Democratic banner., 1847-03-08
letter from Major General Taylor.
HEApauARTERs ARMY OF OCCUPATION
OR INVASION.

My DEAR ....... Your very kind ana
acceptable letter Of the 3lst of August,
... reached me only a short time since.
for which l beg leave to tender you my
sincere thanks. IA few confidential re-
marks on certain public transactions are
here omitted.
After considerable apparent delay on
the part Of the Quartermaster's Depart
meut, in getting steamboats, in the Rio
Grande adapted to its navigation, l sue,
eeeded, towards the latter pant of August,
in throwing forward to Camargo, "a town
situated on the San Juan river, three miles
from its junction with the Rio Grande, on
the west side, nOarly 500 miles from Brazos
island by water and 200 by land, and lac
from this place. a considerable depot Of
provisions, ordance, ammunition, and for
age, and then, having brought together an
important portion Of my command, l deter
mined on moving on this place. Accord
iugly, after collecting 100 pack mules,
with their attendants and conductors, in
the enemy's country, the principal means
of transportation for our provisions, bag
gage, &c., left, on the 9Th of September.
to join my advance, which had preceded
me a few days to Cerralvo, a small village
IS miles on the route which l did on 9th and
after w~aitin, there a few days for some of
the corps to get up, moved on and reached
here on the 10Th with $3.50 men, 900 reg
ulars, the balance volunteers. For what
took place afterwards, l must refer you to
my several rcports-particularly to my de-
tailed one Of the 9th ult. | do not believe
the authorities at Washington are at all
satisfied with ny conduct in regard to the
terms of the capitulation entered into with
the Mexican commander, which you no
d1ubt have seen, as they have been made
public through the official organ, and copi-
ed into various other newspapers. l have
this moment received an answer ITO my
despatch announcing the surrender of Mon
tcrcy, and the circumstances attending the
same from the Secretary of War, stating
that SIT Was regretted by the President that
i: wa< not deemed advisable to insist on the
terms | had proposed in my first commune
cation TO the Mexican commander, in re-
gard to giving up the city"-adding that
..,ilc circumstances which dictated, no
doubt justified the change" Although the
terms of capitulation may be considered
too liberal on our part by the President and
his advisers, as well as by many others at a
distance, particularly by these who do not
understand the position which we occupi-
cd, otherwise they might come to a differ
ent conclusion i'll regard to the matter,)
yet on due reflection, | see nothing to in
duce me to regret the course ! pursued
The proposition on the part of General
AmpuIia-which had much TO do in deter
mining my course in the matter was bas-
cd on the ground that our government had
proposed to his to settle the existing diff
culties by negotiation, which | knew was
the case, without knowing the RESULT
which was then under consideration by the
proper authorities, and which he General
Ampudia) had no doubt would result ia
vOrably, as the whole of his people were in
favor Of peace. If so, considered the
further e~ffusion of blood not only unneces-
sary. but improper. Their force was also
considerably larger than ours; and from the
size and position Of the place, we could not
completely invest it; SO that the greater Por-
ton Of their troops-if not the whole-had
they been disposed to do so, could any night
have abandoned the city, at once entered
the mountain passes, and effected their re-
treat, do what we could! Had we been put
to the alternative Of taking the place by
storm, (which there is no doubt we should
have succeeded in DOING we should in all
probability have lost fifty or one hundred
men in killed, besides the wounded which
wished to avoid, as there appeared to be
prospect of peace; even if a distant one,
also wished to avoid the destruction Of