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regiments and battalions of volunteer horse and foot will, without delay, be put en route, as follows:

4. The regiments of cavalry or mounted men called for from Kentucky and Tennessee will, from their respective State rendezvous, take up their lines of march, by the best routes, via Memphis, Little Rock, on the Arkansas, Fulton, on the Red river, and Robins's Ferry, on the Trinity river, upon San Antonio de Bexar, Texas. The regiment of cavalry or mounted men called for from Arkansas will, from its State rendezvous (say) Washington, take the same route from Fulton to San Antonio de Bexar.

5. Excepting one regiment of the Kentucky and one of the Illinois quotas of foot, to which Brigadier General Wool is charged with giving different routes, and also excepting the Arkansas battalion, which will receive instructions through Brevet Brigadier General Arbuckle, all the other regiments and battalions of volunteer infantry or rifle, called for from the said States, will be embarked at the nearest navigable points to their respective State rendezvous, and thence proceed by water, with or without transhipment at Mobile or New Orleans, to Point Isabel or Brazos Santiago, Texas, where, like the troops ordered to San Antonio de Bexar, the whole will come under the orders of the general officer in the chief command of the United States land forces operating against Mexico.

6. The chiefs of the general staff of the army at this place will each, in what concerns his department, charge himself, through his subordinates, with supplying the said volunteers (horse and foot) the necessary arms, accoutrements, ammunition, knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, (for water,) camp equipage, subsistence, medicines and hospital stores, and means of transportation, by land and water, according to routes and destinations, and according to law and regulations.

By command of Major General Scott:

R. JONES, Adjutant General.

[Note on the above order.]

Brevet Major Gen. Z. TAYLOR,

Commanding army in Texas:

I am directed by the general-in-chief to say to you, informally, on this order, that a portion of the twelve-month volunteers (foot) mentioned herein will find orders, in passing by New Orleans, to proceed not to Point Isabel but to La Vaca, (Matagorda bay,) and thence march to San Antonio be Bexar; but the portion of the foot that may be so directed is, I believe, not yet exactly determined. I have the honor to be, &c.,

W. G. FREEMAN, Assistant Adjutant General.

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
May 31, 1846.

No. 8.

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, June 16, 1846.

GENERAL: The instructions of the general-in-chief of the army, dated June 12, will put you in possession of the views of the government in regard to your operations beyond the Rio del Norte, which you may consider as the answer to your communication of May 21, requesting further instructions for your guidance.

The instructions of the 12th inform you that about 16,280 twelve-month volunteers will be placed under your general command. These volunteers have been called from the following States:

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Of this force the following regiments have been directed upon San Antonio de Bexar; the horse via Fulton, Robin's Ferry, &c.: and the foot via New Orleans and La Vaca bay, to wit:

4 regiments of horse from Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas;

2 regiments of foot from Kentucky and Illinois;

6 regiments of volunteers, horse and foot, to San Antonio. If we estimate each regiment at 740 men, exclusive of officers, (the minimum which any mustering officer has been authorized to accept,) although many regiments of foot will exceed that number, you will have a division of volunteers at San Antonio, horse and foot, of 4,440 men.

Deducting this number from 16,280, leaves 11,840 men, which will be about the volunteer force (twelve-months men) ordered to Point Isabel, exclusive of your requisitions for three months men, and the other volunteers gone to the seat of war under orders from Brevet Major General Gaines.

A battalion of Baltimore and Washington volunteers, under Lieutenant Colonel Watson, sailed two days since for Point Isabel, which in the above statement may be computed in the place of five Arkansas companies (two mounted) which will be retained in the Cherokee country.

Five companies of regulars have been ordered to San Antonio de Bexar, to wit: two of the 1st dragoons, two of the 6th infantry, with the major, drawn from Forts Gibson and Smith, and Captain Washington's company of light artillery (4th regiment) from Carlisle. This regular force may amount to about four hundred, if the privates of dragoons and infantry be carried up to the standard which has been ordered-sixty-four and eighty.

Five companies of artillery, averaging more than ninety each, (by consolidation, excellent troops, &c.,) drawn from Newport, New York, Virginia, and Charleston, are now some days at sea, for Point Isabel, besides one hundred and ten good dragoon recruits. At the end of the month two hundred recruits (most of them pretty well instructed) will be sent from New York, which you will please to assign to such regiments as you may judge best for the service.

Until otherwise directed, the standard of companies for the artillery and infantry will be eighty privates; the light artillery companies may exceed that number, if necessary, as full batteries have been ordered for those fine companies which proved so efficient and skilful in the late conflicts with the enemy. The standard of dragoon companies will not exceed seventy privates. I acknowledge the following despatches received from your headquarters at Matamoras, to wit: Letters, Nos. 45 and 46, circular" of May 26,"orders" 66 and 67, and "special orders" 68 to 73, inclusive.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. JONES, Adjutant General.

