On December 17, 1853, almost 175 years after the Tompiros and Franciscans left, a U.S. Army expedition came upon Abó. Its leader, Major James H. Carleton, wrote that everything connected with the ruins was enveloped in mystery and invited very interesting speculation, and that until that mystery was penetrated, Abó belonged to the region of romance and fancy, with poet and painter left to restore in imagination the original beauty of the venerable temple.