Sorry if my original post was confusing. The letter was written the day after the soldier returned to camp. He states they only averaged 15 - 20 miles per day. The army consisted of (per the soldier) 7 thousand cav, 8 artillery, 40 wagons with six mules each. The mud was 2ft deep in places. They apparently had a few mishaps while crossing different rivers. Got lost atleast once. They reached MS on Dec. 4th and camped 4 mi from Columbia. Soldier and about 250 others were detailed on the 9th. On Dec. 10th, after crossing the Chickahsaha? River, destroyed the flatboat and were to tear up the Mobile & Ohio Railroad tracks and burn the bridge, but were in a skirmish instead. Their Lieut. was killed, they tried to carry him out but he was too heavy, they came back for him later and buried him somewhere along the way. Dec. 13th had to build a raft from an old building to cross Red Creek. Laid up at a camp from the 16th - 22nd waiting for their turn to take a boat back toward New Orleans. Reached their home camp at Morganzia on Dec. 27th.

The above is a very brief summary of his travels. As you pointed out, the French, Spanish and Indian names of the rivers and locations are very hard to figure out for someone that is not familiar with the area. I share letters with descendants, libraries, etc. and it helps other researchers if I can add notes with correct spellings to the transcripts.

Thank you for the help and I will check the river names you gave me and see if they fit. If you would like to read the entire letter, just email me at colleenh@sybercom.net
Thanks again!
Colleen