While Sherman was travelling about in the gold country his soldiers deserted him and all his followers, except the negro servant, and when he got back to Monterey he found the same state of demoralization there. Every one was crazy over gold. But in September, 1848, official news of the treaty of peace with Mexico reached them, and most of the soldiers were regularly mustered out. In September and October, Sherman, Mason and others made a second visit to the mines, and during that fall Sherman, Ord and Warner camped on the bank of the American River, near Sutter's Fort. Sherman was cook, Ord washed the dishes and Warner looked after the horses. They soon dismissed Ord from his position, however, because he would only wipe the tin plates with a tuft of grass, while Warner wanted them thoroughly washed with hot water. So Warner took to washing the dishes and Ord cared for the horses. General Persifer F. Smith came out to California in February, 1849 to take supreme command, arriving at Monterey on the first steamship that reached that coast. Sherman became his Adjutant-General, and went up to San Francisco with him. General Smith and his family had much trouble with their servants, who all deserted them for the gold mines excepting one little negro, named Isaac, who was cook, chambermaid and general man and maid of all work. Accordingly, domestic affairs were chaotic. Breakfast was announced at any time between ten and twelve, and dinner according to circumstances. "Many a time," says Sherman, "have I seen General Smith, with a can of preserved meat in his hands, going toward the house, take off his hat on meeting a negro, and on being asked the reason of his politeness, he would answer that they were the only real gentlemen in California." Indeed the fidelity of Isaac and of Colonel Mason's negro boy, at a time when white men laughed at promises as things made only to be broken, gave Sherman a kindly feeling of respect for negroes which he never lost. Having little official business on hand, Sherman and some of his comrades made a contract with Colonel J. B. Stevenson to survey his projected city of "New York of the Pacific" at the mouth of San Joaquin River and to mark out a channel through Suisun Bay. For this they were well paid, but the city never was built. After this Sherman surveyed a large ranch in Sacramento Valley and had some lively experiences with grizzly bears. All his earnings he invested in real estate at Sacramento, on which he made good profit. He was an interested witness of the great rush of prospectors to the coast in 1849, of the organization of government under a State Constitution, the election of Fremont and Gwin as Senators, and all the picturesque scenes that the rising community in those days presented. [Illustration: SHERMAN ENTERING U. S. SENATE.]