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started, and rode to Mr Bell's at Coosawatie, for breakfast and thence to Head Quarters at Spring Place, where we arrived in the afternoon & were shown the way into a small cabin for safe keeping. Here we were glad and sorry, too, to find two other prisoners, Misters? Walter S Adain and Thomas Taylor, who had been arrested on Wednesday the 12th, for the enormous crime of collecting & putting on record the spoliative claims of the Cherokees, - and conducted to theis place. Our horses were taken care of by the Guard & fared tolerably well during our stay. As for ourselves, we fared as well as candidates for the penitentiary could expect. We had plenty of old bacon & of strong coffee, tolerably well prepared. When the Col. was absent, we ate at the first table, but when he was present, we brought up the rear. We had blankets to sleep on and cover with, but not being accustomed to lying on the floor, we had to turn over rather often to sleep very soundly. We were not allowed to communicate with our friends by letter, nor to converse with any person privately. On Monday the 17th several of our friends called to see us, but could not obtain entrance; however, after some considerable hesitation, we were permitted to see & speak to them through the fence. On Tuesday, 18th, Col. Briker?, with a small detachment, returned from a tour of several days, but no more prisoners, either of hope or despair, were added to our number. He dismounted, apparently in a great hurry, and commanded the whole company to be ready to march in five minutes. This created considerable excitement among the Guard & prisoners. We were at a loss to imagine what in the world was the matter. My conjecture for the moment was, that the Col. had been defeated in some of his martial movements, or that we were to be hurried off, to evade the civil authority. But the storm was soon over, when it was ascertained that the Colonel's intention was to test the military prowess of his braves. We had not yet been informed, officially, of the nature of our heinous offence, nor of the disposition that