The Middlebury people's press. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1841-1843, 1842-03-15

for ragged pair upon receiving a mouthfu
or two to eat in the exchange. When we ar.
rived at the Rio del Norte, | had parted with
every thing but my tattered trousers, vest and
suspenders, every thing else having been dis.
posed of for bread or robbed from me by the
soldiers. Nor were the other prisoners in a
better condition. The weather was then cold
and we were nigh perishing in our nakedness.
! "After few days. march it was found i'm
impracticable for Us to get on with any speed,
bound together in such numbers. We were
then tied two together, and TO each pair there
was rope tied about the waist, neck or arms,
and fastened to the pummel of the saddle of
the horses on which the guard was mounted.
The soldiers would occasionally put their hor-
ses in gallop to torture those fastened to
them; and whenever any of us fell down or
Jagged behind, were dragged upon the ground
and beaten with thongs, sticks, or whatever
else was at hand.
The principal, indeed almost all the food we
received during the route was furnished by the
women, who would follow us in large numbers
for miles, weeping at the cruelties to which
We were subjected. They would not be allow
ed sometimes the discharge of their offices of
charity-the soldiers beating them off and re-
wiling them with obscene and abusive Ian
guage. We were marched at times, all night
and all day, blinded by sand and parched with
thirst till our tongues were so swollen as almost
to be incapable of speaking.
In this manner we were hurried on to the
city of Mexico, which we reached toward the
close of December. But / must here pause,
TO do justice to one of the captains of the
Mexican army, who had charge ofus for about
five days of the journey, who treated us with
kindness, and furnished us with money out of
his own pocket. He respected us as prison.
ers of war, and lament that cannot recol-
lcct his name He was the only officer who
seemed TO regard us rs human beings during
the whole of our long march. The foreigners
also in chihuahua and Zacatccas raised a con-
tribution for US, which gave us a temporary re-
lief.
CATER we were taken prisoners, we learned
that Rowland, Rosenberg and Baker, the
guides we took with us from Texas, and who
had been sent on before the division left the
Palo Duro, had been taken and shot-as well
as an American merchant, named Rowland,
who had gone theirsccurity when they were
taken up, upon the information of one Brig
mole, deserter from the Expedition. OF
these transactions, however, can only speak
from hearsay. number of other outrages
were reported TO have been perpetrated upon
American citizens-no doubt correctly report
edo
"IVhen VIC arrived at Mexico, we were COW
ed with filth and vermin. We there met an
order from Santa Ana, TO be chained with
heavy iron. We were lodged in the Convent
Santiago about two miles from the palaces :;
confined in room over the cemetery, and
the efiluvia from the dead bodies beneath was
offensive in the extreme.
Mr.. Combs proceeds 10 complain of neg
lect and indifference on the part of our Min
lister Mr.. Ellis, (now superseded;) OF the pris-
oners being kept in the public square on their
arrival at Mexico for the qualification of the
r:.bbe, and then marched back TO their prison,
because Santa Ana was asleep and no one dar-
ed awake himl that the prisoners were chain
ed and compelled to work in the streets, tho
he (Combs) was exempted as sick: until
"About three week after we reached Mexico,
two of the prisoners made their escape. This
incensed Santa Ana to such degree, that he
ordered the whole of us, the lame and sick in
cluded, to be chained and made to work with
the rest. zraS myself taken out of bed and chain
ed 'Oih hcary log chain about ny dncles and
made 10 acork in The streets. This, too, after
had been demanded as citizen Of the United
States by our Minister, Mr.. Ellis; Iards kept
an chains about tCO tceeks, and i'll as | was,
compelled to sleep and work in them, having
thereby nearly lost my hearing, when ] was
sent for by Santa Ana"
bovinrr oatachica1 him nd learned
that he was no Texian, but the son of an A
merican General. released him, assigned his
youth as the cause, and not even abiding to
our minister's interference in his behalf, which
alr C. Judges had very little influence. Combs
states that Ellis called three times on Santa
Ana on this subject, but did not obtain an au-
dience, and that he (Ellis) never answered his
(Combs') repeated letters, which his Secretary
excused, alleging that it did not become an
Ambassador to correspond with prisoner -
After his release, Ellis treated him politely,
and lent him money TO bear his expenses home.
He concludes
The remainder of the Expedition, under
General Mcleod, was expected to arrive in
Mexico two days after | left the city. heard
they had suffered very much from bad weather,
ill-treatment, &c. &c. and that to sum up
their troubles, the small. pox had made its ap-
pearance amongst them, and they reported
that about fifty had already persisted, or had
been left on the road, through its ravages and
the cruelty of their captors.
have omitted to state in its proper place,
that on my release the Dictator ordered his
state coach to convey me in my rags 10 look
at the city, and thence in company with Gen.
Barragan to the office of Mr.. Ellis. Several
of the higher Mexican officers in the city
Especially Barragan-expressed sympathy for
me, and treated me kindly.