The force left Millsburg on Friday, 27th of March. Swamps and thickets soon obliged him to leave the gun behind. Through heavy rains, drenched and weary, they made their way, without any other resistance, to a bivouac in an old deserted town. Starting at daylight next morning, they forced their way through flooded streams and ponds, “in mud up to their knees, and water up to the waist.” After a halt at ten o’clock, and three hours’ march subsequently, they learnt that the enemy had become aware of their movements, and was watching them. About six miles from their destination, after floundering through the mud of a deep ravine, followed by a weary pull up a long hill, a sharp turn brought them in front of a rude barricade of felled trees. A fire of musketry from it brought to the ground Captain Snetter, of the riflemen, who was in advance of his men. The men made a dash on the enemy so suddenly that soon nobody was in front of them. The line moved on without stopping, and met only a straggling fire here and there, as they threaded their narrow path through the bushes in single file. A few men were wounded in this disheartening march. At length those in advance came to a halt before the fortress, and the rear closed up. There the line was extended, and the party advanced in two divisions. The place was a kind of square, palisaded inclosure, having outside cleared patches here and there, intermingled with clumps of brush. The assailants were received with a sharp fire from swivels and muskets, which was warmly returned. Buchanan ordered Roberts (the present president) to lead a reserved company round from the left, so as to take in reverse the face attacked. This so confounded Gaytumba’s garrison that they retreated, leaving every thing behind. The hungry colonists became their successors at the simmering cooking-pots. So rapid had the onslaught been, that the second division did not reach in time to take a hand in it. The operation was thus completely successful, with the ultimate loss of only two men. The place was burnt, and a lesson given, which established beyond all future challenge, the power of civilization on that coast. The banks of the St. Paul’s River, with its graceful meanderings, palm-covered islands, and glorious basin spreading round into the eastward expanse of the interior, were secured for the habitations of peace and prosperity.