Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1848-04-06
Taylor and the I'D Regiment.

some respects. and should receive the attention of
every Indianian Here it is:
Baron Roucr La, March Sd, ls4s
ss hs-s had the Pe.spe Of rsssyng yG1T sTs,r Of
Indiana Of the officers and sol
der who under command in Mexico and also 10 myself
and Py to s I sss s snf .oS n. S 70 t.
infinitely gratifying and acceptable that they mc1ial.
friendly and warm for her always been warmly at
aehed The remembrance Of earliest service upon the Dor
tory awaken in me the PIeasantest feengs Afford
the State s1Pr IN the Re.olSon bot a..
- the nsgbohO Of thi. place. where have located my a%Iy
to for future service in the field
ofea report the battle Of b1e%s Vista has
nSA Sa q s developed SSsausS 10 the Of report
70 cause me to chang IL IL wa. founded gPGn my 81 M
would say ,aa. 1 IN hn S s mao
ure the Regiment and involve the credit OF the STATE which
best troop. have been az
nexpcabe sueh probable may have been the ease
the time question proud and free to STATE however
placed action had the enemy resumed h. at,
the battle been renewed the I'd Indiana Regiment
SS ,1S Ssss asas before Se S anu Oh AL
hrS Ie de compliment they have 8 saernsy Conferred
the officers and who composed my command IN M1ieo
with sentiments Of high respect, am dear sir.
Your most ObedenI servant,
JOHs DrrAEE. sths Journal Indianapolis, Ind
In the first place it cannot but strike those who look
under the surface of things, that this letter was
written in answer 10 dictated by mercenary pur-
poses. What occasion was there for the editor of
the Journal TO make much haste in communicating
the resolutions of our Senate to Gen. Taylor, and
thus to foresta the official communication of them?
Was it for any other purpose, or design, than to
''curry favor" with the old gentleman in case he
should supersede Mr.. Clay, the Journals pretended
fayorte, in the affections of the Wing National Con-
vention Will Mr. Defrees do the public the favor
of publishing true copy Of his letter to the Gene
raj That is a matter of some interest, well
the reply.
But what is still striking and important, is
the fact, that Gen. Taylor plainly that his ORR
ginal opinion respecting the conduct of the I'd Ind
ana regiment at Buena VISTA remains unchanged"
That is, he yet believes that they ':fugitires,
and that, in the panic under which they labored they
were runarays, DEsERTERs. EDWARDS!
Not the slightest qualification of this rsnsoed con-
demnaion is made by Gen. Taylor except that in
other armies men have been equally fearful and cow
ardly. Not word of allusion is made to subsequent
proofs, which showed that the officers, some of
them, and not the were blameworthy The
Court Of Enquiry which condemned Col. Bowles as
"incompetent" is not limited at On the contrary, the
General says''that nothing has been developed sub
sequeHty" to his first report to cause him TO change
the opinion he then expressed and which opinion, he
says, founded upon his 'own personal obSerrG-
tion on the field" as well as the official reports of his
subordinates.
Thus does General Taylor unoticiGlly he had
done officially stigmatize the men Of the I'd Indiana
regiment, "fugitves'' from the field of battle-as
a mass of panic stricken cowards.
The State Journal publishes this letter and its dam
nation of the I'd regiment collectively, with evident
misgiving. 1t finds it necessary to accompany it
with an entire column of comment, In vain en-
deavor to break the force of the absolute and
quivoca language of the General. 1t even feels the
necessity and proprety of half defending the I'd regi
ment from the infamous conduct imputed to it by
General Taylor. II speaks Of the order TO retreat"
given by COL Bowles of their exposed situation !"
of the "murderous cross-fre,' &c. Why should it
do this, if it did not feel that Gen. Taylor means
what he says in plain terms in his letter! No de-
fence-is needed where no assault is made.
But the "windng up paragraph of the Journal
caps the climax Were not its folly so bareaced, it
could but be regarded a specimen of impu-
dence. Here is the gist of it
thereafter, let no more be said about Injustice
having been done the I'd Indiana regiment by Gen.
Taylor. Although it became his duty to speak of its
retreat as he dad of the retreat of other portions of
his army, yet under the circumstances attending that
retreat, He NEVER LOST CONFIDENCE IN IT, and pro-
claims to the world that he fully believes that it
would, all future occasions have fought heroi-
cally as any other regiment IN the field"
If this be not a most 'lame and impotent concu-
sion,' we certainly incapable of judging. Be-
Gen. Taylor had not lost confidence in that reg
ment, and intended to give it a chance to redeem
itself by desperate fighting some future occasion,
! knowing as he well does, that thus subjected
to the charge Of Infamous cowardice, will fight to
death in the hope of redeemng themselves from the
stigma,-therefore, says the Journal, ''let no man
speak of his Injustice
The Journal would evidently like to convey false
Interpretation of his expression of Gen. Taylor but
it will be of little avail if successful. If the
men deserved his confidence he should have dealt
Justly by them.
But enough of this. There stands Gen. Taylors
private letter, written more than year after the
battle, in which he reterates the charges against the
I'd Indiana regiment, which he first made in his off,
cal report and that too without the slightest mitiga-
ton whatever in their favor
We have simply 10 say for ourselves, that if we
believed Gen. Taylor boldly says be Does we too,
should feel bound to admit the ID regiment to have
been towards at Buena Vista. But we have read and
listened to all the evidence on both sides that we
could OBTAIN, carefully and impartiay, and with no
1 other desire than arrive the fruth O,-