LETTER TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

159

dollars, and empowering the President to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers for the army. The appropriations were made with great promptness and unanimity, but that part of the preamble which declared the war to exist by the act of Mexico, met with great opposition.

The proclamation of the President was immediately issued, and, with an ardour unprecedented in military annals, volunteers rushed to the call of their country. The influx of troops, however, was so great and so rapid, that General Taylor was completely embarrassed by their arrival-for they were unaccompanied by proper supplies and adequate means of transportation. This irregularity was, in part, owing to the indiscreet zeal of General Gaines; who, in his anxiety to reinforce the Army of Occupation, had exceeded his instructions.

Owing to the perplexing circumstances in which he was placed, General Taylor was unable to follow up the advantages gained over the enemy in the late battles. This will appear more particularly by an extract from a letter to the War Department, dated June 3d:

"I am necessarily detained at this point for want of suitable transportation to carry on offensive operations. There is not a steamboat at my command proper for the navigation of the Rio Grande; and without water transportation, I consider it useless to attempt any extensive movement. Measures have been taken to procure boats of suitable draught and description, and one or two may now be expected. In the mean time, I propose to push a battalion of infantry as far as Reynosa, and occupy that town. For any operations in the direction of Monterey, it will be necessary to establish a large depot at Camargo, which I shall lose no time in doing as soon as proper transports arrive, unless I receive counter-instructions from the Department.

"I trust the Department will see that I could not possibly have anticipated the arrival of such heavy reinforcements from

Louisiana as are now here, and on their way hither. Without large means of transportation, this force will embarrass, rather than facilitate our operations. I cannot doubt that the Department has already given instructions, based upon the change in our position since my first call for volunteers."

Although General Taylor had asked but for eight regiments of men, his army was enlarged far beyond the requisition he had made, by successive arrivals of troops, while he was unable to make any forward movement for want of all the materials necessary for an invading army. With the straight-forward policy which has always characterized his conduct, he addressed a letter to the adjutant-general of the army on the 10th of June, in which he set forth the situation in which he was placed, in plain and explicit terms.

"I beg leave earnestly to invite the attention of the Department to the following points :

"First. The great influx of volunteers at Point Isabel. Five regiments certainly from Louisiana, numbering, say 3600 men; two regiments or battalions from Louisville and St. Louis, numbering, say 1200 more; several companies from Alabama, and I know not how many from Texas; the latter now beginning to arrive. The volunteer troops, now under my orders, amount to nearly 6000 men. How far they may be increased without previous notification to me, it is impossible to tell.

"Secondly. The entire want of the proper kind of transportation to push my operations up the river. The boats on which I depended for this service were found to be nearly destroyed by worms, and entirely unfit for the navigation of the river. At my instance, Major Thomas, on the 18th of May, required from Lieutenant-Colonel Hunt a boat of the proper description, and followed it up in a few days by a requisition for another. At the last dates from New Orleans no boat had been procured. Captain Sanders, of the engineers, was despatched by me to New Orleans, to assist

LETTER TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

161

in procuring suitable boats, but I have yet received no report from him.

"As I have previously reported, my operations are completely paralyzed by the want of suitable steamboats to navigate the Rio Grande. Since the 18th of May, the army has lain in camp near this place, continually receiving heavy reinforcements of men, but no facility for water transport, without which, additional numbers are but an embarrassment.

"I desire to place myself right in this matter, and to let the Department see that the inactivity of the army results from no neglect of mine. I must express my astonishment that such large reinforcements have been sent forward to join the army, without being accompanied by the means of transportation, both by land and water, to render them efficient. As matters now stand, whatever may be the expectations of the Department, I cannot move from this place; and unless Captain Sanders shall succeed in procuring boats of the proper kind, I can give no assurance in regard to future operations."

In a letter to the same, dated a week later, General Taylor, with the frankness of a soldier, unwilling to have his character misconceived, complained of the delay of the Department to provide him with the means of offensive operations, while the country was expecting him to prosecute the campaign. He uses the following plain language :—

"No steamboats have been sent out from New Orleans for the navigation of the Rio Grande, and in the absence of all information upon that point, or respecting the views of the government, I am altogether in the dark as to our future operations. I must think that orders have been given, by superior authority, to suspend the forwarding of means of transportation from New Orleans. I cannot otherwise account for the extraordinary delay shown by the Quartermaster's Department in that city. Even the mails,

containing probably important despatches from the government,

are not expedited.

"Volunteer regiments have arrived from Louisville and St. Louis, making, with those from Louisiana, eight strong and organized battalions-mustering over 5000 men.

"In addition, we have seven companies of Alabama volunteers, and twelve or fifteen companies from Texas. Others from Texas are continually arriving. A portion of these volunteers has been lying in camp at this place for nearly a month, completely paralyzed by the want of transportation. Exposed as they are in this climate to diseases of the camp, and without any prospect, so far as I can see, of being usefully employed, I must recommend that they be allowed to return to their homes."

Great fears had been entertained throughout the country for the safety of General Taylor and his little army, when threatened by the legions of Arista; and the brilliant victories of the 8th and 9th of May came unexpectedly, and filled the whole country with enthusiastic admiration. In almost every city, meetings were called to express the general joy, and legislative and municipal bodies vied with each other in awarding honour to the triumphant general and his troops.

The President of the United States immediately forwarded General Taylor a commission, as Major-General by brevet; and, with great cordiality, expressed the profound sense which he entertained of the meritorious services of the gallant general, and all the officers and men under his command. On the 18th of June, Congress passed an act, promoting him to the rank of a full Major-General in the army of the United States; and shortly after, the Secretary of War forwarded his commission, with remarks of a complimentary character.

About this time, general officers were appointed to command the volunteer troops. They were, William O. Butler of Kentucky, and Robert Patterson of Pennsylvania, major-generals;