The Democratic sentinel and Harrison County farmer. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1851-1852, 1852-08-04

llAAANAH - Viii AA1~AN E~t -
yicsion-thata all your complaints, SO far As
they imputed blame TO the War Department,
or any -Of its branches, are unfOunded. IL
will do much more-it will show that great
industry. promptness, uncommon capacity,
and extraordinary exertions, in relation TO
everything connected with the war. have
characterized the action Of each of these sew
eral branches OF the department, assailed as
they are indirectly by you, see no good
reason for Withholding my opinion, that an
instance cannot be found where so short
time, BY any similar body of officers under
similar circumstances.
As you have, by implication, laid heavy
hand upon the bureau which IS charged with
the onerous duties of executing the laws and
orders for raising and sending forward the
recruits and levies. feell bound to affirm
that YOU have done TO that branch of the
public service the greatest injnstice. No in
dustry has been spared, NJ possible effort
omitted, to raise the forces which were au-
thorized, and 10 send them to their destina
ton within the briefest practicable period.
The numerous orders issued from the Ad.
jutant Generals Office, and its voluminous
correspondence on that subject, will sustain
this assertion.
You have pressed with unwonted zeal the
charge in relation to diverting the detach-
ments of the new regiments under Gen. Cad
walader's command to he Brazos. and
have INDUCED IN the widest speculations as
| to the sad consequences which attended this
Imputed error. Assuming that my orders
diverted these troops, or any others, (an as
Isertion w:"h ] shall controycrt hereafter }
the circumstances justified the measure. The
critical condition Of Gen. Taylor, accord
mgto al accounts received kete at that time,
lis stated in my letter to You of the 22d OF
March. To show that the department ac'
Ted properly, though it incurred yourreproof,
it is necessary to recall the facts as they then
appeared here. They are presented in the
following extract from that letter:
1.-The information which has Just reached
US in the shape of rumors, as to the situation
of Gen. Taylor, and the forces under his
command, has excited the most painful ap-
prehenSions for their safety. Ii is almost
certain that santa Anna has precipitatcd
the large army he had collected at San Luis
dc Potosi upon General Taylor, and it may
be that the general has not been able to
maintain the advanced position he had seen
fit to take at Aqua Nueva, hut has been
Obliged to fall back at Monterey Il is equl-
Iy certain that Mexican force has been in
terrupted the line of communication between
the two places, and seized large supplies
which were on the way TO General Taylor
army,
"ifthe hostile force between th~ Rio Gran
de and General Taylor's army is as large as
report represents it, our troops now on that
river may not be able TO re established the
line, nor will it, perhaps, be possible to place
force there sufficient for the purpose, in
time to prevent disastrous consequences to
our army, unless aid can be afforded from
the troops under your Immediate command,
"From one totwo thousand Of the new
recruits for thcten regiments, from this quar-
ter, will be on the way to the Brazos in the
course of three or four days. All the o.her
forces will be directed to that point and ev
cry effort made TO relieve General Taylor
from his critical situation. You will have
been fully apprized before this can reach you
of the condition ofthings in the valley of the
Rio Grandc, and at the headquarters of Gen
eral Taylor, and have taken, | trust, such
measures as the importance of the subject
requires. need not urge upon you the IA
tai consequences which would result from
any serious disaster which might befall the
army under General Taylor, nor do doubt
that you will do what is in your power to
avert such calamity"
The course pursued by the War Dcpat-
pariment on that occasion, which you con-
vert into charge, must, on revision, l think
commend itself to general approbation Had
it been Indifferent to the alarming condition
of General Taylor's army, and forborne to
use, at the earliest moment, the most ener-
getic measures 10 guard against the fatal
consequences ofits defeat, then too probable,
il would have deserved an arrangement as
severe as that which you have made against
it for haYng done its duty in that critical
emergency When you first received the
reasons assigned fprthe course adopted here,
they appear to have been satisfactory. In
your despatch of the 28thof April, YOU say:
yesterday learned, by your letter of the
22d, and the Adjutant Generals of the Goth
ultimo, that all the recruits of the regiments
some 3. 3.000-raised or likely to be raised
in time for this army, have been ordered to
the Rio Grande." You did not then intimate
the slightest dissatisfacton-no even pre-
monitory symptom oflshat deep distress with
which, instantly on Mr.. Trists's arrival in
Mexico, you represent yourself to have been
seized. It is coincidence not unworthy of
notice that the letter containing your first
condemnaiory remark on this subject was
written on the day of the date Of Mr.. Trusts
first note to you, and only the day before
youl captous reply to il; and in both You
assail the War Department. Your wither
ing disappointment seems to have slumbered
for ten days, and then to have been aroused
by the appearance of Mr.. Trist in Mexico
and your quarrel with him. If the order
from the, ,,WaI Department had in fact "di-
yerted" the forces with General Cadwalla
der, still it was fully justified by the threat
ening aspect Of affairs on the Rio Grande;
but ! am quit sure it did not divert them. u
No previous order from the department
had designated any other place Of rendez-
vous than the Brazos for the troops that
were to join your column. 1t was well un-
derstood, before you left Washington, that
ALI the troops for both armies were to be sent
to that place, and there to fall under your
command.