. Long, and of
Capt. William Gibbs McNeill appear in the proceedings of the company as
"Chiefs of Brigade," and those of Fessenden, Gwynne, and Trimble among the
assistants.

In October, 1828, this company made a special request for the services of