power, and to give the necessary orders, and take the necessary responsibility, to render our branch of the service as efficient as it can be made, and to carry out the views of the general in every particular to the letter. If necessary, I will go into the field and serve under his orders as a staff officer. I desire his success, and will do all in my power to insure it. Can you not make an arrangement of the quartermasters and assistants appointed under the act of last session so as to throw more duty upon them? The whole of the responsibility, as well as most of the labor, devolves upon the regular officers of the department. Those gentlemen must perform their share of the duties-they must be required to perform it; and if they fail to do so, they will have to give place to others. I desire, as soon as possible, a report in detail of the operations of the department under your direction, from the commencement of the campaign. I am apprehensive there are not sufficient means for lightering vessels at Brazos to the mouth of the river. Was it not a mistake to place the depot at the Brazos, in place of the mouth? Colonel H. WHITING, Assistant Quartermaster General, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Camargo, or Monterey. [Extract.] QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT, COLONEL: A gentleman in Philadelphia has two iron steam propellers of light draught. I have forgotten his name, but you, I think, have seen his boats. The Hon. Mr. Cameron took some interest in behalf of the owner. If they would not draw more than five feet loaded, they would answer our purposes admirably. If they are in the fine order they were represented in the summer, they would be a valuable acquisition to the public, and would greatly facilitate the service. I would advise the purchase of them immediately. If purchased and sent out, a spare propeller and spare shaft should be sent with each. I beg of you to attend to this matter immediately. TH. S. JESUp, Quartermaster General. To Col. HENRY STANTON, Washington city. 48 [Extract.] HEAD-QUARTERS, QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT, New Orleans, November 8, 1846. COLONEL: I have opened the letters received here to-day from General Wool's division, and I cannot express to you how much I am provoked that the mules and horses intended for the Rio Grande. have been seized upon by Major Thomas and retained with that division. With proper energy, ox teams (the only means of transportation adapted to that country) could have been obtained in sufficient numbers for all necessary purposes. TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. To Col HENRY STANTON, Washington city. HEAD QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT, MAJOR: You are requested to purchase an additional supply of two hundred horses, and keep them at Memphis until further orders. Buy none but such as are young, active, and at least fifteen hands high. You are authorized to draw on Colonel Hunt for the funds necessary to carry out these instructions. I am, major, &c., Major NATHL. ANDERSON, Quartermaster, Memphis. Tenn. TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Ox NEW ORLEANS, November 16, 1846. CAPTAIN: I have just received your letter to Lieutenant Colonel Hunt, of the 2d instant. In assigning the officers of the department to the several divisions, you were included among those assigned to General Wool's division. It is, therefore, proper that all reports necessary for the information of the general be made to, Major Thomas. From your reports and letters received at Washington city, I was inclined to believe that we might rely, to some extent, on the resources of Texas for transportation. I was so assured, also, by Texans, and among them General Rusk. teams I knew were better adapted to the service in that country than any other. They go further without water, and subsist on what the woods and prairies afford. I was therefore greatly disappointed when I found that the officers of the department had not availed themselves of that resource. I desire you now to report to me what number of wagons, with oxen, could have been obtained in Texas, what number of hired wagons and teams have been in the public service, what number are now in service, and what number of wagons and teams have been purchased in Texas, and what number have been organized from the wagons and mules sent to La Vaca. I desire also to know how many carts were employed, and how many might have been employed. In addition to the information on the subject of means of trans,portation, I desire to know when the crops were so matured as to afford forage for the horses and cattle of the trains and the corps. Should operations continue in the direction in which General Wool is carrying them on, can he be supplied from La Vaca? If so, what will be the greatest amount of supplies required, and what the number of wagons, carts and pack mules required? Report on these matters as early as practicable. Captain J. R. IRWIN, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Assistant Quartermaster, La Vaca, Texas. NEW ORLEANS, November 17, 1846. COLONEL: The almost utter impossibility of supplying the army in Mexico with the necessary draught animals, (should operations be resumed on a large scale,) either in transports by sea, or by land through Louisiana and Texas, renders it an imperious duty to draw our resources as much as possible from the enemy's country. I calculated, at the commencement of the campaign, largely upon the mules of Mexico for packs, and to fill our trains. Your letters, received before I left Washington, informed me of the extent to which you had availed yourself of them. It is important now that all that may be wanted for additional trains be purchased and broke to the wagons as soon as possible. In my first campaign in Florida, I had wild Mexican mules only to operate from Tampa Bay; they were not so large as the mules of our own country, but were much more hardy and durable, and for that reason I always preferred them. In the country extending from Matamoras to Agnajo, (now, I believe, called