The banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1844-1847, 1846-05-13
Camp opposite Matamoros,
April &c. 1876.

April 26, 1916.
Gentlemen-Knowing that in the
present excited state of the public mind
as regards our Mexican affairs and the
welfare of our little army, that most ex-
aggerated reports creep into the public
prints, thereby carrying with them sor-
row and anxiety into the bosom of the
friends and relations of many officers, |
deem it my duty to give you hasty but
correct account of the capture of Capt.
Thornton and squadron of the I'd
Dragons, by force of 1000 Mexicans,
under the command of Gen. Torrejon.
Gen. Taylor, on the Oath, had received
report that the enemy were crossing
the river above the camp. Capt. Thorn
ton, with his command. was sent out on
the evening Of the 24th to examine the
country above, and see whether there
was any truth in the report. His COM
mand was composed of Capt. Hardee,
Lieut.. Kane, Lieut. Mason, S sergeants,
d corporals, bugler, and 49 privates.
His Mexican guide returned this morn
ing, stating that he had been attacked
at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 25th
by a large number of the enemy, and
that the whole command was captured
or destroyed. The guide warned him
that he was in the vicinity of the enemy
and refused to proceed. He waited un-
til night, and none of the party coming
in, he returned home. About II
o'clock this morning, private of the
party was brought in in cart. Hew was
wounded in two places. The man
who brought him was the bearer Of
note from Gen. Torrejon to Gen. Tay-
lor, the amount of which was that I" on
the score of humanity he claimed the
privilege of sending in to him two dra-
goons, who were wounded in an engage
ment brought on by charge from an
American cavalry officer against his
command of 200 men, as he had no
flying hospital" He then spoke of the
rest being prisoners, and said "they
would De treated with the consideration
due prisoners of war, agreeably to the
custom of civilized nations" From the
wounded dragoon, we obtain the follow
ing facts: That the charge was made in
open ground; that when the charge
was given, but few Of the enemy were
seen, but as they dashed over hill the
whole command presented themselves
they were fired upon, and Immediately
surrounded and taken prisoners. He
does not know what became of Capt
Thornton. Capt. Hardee and Lieut..
Mason are prisoners, and are all we'll.
He reports Lieut.. Kane as shot, and it
is feared he is killed Before the cart
left, one of the two mentioned died.
From the note of Gen. r., it seems that
he accuses Capt. Thornton of having
charged upon him. One can hardly
conceive Of such madness as charging
200 men with 63, and it is fair to pre-
sumo that he was surrounded and char
ged to cut his way through. Time will
clear it all up. The capture of Capt.
Thornton's party, and sad death of Lieut.
Porter, and murder of Col. Cross, are ra-
ther melancholy commencements of the
war. l say ~1r, for there is no doubt
of its existence, and that unless an arm
istice is signed in ten days, we have
some hard fighting. The enemy are
collecting in some considerable num-
bers, and l think their forces may be
estimated with safety at 5000. Gen.
Taylor is rapidly pushing forward his
field work, and understand has sent
for a, 900 volunteers-twot thousand from
Louisiana and two from Texas. Ifthey
will give us fair fight, we do not doubt
our ability to whip them; but if they
are going to give us second edition of
the Florida aoar, it will be a very an
noying affair. Yours very truly,
w. s. HENRY, 1t. u. S. A.
FREsnEr AT CoLUMBUs.-The Co.