Henry Leighty Part 4

I decided to come back to Illinois as I had seen about all I cared to, so I left Mud Springs on March 10, 1852, went by boat from Sacramento to San Francisco, I left San Francisco March 12,1852, landed at Panama April 1st. I crossed the isthmus by walking fourteen miles, rode on a bungo down the Chagres river and took my first ride on a railroad train. We slept in hammocks at the Halfway House. Had to wait six days at Aspinwal for a boat. Left Navy Bay April 17th. We were in Kingston, Jamaica for two days while the was being coaled. The negroes did this by carrying it across the gang planks in baskets on their heads. They always sang and danced as they came back for another load. We landed in New Orleans on the 15th. We lay there till the night of the 17th, ten o'clock when we left for St. Louis. Arrived in St. Louis April 24th, and at Browning April 29th. James Crail was with me and we rode to Vermont, IL with a teamster who told some to the men, but did not tell me that they had buried my wife  just a few days before. I also learned my infant daughter had also died during my absence. I had only a son left.