Men were put to work getting out timber to build huts, and in a very short time all were comfortably housed--privates as well as officers.

The outlay by the government in accomplishing this was nothing, or nearly nothing.

The winter was spent more agreeably than the summer had been.

There were occasional parties given by the planters along the "coast"-- as the bottom lands on the Red River were called.

The climate was delightful.
Near the close of the short session of Congress of 1844-5, the bill for the annexation of Texas to the United States was passed.