The Mexican War Diary of George B. McClellan by George B. McClellan - HTML preview

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In a letter to his brother “Tom” dated West Point, September 22, 1846, McClellan wrote: “We start with about 75 men—the best Company (so Gen’l. Scott and Col. Totten both say) in the service. All Americans—all young—all intelligent—all anxious, very eager for the campaign—and above all, well drilled. If the Lord and Santa Anna will only condescend to give us a chance—I’ll be most confoundedly mistaken if we don’t thrash them ‘some’.” (McClellan Papers, Vol. I.)

[2] Gustavus W. Smith was one of McClellan’s most intimate friends and was known by him by the nickname of “Legs.” He was born in Scott Co., Kentucky, on January 1, 1822. He died in New York on June 23, 1896. Smith graduated from West Point in 1842. He entered the Confederate Army in 1861 and distinguished himself in the Peninsular Campaign fighting against his old friend at the battles of Seven Pines and Fair Oaks.

[3] A town of some three thousand inhabitants, situated on the river San Juan about three miles above its junction with the Rio Grande. It is about one hundred miles by land from Matamoros. (See Life and Letters of General George Gordon Meade, Vol. I, pages 109 and 119.)

[4] A letter from McClellan to his mother, dated “Camp off Camargo, Mex.,” November 14, 1846, tells her that when he arrived at Matamoros he was taken sick almost immediately. He remained sick for two weeks while there and “whilst on the steamboat thence to Camargo” ... “When we got here I went into hospital quarters whence I emerged yesterday, so that I have had almost a month’s sickness, but now am perfectly well.” He adds, “I would not have missed coming here for the world, now that I am well and recovering my strength, I commence to enjoy the novelty of the affair, and shall have enough to tell you when I return, to fill a dozen books.” (McClellan Papers, Vol. I.)

[5] Later on McClellan wrote in the diary on a page otherwise blank:

“On the 18th June, 1851, at five in the afternoon died Jimmie Stuart, my best and oldest friend. He was mortally wounded the day before by an arrow, whilst gallantly leading a charge against a party of hostile Indians. He is buried at Camp Stuart—about twenty-five miles south of Rogue’s River [Oregon?], near the main road, and not far from the base of the Cishion (?) Mountains. His grave is between two oaks, on the left side of the road, going south, with J. S. cut in the bark of the largest of the oaks.”

[6] Robert Patterson, born at Cappagh, County Tyrone, Ireland, on January 12, 1792, died at Philadelphia, Pa., on August 7, 1881. Came to America early in life and became a prominent merchant and Democratic politician in Philadelphia. Served both in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War and in 1861 was mustered into the service as a major-general. He commanded the troops in the Shenandoah Valley and was outwitted by General Joseph E. Johnston who slipped away in time to join Beauregard and rout the Union forces under McDowell at the first battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. Patterson was retired from the army the same month.

[7] Tampico was captured November 14, 1846.

[8] Gideon J. Pillow was born in Williamson Co., Tennessee, on June 8, 1806. He died in Lee Co., Arkansas, on October 6, 1878. Pillow was a prominent Tennessee politician and was active in securing the presidential nomination for his intimate friend James K. Polk. In 1846 he was commissioned a brigadier general by Polk and went to the front in command of the Tennessee volunteers. In 1861 he became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and is famous for having deserted his forces at Fort Donelson on February 15, 1862, leaving them to be surrendered to Grant the next day by his subordinate, General Simon B. Buckner. Also see Autobiography of Lieut.-Gen. Scott, Vol. II, pages 416-417.

[9] Later a brigadier general in the Union Army. He was adjutant general on McClellan’s staff and closely connected with him while in command of the Army of the Potomac.

[10] The city was captured on September 24, 1846, after three days fighting.

[11] “The people are very polite to the regulars ... but they hate the volunteers as they do old scratch himself.... You never hear of a Mexican being murdered by a regular or a regular by a Mexican. The volunteers carry on in a most shameful and disgraceful manner; they think nothing of robbing and killing the Mexicans.” Letter to mother, dated “Camp off Camargo, Mex.,” November 14, 1846. (McClellan Papers, Vol. I.)

