Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1848-02-23
General Taylor's Letter TO General Gaines.

The publication of Gen. Taylor,s letter IN the
War Department, indicating himself from official
ee"Sufe Tor having written private letter on pub
Tic topics TO Cen Gaines, has directed attention TO
the events which called i. forth. The letter 10
"en Gaines has never, until within day OF two
past been published entire ;-he portions original
~ omitted have now been supplied, and we copy it
al ieng'h from the Day Book, as it will be found
oeiow' Al has decided and permanent intcres,
ana is one Of the most striking papers which have
oeeh called forth By the incidents of the war
IL furnishes complete vindica,ioa of the oapilu.,
iaoon Of Monterey, Tor which the Genera! was cen
sured by the Government and by the Locof5co ma
iorty IN the House of Representatives, and sets
iorlh views concerning the and the policy pro
per 10 DO pursued, which are i'm the highest degree
sound, Intelligent and judicious Even at that ear
~ day, Gen. Taylor expressed fear that there
would not be ''a government in Mexico sufficiently
Stable to treat with for many years to come" and
alluded to the annexation of the whole of Mexico To
The United States as project not likely to be ia
Vored by any considerable party in the T. States
The letter is clear, explicit and strong and though
written, as the General says, in great haste and du
rug constant interruptions ii bears marks of that
plan, straightforward style which has given his
dispatches rank among the very best productions
OF The kind Of any country and in any age.
The following is the letter, now published en-
! tire w Y. Courier.
/ HEAD QRs. ARMY OF OccupArIos ISv,s,oy
Monterey, Mexico, Nov. 9. lS46.
My Dear Gcnerd:-
4 Nour ;nJ "A
/ OIL August by Surgeon Finay accompanied bv your
very able defence, reached Inc only short time
SINCE Tor winch beg leave TO tender YOU nv sin
cere thanks. have, with solicitude and interest
watched over the result of the investigation and
aithough IL was not, regards the opinion of the
court OF Inquiry, what could have wished it. vet
IL was as much Is could have expected. consider
ing the hostile feeling entertained towards Won NV
some OF the high funclonaries at washington
was fearful that the President might to some OK
'eh', and even without being aware of it, imbibe
some OF the preJudces and unknd feelings of those
around him in regard 10 you If SO, he was. no
douot, restrained from carrying them too far in CON
sequence OF pubic opinion, which, he must have
found, was decidedly in yourfavor BE that. how
ever, as 1t may-taking it altogether-I arn graft
he'd at the result
Alter considerable apparent delay on the part Of
the VI Masters department, in getting steamboats,
III The ITO Grande, adapted to the nayiuation T
succeeded, towards the latter part of August in
throwing forward 10 Camargo, a town situated ON
we Dan Juan river, three miles from It's junction
with the Rio Grande, on the west side nearly 5O1
miles from the BRACES Island by water and 31O bv
land, and lao from this place, a considerable depot
Oh provisions, ordnance, ammunition and FORAGE
ana then, having brought together an importoni
portion olmy command determined on moving on
thiS place. Accordingly, after collecting 700 pack
''eS' WIN their attendants and conductors in the
= 4 o,N-i,, ~
Por'aiion oil our provisions, baggage, &c.) | left
on the 9th OF September, to Join my advance which
! iiad preceded me a few days to Cerralvo n small
! Vuiage 10 miles on the route, which did on the
yin, and after waiting there few DAYS for some of
me corps 10 get up, moved on and reached here on
| Tic i9'li, win O2oO men-2700 regulars the bal
ance volunteers. For what took place afterwards
! must refer you to my several reports -particvlar
! ~ my detailed one Of The 9th ult do not believe the
authorities at Washington are at all satisfied with
my conduct IN regard TO the terms of the caDtula
ton entered into with the Mexican commander
which you, no doubt, have seen, as they have been
made public through the official organ and copied
into various other newspapers. | have this moment
/ received an answer (to my dispatches Announcing
/ the surrender of Monterey, and the circumstances
attending the same,) from the Secretary of War
Statih9 mat lit was regretted by the President that
1t was not deemed advisable to insist ON the terms
. had proposed in my first communication To the
Mexican commander, In regard to giving I'D the
city,"-adding that '.the circumstances which die
tated, no doubt justified the change"
Although the terms of capitulation NAV he ron
sdered too liberal on our part bv the President and
, his advisers, as well as by many there ut dis
lance, particularly by those who do not understand
the position which we occupied. Otherwise they
might come to different conclusion in repard to
the natter yet, due reflection see nothino 10
induce me TO regret the course | pursued The
nyfDre tfrg,n tl,n, e
mad much TO do in determining my course in the
matter, was based on the ground that our Govern
uen had proposed TO him TO settle the existing diff
hcuIties by negotiation, (Which / knew was the
case, without knowing the result which was then
under consideration by the proper authorities, and
which he (Gen. A. } had no doubt would result ia
VoIa0y, as the whole OF his people were in favor Of
peace. Ifso, | considered the further e(1rsion Of
blood not only unnecessary, but improper Thor
force was also considerably larger than ours and
from the size and position of the place we could not
completely invest it; that the greater portion of
their troops, If not the whole, had they been dis
posed to do so, could any night have abandoned the
Guy at once entered the mountain passes and eff
iected their retreat, do what we could Had we
been put to the alternative Of taking the place by
storm, (Which there is no doubt VIC should have
succeeded IN dolng,) should, in all probability
nave 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 wO-
men and children, which must have been very great
had the storming process been resorted to. Besides
they had very large and strong forficatioD a
short distance from the city, which if carried with
the 5ayonet, must have oeen taken al great sacrifice
OF life and with limited train Of heavy OF bat
terlng artillery. it would have required twenty or
twenty-five days 70 take ii by regular approaches
That they should have surrendered place near
I " as strong Quebec. well fortified nndcr the di