The New era. [volume] ([Portsmouth, Va.]) 1845-1847, 1846-08-11

un,eers into the United States service. under this
pressing emergency, (of which but third Of
! that number were allowed TO 90 to the seat of
wary | WAS fully authorized by Law, in the
words Of the 62d Article of War, Ito gire or
ders for ,chat ,cds needfut TO the seruice :" or,
|! in other words. to supply the Volunteers thus
raised with Rdtions. Arms and .dccoutrements.
; Camp Eqnipage. Clothing. or money in lieu
, thereof and require them ~ be paid as the Ld,c
directs. l had a General Staff that would do
honor to the highest grades of their respective
, Corps and Departments-prompt, vigilant, talen-
ted, obedient, courteous and obliging, as every
officer in service with Volunteers is in duty hound
10 he. Every member of them merit promotion,
which trust will he awarded them, when it is
seen. as II must soon be obvious 10 the President
Of the United States, that SD far frum my having
, required them To do wrong. contributed to teach
them the inestimahle duty Of promptly preparing
for war. by cordially taking by the hand the brave
and he Free no desired To aid In The defence of
the Country. and without whose aid the Country
cann", he defended.
4th. The f,ur,h ground Of my Justification, is
a Letter of Instruction from The Department of
War, dated September 3O.h, 1916, from which
here presen, Ia the Court paragraph embracing
the Presidents decision. generating me from
being brought before General Cour, Martial.
which had desired in the event of my conduct
in accepting the services of Major Galy's Battal-
i5n. l. !..g dsapproved-t fullows.
The puwer which you have exercised could
" be resorted TO only in case Of crtrenle public
"perl. I'm error Of judgement, ,Uih sue..
" motiues as the President has tcith pleasure
conceded TO hare governed your Conduct in
This case, cannot be regarded as s. crime"
cor as an offence, suhjecng the officer trial
"While, therefore, he does not approve of your
" making the reqnisition for troops without his
" authority. because, with all the information you
appear tn have possessed he would not have
deemed the exigency such as To require SINH
g lar proceeding his part, he does not perceive
"any necessity for ordering Court Martial for
- that Official Act"
Ii will be seen, that these two Letters of In
structinn dated the 2Slh of August, and 30h of
September, 1915. were written prior to the cum-
mencement of Hostililies, and apparently more
with view tn the fact that Hostiiiies had not
commenced. as anticipated by me, than to the
reports upnn which based my reguision prior
to and at the precise point Of time al uhirh
had anticipated an attnck. The Mexican Cow
eminent had declared their determination to con-
slider movement of u. S. Troops upun the
Western border of Texas. as an act of War, on
nnr part which they threatened tn repel In ad.
diion 10 these threats, had received intelligence
from various sources entitled TO great cnnsidera
ton and respect. that they were concentrating
considerable forces at Matamoras under these
circumstances | made arrangements to send to
General Taylnr Battalion of Artillery, and four
Regiments of Riflemen and Infantry. Although
none but the Artillery were actually furnished to
General Taylor, yet have been assured, through
highly respectable channels, that the apparent
moral effect of my av0wed purpose to send To
General Taylor four Regiments. and if necessary
to send on much greater furce 10 repel the
threatened attack. tended 10 check the move
ments of the Mexicans. until late in the autumn.
Ii was under these circumstances, more than four
. he Drin IN he IF f,,p,
three to four thousand Mexican troops at or near
Matamoras, that my call for Volunteers had been
dIsapproved but was at the same time
nted from the imputation Of " crime" Yet
after the actual commencement of Hostili;es,
when assured that the enemy's forces had accu
mnated to the number of six TO eight thousand
and when apprised Of the fact that the principal
part of General Taylor's supplies were at Poinl
Isabel, % miles from his Army. and protected
only by one company of Artillery, and about 400
teamsers and other workingmen, presenting n
case " indicating great and imminent peril"
then nnhesitaingly called for Volunteers under
The impression that the peril which had then pre-
sented itself was so great and SO imminent as to
leave no reasonable doubt that the President with
full knowledge of all the circumstances of the case
would have felt ii to be his duty to resort to such
aid. While under these circumstances | antci-
pated prompt and cordial appreciation of my con.
duct; | have had the deep modification to be sud
denly and without any suggestion of the cause or
The object of my sudden movement, ordered, for
the first time in my life, to my back upon the
enemy OF the Country, abandon my proper Com
mand near the theatre of War, and without delay
repair TO the City of Washington, more than one
thousand miles further than was from that thea =
ire OF War thus subjected to degradation, and
heavy fines and penalties without trial. and
without crime; and then advertised in the sup
pnsed official paper, the " UNION" as an often
der. q uioiater Of ia,u and IF orders This
second Letter of Instruction was written in reply
to my report of the 10Th of September, explaining
the grounds of my call for Volunteers of the pre-
cedlng month, indicating my conduct from the
impuialon of having improperly meddted"
with The Command Of General Tay or. and show
ing my impression of " hat The ia,o required me
To do--ihat military lao 10 which the President
of the United States. well as every officer Of
the Government is strictly amenable. From my
letter in question will here quote a few pas
sages -
" The first and highest duty Of every Com
mander is cordially and fervently 10 co operate
" Nth each other in carrying into effect the
" great constitutional principle Of our creation
" rs members Of an Army, 10 suppress insur
"rections and repel inUasions- peace 10 pre-.
pare for ,car," and in ,cur 10 meet and beat
:" the incading foe In all these essential inca
=" sures we are in duty bound, heartily and fer
vently to CO operate with each other, in carry
" ing the views of the Government into effect at
The least possible expense of blood and treas
"nre"
"If the duties assigned to General Taylor,
&c were to occupy his attention during the next
seven years, I should never pleddie with his
Command. further than TO give him all the
"igh and strength in my power land this is
precisely what | have always desired the de-
"parment Of War. and the Generals placed over
" me, or such as happened to be duty tne
to extend TO me more especially when The cas-
" uaies incident to war were likely TO embarrass