“I believe with fifteen thousand regulars, we could go to the City of Mexico, but with thirty thousand volunteers the whole nature and policy of the war will be changed. Already are the injurious influences of their presence perceptible, and you will hear any Mexican in the street descanting on the good conduct of the ‘tropas de ligna,’ as they call us, and the dread of the ‘volontarios.’ And with reason, they (the volunteers) have killed five or six innocent people walking in the streets, for no other object than their own amusement; to-be-sure, they are always drunk, and are in a measure irresponsible for their conduct. They rob and steal the cattle and corn of the poor farmers, and in fact act more like a body of hostile Indians than of civilized whites. Their own officers have no command or control over them, and the General has given up in despair any hope of keeping them in order. The consequence is they are exciting a feeling among the people which will induce them to rise en masse to obstruct our progress, and if, when we reach the mountains, we have to fight the people as well as the soldiers, the game will be up with us. I have some hope, however, that when we leave this place, which has become a mass of grog-shops and gambling-houses, and march to meet the enemy, the absence of liquor, and the fear of the enemy, may induce a little order among them and bring them to a better state of discipline.” Letter of George G. Meade, dated Matamoros, July 9, 1846. (Life and Letters of General George Gordon Meade, Vol. I, pages 109-110.) Meade wrote further, from Camargo, August 13, 1846: “Already have they in almost every volunteer regiment reported one-third their number sick, and in many cases one-half the whole regiment, and I fear the mortality will be terrible among them, for their utter ignorance of the proper mode of taking care of themselves. The large number of sick is a dead weight upon us, taking away so many men as hospital attendants, requiring quarters, etc., and if taken sick on the march, requiring transportation in wagons or on litters.” (Same, page 121.) Also from Monterey, December 2, 1846: “The volunteers have been creating disturbances, which have at last aroused the old General [Taylor] so much that he has ordered one regiment, the First Kentucky foot, to march to the rear, as they have disgraced themselves and their State.... The volunteers cannot take any care of themselves; the hospitals are crowded with them, they die like sheep; they waste their provisions, requiring twice as much to supply them as regulars do. They plunder the poor inhabitants of everything they can lay their hands on, and shoot them when they remonstrate, and if one of their number happens to get into a drunken brawl and is killed, they run over the country, killing all the poor innocent people they find in their way, to avenge, as they say, the murder of their brother. This is a true picture, and the cause is the utter incapacity of their officers to control them or command respect.” (Same, pages 161-162.)

For further testimony of the same character see Luther Giddings, Sketches of the Campaign in Northern Mexico, pages 81-85; William Jay, Review of the Mexican War, pages 214-222; J. J. Oswandel, Notes on the Mexican War, page 114. Also see postea, page 37.

[12] George A. McCall was born in Philadelphia, Pa., on March 16, 1802, and died there on February 25, 1868. He graduated from West Point in 1822. McCall was made a brigadier general in 1861 and placed in command of the Pennsylvania Reserves. He distinguished himself in the Peninsular Campaign under the command of McClellan at the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines’s Mill and Frazier’s Farm.

[13] Meade, in a letter dated “Monterey, November 10, 1846,” wrote in explanation of this move as follows: “The cabinet at Washington, profiting by the history of the Aulic Council, is manoeuvering his (Taylor’s) troops for him, and at Washington, entirely independent of his wishes and views, organizing expeditions for Tampico, even going so far as to designate the troops and their commanders. To-be-sure, it is well understood how this is done, by the mighty engine of political influence, that curse of our country, which forces party politics into everything.

“General Patterson and others are good Democrats; they are indignant that General Taylor should have left them in the rear when he carried more troops than he could feed. They complain at Washington, and forthwith General Patterson and Co. are directed to proceed against Tampico, and General Patterson informed before his commanding general knows anything about it. Well may we be grateful that we are at war with Mexico! Were it any other power, our gross follies would have been punished severely before now.

“General Taylor, of course, has to succumb, and the Tampico expedition is to be immediately prosecuted. General Patterson goes from Camargo.... He marches direct to Tampico. General Taylor, however, does not design that he shall have it in his power, from ignorance or other causes, to fail; therefore he will leave here with a column of some two thousand men and artillery, light and heavy, and will join General Patterson before he reaches Tampico, when both columns united, and under General Taylor’s command, will operate against the town, in conjunction with the navy, if the latter have it in its power to do anything.” (Life and Letters of G. G. Meade, Vol. I, page 152.)

