Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete
determine what should be done. If the judgment was against him he would
have gone on and done the best he could with the means at hand without
parading his grievance before the public. No soldier could face either
danger or responsibility more calmly than he. These are qualities more
rarely found than genius or physical courage.
General Taylor never made any great show or parade, either of uniform or
retinue. In dress he was possibly too plain, rarely wearing anything in
the field to indicate his rank, or even that he was an officer; but he
was known to every soldier in his army, and was respected by all. I can
call to mind only one instance when I saw him in uniform, and one other
when I heard of his wearing it, On both occasions he was unfortunate.
The first was at Corpus Christi. He had concluded to review his army
before starting on the march and gave orders accordingly. Colonel
Twiggs was then second in rank with the army, and to him was given the
command of the review. Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General Worth, a
far different soldier from Taylor in the use of the uniform, was next to
Twiggs in rank, and claimed superiority by virtue of his brevet rank
when the accidents of service threw them where one or the other had to
command. Worth declined to attend the review as subordinate to Twiggs
until the question was settled by the highest authority. This broke up
the review, and the question was referred to Washington for final
decision.
General Taylor was himself only a colonel, in real rank, at that time,
and a brigadier-general by brevet. He was assigned to duty, however, by
the President, with the rank which his brevet gave him. Worth was not
so assigned, but by virtue of commanding a division he must, under the
army regulations of that day, have drawn the pay of his brevet rank.
The question was submitted to Washington, and no response was received
until after the army had reached the Rio Grande. It was decided against
General Worth, who at once tendered his resignation and left the army,
going north, no doubt, by the same vessel that carried it. This kept
him out of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Either the
resignation was not accepted, or General Worth withdrew it before action
had been taken. At all events he returned to the army in time to
command his division in the battle of Monterey, and served with it to
the end of the war.
The second occasion on which General Taylor was said to have donned his
uniform, was in order to receive a visit from the Flag Officer of the
naval squadron off the mouth of the Rio Grande. While the army was on
that river the Flag Officer sent word that he would call on the General
to pay his respects on a certain day. General Taylor, knowing that
naval officers habitually wore all the uniform the "law allowed" on all
occasions of ceremony, thought it would be only civil to receive his
guest in the same style. His uniform was therefore got out, brushed up,
and put on, in advance of the visit. The Flag Officer, knowing General
Taylor's aversion to the wearing of the uniform, and feeling that it
would be regarded as a compliment should he meet him in civilian's
dress, left off his uniform for this occasion. The meeting was said to
have been embarrassing to both, and the conversation was principally
apologetic.
The time was whiled away pleasantly enough at Matamoras, while we were
waiting for volunteers. It is probable that all the most important
people of the territory occupied by our army left their homes before we
got there, but with those remaining the best of relations apparently
existed. It was the policy of the Commanding General to allow no
pillaging, no taking of private property for public or individual use
without satisfactory compensation, so that a better market was afforded
than the people had ever known before.
Among the troops that joined us at Matamoras was an Ohio regiment, of
which Thomas L. Hamer, the Member of Congress who had given me my
appointment to West Point, was major. He told me then that he could
have had the colonelcy, but that as he knew he was to be appointed a
brigadier-general, he preferred at first to take the lower grade. I
have said before that Hamer was one of the ablest men Ohio ever
produced. At that time he was in the prime of life, being less than
fifty years of age, and possessed an admirable physique, promising long
life. But he was taken sick before Monterey, and died within a few
days. I have always believed that had his life been spared, he would
have been President of the United States during the term filled by
President Pierce. Had Hamer filled that office his partiality for me
was such, there is but little doubt I should have been appointed to one
of the staff corps of the army--the Pay Department probably--and would
therefore now be preparing to retire. Neither of these speculations is
unreasonable, and they are mentioned to show how little men control
their own destiny.
Reinforcements having arrived, in the month of August the movement
commenced from Matamoras to Camargo, the head of navigation on the Rio
Grande. The line of the Rio Grande was all that was necessary to hold,
unless it was intended to invade Mexico from the North. In that case
the most natural route to take was the one which General Taylor
selected. It entered a pass in the Sierra Madre Mountains, at Monterey,
through which the main road runs to the City of Mexico. Monterey itself
was a good point to hold, even if the line of the Rio Grande covered all
the territory we desired to occupy at that time. It is built on a plain
two thousand feet above tide water, where the air is bracing and the
situation healthy.
On the 19th of August the army started for Monterey, leaving a small
garrison at Matamoras. The troops, with the exception of the artillery,
cavalry, and the brigade to which I belonged, were moved up the river to
Camargo on steamers. As there were but two or three of these, the boats
had to make a number of trips before the last of the troops were
up. Those who marched did so by the south side of the river.
