comparative efficiency, and on that account, as well as on the score of economy, is deemed preferable to that of effecting the same object by raising new regiments at this time. It is only in view of a probability that a force considerably larger than a permanent peace establishment might soon be required that I should prefer the mode of increasing the Army by raising new regiments, organized on our present reduced scale. This scale is undoubtedly too low for actual service and has nothing to recommend it to a preference under any circumstances but the facility it affords of expanding an army so organized by increasing the rank and file, and of rendering it effective for service in a shorter period than new regiments could be raised, organized, and disciplined. " a These reports accompanied the President's message on the 2d of December, 1845. Had Congress acted promptly on their recommendations it would not have been necessary, three months later, to have instructed General Taylor to depend upon raw troops. However, this officer left Corpus Christi on the 8th of March, established en route a base of supplies at Point Isabel, and reached the Rio Grande on the 28th at a point opposite Matamoras. The next day he wrote to the Adjutant-General: The attitude of the Mexicans is so far decidedly hostile. An interview has been held, by my direction, with the military authorities in Matamoras, but with no satisfactory result. Under this state of things I must again and urgently call your attention to the necessity of speedily sending recruits to this army. The militia of Texas are so remote from the border * that we can not depend upon their aid. The strength gained by filling up the regiments here, even to the present feeble establishment, would be of very great importance. * * The army of occupation on arriving opposite Matamoras, was composed as follows: "Army of Occupation" on the frontiers of Texas, May, 1846.c By giving each of the 73 companies 100 privates, which might have been done but for a defect in the law, this force could have been raised from 3,554 to 7,300 men, which, with the full quota of officers, noncommissioned officers, and musicians, would have made this force exceed 8,000. This would have given it an effective strength of nearly 6,000 men present for duty. While these figures are interesting as showing that the needless exposure of our little army had its origin in fauity legislation, the weakness of its numbers in no way daunted its commander. He knew a Senate Ex. Doc. No. 1, Twenty-ninth Congress, first session, p. 195, 196. that four-fifths of his officers had received the benefits of professional training at the Military Academy or in the Florida war. Beyond this, he was conscious that the discipline and esprit de corps of his troops had been brought to the highest point by six months of training in the camp of instruction at Corpus Christi. With this preparation and, as has been observed, with practically no authority to increase his force till an invasion should actually take place, the commander was soon destined to confront a large and well-organized Mexican army. The first collision occurred on the 25th of April, when Thornton's dragoons in a skirmish on the east bank of the river, suffered a loss of 16 killed and wounded. The emergency having come, General Taylor the next day called upon the Governors of Louisiana and Texas for 5,000 volunteers, but, as was to be expected, the call was too late. The enemy had already crossed the river in large force, and was then threatening his line of communication. Loath to abandon his position, he left the Seventh Infantry and two batteries of artillery to garrison Fort Brown, a field work on the left bank of the river, and on the 1st of May marched with the remainder of the army to Point Isabel. Having replenished his trains and provided for the safety of the depot, he began the return march to the Rio Grande on the evening of the 7th. The next day the crisis arrived. The enemy had invested Fort Brown, and at Palo Alto was drawn up in line of battle to dispute his further advance. The challenge was promptly accepted. At 2 o'clock our troops moved to the attack, and at dark, after a well-contested engagement, were masters of the field. Though beaten, the enemy was not hopelessly demoralized. The next day he gave battle at Resaca de la Palma, but no longer able to resist the ardor of our troops was again defeated and driven in confusion across the Rio Grande. The force present at Resaca de la Palma numbered 173 officers and 2,049 men, total 2,222, of whom but 1,700 were engaged." The losses in the two battles were 170 killed and wounded.' The strength of the enemy was estimated at 6,000, and his losses in killed and wounded at 1,000. In concluding his official report General Taylor stated: Our victory has been decisive. A small force has overcome immense odds of the best troops that Mexico can furnish-veteran regiments perfectly equipped and appointed. Eight pieces of artillery, several colors and standards, a great number of prisoners, including 14 officers, and a large amount of baggage and public property have fallen into our hands. The causes of victory are doubtless to be found in the superior quality of our officers and men.c The effect of this brilliant initiative was felt to the end of the war. It gave our troops courage to fight against overwhelming numbers, demoralized the enemy, and afforded a striking proof of the truth of the maxim, “That in war, moral force is to physical as three is to one." In all of the subsequent