[14] i. e., General Patterson.

[15] Aide to General Patterson.

[16] Surgeon on General Patterson’s staff.

[17] A Mexican servant.

[18] George C. Furber, in his Twelve Months Volunteer; or Journal of a Private in the Campaign in Mexico, gives in chapters VIII and IX (pages 275-393) a lively account of this same march, in which he took part, from Matamoros to Victoria and Tampico. He describes many of the events noted by McClellan, but from the standpoint of an enthusiastic and self-confident member of the volunteer forces.

The contemptuous sting in McClellan’s frequent references to “mustangs” can be appreciated from the following. Says Furber (page 376): “The ‘mustang cavalry’—a description of force unknown to the army regulations ... accompanied us from Victoria.—It was composed of numbers from the three regiments of infantry. Any one that could raise the means to buy a long-eared burro (jackass), or a mule, or old Mexican horse, or any such conveyance, immediately entered the mustang cavalry. Such animals could be bought for from three to five dollars. Some of the riders had procured Mexican saddles, with their horsehair housings and bridles also; while some had bridles, but no saddles; others had saddles without bridles; while others, again, had neither. Here was a soldier large as life, with his musket in his hand, on a little jackass, without saddle or bridle, and so small that the rider had to lift his feet from the ground;—the little burro jogged along with him, occasionally stopping to gather a bite of grass.”

[19] McClellan’s small brother and sister.

[20] Agustin de Iturbide was born in Spain on September 27, 1783, the son of a Spanish noble. He entered the army and attained a high and responsible position in the Spanish administration of Mexico. In 1821 he advocated the celebrated “Plan of Iguala,” in which it was proposed that Mexico should become independent under the rule of a member of the Spanish royal family. Ferdinand VII regarded the movement as a rebellion, and Iturbide himself was proclaimed emperor as Agustin I in May, 1822, and crowned the following July.

A rebellion immediately broke out against his authority under the lead of Santa Anna, who proclaimed a republic at Vera Cruz. Iturbide was forced to abdicate in March, 1823, and went to Europe. He returned to Mexico the following year but was arrested and shot at Padilla on July 19, 1824.

[21] Sappers, soldiers employed in the building of fortifications, field works, etc. (Century Dict.)

[22] “General Taylor never wore uniform, but dressed himself entirely for comfort. He moved about the field in which he was operating to see through his own eyes the situation. Often he would be without staff officers, and when he was accompanied by them there was no prescribed order in which they followed. He was very much given to sit his horse sideways—with both feet on one side—particularly on the battlefield.... Taylor was not a conversationalist, but on paper he could put his meaning so plainly that there could be no mistaking it. He knew how to express what he wanted to say in the fewest well chosen words, but would not sacrifice meaning to the construction of high sounding sentences.” U. S. Grant, Memoirs, Vol. I, pages 138-139.

[23] David E. Twiggs was born in Richmond Co., Georgia, in 1790. He served in the war of 1812, and in the Mexican War became a brigade and division commander under General Scott. In February, 1861, he was in command of the Department of Texas, but surrendered his forces, with the military stores under his charge, to the Confederates. On March 1, 1861, Joseph Holt, Secretary of War, issued “General Order No. 5” as follows,—“By the direction of the President of the United States, it is ordered that Brig. Gen. David E. Twiggs, major-general by brevet, be, and is hereby, dismissed from the Army of the United States, for his treachery to the flag of his country, in having surrendered, on the 18th of February, 1861, on the demand of the authorities of Texas, the military posts and other property of the United States in his department and under his charge.” (Official Records, War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. I, page 597.)

Twiggs was appointed a major-general in the Confederate Army, and died at Augusta, Georgia, on September 15, 1862.

[24] “The correspondent of the ‘Spirit of the Times,’ G. de L., is Captain [Guy] Henry, of the Third Infantry, a classmate of mine at West Point, a very good fellow, and I notice his recent productions since our march from Camargo have been quite spirited.” Meade, Life and Letters, Vol. I, pages 167-168.

