It was the 22d of August, 1848, before the fulfilment of this agreement.

My duties kept me on the frontier of Louisiana with the Army of Observation during the pendency of Annexation; and afterwards I was absent through the war with Mexico, provoked by the action of the army, if not by the annexation itself.

During that time there was a constant correspondence between Miss Dent and myself, but we only met once in the period of four years and three months.

In May, 1845, I procured a leave for twenty days, visited St.Louis, and obtained the consent of the parents for the union, which had not been asked for before.
As already stated, it was never my intention to remain in the army long, but to prepare myself for a professorship in some college.

Accordingly, soon after I was settled at Jefferson Barracks, I wrote a letter to Professor Church--Professor of Mathematics at West Point--requesting him to ask my designation as his assistant, when next a detail had to be made.