Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/169

 ZACHARY TAYLOR 131 able force, about 1,500 men, to Corpus Christi, where he was joined by re-enforcements of regu lars and volunteers. Discussion had arisen as to whether the Nueces or the Rio Grande was the proper boundary of Texas. His political opinions, whatever they might be, were subordinate to the duty of a soldier to execute the orders of his gov ernment, and, without uttering it, he acted on the apothegm of Decatur: &quot;My cpuntry, right or wrong, my country.&quot; Texas claimed protection for her frontier, the president recognized the fact that Texas had been admitted to the Union with the Rio Grande as her boundary, and Gen. Taylor was instructed to advance to that river. His force had been increased to about 4,000, when, on March 8, 1846, he marched from Corpus Christi. He was of course conscious of the inadequacy of his division to resist such an army as Mexico might send against it, but when ordered by superior authority it was not his to remonstrate. Gen. Gaines, command ing the western department, had made requisitions for a sufficient number of volunteers to join Tay lor, but the secretary of war countermanded them, except as to such as had already joined. Gen. Taylor, with a main depot at Point Isabel, ad vanced to the bank of the Rio Grande opposite to Matamoras, and there made provision for de fence of the place called Fort Brown. Soon after his arrival, Ampudia, the Mexican general at Mata-