The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1852-08-26
Tiditor & Proprietor.


u0O III tud6 Y uaIteI III great dDuHuance, on
favorable terms-my order Of the 18th Is
December, SO far, and only so far as it rela- Z
ted to sehdihg OFT vessels in ballast, was
It is strange indeed, that,
after you were made acquainted with the
object Of my enquiries and General Jessup's
letter in reply to them, you should have
looked for transport vessels IN ballast from
the Atlantic cities, and still more strange that
their hoh-arrival should be the proof you
rely on to convict me of having neglected
my duty in this instance If, in truth, you
delayed the expedition nearly two months for
these TRANSPORTS, / am blameless therespon-
sibilify is IN another quarter. 1t cannot be
said that the statement as to the suficiency
of transports to be obtained at the South
had an implied reference to what I had Or
dered from the Atlantic cities, for my order
was then unknown to yourself and the Quar-
termaster General. You first received
copy of it several days after the date of Gen.
Jessup's letter to me, and of your endorse
ment thereon. [See your letter to me Of
the 18th January. Resisted as you were,
by "head winds" enveloped in 'frightful
Mothers" and oppressed with complicated
and perplexing duties in arranging and pre-
pairing the expedition against Vera Cruz,
some temporary bewilderment may be ex-
cused but to charge the War Department
with your own misapprehensions, and mis-
takes, is inexcusablc.
My reply to your accusations forces me TO
expose some Of your misstatements of fact.
You aAege that the expedition for tire want
of the 'Sten vessels" was delayed from the
18th of January to the 9th of March. You
certainly mean to be understood, that on the
18th of January your troops were ready to
embark, and were delayed for want of these
transports. But this was not so, and I am
indebted to you for most abundant proof to
: of your troops for the expedition, was drawn
from Gen. Taylor's command at Monterey
and in the interior of Mexico, and no part
) of them had reached either the Brazos or
Tampicco-the points of embarcation-on
the 18th of January. In your letter of the
18th of that month to General Brooke, at
New Orleans, you said: 81 have now to
: state that it is probable the troops have
called for from General Taylor's immediate
t command to embark here, (the Brazos) and
a at Tampico, will not reach these points till
: late in the present month, (January,) say
i about the 25th." In letter to me of
e the 26th of January, you remark that Gen
n Butler responded to your call for the troops
e with the utmost promptitude, and that Gen.
i Worth made an admira BILE movement. "The
" head of his division arrived with him at the
e mouth of the Rio Grande the day before
J. Yesterday" Oath January.) When the re-
d mainder came up is not stated yet one of
y your ''naked historical facts" places the
n whole command at the points Of embar-
1t cation waiting for the 'ten vessels" at least
&c nine days before the actual arrival of any
part of them. But if they had been there
a why should they have been detained for
tn these vessels? In the same letter-written
d. but two days after the arrival of the head Of
y the first division, and probably before the
e. other troops had come up-you say that
a "the Quartermaster General, (Brevet Major
IS, General Jessup, at New Orleans, find, has
lr- taken all proper measures with judgment
n and promptitude to provide everything de-
to pending on his department for the despatch
and success of my expedition" If more
lis was wanted, cumulative proof might be
)e- drawn FROM the same source-your own cor
he respondence=-to show not only that this
he charge against me has no foundation in truth,
on but that you can have no apology for having
by preferred it.
as, After showing how unfortunate you have
Ioi been in your specific charges, may with
we propriety meet those of a general and sweep
ln' ing character, with less particular detail o.
proofs to show their groundlessness.
7nt Though the "ten vessels" were not, ful
. u the very sufficient reason I have assigned
I'LL Al. A Il -
~ yet a very large number were sent Themes
-. with stores, supplies, and troops, to cO-Ope
-. rate in the expedition.
~; In Gen. Jessup's letter to me of the 17tl
'ou inst, copy of which is sent herewith, b
Po- states ffty-three ships, barques, brigs, an
schoonets, were sent from the North, and tn
you department actually furnished at New On
lew leans, Brazos, and Tampico, for the army
lcej before it took up the line of march into th
cen interior, one hundred and sixty-three We
ant sells.
I'eu have alluded to the large number of sur
oo- boats, and the great difficulty of procurin
:. them, as the cause of the delay In their a
ZION rival. l have also similar reason to off
Ne" In reply to yoIr complaint for not havir
snse seasonably received the seige train al
rom ordnance supplies The delay is to be 4
,: cribed to the enormously large outfit you
my quired. If it was necessary, and despatC
! O0 was used in procuring it, no one is in faul
r.. If too large, you certainly should not regal
IN as reprehcnsible delay the time neeessari
u 70 taken up in preparing it. To show that
lPon was large, and required much time to pr
De cure it, will select from many single iteI
at II You demanded from eighty to one hundr
ex- thousand ten-inch shells and forty or ff
an mortars of like calibre. This enormo
'sup quantity of shells-about four thousand to
lDer' was mostly to be manufactured after Y
left Washington. All the furnaces in t
G for country, willing to engage in the busine
! the were set to work but, with the utmost di
Tay- gence and despatch, the supply Of this o
ores, article, or even tWo-thirds Of it, having to
n Ell manufactured and transported to the S,
from board from the furnaces, located in ml
81 instances IN the interior Of the country,)
les season Of the year when water eommu
d OPP cations we're INSTRUCTED By ice, could not
three ready to be sent forward 70 you in ma
Yes months after your departure from Washil
$, for ton. Had your acquisitions been moderate
ay be and undoubtedly more moderate ones wol
ID to have suficed-they could have been furni
II en- ed at a much earlier period.
The memorandum which you left ssfor
alters train and aFnvk,,uit;o,,, th o-ofo,. 80, -