'[1852] In the regiment there was a Lieutenant Slaughter who was
very liable to sea-sickness. It almost made him sick to see the wave
of a table-cloth when the servants were spreading it.
'Soon after his graduation, Slaughter was ordered to California and
took passage by a sailing vessel going around Cape Horn. The vessel
was seven months making the voyage, and Slaughter was sick every
moment of the time, never more so than while lying at anchor after
reaching his place of destination.
'On landing in California he found orders which had come by the
Isthmus, notifying him of a mistake in his assignment; he should
have been ordered to the northern lakes. He started back by the
Isthmus route and was sick all the way. But when he arrived at the
East he was again ordered to California, this time definitely, and
at this date was making his third trip. He was as sick as ever, and
had been so for more than a month while lying at anchor in the bay.
'I remember him well, seated with his elbows on the table in front
of him, his chin between his hands, and looking the picture of
despair. At last he broke out, "I wish I had taken my father's
advice; he wanted me to go into the navy; if I had done so, I should
not have had to go to sea so much." Poor Slaughter! it was his last
sea voyage. He was killed by Indians in Oregon.'