Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1848-08-17
Gen. Taylor and the Chicken.
ThieVQS.

having been already noticed in our columns by a
Washington correspondent, we may as well see it
out. The charge is that Gen. Taylor DETAINED and
swore at the said Ohio Regiment as set of (ex
cuse the hard words) thieves and towards, who
only went out to rob and plunder"-the provoca-
tion being (as the soldiers have it) that one of
them took chicken from deserted ranch.'-
The Louisville Journal responds on behalf of Gen.
Taylor as follows:
GEN. TAYLoR's SLANDERERs.-The Louisville
Democrat had an article from an Ohio paper, charg
ing that Gen. Taylor in the town of Marin, at Mex
leo, denounced the advanced guard ofCol Curtis's
Ohio regiment as :'God damned thieves and cow
ards" The certificates of some of the fellows
themselves are given proofs of the truth of the
charge. THE Union copies this whole affair +
1t is perfectly certain that Gen Taylor's language
upon the occasion in question is UNANIMOUSLY mis-
represented for all who know him can testify that
The words ascribed to him are not in keeping with
his character.
That Gen. Taylor was not pleased. and could
not have been pleased with the conduct of a por-
ton of Col Curtis's regiment is readily admitted.
On Friday last we had full conversation with an
accomplished officer, who accompanied Col C.'s
regiment between the 9Th and 10th of March, 1947,
and from him we gather some extraordinary and
revolving facts. Our informant has no thought of
casting imputations upon the whole regiment, but,
from his statement there is no doubt that the acts
of part of it were most atrocious, such as would
have disgraced even horde of savages.
The march of the regiment, from the lawless
character of some of those composing it, was eve-
rywhere marked Sy deeds of wanton violence and
cruelty. Along the whole extent of the march
ranches were burned, cattle were shot, hogs and
poultry were killed. and even pet pigs were slaugh-
tered at the very feet of the women and children
that owned them. The shooting Of cattle was Of
tentimes done in utter wantonness, the marauders
either suffering them to lie just as they fell, or
merely cutting out their tongues and leaving their
carcases to rot, thus showing that not the wait
of food that melted them to outrage. Upon their
arrival at Caraceta, from which the Mexicans fled
at their approach our informant. after an explora
tion in company with two or three other officers,
reported that large number of trunks and band
boxes, containing female apparel, were concealed
in the chapparal about mile and half Off
The instant the annunciation was made. gang Of
fellows from Curtis's regiment darted off for the
chapparal as if running for life. Shortly after
wards they were seen returning, some of them
with caps and bonnets on their reads, and others
wearing gowns and other articles Of woman's
dress, and when our informant next passed the
chaPParal, he found that general bonfire had
been made of the silks, muslns, ribbons, slippers,
and all the little articles of the female toilet that
the chvalrc male conquerors had not worn off up
on thier own persons. These outrages were all re-
ported to Gen. Taylor before his arrival at Marin,
and can be substantated by Col. Fontleroy ofthe
I'd dragons. Col Randolph of the Virginia Vol
unieers, Col. Bslknap, Inspector General of the
q. S. Army, Patterson of the Mississippi regi-
ment, and many others, If necessary.
At Marin itself, where the severe language Of
Gen. Taylor is SAID to have been used, the con-
duct of the advanced guard of Col. Curtis's regi-
ment was marked by similar atrocities. The night
before the arrival of the Ohoregiment there. Gen.
Taylor had slept in the town, had seen the alcalde,
had been the. guest of some cf the principal ci,-
zens, had broken bread with them, and had PROM
sed them protection. But the advanced guard of
Curtis'sregimeht entered the town. and instantly the
work Of fpillage, robbery and devastation begun.
At least four houses were set on fire by them
Gen. Taylor arrived upon the spot, and, remem-
bering what had been reported to him as to the
outrages perpeira.ed during the whole march, ex-
asperated by what was then passing before his
very eyes, and deeply panied and mortified at not
having been able to keep the pledge given to the
men and women who had Hospitality entertained
him, he undoubtedly rebuked the guilty miscreants
in strong language II is very possible that, in
the heat of his burning indignation at such deeds
of atrocty and shame, he did not measure his
words with the utmost nicely but he is a just
man, and never even in his anger, did he utter a.
wholesale condemnation of the guilty and the in
nocent.
1t is not surprising that the thieves and house
burners, who were thus rebuked by Gen. Taylor
and rested by him in the midst of their career
of attocity, feel deep resentment against that
stern anG vrtuous old chieftain, but it is strange
indeed. that, with consciousness ofther crimes,
they have the impudence, the audacity, TO revive
the recollection of theirdee by publishing lying
certificates of the language which Gen Taylor is
alleged 70 have addressed TO them. Almost any
la 1nacs on the mart Of Con Pavlor yuouh hove