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


their arrival. / have also similar reason
to offer in reply to your compliant for not
having seasonably received the siege train
and ordnance supplies. The delay is to be
ascribed to the enormously large outfit you
required. lift was necessary, aud despatch
was used in procuring it, no one is in fault.
If too large you certainly should not regard
as a reprehensible delay the time necessarily
taken up in preparing i. To show that
it was large, and required much time to pro-
cure it, will select from many q single item.
You demanded from eighty to one hundred
thousand ten-inch shells, and forty or fifty
mortars oflike calibre. This enormous guam
tity of shells--aboutfo four thousand tons-was
mostly to be manufactured after you lefi
Washington. Allthe furnaces in the country,
willing to engage in the business, were set to
work; but, with the utmost diligence and de-
Ispatch, the supply of this one article, or even
two-thirds of it, having to be manufactured
and transported to the seaboard from the
furnaces, (located in most instances in the
interior of the country, at a season of the
year when water communications were OBJ
strucsed by ice, could not be ready to be
lsent forward to you in many months after
lyour departure from Washington. Had
Iyour reCusiti 9ns been moderate-and ur-
doubtedly more moderate ones would have
Isufficed-they coCld have been furnished at
la much earlier period.
Thc~memorandom which You left ''for the
siege-train and ammunition therefore" was
submitted to me by the Ordinance depart
meut, on the e6th Of november, with an in
timation that could not be complied with
in season for the expedition to go forward as
early as you had contemplated. l endorsed
upon it, comply with the above as far as
practicable" and this order, l am satisfied.
after full examination, was faithfully cxecu-
ted.
What could be done at Washington, was
promptly done. You had with you the Quar-
termaster General, with all the means at the
command of the War Department. and with
unrestricted authority to do whatever you
might require. He was under your super
vision, and subject to your orders, able and
willing to execute them. You have never
intimated that he, in any respect, failed in
his duty, but on the contrary, you have spo.
ken inhighly commendatory terms Of his eff
cient services.
have already quoted your acknowledge
ment thathe had taken all proper measures
with judgment and promptitudo to provide
everything depending on his department fol
the despatch and success Of your expedition
In an issue of fact between you and the head
of the War Department, his testimony, next
to your own confession, is the best that can
b. offered to correct your misstatements and
to relut your charges.
In his letter to me of the "a of January,
1841, he says: "Gen Scott lett for the in
terror on the 29th uliimo, and | am taken
active measures to have everything depend
ing upon me ready for his operations. The
quartermaster's department, | find, is called
upon to do a great deal that should be done
by other branches of the staff. So far as
Gen. Scott's operations go, l shall have ey
erything done that is necessary, whether it
belongs to my department or to other de-
partments to DO it,"
You had with you. and subject to your
orders, not only that Quartermaster General,
but officers of the other staff departments s.
They did not look to the War Department,
but to yourself, for directions; and it was
your duty, and not mine, to see that your
requirements were complied with. That
they were so, to the utmost practicable ex-
tent have no reason to doubt; but if they
were not. The fault, if any, is not with the
War Department. You also gave the in
structions in relation to providing the means
of land transportation, and the officers char
ged with that dutj were under your ilnme-
diate, control; and if there is blame anywhere
for any deficiency in this respect, it cannot
be imputed to the War Department Your
whole correspondence with me; and the staff
officers with you, shows that you very prop
erly took upon yourself the whole charge Of
giving directions in this matter In letter
to Captain Hetzel, senior quartcrmastcr at
the Brazos, speaking on this subject of the
land transportation which may be needed af-
ter the descent on the enemy's coast near
Vera Cruz, you say: Il have already dis
cussed and arranged with you the detail of
the early land transportation train, &c. On
the 10th Of March, you furnished Gen Jesup
with your estimates and directions on this
subject. The staff officers being with you,
and under your orders, nothing further was,
or properly could be, required or expected
to cmanate from Washington, beyond the
supply of funds; and this being done, if you
Were disappointed in not realizing your ex-
pectations, you have nota colorabc prctence
for i.lputinu blame to ''the head of The War
Department"
As a just ground Of complaint, and mat
ter of accusation, you refer to your dcfcien-
cy of means to make the descent, and to cap
ture the city OF Vera Cruz and the castle Of
San Juan d Ulloa, and assume that the ex-
tent of tha, deficiency was the difference be-
tw en- what you received and what You re-
quireG 1t would be quie as correct reason
Ing to say, that whatyou had having proved
sufficient for the purpose, that difference
showed the eXtent Of The errors in your es-
innate. The truth lies, perhaps, between
the two extremes. You had less, probably,
than you should have had, and YOU requi-
red much more than was necessary. That
you did not have more, and, indeed, all you
asked for, have already shown was not
the fault The War Department.
Gen. Jesup was with you at Vera Cruz,
saw your means, and is capable of forming
an estimate of their suffciency. He is, as
his letter herewith shows, disposed to be just,
and even generous to your fame. To his
opinion on the subject, no well-founded ex-
c.pt;o,, coo ha Inl,D TIa cope -, Y.E,