Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1848-05-19
DAVID FULTON, Enron.
VOL. 4----NO. SO.
Public Documents.
Reply of Mr.. Marcy,
WAR DEPARTMENT.
WASHINGTON. ADril 81 1919

OF January 10 the 9th OF March. You GER
fanny mean to he understood that on the 18th
OF January your troops were readyt TO embark,
ana were delayed Tor want of these TRANSPORTS
but this was not so; and | am indebted to YOU
1or most abundant proof 10 establish YOUR in.
accuracy. The great body of your troops for
the expedition was drawn from Gen. TaI Ior's
command at Monterey and in the interior of
Mexico; and no part of them, had reached
either the Brazos or Tampico-the points of
embarcatlon-on the 18th of January. In
your letter of the 18th of that month To Genl
Brooke, at New Orleans, you said: 81 have
now to state that it is probable the troops |
" have called for from Gen. Taylor's immedi-
" ate command to embark here (the Brazos)
" and at Tampico, will not reach these points
" TIL late IN the present month, (JanuarvD saw
& about the 25th." In a letter 10 me- of the
goth OF january, you remark that Gen, But
Ter responded 10 your call for the troops with
the utmost promptitude, and that Gen. Worth
made an admirable movement. The head
&c OF his division arrived with him at the
" mouth OF the Rio Grande the dav before
yesterday" (24th january When the re-
maInder came up, is not stated; vet one of
your naked historical facts" places the whole
command at the points of embarcaton waiting
Tor the g ten vessels at least nine DAYS be-
fore the actual arrival of any part of them
But if they had been there, why should they
have been detained for these vessels? In the
same letter-written but two DAYS after the
arrival OF the head of the first division, and
probably before the other troops had come up
| you say that the Quarttrmaster General.
(Bevet Major General Jesup, at New Or
leans,) | find, has taken all proper measures
with Judgment and promPtitude to provide
g everything depending on his department for
g the despatch and success of my expedition
II more was wanted, cumuated proof might
be drawn from the same source-your own
espondence-to show not only that this
charge against me has no foundation in truth,
but that you can have no apology for having
preferred it.
After showing how unfortunate you have
been in your specific charges, | may with
proprlety meet those OF general and sweep
ing character with less particular detail of
proofs to show their groundlessness.
Though the "ten vessels were not, for the
very sufficient reasons / have assigned, sent
out in ballast from the Atlantic cities; vet a
very large number were sent thence with
stores, supplies, and troops, to co-operated
in the expedition.
In General Jesup's letter to me of the 18th
inst, a copy of which is sent herewith, he
states that fifty three ships, barques, briggs and
schooners, were sent from the north, and the
department actually furnished at New Orleans,
Brazos, and Tampico, for the army, before it
took up the line of march into the interior, one
hundred and sixty three vessels.
have alluded to the large number of surf
boats, and the great difficulty of procuring
III tho Cff ho 1nlo in fhoIr
val ! have also similar reason to offer in
reply to your complaint for not having sea-
sonabIy received the siege train and ordnance
enormously large outfit you required. If it
was necessary, and despatch was used in pro-
curing it, no one is in fault. If too large,
you certainly should not regard as a reprehen-
sble delay the time necessarily taken up in
preparing it. To show that it was large, and
required much time to procure it, will select
! from many a single item. You demanded from
eighty to one hundred thousand ten-lnch
shells, and forty or fifty mortars of like cali
bre Thisenormous quantity of shells-about
four thousand tons-Was mostly to be manu-
featured after you left Washington. All the
furnaces in the country, willing to engage IN
the business, were set TO work but, with the
utmost diligence and despatch, the supply OF
| this one article or even tWO-thrds OF 1t, hav-
ing to be manufactured and transported to the
seaboard from the furnaces, Qocated In most
| instances in the interior of the COuntry,) at a
season OF the year when water communlca-
| tons were obstruced by ice, could not be rea-
| DIV to be sent forward to you In many months
after your departure from Washington. Had
YOUR reQusitons been moderate-and undouht-
| edly more moderate ones would have Suthced
they could have been furnished at much
caller period.
The memorandum which you left " for the
siege-train and ammunition therefor" was
submitted to me by the Ordnance Department,
on the Goth of November, with an lntlmatlon
that it could not be complied with in season
| for the expedition TO go forward as early as
you had contemplated | endorsed upon IT,
g comply with the above Gst for as prG ct1ca6le;'
and this order, am satisfied, after full exam
inaton, was faithfully executed.
| What could be done at Washington, was
PROMPTLY done. You had with you the Quar-
termaster General, with all the means at the
command of the War Department, and with
unrestricted authority to do whatever you
might require. He was under your supervls-
ion, and subject TO your orders, able and Wi
ling to execute them You have never init
mated that he, in any respect, failed IN his
duty but, on the contrary, you have spoken
in highly commendatory terms of his etnclent
services.
have already quoted your acknowledg-
ment that he had taken all proper measures
with judgment and prompttude to provide ev-
erything depending on his department. for the
despatch and success of your expedition. In
an issue of fact between you and the head OF
the War Department, his testimony, next TO
your own confession, is the best that can be
offered TO correct your msstatements and to
refute your charges.
In his letter 10 me of the I'd of January.
l847, he says: General Scott left for the in
50 terror on the 29th ultimo, and am taking
&c active measures to have everything depend
&C" ing upon me ready for his operations. The
quartermasters department, find, is called
"upon to do great deal that should be done
"by other branches of the staff So far as
&" Gen. SCOTS operations go, shall have eve
"rythng done that is necessary, whether il
Sc belongs TO my department OF 10 other depart.
ssments to do it,
You had with you, and subject to your or.
ders, not only the Quartermaster General. bu
officers of the other staff departments. They
did not look to the War Department, but IL
Yourself, for directions and ii was your duty
and not mine, to see that your requirement.
were complied with. That they, were So tt
the utmost practicable extent, ! have no rea
son to doubt; but if they were not, the FAULT
if anv. is not with the War Department