Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1858-01-14
From The Union d American.
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The court further find, 'Tbat the two howitzer
were brought to town on the 18th of September il
General Pillows wagon, that one was ciained o.
Mr. Rogers and carried to bis quarters, under hi
direction, whilst the other was carried TO the resi-
deGce of Mr. Welsh and for him. 1t does not ap
pear that M,jpr General Pillow had any informstor
of the sctual fact, that the howizers were in tn
city OF Mexico, until the evening OF Octoner oth
subsequent to the order of the IN re
i4tion to trophies, &C., when and subsequently nc
seems to have used all proper measures to nave
them restored"
The court further find that. ''It appears from tbs
evidence that Nejor General Pillow was iniornes
by an officer acting his stiff, Passed hidsn'p
man Rogers of the navy. on the evening OF SCI
tAmber ] 8 h. that two howi'zers were th"n IN Dis
General Pillows. wagon" and ''that Lieutenant
Colonel Howard, 18th infantry, commanding ON
Ger of Chapultepec did report to MAJOR Gencrs
| Pillow, on the evening of September 18Th, that
| two email how:tzers had disappeared from their
carriages; and that about the middle OF the alter
noon of September 14th, the same ofhcer ldrepor'
to General Pillow that two howitzers had been
found in his wagon"
The court further find that, "Is appears from the
| evidence that on the night of tn" l4th, when the
| garrison of Chapultepec about being reduced
! in nnmhers and whilst converSing with his staff
about the offences Of the place, General fio" or
dered two officers of his staff have these howlt-
zars taken out of the wagon and remounted, Wild
somp other ORDERS relative to the general oispoSi-
| tions for the defence Of the work.
These findings of the court are sustained ny I've
evidence as il IA recorded 10 their proceedings out
| it does not appear that the report which Passed
| Midshipmen Rogers testi6es be made TO 'nelai
| Pillow the evening OF the 18th was made pilor
that of Lieutenant Colonel Howar1, on the same
evening. The court add to the last fact found as
| above stated viz: that General Pillow ordered
two officers of his staff to have these howitzers Ia
ken out of the wagon, and remounted: that 1t
ascertained by mis- staff that no sutl lie ammun
ton could be found for the howZers. AMI that th'y
were therefore not used, not mounted, not re-
,oged from the ,co0on and other arrangements for
defence were made without them and reported TO
Gen P" Upon this latter finding, the court ex-
press the following opinion, viz: "Ihe impression
is strong and almost conclusive. that this order OF
Major General Pillow to his staff officers could not
have indie ted sir on his part for a full and
final restoration of these howitZers to their proper
places as public property, otherwise the mere fact
OF failure to find suitable ammunition for their inn
mediate use could not justify the staff officers in
filling to obey the order to Iemount the pieces, and
it does not appear that the stan ofhcers were cen
sur"d for the omission"
The court seems to have fallen into an error in
the statement of a fact when they find that it was
reported General Pillow by the staff officers that
the howitzers had not been amounted" nd had
not been s'r moved from the wagon" No such re-
port appears to have been made to General Pillow.
On the contrary, on ref rring to the testimony OF
Lieutenant Rains and Lieutenant Ripley. the two
staff officers referred to- this mistake of fact in the
finding of the will he clearly perceived. Leu
tenant R4ius in his testimony states that, in the
report made by him to General Pillow, II did not
state that had not taken them It howizers) "out
of the agon," and had not Pic ID them on their
carriagee." The testimony of Lieutenant Rains on
this point, as it appears in the recorded proceed
ings, is as follows.
''In the early part of the evening of the l4tb,"
(September) ''after dark, at Oh pultepec in Gem
al uua all IF taft Mr
Rogers, think, assemble with hinsef
''LieutPnant FEeelani, acting adjutant Of the
18th infantry, entered the room with message
from Lieutenant Colonel Howari TO the effect that
Brigadier General Pierce had sent to him Colonel
II for two companies from the garrison of Cha
puitepec TO strengthen the force under General P,
at Tacuhava.
