The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1852-08-26
COLUMBUS MISSISSIPPI THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1859

at the suggestion of appointing, by authori-
ty of Congress, a "citizen lieutenant general"
or vesting the President with power to de-
volve the command of the army on major
general without regard to priority in the date
of his commission, should, in your request,
after being assigned to command, ask the
President to disregard the rights of at least
four officers as meritorious as "the three ac-
complished captains" named by you The
Presidents views on this sub ect undoubt-
eddy differ from yours. His regard for the
rights of officers is not graduated by their
rank. Those of captains and major generals
have equal value in his estimation, and an
equal claim to his respect and protection 1
cannot admit that it is a just ground of Gen.
sure and rebuke against the "head of the
War Department that the President did not
see fit, in order to crafty your feelings of
favoritism, to disregard the claims and vio-
late the rights of all the assistant adiutants
general of the rank of captain then in COM
mission.
But, so far as it is made ground of COM
plant and reproof, this isnot the worst aspect
OF the case. You are entirely mistaken in
the assertion that there was then vacancy
in the Adjutant Generals staff, with the
rank of major, to which either cf the cap
tains recommended by you could have been
properly appointed There was no such va
cancy. To show the correctness of this
statement, and to demonstrate your error, |
appeal to the Army Register and the records
of the Adjutant Generals office Your mis-
take as to an obvious fact lying within the
range of matters with which you are pre-
sumed to be familiar, has excited less sur
: prise than the declaration that, by the non
compliance of your request, you "have had
f no officer Of the Adjutant Generals depart
ment with me [you] in the campaign. =
= Every officer of that Departmental least
Y eight-was, as you well know, subject tC
a your command. When you arrived in Mexi
co, there were with the army at least five as
s sistant adjutants general, all at your service
| That you chose to employ none of them a
/ your headquarters, and detached from othc
appropriate duties an officer to act as an as
sistant adjutant general, may well be re
e garded as slight to the whole of that stat
e then with you in Mexico, and cause 0
1t complaint, but certainly not a complaint t
~ ClldlldlC lloili NOA SolboO tliC w I'll DS fdi
E. mcnt Willing as | am to presume, thong
1t unable to conceive, that circumstances just
1t fed you in passing over all the assistant al
at Ijutant generals then with the army, and i
d. selecting an officer of the line to perforI
o, the duties Of adjutant, though there was Il
to vacancy in the adjutant general staff of I'll
k, grade of major, for which only you recon
id mended the accomplished captains" an
OF to which only they were properly cligibl
VS. there was vacancy in it of the rank of ca
ch tain For this position yeu recommends
ed an officer in General Wools staff, then {
to the chihuahua expedition. This officer w
ll- subsequently appointed assistant adjutas
)r- general, with the rank of captain, as you d
in sired, and has ever since been at the hea
GU quarters of that general Thus it will
lg- perceived that your request, so far as it W
ld- proper and reasonable, was actually comph
int with.
WI The next specification in the catalogue
la charges preferred against me, is that a cou
As martial was not instituted BY the Preside
Ear for the trial of General Marshall and Ca
ca Montgomery on your charges against the
the The offences imputed to them were certain
the not of an aggravated character. The OIL
ess as was alledged, had been incautious in
&C lation to a despatch under circumstant
ent that might admit Of its coming to the kno'
our edge of the enemy, and the other had !
ON carried a despatch with as much expedit
the as you thought he might have done.
on, one was a general officer, a court to try
nd must have been composed of officers of h
nth rank. Before the order for assembling
could have reached Mexico, it was forest
ced that your command would be at Vera Or
oral and probably engaged in active siege of t
the city. Officers could not, therefore, h
been then sent from your column to NJ
ing terey or the Rio Grande, (where the co
must have been held without great de
d to mcnt to the public service. Had you b
AVE deprived of several officers of high rank
the that critical period by the order of the Pr
lent dent, it would have afforded a better
are tence of complaint than any one in your
st to tended catalogue. Had the court been C
II to posed of officers from General Taylor's C
that mand, it would have still further weake
por his condition, already weak in conseqe
inst of the very large force you had withdrt
from him. Subsequent events have pre-
3slon VhaC IL was HoSG ioI'uh"'e 'nc ieSiuenG j,
= Of not comply with your request, for, had
ar done so, some of the officers highest in II
Won and most conspicuous at Buena Vista, mi
,rmv at that critical conjuncture, have been S
non rated from their commands, and engage
Won court at distance from the glorious S
had of action 1t is not faneiful to suppose
their absence might have changed the fu
own of that eventful day; and that, instead
rejoicing, as we now do, in a trump
that victory-among the most brilliant in
o;no whole course of the war-we might
stont had to lament most disastrous defeat,
oior the almost total loss of the whole force
ynos had left to sustain that frontier No
nnoet has more reason than yourself to rejoice
hove no order emanated from Washington, tn
$ De. requested by you, which would have flu
Can impaired the efficiency of Gen. Taylor's
~ a mand in the crisis that then awaited hi
of a My letter of the 22d of February, col
selec- ing the Presidents views in regard to
], the order depriving Col. Harvey of his a
cor pirate command, is severely arraigned b,
as offensive, both in manner and matte
, stat The facts in relation to this ca
,romi- alleged grievance are now before Che p
o the and brief allusion to them will place
in his transaction in it's true light. Under
your orders Col. Harvey had brought seven
UGH as panies of his regiment-the End drago
'lished from Monterey to the Brasos, to be
better your immediate command; and two
n n.N4l II H.