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ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY.

165

On the last day of July, Captain Vinton took undisputed possession of Mier, with a company of the 3d artillery, and a small party of Texan rangers, and stacked his arms in the plaza.

After the capture of Matamoros, the steady influx of volunteers from the United States, increased the strength of the army to over nine thousand men. On the 5th of August, General Taylor, having completed all his arrangements for a forward movement, left Matamoros for Camargo, which had been occupied as a main depot for provisions. On the 18th of the same month, the army was organized in two divisions.

The First Divison, under Brigadier-General Twiggs, consisted of four companies of the 2d dragoons, Lieutenant-Colonel May, and Captain Ridgely's battery; Captain Bragg's battery, 3d infantry, Major Lear, and 4th infantry, Major Allen, forming the Third Brigade of regulars, and commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Garland; and the 1st infantry, Major Abercrombie, and the Baltimore and Washington battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Watson, forming the Fourth Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson. This division numbered two thousand and eighty men.

The Second Division, under General Worth, consisted of Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan's battery, the artillery battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Childs, and 8th infantry, Captain Scrivner, forming the First Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Staniford; and Lieutenant Mackall's battery, 5th infantry, Major M. Scott, 7th infantry, Captain Miles, and Captain Blanchard's company of Louisiana volunteers, forming the Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel P. F. Smith, of the mounted riflemen. The whole column amounted to seventeen hundred and eighty

men.

On the arrival of the volunteers, a third division was organized, under the command of Major-General Butler, consisting of the 1st Kentucky regiment, Colonel Ormsby, and 1st Ohio regiment, Colonel Mitchell, forming the first brigade, commanded by

General Hamer; and the 1st Tennessee regiment, Colonel Campbell, and Mississippi regiment, Colonel Davis, forming the Second Brigade, commanded by General Quitman. The sum total of this division was two thousand eight hundred and ten men.

The Texas Division, which arrived during the march upon Monterey, consisted of the 1st and 2d regiments of mounted volunteers, under Colonels Hays and Woods. It was commanded by Governor T. Pinckney Henderson, with the rank of majorgeneral, and was detached, as occasion required, to co-operate with the other divisions.

The total number of effectives destined for this particular service, was, therefore, six thousand six hundred and seventy men. Besides these, a garrison of two thousand men was established at Camargo, for the protection of that important point, and small detachments at points of less significance. Of these six thousand six hundred men composing the divisions organized for marching upon Monterey, nearly four thousand were raw and undisciplined volunteers.

The march to Monterey was commenced on the 18th of August, by the Second Division, under General Worth, moving upon Seralvo, with the view of occupying that place as a depot of supplies.

The First Division, under Twiggs, followed on the 31st of the same month. The Volunteer Division was ordered to bring up the rear, as fast as the means of transportation arrived.

On the 6th of September General Taylor started for Seralvo, leaving Major-General Patterson in command at Camargo, with authority over all the troops between that place and the mouth of the Rio Grande,-some three thousand in number.

A considerable portion of these troops might have been added to the main column, under General Taylor, if sufficient means of transportation has been at his disposal. Before leaving Camargo, General Taylor addressed to the Adjutant-General of the army a

LETTER TO THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL.

167

letter, which, as it will relieve him from the imputation of any want of promptness in the prosecution of the campaign, we give entire :

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"SIR: Before marching for the interior, I beg leave to place on record some remarks touching an important branch of the public service, the proper administration of which is indispensable to the efficiency of a campaign. I refer to the Quartermaster's Department. There is at this moment, when the army is about to take up a long line of march, a great deficiency of proper means of transport, and of many important supplies.

"On the 26th April, when first apprising you of the increased force called out by me, I wrote that I trusted the War Department would give the necessary orders to the staff department, for the supply of this large additional force;' and when first advised of the heavy force of twelve-months' volunteers ordered hither, I could not doubt that such masses of troops would be accompanied, or, preferably, preceded by ample means of transportation, and all other supplies necessary to render them efficient. But such has not been the case. Suitable steamboats for the Rio Grande were not procured without repeated efforts directed from this quarter, and many weeks elapsed before a lodgment could be made at this place, the river being perfectly navigable.

"After infinite delays and embarrassments, I have succeeded in bringing forward a portion of the army to this point, and now the steamers procured in Pittsburg are just arriving. I hazard nothing in saying, that if proper foresight and energy had been displayed in sending out suitable steamers to navigate the Rio Grande, our army would long since have been in possession of Monterey.

"Again, as to land-transport. At this moment our wagon train is considerably less than when we left Corpus Christi, our

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