The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-06-05

A FEW INTERESTING UNPUBLISHED FACTS Ex-
Employing HIS cowARDICE AND TREASON.

FEW INTERESTING UNPUBLISHED FACTS Ex
EMPLiFYING HIS CowARDICE AND TREASON.
There are some important facts In the his
tory of this very conspicuous and very des
picable person which have not yet been mad'
known to the American public at large, ant
which seem to me, to be worth communica
ting to the world, through the newspaper
press. They are interesting and instructive
especially at tie present time, as illustrating
and demonstrating his character and, con
sequently, to some extent, the characters q
those who, we'll knowing him, selected hin
as the Nena Sahib Of the Southern Sepoy
mutiny.
do not think it worth while to 60 into
the details Of his threatened duel with Col
Edward Bissell Of Illinois, (since deceased
in the Governorship of that S.ate,) though a
general reference to it is proper, to show the
undisputed fact thAt-having appeared in
public to provoke and seek mortal combat
lin private correspondence he was availing
himself of every paltry quibble to evade the
consequences of his rash repeti-
ton of the very stale trick of Southerner
bullying Northerner in Congress, on the
that the man of the North would
not fight duel, knowing that duellist is
more infamous here than coward is in the
South. s.-. ..
have never been able to suppress my
contempt in reading a correspondence tend
ing, or relative to, proposed or possible
duel. The case is invariably so befogged
with technicalities, and pettifogged with
which would make an attorney
in the Marine Court or Tombs blush on sug
gestion, that no honest man Of average cour.
age can feel particle Of respect for either
or seconds-after the per-
usal I have been friendly and intimate
with many men who have done these silly
things, but have never been able to esteem or
honor one Of them after such q perform
ance.
only refer to Davis affair with Bissel to
remind the public that he 'backed down"
and backed out of fight which he himself
first proposed : and that he requested Col
Bissell to let him do so, on pretext suggest.
ed and furnished by himself.
1t has been repeatedly announced that
jefferson Davis will command the Southern
Sepoys in person, in the campaign now com.
mencing. hope he will lead the way on
their first battlefield, for mean to be there
myself. But very much doubt whether
Mr.. Davis has the courage to expose himself
to the peculiar risks-not ofimmediate death
but of fcapture-which he would incur in that
position. Some of "our boys are bound te
shave his carcase" alive, ifit costs thou.
sand oftheir lives.
By the way, ifJefferson Davis should lead
the Secession amy in person, it is to be
hoped that his memory (or courage) won't
fail him, as it did at the battle of Buena Vista
when he omitted to give the third and essen
tial command to throw his regiment into
solid square SPY the right and left of flank
hattallions ! To the color-march I" The
consequence of this hiatus sdh de6sendu.
was, that his. regiment were left spread ir
the form af v, to receive the charge o.
1000 Mexican cavalry, coming down on them
in full career, on the slopes of Buena Vista
The survivors of that regiment know thai
nothing saved them from annihilation bu
their long-practised, deadly markmanshiI
with rifles.
Perhaps it was well for Jefferson Davis
that Zachary Taylor was his father-in; Jaw
though unwillingly so. A sterner and NOR
Brutus like commander might have ordered
court-martial on the spot, that would hav'
condemned him to have been shot for cow
ardice or moral incompetelcy.
nmy 6pinibn, Jefferson Davis should hav,
been court -martialled for bis disgraceful mis-
conduct in that battle, as soon as it was de
cided Perhaps he would have been, bu
for his peculiar relations to Zachary Taylor
whose daughter he had married by stealth
in opposition to the expressed wishes an,
positive commands of her father. Genera
(then Col.) Taylor, said to his daughter, II
your marry Lieut. Davis, will never se
your face again, dead or alive p The infat
K
uated girl, nevertheless, eloped with Davis
who bad taken advantage of the patronag
Of his commanding officer, and violated tn
laws Of hospitality by secretly gaining tn
affections ofhis daughter. In such abhor
ance did Zachary Taylor hold Davis, that h
kept his word with firmncss that may b
deemed pitiless cruelty. When in the cours
oftime, his disobedient daughter lay on he
death bed, she sent to him a penitent mes
sage, entreating him to visit her, that sh
might die in peace, with her fathers blessing
or at least his forgiveness, the stern reply q
the inexorable old man was 81 warned yo
that If ever you married that man, I woul
never see you again, living or dead, and
NEVER WILL ~ And SO the unfortunate lad
died, unblcst and unforgiven by him.
When Davis came under the immediat
command of his father-in-law in the Mexica
var, Gen. Taylor refused to recognize hil
in any way, except officially, as in givin
orders, and in other matters ofpurely militar
form and duty.
There was a two-fold obstacle to Taylor
perfoi mances Of his duty in the Buena Visit
matter. Davis was his son-in-,aw, and wa