ty-five
miles brought us to Franklin or Fort Bliss, directly opposite El Paso;
thence two marches, aggregating fifty miles, found us in our old
quarters at La Mesilla, where the company was ordered to remain until
the adjournment of a general court-martial which was then in session at
that post. A week later, and Company K commenced its march for Fort
Craig. A short march brought us again to Dona Ana. Three miles from that
village brought us to the commencement of the much dreaded _Jornada del
Muerto_ (Journey of Death). The _Jornada_ is a large desert, well
supplied with fine gramma grass in some portions, but absolutely
destitute of water or shade for seventy-five miles. Why it ever received
its title, I never distinctly learned, but suppose it was on account of
the very numerous massacres committed on it by the Apache Indians. On
the east, in the far distance, are the Sierras Blancos, and is fringed
on the west by the Sierra Caballo and Sierra de Frey Cristobal. From
these heights, on either side, the Indians are enabled to distinctly
perceive any party of travellers coming over the wide and unsheltered
expanse of the _Jornada del Muerto_. When any such parties are seen,
they come sweeping down upon the unsuspecting immigrant in more than
usual numbers, and if successful, as they generally are, in their
attack, invariably destroy all of the party, for there is no possible
chance of escape; and the Apaches never take any prisoners but women and
young children, and they become captives for life.

The first camp was a dry one, and as the command was accompanied by a
tank of water, drawn by six mules, thus being prepared by a plentiful
supply of water, I concluded to cross this desert at my leisure. The
next forenoon we passed by the celebrated "Point of Rocks," the company
being deployed as skirmishers, with the hope of finding Indians hiding
between the huge boulders of which it was composed, but without results.
Late in the afternoon we arrived at the Aleman, so called from the fact
that a whole German immigrant family had been massacred at this point
some years before by the Indians. The next night another dry camp,
having passed during the day the _Laguna del Muerto_, where water is
found in some seasons. While some three miles on our left was the _Ojo
del Muerto_, a point where Fort McRae was established in 1863 by Captain
Henry A. Greene, commanding Company G, First California Infantry, now a
resident of this city