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518 Doniphan was anxious to be ordered to Wool, and his men, reacting from the atrocious conditions prevailing at Santa Fe — of which quite enough will be heard in chapter xxxi — were eager to be off.

2. Arriving at Santa Fe without provisions, the soldiers soon ate up what supplies could be obtained there, and as the people were declared to be American citizens, nothing could be taken without the consent of the owners. Besides, Kearny had no adequate funds. By a surprising blunder the contracts for the supplies that followed him called for delivery, not at Santa Fe, but at Bent's Fort. Doniphan's setting out for the south was delayed by a lack of provisions. The description of his men is based upon a large number of documents (particularly the diaries of Gibson and Hastings and Ruxton's Adventures) which will be cited when the occupation of New Mexico comes to be considered (chap. xxxi).

3. Ruxton speaks of tents, but perhaps he was thinking of Clark's men. Doniphan stated that they marched across the Jornada without tents (St. Louis Republican, July 3, 1847).

4. December 19 Heredia reported to Santa Anna that there were 108 infantry and 320 cavalry at El Paso. There is no reason to suspect the honesty of this report, and none of the other troops in the state had time to reach that town before Christmas. Some ex-soldiers, however, are said in Apuntes, 141, to have joined the colors, making some 1200 in all, including militia.

5. It is impossible to state positively how many men Ponce de León had. The American accounts run as high as 1300 (Hughes), but evidently they were not based on reliable information, and very likely the writers assumed that all of Vidal's troops were under Ponce. From the Mexican accounts it would appear that such was not the case. Vidal would naturally keep men back to act as a reserve, hold what he called his "line of defence," and guard his person; and this probability is strengthened by the fact that three of his four guns were not used in the fight. The figures of several Mexican accounts are about 500. The reports of the details of the skirmish are equally irreconcilable. El Brazito (The Little Arm) was the smaller (eastern) of the two channels into which the river was here divided by an island.

6. ''Doniphan's operations to Dec. 25 inclusive; Mex. preparations at the Chihuahua frontier.'' 61Wooster, Sept. 25. 268Portrait of Doniphan. 240Kennerly, narrative. 61Kearny, special orders 11. Sen. 7; 30, 1. Richardson, Journal. Sen. Mise. 26; 30, 1, p. 61. 61Kearny, orders, Sept. 23. 61Doniphan, Oct. 20. 61Price, Feb. 26, 1847. 64Scott, Nov. 24 and Marcy's endorsement, Dec. 9. Cooke, Conquest, 51. 201Gibson, diary. Republicano, Jan. 26; Apr. 10, 1847. Picayune, Mar. 6, 18, 1847. Bustamante, Nuevo Bernal, ii, 105. Anzeiger des Westens, Apr. 11, 14; May 17, 18, 1847. 243Kribben, letters, Oct. 20, etc., 1846. Wash. Union, Mar. 18, 21, 1847. St. Louis Republican, July 3, 1847. Niles, Mar. 6, 1847, p. 7; Apr. 3, p. 71; July 3, p. 279. Sen. 1; 30, 1, pp. 496-7 (Don.). Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 171, 1128. Apuntes, 141-3. Elliott, Notes, 227, 229. Sen. 23; 30, 1, pp. 90-6. Sen. 439; 29,1, p. 2. (Loss) Ho. 24; 31, 1. Ruxton, Adventures (London, 1847), 171-2, 176, 178, 183. Statement re Doniphan from Hon. Champ Clark, Jan. 27, 1906. Benton, View, ii, 686-8. Mo. Hist. Soc. Colls., ii, no. 4. 212Hastings, diary. Cooke, Conquest, 39. Hughes, Doniphan's Exped., 256-67. Connelley, Doniphan's Exped., 589. From 76 the following. Trias, proclam., Nov. 19, 1846. Id., Nov. 23; Dee. 18. Barmúdez, El