Lieutenant-Colonel Garland, of the 4th infantry, was the brigade
commander, and on this occasion commanded the entire marching force.
One day out convinced him that marching by day in that latitude, in the
month of August, was not a beneficial sanitary measure, particularly for
Northern men. The order of marching was changed and night marches were
substituted with the best results.
When Camargo was reached, we found a city of tents outside the Mexican
hamlet. I was detailed to act as quartermaster and commissary to the
regiment. The teams that had proven abundantly sufficient to transport
all supplies from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande over the level
prairies of Texas, were entirely inadequate to the needs of the
reinforced army in a mountainous country. To obviate the deficiency,
pack mules were hired, with Mexicans to pack and drive them. I had
charge of the few wagons allotted to the 4th infantry and of the pack
train to supplement them. There were not men enough in the army to
manage that train without the help of Mexicans who had learned how. As
it was the difficulty was great enough. The troops would take up their
march at an early hour each day. After they had started, the tents and
cooking utensils had to be made into packages, so that they could be
lashed to the backs of the mules. Sheet-iron kettles, tent-poles and
mess chests were inconvenient articles to transport in that way. It
took several hours to get ready to start each morning, and by the time
we were ready some of the mules first loaded would be tired of standing
so long with their loads on their backs. Sometimes one would start to
run, bowing his back and kicking up until he scattered his load; others
would lie down and try to disarrange their loads by attempting to get on
the top of them by rolling on them; others with tent-poles for part of
their loads would manage to run a tent-pole on one side of a sapling
while they would take the other. I am not aware of ever having used a
profane expletive in my life; but I would have the charity to excuse
those who may have done so, if they were in charge of a train of Mexican
pack mules at the time.
CHAPTER VIII.
ADVANCE ON MONTEREY--THE BLACK FORT--THE BATTLE OF MONTEREY--SURRENDER
OF THE CITY.
The advance from Camargo was commenced on the 5th of September. The army
was divided into four columns, separated from each other by one day's
march. The advance reached Cerralvo in four days and halted for the
remainder of the troops to come up. By the 13th the rear-guard had
arrived, and the same day the advance resumed its march, followed as
before, a day separating the divisions. The forward division halted
again at Marin, twenty-four miles from Monterey. Both this place and
Cerralvo were nearly deserted, and men, women and children were seen
running and scattered over the hills as we approached; but when the
people returned they found all their abandoned property safe, which must
have given them a favorable opinion of Los Grengos--"the Yankees." From
Marin the movement was in mass. On the 19th General Taylor, with his
army, was encamped at Walnut Springs, within three miles of Monterey.
The town is on a small stream coming out of the mountain-pass, and is
backed by a range of hills of moderate elevation. To the north, between
the city and Walnut Springs, stretches an extensive plain. On this
plain, and entirely outside of the last houses of the city, stood a
strong fort, enclosed on all sides, to which our army gave the name of
"Black Fort." Its guns commanded the approaches to the city to the full
extent of their range. There were two detached spurs of hills or
mountains to the north and northwest of the city, which were also
fortified. On one of these stood the Bishop's Palace. The road to
Saltillo leaves the upper or western end of the city under the fire of
the guns from these heights. The lower or eastern end was defended by
two or three small detached works, armed with artillery and infantry.
To the south was the mountain stream before mentioned, and back of that
the range of foot-hills. The plaza in the centre of the city was the
citadel, properly speaking. All the streets leading from it were swept
by artillery, cannon being intrenched behind temporary parapets. The
house-tops near the plaza were converted into infantry fortifications by
the use of sand-bags for parapets. Such were the defences of Monterey
in September, 1847. General Ampudia, with a force of certainly ten
thousand men, was in command.
General Taylor's force was about six thousand five hundred strong, in
three divisions, under Generals Butler, Twiggs and Worth. The troops
went into camp at Walnut Springs, while the engineer officers, under
Major Mansfield--a General in the late war--commenced their
reconnoissance. Major Mansfield found that it would be practicable to
get troops around, out of range of the Black Fort and the works on the
detached hills to the north-west of the city, to the Saltillo road.
With this road in our possession, the enemy would be cut off from
receiving further supplies, if not from all communication with the
interior. General Worth, with his division somewhat reinforced, was
given the task of gaining possession of the Saltillo road, and of
carrying the detached works outside the city, in that quarter. He
started on his march early in the afternoon of the 20th. The divisions
under Generals Butler and Twiggs were drawn up to threaten the east and
north sides of the city and the works on those fronts, in support of the
movement under General Worth. Worth's was regarded as the main attack on