Brevet Major General Z. TAYLOR,
Commanding, &c., &c., Matamoras, Mexico.

No. 9.

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, June 19, 1816.

GENERAL: I send, herewith, for your information, a copy of a letter from H. L. Kinney, esq., to the honorable D. S. Kaufman, dated Corpus Christi, May 14, 1846, representing the unprotected condition of the inhabitants of Corpus Christi, Texas, since the removal of the United States troops to the Rio Grande. I also respectfully transmit a copy of my letter to honorable S. Houston, dated the 17th instant, on the same subject.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. JONES, Adjutant General.

Brevet Major General Z. TAYLOR,
Commanding Army of Occupation, Matamoras, Mexico.

[The following is a copy of H. L. Kinney's letter to honorable. D. S. Kaufman, alluded to above.-R. J.]

CORPUS CHRISTI, May 14, 1846.

DEAR SIR: As you will perceive, I am once more at the ranche. I obtained leave of absence more than a fortnight since, and returned here in consequence of representations, forwarded to me, of the unprotected condition of the place since the removal of the United States troops to the Rio Grande. If I had not done so, the strong probability is that, by this time, the place would have been entirely abandoned, as the inhabitants generally feel that their property and persons are in imminent danger from Indians and Mexicans who are hovering around us, almost nightly stealing our horses, cattle, and sheep, and from whom we are also in danger of an attack. As you already fully understand, all the United States troops under General Taylor are opposite the town of Matamoras, or at Point Isabel; and the whole western frontier is now far more exposed to the depredations of Indians, or other marauding parties, than at any previous time. There is nothing, whatever, to prevent the Camanches from coming here-anywhere between the Nueces and the Rio Grande-the whole region of country being without the slightest protection. Mexican troops can cross the Rio Grande at any place they choose above General Taylor's camp-Meir, Reinosa, Camargo, Laredo, or at any point between these places-and cross the prairie to this place, or any other frontier town, without encountering a single soldier; and, in our present unarmed condition, one hundred men could take this place and plunder it, if they were equal to our own troops.

The call for volunteers is not only draining this whole frontier of effective men, but it occasions serious and well-grounded alarm of danger to such as cannot leave their families to join in the contest; and, unless some kind of protection is afforded to this place by the United States government, it will be wholly abandoned by its present inhabitants, and then not a single settlement will remain in this State west of the Nueces; besides, my dear sir, the smaller towns east of this will share the same fate; and the whole country, in the absence of its natural defenders, on the Rio Grande, will be left without inhabitants from this to the Colorado.

It

This is no overdrawn picture, but a matter of sober fact. may become the subject of historical regret. The United States government has stores of provisions here for volunteers, unprotected by a single soldier save one unarmed, unserviceable infantry man, left to serve out rations to such volunteers as pass through here to join General Taylor, via Padre island; for the inland route has, for the last three weeks, been so infested by marauding parties, that all communication between us and the Rio Grande has been cut off. Several parties who left here for General Taylor's camp never have arrived, and others coming here. from thence, have been killed or made prisoners.

The fact of annexation being completed, disarmed our whole population. They literally turned their swords into pruning hooks, and began to forget the calamities and anxieties naturally incident to a border residence, and to cultivate the arts of peace. We are, therefore, without arms or ammunition.

We require a small force of regular troops for our protection, and, to do us any good, that assistance should be afforded us without delay. But in case the government cannot do this, I implore you to endeavor to procure arms and ammunition for such as remain, and to get me some authority to organize the inhabitants to make the best defence we can. Without this done, and that speedily, we must once more, to our great loss and damage, abandon our homes. You know well what I have suffered for this frontier; but you can scarcely imagine the anguish with which I should turn my back upon a place for which I have so long, hitherto unaided, combatted against all sorts of difficulties. I have no time to say more, as the boat waits. You know what is wanted. I rely on our long friendship for you to do what is necessary. In haste, as ever, yours truly,

Hon. DAVID S. KAUEMAN.

H. L. KINNEY.

[The following is a copy of the Adjutant General's letter to honorable S. Houston, alluded to in the letter to Major General Taylor, of June 19, 1846.-R. J.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Adjutant General's Office, Washington, June 17, 1846. GENERAL: The letter of William Mann, of the 14th ultimo, asking that troops be stationed at Corpus Christi for the protection of that place, referred by you to the War Department, has been received; and, in reply, I respectfully inform you that, Texas being within the limits of General Taylor's command, it is not doubted he will take ample measures for the security of the several towns and settlements. If there be cause of alarm for Corpus Christi, the matter should be immediately represented to the general, who will promptly extend such assistance as the nature of the case may

require.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. S. HOUSTON,

Senate United States.

R. JONES, Adjutant General.

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