battles our troops were outnumbered two or three to one, yet they marched steadily forward to victory, and for the first time in our history temporarily convinced our statesmen, if not the people, of the value of professional education and military discipline. The siege of Fort Brown was raised on the evening of the battle of Resaca de la Palma. On the 11th of May General Taylor proceeded a General Taylor's official report-Mongomery's Life of General Taylor, pp. 160, 161. House Ex. Doc. No. 24, Thirty-first Congress, first session Table B. c Montgomery's Life of General Taylor, p. 162. to Point Isabel to arrange for the reinforcements which had begun to arrive. On the 18th, all being in readiness, he crossed the Rio Grande without opposition and closed the campaign by the occupation of Matamoras. The brilliant victories of the army of occupation in its three weeks' campaign should not make us lose sight of the perils it encountered. The advance to the Rio Grande, it is true, was suggested by the commander, but in adopting the suggestion the only modification of his instructions seemed to make them more ambiguous by changing the emergency for calling out raw troops from "invasion or to secure the country against apprehended invasion," to the still more vague "approach of a considerable Mexican force." As the nearest governor was at least 300 miles away, there was no possibility of receiving reenforcements, even if called for in view of the suggested emergency, inasmuch as the enemy could cross the Rio Grande and fight a battle on the same day. And such, in theory, was the plan of General Arista, the Mexican commander. The passage of the river by General Torrejon on April 24, which led to the skirmish on the 25th and to General Taylor's requisition for militia on the 26th, was to have been followed by the main body of the army with the expectation of cutting our line of communication and forcing our army to immediate battle. Delays, however, in crossing the river retarded the movement till the 1st of May, when the army returned to Point Isabel. The conflict was thus deferred till May 8, when, as we have seen, the battle of Palo Alto was fought three days before the first reenforcements made their appearance at Point Isabel. This act sufficiently proves the want of reflection which dictated the President's instructions. Had they been transmitted through the general in chief, as is now wisely required by law," he could in a measure have been held responsible had he failed to offer his professional advice. But whether or not he was taken into the confidence of the President, the fact still remains that in trying to economize by depending upon raw troops, the orders to our commanders invited a series of disasters from which we were alone rescued by the skill and fortitude of a disciplined army. Such was the excitement and alarm lest General Taylor's troops should be overwhelmed, that volunteers came forward far beyond the numbers specified in his requisitions. In New Orleans the veteran commander, General Gaines, who in nearly every disturbance since the war of 1812 had called out troops without waiting for instructions from the Government, set to work to organize and equip an army on his own responsibility, the term of enlistment being fixed at six months. So rapidly did he proceed, calling on the governors of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri, that, before he could be stopped by being relieved from command, the number of troops sent to General Taylor exceeded 8,000. The total number of troops who responded to the calls of the two commanders was: Three months' men.. Six months' men illegally enlisted and held for three months, the legal term of the militia... 1,390 11, 211 Total.... 12, 601 a The act of Congress directing that orders to the Army be promulgated through the commanding general was passed March 2, 1867, and was repealed July 15, 1870.-EDITORS. The number of men received from Louisiana was 5,389. The arrival of these troops after the emergency had passed was attended by other evidences of mismanagement. They had been called to arms and embarked by a stroke of the pen, but when they landed, so destitute were they of equipment and transportation that they were compelled to remain in idleness near their depots of subsistence until discharged from the service. Called out for three months, they returned to their homes without the satisfaction of having fired a shot, their losses by death being 145-but 25 short of those killed and wounded (170) at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. MILITARY LEGISLATION DURING THE WAR. The report of the first skirmish reached the War Department on Saturday, May 9, 1846. On Monday, the 11th, the President sent a message to Congress, then in session, stating that war existed by the act of Mexico, and adding that In further vindication of our rights, and defence of the Territory, I invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognize the existence of the war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means of prosecuting the war with vigor, and thus hastening the restoration of peace. To this end I recommend that authority should be given to call into the public service a large body of volunteers, to serve for not less than six or twelve months, unless sooner discharged. A volunteer force is beyond question more efficient than any other description of citizen soldiers; and it is not to be doubted that a number far beyond that required would readily rush to the field upon the call of their country. I further