Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1846-05-30
GEN. GAINES ORDERS COUNTER.
MANDED.
Yesterdays mail brought the ~sutjoined
official Instructions to Gen. Gaines:
Adjutant Generals Office,

General-l am instructed by the Se1re
tary of War to acknowledge your letter re
cetyed the evening of the 18th inst, ant
to say that he desires YOU will countermant
your call for the "Seyeral Regiments 0
Mounted Gm-mea,' which you state were
to rendezvous at Fort Jessup, on the re.
ceipt of this letter, as this requisition will
interfere with the arrangement alread,
made by tho War Department, relative L
the quota of volunteers to he called into
the service of the General Government
from the several States, under tho new law.
The volunteer force called into service
from Louisiana, Alabama, ETC., on YOU
authority, and which you have prcviousl,
reported, | am instructed 10 say, meets The
approval Of the Department.
| am, General, very respectfully,
Your obcdient servant,
ISigued, r. JONES, Adiutant Gen'l.
To Brevet Maj. Gen. GAINES,
Commanding Western Division,
New Orleans, La.
To follow up the movements of Govern
ment, nj this crisis, makes the heart sick.
II General Gaines is to be intrusted with
no discretion, better Court Martial the
brave old veteran at once, and relieve him
from the responsibilities and anxieties OF
his delicate station, than be etcrnaliy I'M
doing, in ignorance, what he has done, or
countermanding, from prejudice, orders
that are doomed, by all sensible men, alb
solutely essential to u successful terminal
ton of the present war. If Marcy had
been in New York making out n bill for
patching his breeches; il Bancroft had re.
manned at Northampton revelling in the
distractions of philosophy; if the President
and all his advisers had kept away from
Washington, and the South had been COM
PEELED, in her w discretion, and by the
unaided strength of her own prompt and
indomitable people, to put an end to the
war, evon by carrying it Into Africa"
every thing would have gone right, and
the terms of peace would, IN three months
time, be dictated to, and accepted by; the
Republic Of Mexico, and the American
Union be quieted for its future ~existence.-
But we have a set of officials at Washing
ton who are as ignorant Of things on this
frontier as they are of the first principle of
government; and, if events depend upon
their action, a worse than Florida wa
must be the inglorious result.
Ii the Secretary Of War has any conf
dence in Gen. Gaines, why does he not give
him some discretion If he has not, why
does he not initiate the proper steps to in
duce his withdrawal AT all events, why
is there not such a perfect understanding
between the Department and its military
officer on this frontier, that con-
fiicts between them may be avoided, that
co~untermaadiRg orders, which have recent
ly become so common, may no longer be
necessary.
When Gen. Gaines authorized to raising
of Gen. Saunders Regiment of Mounted
Gun-men, he was justified by the exigen-
cies of the conflict. On the strength of
his orders, gallant citizens have left their
homes and rallied to the standard Of their
The bugle of war sounded upon
them a they were industriously engaged
in their civil occupations, and all was for
gotten-all was left, to respond to its glo-
rious, soul-inspiring tones. They came
from their plantations-from their profess
sions-from their various a~voeations, and
stand ready to chastise a menacing
in the very presence of his household
gods. While thus elated; while thus pre-
to regain something for their sacrif-
ces, an icy order from the Department of
War on to freeze the very lifeblood
their hearts. Is this right Is it wis.
loml Is t. policy demanded by the tech.
licalities Of lawl IL so, farewell to the
hopes of the future.
Why does this call for the several regi-
nents interfere with the arrangements al
'eady made by the War Departmental
is the necessity of drawing quotas
every state in the Union? Why 60
2 Maine, Vermont, and other New Eng.
and States for men, when the Southwest
as already indicated her promptitude to