"A more merry dancing rout I have never seen, though the company went without refreshments and their ball room was of the most primitive kind. [Under a bowery where the ground had been trodden firm and hard by frequent use.] To the canto of debonair violins, the cheer of horns, the jingle of sleigh bells, and the jovial snoring of the tambourine, they did dance! None of your minuets or other mortuary processions of gentles in etiquette, tight shoes, and pinching gloves, but the spirited and scientific displays of our venerated and merry grandparents, who were not above following the fiddle to the Foxchase Inn, or Gardens of Gray's Ferry. French fours, Copenhagen jigs, Virginia reels, and the like forgotten figures executed with the spirit of people too happy to be slow, or bashful, or constrained. Light hearts, lithe figures, and light feet, had it their own way from an early hour till after the sun had dipped behind the sharp sky line of the Omaha hills."[20:w] On the 20th of July the Battalion took up its march for Fort Leavenworth, where it arrived on the 1st of August, and began preparations for the great western march. FOOTNOTES: [5:a] From a letter of Brigham Young to President James K. Polk, date of August 9, 1846. History of Brigham Young, MS. Bk. 2 p. 137. [5:b] Times and Seasons, Vol. V, p. 1096. [6:c] Little's Report, Hist. of Brigham Young, MS. Bk. 2, pp. 11-12. [6:d] Little's Report to Brigham Young. [8:e] Mr. Little notes this excitement in his Report, to Brigham Young, by saying in recording his movements of the 23rd of May: "There was considerable excitement in consequence of the news that Gen. Taylor had fought two battles with the Mexicans" (Little's Report, Hist. of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 16). And Lossing says that when "news of the two brilliant victories reached the states a thrill of joy went throughout the land, and bonfires, illuminations, orations, the thunder of cannons, were seen and heard in all the great cities". (Hist. U. S., p. 483). [8:f] Lossing's History U. S., 1872 Edition, p. 483. [9:g] Little's Report, p. 16. [10:h] Little's Report, p. 20-22. [10:i] Ibid, p. 23. [11:j] Little's Report, p. 23. [12:k] Executive Document No. 60, Letter of Secretary of War to Gen. Kearny, marked "Confidential", 1846. [15:l] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5. [15:m] Ibid, pp. 3, 4. [16:n] History of the United States, Marcus Wilson, appendix p. 682; same Lossing, p. 482; Stephens, p. 488. [16:o] Gregg's History of Hancock Co. Ill., p. 118. [16:p] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5. [17:q] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 4, 5. [17:r] Taylor's Journal, entry of July 11th, 1846. [18:s] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, pp. 30-34. [19:t] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 44. [19:u] History of Brigham Young, Ms. Bk. 2, p. 48. [19:v] Kane's Lecture "The Mormons", p. 80. [20:w] Kane's Lecture "The Mormons", pp. 80, 81. III.