recommend that a liberal provision be made for sustaining our entire military force and furnishing it with supplies and munitions of war. The most energetic and prompt measures and the immediate appearance in arms of a large and overpowering force are recommended to Congress as the most certain and efficient means of bringing the existing collision with Mexico to a speedy and successful termination. " In these few brief lines is to be found the primary cause of all the subsequent delay and extravagance attending the prosecution of the war. Ignoring the experience of the Revolution, of the war of 1812, and later still of the Florida war, whose aggregate duration exceeded sixteen years, without pausing to compute, in the absence of railroads, the time required to transport troops from one to two thousand miles to the scene of hostilities, the President not only expressed his confidence in raw troops, but signified his belief in a formal recommendation to Congress that we could bring a foreign war to a successful conclusion in the brief space of from six to twelve months. The responsibility for this recommendation cannot wholly be laid upon the President. General Taylor, a witness of the feeble and protracted prosecution of the two preceding wars, in his letter reporting the skirmish of Thornton's dragoons, stated: If a law could be passed authorizing the President to raise volunteers for twelve months, it would be of the greatest importance for a service so remote from support as this, b The promptitude with which Congress entertained and complied with the President's unfortunate recommendation finds no parallel in a House Ex. Doc. No. 196, Twenty-ninth Congress, first session, p. 6 our history." The very day his message was received a bill to raise 50,000 volunteers was introduced, and under the operation of the previous question passed the House of Representatives. The next day it passed the Senate, and on the 13th received the President's signature. The first section of the act read as follows: Whereas, by the act of the Republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that Government and the United States, that, for the purpose of enabling the Government of the United States to prosecute said war to a speedy and successful termination, the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ the militia, naval, and military forces of the United States, and to call for and accept the services of any number of volunteers, not exceeding 50,000, who may offer their services, either as cavalry, artillery, infantry, or riflemen, to serve twelve months after they shall have arrived at the place of rendezvous, or to the end of the war, unless sooner discharged, according to the time for which they shall have been mustered into service; and that the sum of $10,000,000, out of any moneys in the Treasury, or to come into the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated for the purpose of carrying the provisions of this act into effect. The second section extended the term of the militia, when called into the service of the United States, to six months; the third section required the volunteers to furnish their own clothes, horses, and equipments, the arms to be furnished by the United States; the fourth section gave to each volunteer, as compensation for his clothing, the cost of clothing allowed to a regular soldier; the fifth section, ignoring the fact that the new force was not militia, authorized the officers to be appointed according to the laws of their several States; the ninth section gave the volunteers the same pay and allowances as regular soldiers, and allowed to those who were mounted a compensation for their horses of 40 cents per day. It ought not to surprise us if a law passed without debate should have contained many costly, if not dangerous, mistakes. The principal one of these was contained in the brief words "to serve twelve months" or "to the end of the war." Whether this unfortunate alternative may be regarded as evidence of the conviction on the part of Congress that a foreign war could be brought to a speedy and successful end in twelve months-a thing that has never occurred, and probably never will occur under our present system-or as an expression of its confidence in the wisdom and judgment of the President, it is not necessary to discuss. As might have been foreseen, the sequel proved that our best and only safeguard lies in wise legislation. The provisions of the law, more liberal than those recommended by the President, authorized him, at his option, to accept the services of volunteers "for twelve months" or "for the war." "Instead of deciding upon the volunteers for the war, the President permitted the circular calling for the new troops to be couched in the exact wording of the law, thereby enabling each volunteer, at the expiration of twelve months, to elect whether he would receive his discharge or remain in service till the end of the war. a Under the joint resolution of Congress of April 20, 1898, and the Act of Congress, dated April 22, 1898, President McKinley issued a call for 125,000 volunteers for the Spanish war on April 23. On May 31, a little more than a month after the President's proclamation, nearly all of this immense force of volunteers had been mustered into the United States service. Under the call of the President of May 25, 75,000 additional volunteers were called for. The last volunteers under these two calls, were mustered in, August 24, 1898.-EDITORS. Callan's Military Laws of the United States, first section, p. 367, |