days out of
that. The distance travelled was twelve hundred and thirty-six miles.
After a rest of two days, I started with the same team, and drove to
Fort Scott, in Kansas Territory, in five days, a distance of one hundred
and twenty miles. I went with Harney's command, and, for the most part
of the time, had no hay, and was forced to subsist our animals on dry
prairie grass, and had a poor supply of even that. Notwithstanding this,
I do not believe that any mule in the team lost as much as ten pounds of
flesh. Each of these mules, let me say, was upward of five years old.

In 1858, I took a train of mules to Camp Floyd, in Utah, forty-eight
miles south of Salt Lake City; During the march there were days and
nights that I could not get a drop of water for the animals. The young
mules, three and four years old, gave out from sheer exhaustion; while
the older ones kept up, and had to draw the wagons along. Now, there are
many purposes to which a young mule may be put with advantage; but they
are altogether unfit for army purposes, and the sooner the Government
stops using them, the better.

When they are purchased for army use, they are almost sure to be put
into a train, and turned over to the tender mercies of some teamster,
who knows nothing whatever about the character of the animal. And here
let me say that thousands of the best mules in the army, during the war,
were ruined and made useless to the Government on account of the
incompetency and ignorance of the wagon-masters and teamsters who had to
deal with them. Persons who own private teams and horses are generally
particular to know the character of the person who takes care of them,
and to ascertain that he knows his business. Is he a good driver? Is he
a good groom? Is he careful in feeding and watering? These are the
questions that are asked; and if he has not these qualities he will not
do. But a teamster in the army has none of these questions put to him.
No; he is intrusted with a valuable team, and expected to take proper
care of it when he has not the first qualification to do so. If he is
asked a question at all, it is merely if he has ever driven a team
before. If he answer in the affirmative, and there are any vacancies, he
is employed at once, though he may not know how to lead a mule by the
head properly. This is not alone the case with teamsters. I have known
wagon-masters who really did not know how to straighten out a six-mule
team, or, indeed,