The command recruited and rested for thirty days before proceeding to the Department of the Platte, whither it had been ordered.
At my request, General Carr kindly granted me a month's leave of absence to visit my family in St.Louis.He instructed Captain Hays, our quartermaster, to let me ride my mule and horse to Sheridan, 140 miles distant.

At Sheridan I was to take the train for St.Louis.
I was instructed to leave the animals in the quartermaster's corral at Fort Wallace until I should come back.

Instead of doing this, I put them both in charge of my old friend Perry, the hotel-keeper at Sheridan.
After twenty days, pleasantly spent with my family at St.Louis, I returned to Sheridan.

There I learned that my horse and mule had been seized by the Government.
The quartermaster's agent at Sheridan had reported to General Bankhead, commanding at Fort Wallace, and to Captain Laufer, the quartermaster, that I had left the country and had sold the animals to Perry.

Laufer took possession of the animals, and threatened to have Perry arrested for buying Government property.