On July 3rd, 1863 Overton went to Ft. Leavenworth and hired out to Uncle Sam as a Government “Bull Whacker” and drove six yoke of oxen to Ft. Union, New Mexico with a train of twenty-seven wagons which had 7500 pounds on each wagon. His load consisted of 75, 100-pound sacks of flour.
They were gone for three months and never drove over one bridge in the entire trip. They crossed the Kaw river at Topeka and put on twelve yoke of oxen on each wagon. On account of the quicksand, the wagons were not allowed to stop as they would sink down and it took better than a half day to cross the river.
They passed the capital of Kansas at Topeka which had been recently moved from LeCompton. It was a two-story fram building with a big wooden rooster on top.
They started from there in a south westerly direction and when they reached the ten mile house they saw the last white woman until they returned there. They continued southwest until they reached the Arkansas river.