[25] “McClellan’s sobriquet in Mexico, among his intimate friends, was ‘Polance’ (sugar). On the march, when [he] first arrived, he insisted upon eating a lot of the sugar arranged on even cobs and persuading his companions to eat it too. He was always fond of sweet things. They all became ill in consequence, and he more than any of them. After that they addressed him as ‘Polance’ for he kept saying,—‘Why it’s Polance, the best sugar—it can’t hurt anyone’.” (Note in writing of McClellan’s daughter, McClellan Papers, Vol. 108.)

[26] “Tampico is a delightful place, having fine cafes, and all the luxuries of a somewhat civilized town.... I find the place much larger than I expected, and really quite delightful. There is a large foreign population of merchants, and in consequence the town has all such comforts as good restaurants, excellent shops, where everything can be purchased, and is in fact quite as much of a place as New Orleans. It is inaccessible, owing to a bar, having only eight feet of water, and as this is the season of ‘Northers,’ already many wrecks have taken place.” Meade, Life and Letters, Vol. I, pages 175 and 177.

[27] “You can form no idea of the pleasure it gave us to meet the regulars after having been so long with the cursed volunteers.... I am tired of Tampico for I like to be in motion.—You have no idea of the charm and excitement of a march—I could live such a life for years and years without becoming tired of it. There is a great deal of hardship—but we have our own fun. If we have to get up, and start long before daybreak—we make up for it, when we gather around the campfires at night—you never saw such a merry set as we are—no care, no trouble—we criticize the Generals—laugh and swear at the mustangs and volunteers, smoke our cigars and drink our brandy, when we have any—go without when we have none.” (Letter to Mother dated Tampico, February 4, 1847. (McClellan Papers, Vol. I.)

[28] The Isle of Lobos is “a lovely little spot, formed entirely of coral, about two miles in circumference, twelve miles from the Mexican shore, sixty from Tampico, and one hundred and thirty from Vera Cruz.” N. C. Brooks, History of the Mexican War, page 295.

It was at the Isle of Lobos that General Scott organized his army. The regulars were divided into two brigades, commanded by Generals William J. Worth and David E. Twiggs respectively. General Robert Patterson commanded the division of volunteers which was composed of the three brigades of Generals Gideon J. Pillow, John A. Quitman and James Shields. All told, Scott’s army numbered over 12,000 men. J. B. McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. VII, page 506; James Schouler, History of the United States, Vol. V, page 42.

[29] The island of Sacrificios, three miles south of Vera Cruz.

[30] William J. Worth was born in Hudson, N. Y., on March 1, 1794. He fought in the War of 1812 and in the Seminole War in 1841. During the Mexican War he participated in the campaigns of Generals Taylor and Scott and later he commanded in Texas. He died at San Antonio, Texas, on May 17, 1849.

[31] Escopette, a carbine or short rifle, especially a form used by the Spanish Americans (Century Dict.).

[32] Light cavalry armed with lances, or long spears, varying from 8½ to 11 feet in length (Century Dict.).

[33] Pierre G. T. Beauregard, later a prominent Confederate General, was born in New Orleans on May 28, 1818. He graduated from West Point in 1838. Died at New Orleans on February 20, 1893.

Beauregard was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate Army in 1861 and bombarded and captured Fort Sumter in April of the same year. He commanded at the first battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, and following it was promoted to the rank of general. He took part in the battle of Shiloh in April, 1862, commanded at Charleston, S. C., from 1862 to 1864, and in Virginia in the latter year.

[34] Robert E. Lee, later the celebrated Confederate General-in-Chief and McClellan’s main adversary. He was born at Stratford, Westmoreland Co., Virginia, on January 19, 1807, and died at Lexington, Virginia, on October 12, 1870.

[35] Epaulment, the mass of earth or other material which protects the guns in a battery both in front and on either flank (Century Dict.).

[36] Terre-plein, the top, platform or horizontal surface of a rampart, on which the cannon are placed (Century Dict.).

