Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/536

Rh

Mounted Rifles, 500; Kentucky horse, 450; Tennessee horse, 450; Second Kentucky, 400; Second Ohio, 500; First Indiana, 550; Second Indiana, 600; Third Indiana, 650; Second Tennessee, 350; Alabama, 400; Third Illinois, 370; Fourth Illinois, 330. The Mounted Rifles were classed as cavalry, but had no horses. Nov. 10 the sick at Camargo numbered 1400 or 1500, said a letter. Below Camargo there were troops now at Reynosa, Matamoros, Camp Belknap, mouth of the river, Point Isabel and Brazos Island. Nov. 2 Capt. W. S. Henry, a very good regular officer, doubted whether Taylor had more than 10,000 effectives (Camp. Sketches, 239). The returns showed only 13,000, he said.

2. It was stated, Dec. 1, that fully 120 had deserted. (Priests) Henry, Camp. Sketches, 240; Roberts, diary, Nov. 27. The Mexican government went so far as to pay the expense of sending a British subject named Sinnott to the north for the express purpose of seducing Taylor's Irish (Roman Catholic) soldiers (76Sinnott, Oct. 12; 76Guerra to Santa Anna, Dec. 5; 76to Hacienda, Dec. 2; 76S. Anna, Jan. 1, 1847).

3. 61July 21, 1846, Patterson wrote to the war department that he was born in Ireland and entered the army as a first lieutenant in 1813. He was then hardly more than a boy. Apparently he did not see much service. Later he became rather active in the Philadelphia militia.

4. Taylor protested twice, and demanded that his subordinates should be compelled "to keep in their proper places." Due retribution soon followed. He sent an order to Col. Baker, one of Patterson's officers, upon which that general demanded sharply that correspondence with his subordinates should go by the usual channel (Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 381, 384). Nov. 5 Taylor wrote a long and studied letter to Gen. Gaines, defending himself and attacking the administration, and this was published in the N. Y. Herald, Jan. 24, 1847. Evidently it was not a mere bit of friendly correspondence. To many it seemed to be the opening gun of a Presidential campaign, and certainly it was improper, for the writer presented information and opinions about the American military operations, and said that success would be worth little to the United States — a view evidently calculated to discourage the Americans and stimulate the enemy. Taylor was neatly punished for this imprudence by a public revival of paragraph 650 of the army regulations of March 1, 1825, which forbade private letters or reports from officers regarding military operations. Doubtless Polk was to a large extent right in believing that Taylor was now in the hands of political tutors, and he regarded him as "'a vindictive and ignorant political partisan.' See Marcy to Taylor, Jan. 27, 1847, and reply (Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 391, 809); 108Marcy to Bancroft, April 28; 256/d. to Wetmore, Apr. 25; adj. gen., gen. orders 3, 1847; Polk, Diary, Jan. 25-7; Phila. Pub. Ledger, Jan. 26-7; Ho. 37; 30, 1.

5. A pleasanter outcome of the correspondence was the release of seven American and a number of Mexican prisoners.

6. Preliminary incidents. Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 424 (Wool); 341, 344, 355, 367, 369, 391 (Marcy); 472-3 (Jones); 635 (Jesup); 325, 1270 (Scott); 682 (Whiting); 386, 439, 442 (S. Anna); 350-1, 358, 361, 381, 424, 437-40, 444, 526, 809 (Taylor); 384 (Patterson). 69Patterson to Marcy, Oct. 8; to Bliss, Oct. 8,31; Nov. 23. Meade, Letters, i, 145-6, 152. Morning News, New London, Conn., Dec. 10. Henry, Camp. Sketches, 240. 307Roberts, diary, Nov. 27. 69Wool to Bliss, Nov. 2. 69Riley to Bliss, Dec. 14, 1846. Niles, Jan. 9, 1847, p. 290. 65Patterson,