The March Across the Country

I counted on hearing from Ben Cushing and Isaac Barker entertaining stories that night, concerning the march across the country, but much to my disappointment they had nothing of interest to tell.

Forced to accommodate their pace to the slowly moving oxen, they trudged along hour after hour, starting well before daylight and continuing as long as it was possible to see at night, in order to cover the greatest possible distance, with nothing whatsoever to break the monotony of the march.

We were up long before the sun next morning, for now it was necessary to take the live stock on board our flatboat. We were forced to embark Uncle Daniel's oxen, he having passed Buffalo some time before Isaac and Ben arrived there, and when we had all the beasts on board we were packed like herring in a box, each in his own special place and with very little opportunity to move about.

However, we were nearly at our journey's end; the current of the river ran swiftly as compared with the stream at Pittsburgh, and there was no longer reason to fear that the Indians might do any harm, even if there had been cause before.

In exactly four days from the time of leaving Pittsburgh, we arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum. It was well we had come to an end of our journey so soon, for ice was already beginning to form in the river, and before daylight the Muskingum was frozen quite solidly.

Within an hour after we had moored the flatboat to the bank, Master Devoll came on board.

Although I have not said that this march of ours was attended with danger, and in fact it was not, yet there were many chances that one or another of us, if not all, might have fallen by the wayside, owing either to the roughness of the way, or the fatigue caused by such incessant labor with insufficient lodging, to say nothing of the poor food owing to the fact that we had not the necessary vessels in which to prepare it.