Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1861-06-27

position. Some of 4" our boys" are bound'
to have his carcass" alive, if it costs a
thousand of their lives.
By The way, jefferson Davis should lead
the secession army in person, it is to be
h>ped that his memory Tor courage) won't
fail him. as it did at the battle of Buena
! VISTA when he omitted to give the third and
essential command to throw his regiment
into solid squad; By the light and left of
flank battalons To the color march P--
The consequences OF this hiatus ualde defen-
dus was, that his regiment was left spread
in the form Of V, to receive tho charge of
1000 Mexican cavalry, coming down upon
them Ill full career, ON the slopes of Buens
Vista. The survivors of that regiment know
that nothing saved them from annihlation
but their rracticed, deadly marksmanship
with rifles.
Perhaps it was well for Jefferson Davis
that Zachary Taylor was his father in law,
though unwilling!y so. A steGner and more
Brutus-like commander might have ordered
court martial on the spot, that would have
condemned him to be shot for cowardice, or
other moral incompetency.
| In my opinion, Jefferson Davis should
| have been court martialed for his disgraceful
misconduct at that battle, as soon as it was
| deoiied. Perhaps he would have been, but
for bis peculiar relations to Major General
Zachary Taylor, whose daughter he had
married by stealth, in opposition to the ex-
pressed wishes and positive commands of
the father. General (then Colonel) Taylor
said to bis daughter: If you marry Lieu,
tenant Davis, | will never see your face
again, dead or alivel !" The infatuated giIl.
nevertheless, eloped with Davis. who had
taken advantage of tie fridndly patronage
| Of his commanding officer, and viol lated the
law Of hospitality by secretly gaining the
/ affections of his daughter. In such abhor.
renee did Zachary Taylor hold DaYis, that
he KEEP. his word with frmness that may
be deemed pitiless crnelty. When in the
course of time his disobedient daughter lay
on her death bed. and sent to him a penitent
message, entReating him TO visit her, that
she might die in peace with her fathers
! blessing, or. at least, his forgiveness. the
stern rep'y Of the inexorable old man was:
L warned you that if you married that
man. would never see you again, living OIL
dead and never will And SO the unfor-
tunate lady died, unblest and unforgiven by
MIN.
When Davis came under the Immediate
command ofhis fatber,in-law in the Mexican
war. General Taylor refused to recognize
him in any way, except officially, as in Civ
pg ORDERS and in other matters of purely
military form and duty.
There was a two- fold obstacle to Taylor's
performance of his duty in the Buena Vista
matter. Davis was his son -in>law, and was
at the same time, known to be the object of
his hatred and abhorance. He could not
+ we'll have escaped suspicious of bad motives
or personal feeling, in either view,
A friend to whom | read the foregoing a
short time since, gave me the following
sketch of Davis relations to an old Missisip-
an, renowned for desperate and reckless
courage: Alexander McClung often proved
himself, on the battlefield and on the dueling
ground, man of dauntless and unsurpassed
valor, showing an absolutely suicidal cons
tempt nf death on every occasion that
presented. He killed many men with his
own band, and finally shot himself in the
head
happened to be in constant communica>
tion with Colonel A. R. McClung of Mississ-
ippi in 1845 and 1850, and had almost daily
conversations with him in relation to promi-
nenr Mississippians. As matter of course,
JEFF Davis was frequently named, and for
him McCluDg entertained the most supreme
contempt. He said jeff was not a man of
true courage that he wished to be regarded
as duelist; but, in giving challenge, would
always cast about for non .combatant, and
would exercise enough prudence to creep
out of accepting one from az antagonist
over whom he had not great advantage
McClung said on one occasion:
6 / am sorry ever fought duel. 1t is
not pleasant business, and yet would like
to fight one more, with one man, and that
man is J(ferson Daois, because think the
United States would be better off without
him. But he will not fight me he is too
great coward. In fact. he is not now.
never was, and never will be, brave man.
in the true sense of the word. He is dan
gerous and willy politician, loaded down with
vanity and sel(-conceit. wishing only for his
own aggrandizement, and he cares not at
what expense or over how many desolate
households. He thinks of himself, and him.
self only and should not be surprised to
find him, one of these days, taking such step
in public as will place his neck in halter;
for he is bad man and a scouDdrel, and
have frequently denounced him as such be-
fore the people of Mississippi, and the dirty
poltroon and artful william never had cour,
age to resent it,"
These conversations occurred on beard the |
ship Levine, B. Gardiner, master, ON our
passag, from New York to Valparaiso. Me- |
Clung was on his way to Bolivia, as Charge
d. affairs from the United States.
In introducing to the notice of the Sunday