Victoria,) there are at least ten thousand mules, from three to four thousand of which are broke to the pack-saddle. The muleteer dislikes to part with his pack mule, but the wild mules are easily broke to draught, and any number of them required might be obtained on application to the alcaldes and curas, supported by the authority of the general. Let this be done, and inform me of the result. I sent forward, through Texas, four hundred mules, and between three and four hundred horses. They were intended to arrive on the Rio Grande with the mounted Kentucky and Tennessee regiments; but Captain Drum, who had charge of them, halted them at San Antonio de Bexar, and Major Thomas, without authority, seized upon them, and attached them to General Wool's division. The horses were intended for the artillery of General Taylor's division; for, though I had no requisition from the ordnance or the artillery, I thought it advisable to send them, as mules were going through at the same time. The mules were intended to meet the immediate wants of the service consequent upon the arrival of so large a mounted force. I send you a memorandum of the materials, workmen, &c., required to keep a train of a hundred wagons constantly efficient. It is based upon our experience in Florida. If your means are not abundant and complete, let them be made so without delay. In the event of operations, what number of pack mules, with muleteers and arrieros, can be relied on? If General Taylor occupy Victoria, it must be supplied either through Tampico, if he take that place also, or through the bay of Santander. Give me your views in as much detail as possible in regard to the country, its resources, &c. I am, colonel, most respectfully, &c., Colonel H. WHITING, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Assistant Quartermaster General, Monterey, Mexico. HEAD-QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT, MAJOR: The bearer of this, Captain Toulmin, has instructions to receive from you all the mules in your possession and conduct them to the Rio Grande, and to purchase on his route an additional number, so as to increase the drove to 450 or 500. cordingly turn over to him funds sufficient for this for defraying the expenses of forage, ferriage, &c. ter Johnson will accompany him, with the teamsters you were directed in my letter of the 3d instant to employ. You will ac purpose, and Forage mas Should he Captain Toulmin takes with him from this place an ample supply of camp and garrison equipage, pack saddles, &c. require any other articles than he takes with him, you will provide them. To prevent stampedes, and to facilitate the driving, you will purchase three or four gray mares, with bells, one to be at tached to each drove; or should all the mules go in the same drove, the mares will be kept at proper intervals, so as to prevent them from straying. In your letter of the 9th instant, received yesterday, you state that wagons will be required. They are not considered necessary. The provisions, camp equipage, &c., can be packed; and as to grain for the animals; it is believed it can be procured in sufficient abundance on the route, and even should they be compelled to do without grain occasionally, it will not injure them. If you can add to the number of mules during the day or two Captain Toulmin is making his necessary preparations for the jour ney, you will do so. But it is very important he should start with the least possible delay. I am, major, respectfully, &c., Major NATHL. Anderson, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Quartermaster, Memphis, Tennessee. HEAD-QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT, New Orleans, November 18, 1846. CAPTAIN: You will proceed to Memphis, Tennessee, and report to Major Anderson, quartermaster, for duty. Major Anderson has been instructed to turn over all the mules in his possession, which you will conduct to the Rio Grande by the most practicable route, passing through Little Rock and Washington, Arkansas. On your arrival at the Rio Grande you will turn the mules over to the quartermaster at Matamoras, Brazos de Santiago, or wherever you ascertain they are most needed; and then report yourself by letter to General Taylor and Colonel Whiting, and in person to the senior officer of the department on the Rio Grande, for further instructions. It is understood that Major Anderson has at present only 350 mules. It is desirable that the number should be increased to 450 or 500; and you will therefore purchase all you can obtain on the route, suitable for the service. Major Anderson has been instructed to turn over funds to you for that purpose, and for defraying the expenses of forage, ferriage, &c. I am, Captain, respectfully, your obedient servant, TH. S. JESUP, Major General, and Quartermaster General. Captain H. TOULMIN, Assistant Quartermaster U. S. A., New Orleans. Memoranda for Captain Ogden. 1. Did not Colonel Cross, on his own responsibility and without the aid or authority of any one, organize the train used in the movement from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande? 2. What number of Mackinac or other boats, public or private, were at Point Isabel and Brazos de Santiago when the battles of the 8th and 9th were fought? and could they not have been transported to Fort Brown on wagons? 3. Were 12-pounder cannon, without carriages, taken in wagons of the quartermaster's department? Who was the officer of the department that committed this error? 4. Were the 18-pounders delayed at Point Isabel; and at whose instance or by whose order were they ultimately taken forward; and how were they transported to the battle-fields of the 8th and 9th of May? 5. By whose orders was a portion of the boats sent through Laguana Madre, or Padre, towards Point Isabel, about the time the army moved from Corpus Christi; and was an order given or effort made to recover them and ship them round, when it was found they could not be gotten through the lagoon? 6. When was the ammunition of the army about to take the field, ordered from Point Isabel? When was it turned over to you for |