Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1846-09-05
MOVEMENTS ON THE RIO GRANDE.

4
day brief reply on single point, the Georgia Ad-
jutant's letter. The article of the Union however
contained matter of graver character on the state Of
The war IN The South, which, being ingenious as
well as disingenuous, requires more careful ex-
animation and reference to dates and recorded
facts to expose its inaccuracies.
! In our article of Saturday last we showed, for
the second or third time, that all of Gen. ScoTT's
calculations the time for the advance of our ar
my, much beyond the Rio Grande," had been, or
soon would be, fully verified. 1t was not for the
sake Of controversy with the official paper that we
required to the subjec, Of General ScoTTs opinions
in relation to the Mexican war; nor do we cove
controversy in regard to any officers personal or
professional concerns but sense of justice to
one to whom his country owes SO much forbids our
suffering the ingenious perversions Of the official
paper in regard to him to pass uncontradlcted
| The Union now says ave do not deem it ne
cessary to discuss the correspondence which took
| place between Gen. SCOTT and the War Depart
| ment;" the which it originally published in
such hot haste with long editorial in order to pre-
occupy and poison the public mind aga INST the man
whom it was then the purpose to crush and to dis
grace. The then cry was, with the War Depart
ment and the organ . The .ardor of the volunteers
has been greater, and the military arrangements Of
the State authorities more active, than he (Gen.
| S. had calculated"
| What were his calculations! Gen. S. had said
MAY 81 y Without shadow Of doubt about the
patriotism or zeal of the citizens specially called
| upon" to volunteer, and May 25) "no matter
how great the zeal and energy of the State auhor-
ties and Of the volunteers themselves, the whole
1. (say 22,000) nor the greater part OF the twelve
month volunteers horse and FOOT cannot be brought
on the Rio Grande before the first week in Au-
gust If so soon," on account of the difficulties
in organizing the corps the rainy season, and the
distances to be overcome Well instead of leaving
their States towards the end of June, as he had cal
culated, most Of the regiments, we have seen by
the newspapers, did not get off until late in July.
| In reference to the time of reaching the Rio
Grande, the Union now says august 30 y "The
| fact turns out somewhat otherwise. The first of
L September has not come yet Our army has
/. been assembled in large force on the Rio Grande
for month. Why, then, does not Gen. Taylor
advance!l We have obtained, and now hold pos
session Of large part of Tamaulipas, that is,
the Executives Texas, as far east as the Nueces
Il We are masters of the Rio Grande for two hun
dred miles" &c.
Now how does all this, or any part Of it, turn
out somewhat" different from Gen. ScoTT's calcu-
lations He supposed May 2D that before adj
vancing 's much beyond the Rio Grande,'' it would
be desirable, in order TO secure that base of opera
tons, to take the posts on the other or right bank
of thatriver, and accordingly, Matamoros, Reynosa,
Camargo, and Mier have been occupied without the
least resistance.
! sour army has been assembled in large force on
the Rio Grande for month";" says the Union; and
yet il does not advance beyond that river Why
Because the horse regiments from Kentucky, Ten.
nessee, and Arkansas, yet probably, more than
month behind; and Gen. s. sad in the same letter
!" But if horse be necessary element to success
land two-thirds, if not three-fourths of the Mexi-
. can army are understood to be in the saddle
what utility would there be in forcing the foot
much ahead Of the horse? %
| But forced ahead of the horse as the foot have
been, we have seen by the newspapers, that two or
| lhIte vi uldHuy-tloSC ucStncu
Chihuahua-were detained, early this month and
indefinitely, by mud and storms of rain, Mata-
gorda, waiting for dry weather TO enable them to
advance ria San Antonio to the crossing point on
the Rio Grande--a march of 400 miles. Can one
column, from Camargo, advance into Mexico with
safety, before the other Uia the Preside del Nore
is ready TO cross and to attack Chihuahua Gen.
ScoTT, ii the correspondence, recommended that
all the forces should reach the river and pass into
the interior of Mexico about the same time; TO
prevent 1--WE suppose) the enemy from doubling his
forces upon some one of our columns.
/ In the act of writing, letter is received from
Point Isabel, dated the 9TH instant, pertinent
and conclusive than any thing we might give of our
own We add an extract:
"The army is making the utmost exertons to-
wards an early advance from Camargo upon Mon
terey; but we NAV be delayed by continued
storms of rain, which are said to be worse from
the middle TO the end of this month. The voun-
teer horse from Arkansas Tennessee and Ken
lucky, il is ascerained, cannot be up before some
time in October. Gen. +. will need large
mounted force to protect his front and TANKS, and
= to prevent the Mexican cavalry from riding down
or over our volunteer foot, which have not learned
how to form squares Fortunately, among the
three-months men he has two regiments of Texan
horse, not discharged with the other corps foot
for short terms These, with the aid Of Governor
th.,~ o,1n Eaxylnr