General Whitelocke did not reach the _Plata_ until three months after the capture of _Monte Video_. He was promptly joined by General Crawford, who had been overtaken on the Atlantic by the despatch-boat sent after him. With the united force at his disposal the reconquest of _Buenos Ayres_ and its territory seemed to the commander-in-chief, as to everybody else, a very simple affair, as indeed it was. It was impossible to conceive that where a force of sixteen hundred men had in the first instance succeeded, one of ten thousand of the same army should fail. The reason, however, is not far to seek. It lay in the difference between Beresford and Whitelocke. The English force was divided into four brigades. The first, composed of a battalion of rifles and one of infantry of the line, was commanded by General Crawford; the second, composed of three battalions, was led by Sir Samuel Auchmuty; the third, of two battalions and a regiment of dismounted dragoons, was under General Lumley; the fourth, likewise of two battalions and a regiment of dismounted dragoons, was under Colonel Mahon. The mounted batteries were kept in reserve, under the immediate orders of the commander-in-chief. The entire effective force amounted to nearly ten thousand men, some two thousand having been left for the defence of Monte Video, together with a small body of militia composed of all the English residents. The expedition set out amidst the cheers of the fleet, and on Sunday, the 28th of June, the troops disembarked at the small port of _Enseñada_, forty-eight miles south of _Buenos Ayres_. Why a spot so distant from the city should have been selected it is not easy to imagine; but this was in accordance with all the subsequent proceedings of the general. Their landing was unopposed by the Spaniards, who, of course, anticipated that it would be effected nearer the town, probably at _Quilmes_, where Beresford had set foot. Without loss of time the advanced guard, under General Levison Gower, the second in command, was _en route_, and it was followed by the main body of the army, which marched without opposition to _Quilmes_. So far, notwithstanding the low marshy ground and the immense bogs and lakes which intervene between _Enseñada_ and _Buenos Ayres_, all went well, and it seemed scarcely possible to anticipate any but a favourable result of the enterprise. As no communication could be kept between the naval and land forces, the army had to encumber itself with the immense load of provisions necessary for the subsistence of ten thousand men during one week. For hours together the men were up to their middle in water, their artillery being often swamped in the marshes. Their provisions were scanty and wet; nor was there any shelter from the intense cold, even the supply of wine and spirits running short. The troops marched through a desert, the inhabitants having vanished, together with their horses and cattle.