The day Walker established his headquarters at Rivas, Schlessinger arrived to report in person the incidents of his march and retreat. He urged the inexperience of the men, and their want of disciplined courage as the cause of his misfortune; and he forthwith proposed to organize a new force for the occupation of Guanacaste. But the officers of the expedition who began to arrive all agreed as to the incapacity and cowardice shown by their late commander. Some, indeed, hinted that he had sold his command; but such conduct was not suited to his timid nature. Had he sold his men, he would never have returned to Nicaragua. The charges, however, made against him required a court of inquiry; and the report of the court of inquiry led to his arrest and trial before a court martial on the charges of neglect of duty, of ignorance of his duties of commanding officer, and of cowardice in the presence of the enemy. To these was afterward added the charge of desertion. The movement of the army from Granada to Rivas by Virgin Bay had developed the necessity for more vigor in its means of transportation. Therefore C. J. Macdonald was appointed quartermaster-general with the rank of colonel; but this office he held only a few days for causes which will soon appear. Up to the 30th, the re-organization of the men who had returned from Costa Rica was going on, and efforts were being made to increase in several respects the efficiency of the army. But a general depression seemed to pervade officers as well as men. Applications were constantly made for furloughs to return to the United States; and the spirit of the troops was yet more depressed by the Americans outside of the army thronging to headquarters in order to get passports to leave the country. Two or three ladies—Mrs. Thompson, the wife of the adjutant-general, and Mrs. Kewen, the wife of Mr. E. J. C. Kewen, a civil officer of the State—aided to keep up the courage of the men by the cheerfulness with which they met all forms of fatigue and danger. But the sphere of such influences was necessarily narrow, and it was requisite to infuse some enthusiasm into the army or let it dissolve from the effects of one shameful panic.