Page:Notes of the Mexican war 1846-47-48.djvu/499

Rh historical facts, leaving conclusions to men of sense and candor.

In the hurry of preparation for Mexico (only four days were allowed me at Washington, when twenty might have been most advantageously employed in the great bureaux—those of the chief engineers, chief of ordnance, chief quartermasters and chief commissary of subsistence), I handed to you a written request that one of three of our accomplished captains therein mentioned might be appointed assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of major, for duty with me in the field; and there was a vacancy at the time for one. My request has never been attended to, and thus I have had no officer of the adjutant-general department with me in the campaign. Can another instance be cited of denying to a general-in-chief in the field, at the head of a large army, or even a small one, the selection of his chief of staff—that is, the chief in the department of orders and correspondence.

Early in the following January I asked that a general court martial might be appointed, on the part of the President, for the trial of two officers (named by me) for conduct each had committed that endangered, in a high degree, the success of the impending campaign; and I specially referred to the anomalous and fatal act of Congress (May 29, 1830) which prohibited me, as the accuser or prosecutor, from ordering the court for the trial of the cases. My application has never been noticed. This neglect alone ought early to have admonished me that I had no hope of support at Washington in any attempt I might make (against certain officers) to maintain necessary discipline in the army I was about to lead into the field.

I left Washington highly flattered with the confidence and kindness the President had just shown me, in many long personal interviews on military matters. For more than two months my expression of gratitude were daily and fervent, nor were they much less emphatic toward the head of the War Department. Proceeding with zeal and confidence in my most hazardous duties, I learned, January 27, 1847, at the