'sThis message by Lieutenant F. introduced a
conversation about the fence of the place, and,
in the of conversation, / remarked that II
wss a pity those how itz re- had been taken away
that they would have added mat rally to the de-
fences OF the post; when Mr.. Roeers, think, re-
marked that the howtz wer" in General Pillows
wagon Gen. Pillow Immediately directed me 10
have them taken out, and placed in bait ~ for de,
fence and to look generally 10 the proper deences
of the place and directed Lieutenant Rpl v. aid
de camp, to assist in thi- duty, remarkng that,
as we were both artill ~ officers, that mat
ter we ought to understand / WIS under the i'm.
preston that General Pillow, at the same time, d
ted Lieutenant Freeland acting afJutant of the
post 70 convey to Colonel Howard the same order |
in respect to the hOwitz RS in the wagon, and in
respect to the def-nces generally; but Lieutenant
F. SAWS ne was not ordered, aud it is possible
may be mistaken.
"Upon INQUIRY and investigation by Mr.. Ripley |
and myself we found that ammunition for the !
howitzers could be obtained, without entering the
and as we had lantern fit for such |
purpose il decided not to enter the magazinP,
and therefore, we bad no fit ammunition, not to
mount the howiz re-. We made other dispositions |
accordingly without these hoHitzers, and did not |
remove them from the wagon. After completing !
the duty OF looking to the d. licences, returned TO
Gen p and reported what he had done, 81 ting |
that be had not used tn howi'zer@ and the reason
tor not doing So but did not state that had not
taken them out Of the sOogO"-had not placed them
on the Carriages After aud from the moment of |
reporting as above to General Pillow, l neither |
knew nor heard anything in relation these how
itzers until after the publication of Genera SCOTS
order in relation to trophies, &c, captured"
Lieutenant Ripley, in his testimony on the same |
point, states follows, viz:
II was ordered by General Pillow to assist Lieu- |
tenant Rains in mounting these howitzers, in con-
necion with other duty relating to the generl de-
fences Of the place; the pieces were not mounted,
for the reason that il dark at the time, and no
ammunition could be found, without going into the
ma gazne, which deemed unsafe. do not |
recoect of making any report TO General Pillow |
in relation to the uon-removal of the howitzers |
from the wagon, nor do | Iecollect to have been |
present at anv report which Mr.. Rains may have |
made in relation to them, after he had been order |
ed TO remove them"
''The opinion of the court is obviously based on |
the ports supposed to have been made by Lieuten-
ant Rains ana Lieutenant Ripley to General Pill
low: On them the duty Was devoved of restoring |
the ho~tzrs to their proper position, but neither
Of them, in their testimony, support the finding of
the court this point, but on contrary, the last
testifes that he did not so report, and there is
evid nee whatever of a report to General Pillow
On the subject, after the order to them by any
other officer or other person. The finding of the
scts 10 this particular, being unsupported by the
proof is erroneous, and the opinion OF the court
based upon such erroneous finding il couss qurntiy
erroneous also and both disapproved. The |
act stated by the court that Leutenants Rains and
Ripley were not ceusured by General Pillow for die
,bey irg bis orders to remove the howtZ from
he wagon, and mount them on their Carriages, l.
xpiined by the fact that there is evidence that
he had any knowledge that they had not been re-
nov ed from the evening of the l4th September,
hen his order TO remove them given, until the
;th of October, following.
at sppears from the proof on the record, that
previous to any of the transactions in relation to
he two howz rs, General Pillow had been dis
Ibed by a wound, received in the assault upon
Cha pultep pee, on the morning of the 18th OF Srpt
smher; that be was removed from Chapultepec to
he city of "herieo, later" the 18th Of
). ptember, and remained confined by his wound,
10 his quarters for msny DAYS, and could not, tnert-
mir 4. al afr .f |