[37] Boyau, a ditch covered with a parapet, serving as a means of communication between two trenches, especially between the first and third parallels. Also called a zigzag or an approach (Century Dict.).

[38] Berm, a narrow level space at the outside foot of a parapet, to retain material which otherwise might fall from the slope into the ditch (Standard Dict.).

[39] Colonel Bankhead was the Chief of Artillery at the siege of Vera Cruz.

[40] General Juan Morales was the Mexican commander at Vera Cruz.

[41] Revet, to face, as an embankment, with masonry or other material (Century Dict.).

[42] Traverse, an earthen mask, similar to a parapet, thrown across the covered way of a permanent work to protect it from the effects of an enfilading fire (Century Dict.).

[43] General Scott “always wore all the uniform prescribed or allowed by law when he inspected his lines; word would be sent to all division and brigade commanders in advance, notifying them of the hour when the commanding general might be expected. This was done so that all the army might be under arms to salute their chief as he passed. On these occasions he wore his dress uniform, cocked hat, aiguillettes, sabre and spurs. His staff proper, besides all officers constructively on his staff—engineers, inspectors, quartermasters, etc., that could be spared—followed, also in uniform and in prescribed order. Orders were prepared with great care and evidently with the view that they should be a history of what followed.... General Scott was precise in language, cultivated a style peculiarly his own; was proud of his rhetoric; not averse to speaking of himself, often in the third person, and he could bestow praise upon the person he was talking about without the least embarrassment.” U. S. Grant, Memoirs, Vol. I, pages 138-139.

[44] Vera Cruz at that time was a city of about 15,000 inhabitants.

[45] On the advance of Scott’s army from Vera Cruz, Twiggs led the way, followed a day later by Patterson, and five days later still by Worth. J. B. McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. VII, page 507.

[46] Simon B. Buckner was born in Kentucky on April 1, 1823, and died January 8, 1914. He graduated from West Point in 1844. During the Civil War he was first a brigadier general, and later a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army. He stood by his troops and surrendered Fort Donelson to General Grant on February 16, 1862. After the war he became Governor of Kentucky and was the candidate for Vice-President on the Gold Democratic ticket in 1896.

[47] About sixty miles from Vera Cruz, and about thirty from Jalapa. J. S. Jenkins, History of the War with Mexico, page 270.

[48] General Pillow’s brigade consisted of four regiments of infantry,—1st Tennessee (Colonel Campbell), 2nd Tennessee (Colonel Haskell), 1st Pennsylvania (Colonel Wynkoop) and 2nd Pennsylvania (Colonel Roberts); also a detachment of Tennessee Horse and a company of Kentucky Volunteers under Captain Williams. R. Semmes, Service Afloat and Ashore, page 179.

[49] “The Cerro Gordo, or Big Hill, called by the Mexicans in their dispatches, El Telegrafo, is an immense hill, of a conical form, rising to the height of near a thousand feet. It stands ... at the head of the pass, to which it gives its name, and formed the extreme left (our right) of the fortifications of the enemy.” Semmes, op. cit., pages 176-177.

[50] He commanded the 1st Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers.

[51] He commanded the 2nd Tennessee Volunteers.

[52] James Shields was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1810. After the Mexican War he was United States Senator (Democrat) from Illinois during the years 1849-1855, and from Minnesota in 1858-1859. He was one of the “political generals” in the Union Army who were decisively defeated by “Stonewall” Jackson during the celebrated “Valley Campaign” of May and June, 1862. Shields died in Ottumwa, Iowa, on June 1, 1879.

[53] The American forces present at the battle of Cerro Gordo, both in action and in reserve, were about 8,500 men. The Mexicans were estimated at 12,000 or more. The American losses in the two days fighting were 33 officers and 398 men, a total of 431, of whom 63 were killed. The enemy losses were estimated at 1,000 to 1,200, in addition to five generals and 3,000 men who were captured. General Scott’s official report dated “Jalapa, April 23, 1847” (Senate Docs. 30th Congress, 1st Session, No. 1, pages 263-264).

[54] The City of Mexico was surrendered to General Scott’s victorious army on September 14, 1847.

[55] McClellan left the City of Mexico on May 28, 1848, and reached West Point, N. Y., on June 22 following.