Page:Speech of Mr. Chas. Hudson, of Mass., on the Three Million Appropriation Bill - delivered in the House of Representatives of the U.S., Feb. 13, 1847 (IA speechofmrchashu00hudsrich).pdf/16

 and determined. You may march into their country; you may capture their towns; you may route their armies, and lay waste their villages; but you cannot conquer them. If your force is large, they will cut off your supplies and starve you into submission; if your force is small, they will cut you off in detail.

What prospect, then, have we for success in this foreign war of conquest in which we are now engaged? What has been our success thus far? We have conquered in every battle; we have gained three victories; we have marched far into the country, and, to all human appearances, we are far ther from a peace than we were when the first gun was fired. We have called out some twenty-five thousand volunteers, and have employed our regular army, and (to say nothing of our naval disasters,) what have we gained? We have had victories without advantages. We have taught the Mexicans that they cannot compete with us in the open field, and they have taught us that we are not a match for them in guerilla warfare. We have been teaching them the art of war; we have made them acquainted with our tactics; we have shown them where their weakness and where their strength lies, and they appear to be profiting by the lesson. And, on our part, we have learned a lesson which should prove a salutary one. We have learned that pestilence and the sword will decimate our forces every three months, and thus thin our ranks some thirty-five per cent, in a year, Our late associate, Col. Baker, declared, in his speedy on this floor, that of his regiment of 820, about 100 had left their bones in the valley of the Rio Grande, and that about 200 more, worn down by hardships and emaciated by disease, had been dismissed to perish by the way, or to find their graves with their friends at home; that all this mortality had taken place in about six months, and that his regiment had never seen the foe. He also informed us, that what was true of his regiment was generally true of other regiments of the volunteers.

We have a similar lesson from the answer of the Adjutant General to a resolution of the House, which was submitted a few days since. We are informed by that document, that, in a period of from sixty to ninety days after the volunteers had joined the army in the field, their numbers were reduced by desertion 331; by deaths in battle 76; by disease 637; and by discharges, in consequence of sickness and disability, between two and three thousand; making, in all, 4,100 men; being at the rate of 20 per cent, in two and a half months, or about 80 per cent, per annum. This estimate does not include the sick which remain with the army. No doubt the period of the year covered by this return, is more sickly than the year would average. But, from the best information I am able to obtain, I think we may safely calculate that our army in Mexico will be reduced 40 per cent, per annum; one half by deaths from the sword and disease, and the other half from sickness and debility of such a character as would justify a discharge. Many of those discharged would perish before they could reach their homes, and others might reach their friends mere walking skeletons, showing the glory of a campaign of conquest.

Military men, and those best acquainted with the country and its defences, are of the opinion, that to prosecute the war with vigor, would require a force of sixty or seventy thousand on the land, to say nothing of our naval force in the Gulf and on the Pacific. This force, in a single year, would be reduced nearly one half by death and disease; and, after leaving a sufficient garrison at Matamoras, Camargo, Monterey, Saltillo, Victoria, Tampico; San Louis Potosi; Vera Cruz, and other places in your rear, you would