Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/493

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464
NOTES ON CHAPTER VIII, PAGES 161-164

the practice of Cæsar, Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington (Napol., Maxims, 49, note).

10. (Obvious) Henshaw narrative. 63Marey, Jan. 13. 69Friend, {Apr. 11]. Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 138, 140, 142 (Taylor). 65Taylor, gen. orders 45. (Seven) 69McCall, report, Apr. 30. May 3 Taylor reported that his lack of light troops had helped to keep him in ignorance of the enemy's movements as if that lack had been due to some one else. He did not call on Texas for troops until Apr. 26. Ripley (War with Mexico, i, 133) says he did not call in February because such troops could serve only three months. But had a call been issued then, the troops would probably not have begun to serve for a month or two; and later he could have called for a second small body.

11. México á través, iv, 561. 76Arista, Apr. 27; May 1. 76Id. to Ampudia, May 5. Revue des Deux Mondes, Aug. 1, 1847, 394-6. Republicano, June 5. Campaña contra. 76Arista to Mejía, May 1, 2. 76Mejía to Arista, May 1, 3. 69Diary captured in Arista's papers. 76Plana mayor diary. Apuntes, 35-7. Bustamante, N. Bernal, ii, 16. 76Testimony at trial of Arista. People in the United States could not believe Taylor would permit the enemy to get between him and his base (e.g. Mobile Herald and Tribune, May 3). At first Arista left only 1007 men at Matamoros, but, becoming anxious about the town, he sent back the Morelia battalion. .

12. Henshaw narrative. Mansfield, Mex. War, 35. Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 288 (Taylor). Taylor, Letters (Bixby), 175. Picayune, May 12. Nebel and Kendall, 1. Niles, May 23, p. 178. Ho. 1; 30, 2, p. 1161 (Conner). 62Twiggs to Davis, May 4. (Lowd, etc.) Meade, Letters, i, 74-5. Appleton's Biog. Dict. (art. by J. Davis on Taylor). Autograph, May-June, 1912 (Taylor). Smith, To Mexico, 44. Fry and Conrad, Taylor, 109-10. Henry, Camp. Sketches, 86. 76Diary of plana mayor. 76To Arista, May 15.

Mejía notified Arista that Taylor was preparing to move, but the news arrived so late that the guns of Matamoros did not open fire upon him. Arista pursued the Americans but could not overtake them; and a body of dragoons that he ordered on was equally unsuccessful. On the morning of May 3 the boom of heavy guns in the direction of Fort Brown (Grant, Mems., i, 92; Henry, Camp. Sketches, 88) alarmed Taylor, and he gave orders to set out at one o'clock (Henry, Camp. Sketches, 88; Smith, To Mexico, 44), which showed that he felt no great confidence in its defensibility even then; but he desired to strengthen the base and to receive some ordnance and reinforcements that he then expected (Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 288), and hence sent Capt. Walker with a small party to communicate with Brown (Henshaw narrative). This was a hard task; but after some fighting, Walker reached the fort, stated that Taylor would return as soon as possible, obtained a reassuring report (Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 293), and with great difficulty made his way back (Henshaw papers; Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 289, 293). May 1 Pt. Isabel had a force, including civilians who took up arms, of 400-500 (Niles, May 16, p. 165; 23, p. 179; Picayune, May 10; Wash. Union, May 9).

13. Meade, Letters, i, 74-8, 93. 65Taylor, gen. orders 56, 58. Journ. Mil. Serv. Instit., xli, 94. Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 288, 292-4 (Taylor); 527 (spec. orders 60). Autograph, May-June, 1912 (Taylor), Nebel and Kendall, 2. Grant, Mems., i, 167-8. Henry, Camp. Sketches, 88-9. (Leaving train, etc.) 224Larnard to Hitchcock, June 13. Wash. Union,