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Colonel William Preston Johnston, The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston : His Service in the Armies of the United States, the Republic of Texas, and the Confederate States., Chapter 9: the Mexican War. (search)
ight to the sovereignty of Texas, but also set up a special claim to the country between the Rio Grande and the Nueces, as belonging to Tamaulipas, General Taylor, pending negotiations, established himself at Corpus Christi, near the mouth of the Nueces, where he remained until March 8, 1846. Love, writing to General Johnston in September, 1845, says: General Taylor has 4,000 soldiers at Corpus Chriati. Six companies of Texan Rangers, under Hays, have been mustered into service. Theys of hostility committed by the Mexicans, a fortification was erected opposite Matamoras, afterward known as Fort Brown. On the 12th of April General Ampudia addressed a letter to General Taylor, requiring him to withdraw to the left bank of the Nueces, or that arms alone must decide the question. A little later, the Mexicans captured Captain Thornton and 60 men, and committed other overt acts of war; and, finally, threatened General Taylor's communications with Point Isabel, his base of supp
Lt.-Colonel Arthur J. Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States, April, 1863. (search)
ences as a filibuster. He declares that a well-cooked polecat is as good to eat as a pig, and that stewed rattlesnake is not so bad as might be supposed. The Texans call the Mexicans greasers, the latter retort by the name gringo. We are now living luxuriously upon eggs and goat's flesh; and I think we have made about thirtytwo miles to-day. 22d April, 1863 (Wednesday). We got under weigh at 5 A. M., the mules looking rather mean for want of grass. At 8 A. M. we reached the Nueces river, the banks of which are very steep, and are bordered with a beautiful belt of live-oak trees, covered with mustang grapes. On the other side of the Nueces is Oakville, a miserable settlement, consisting of about twenty wooden huts. We bought some butter there, and caught up Ward's wagons. The women at Oakville were most anxious to buy snuff. It appears that the Texan females are in the habit of dipping snuffwhich means, putting it into their mouths instead of their noses. They rub
Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Army life-causes of the Mexican war-camp Salubrity (search)
ion of the movement to its final consummation, a conspiracy to acquire territory out of which slave states might be formed for the American Union. Even if the annexation itself could be justified, the manner in which the subsequent war was forced upon Mexico cannot. The fact is, annexationists wanted more territory than they could possibly lay any claim to, as part of the new acquisition. Texas, as an independent State, never had exercised jurisdiction over the territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Mexico had never recognized the independence of Texas, and maintained that, even if independent, the State had no claim south of the Nueces. I am aware that a treaty, made by the Texans with Santa Anna while he was under duress, ceded all the territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande; but he was a prisoner of war when the treaty was made, and his life was in jeopardy. He knew, too, that he deserved execution at the hands of the Texans, if they should ever capt
Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Corpus Christi-Mexican smuggling-spanish rule in Mexico-supplying transportation (search)
Others were procured later. The distance from Shell Island to Corpus Christi was some sixteen or eighteen miles. The channel to the bay was so shallow that the steamer, small as it was, had to be dragged over the bottom when loaded. Not more than one trip a day could be effected. Later this was remedied, by deepening the channel and increasing the number of vessels suitable to its navigation. Corpus Christi is near the head of the bay of the same name, formed by the entrance of the Nueces River into tide-water, and is on the west bank of that bay. At the time of its first occupancy by United States troops there was a small Mexican hamlet there, containing probably less than one hundred souls. There was, in addition, a small American trading post, at which goods were sold to Mexican smugglers. All goods were put up in compact packages of about one hundred pounds each, suitable for loading on pack mules. Two of these packages made a load for an ordinary Mexican mule, and three
General James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, Chapter 1: the Ante-bellum life of the author. (search)
fantry, four of artillery, and two of dragoons, stationed along the northern frontier from Fort Kent in the northeast of Maine to the west end of Lake Superior, and along the western frontier from Fort Snelling to Fort Leavenworth, and southward to Fort Jessup in Louisiana. By the middle of October, 1846, three thousand eight hundred and sixty men of all arms had concentrated at Corpus Christi. Seven companies of the Second Dragoons had marched from Fort Jessup to San Patricio on the Nueces River, about twenty-eight miles up from Corpus Christi; the other three companies were halted at San Antonio, Texas. Near our camps were extensive plains well adapted to military manoeuvres, which were put to prompt use for drill and professional instruction. There were many advantages too in the way of amusement, game on the wild prairies and fish in the broad gulf were plentiful, and there was the salt water for bathing. On one occasion during the winter a violent north wind forced the wa
Philip Henry Sheridan, Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army ., Chapter II (search)
am for three or four miles we saw a column of smoke on the prairie, and supposing it arose from a camp of Mexican rancheros catching wild horses or wild cattle, and even wild mules, which were very numerous in that section of country along the Nueces River, we thought we would join the party and see how much success they were having, and observe the methods employed in this laborious and sometimes dangerous vocation. With this object in view, we continued on until we found it necessary to crossuitous one then traversed, and in a short time it was established. Up to this time I had been on detached duty, but soon my own company was ordered into the field to occupy a position on Turkey Creek, about ten or twelve miles west of the Nueces River, on the road from San Antonio to Fort Duncan, and I was required to join the company. Here constant work and scouting were necessary, as our camp was specially located with reference to protecting from Indian raids the road running from San A
Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 2., Chapter 20: events West of the Mississippi and in Middle Tennessee. (search)
and representative instance of the treatment received by the Texan loyalists at the hands of their oppressors is found in the narrative of an attempt of about sixty of them, mostly young Germans belonging to the best families in Western Texas, to leave the country. They collected at Fredericksburg, on the frontier, intending to make their way to New Orleans by way of Mexico, and join the National army. On the night of the 9th of August they encamped on the edge of a cedar brake, on the Nueces River, about forty miles from the Rio Grande. They had moved with such secrecy that they scarcely felt any apprehension of danger from the guerrillas, who were scouring the country with orders to kill all Union men. But they were betrayed, and a leader named Duff sent over one hundred men to surprise and destroy them. At near daylight they approached the camp, and captured one of the party. His life was offered him as a reward if he would lead them to the camp of his companions. He refused,
John Bell Hood., Advance and Retreat: Personal Experiences in the United States and Confederate Armies, Chapter 1: (search)
hown by the circumstance that one of my wounded men whose horse had been killed, was pierced in the back with three additional arrows (one of which passed through his lung), as he was making his way to the rear of the line. Early in August I returned to Fort Mason, where not long afterwards I was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, assigned to Company K, and placed on duty at Camp Colorado, on the upper waters of the river of that name. In 1858 I re-established Camp Wood, on the Nueces river, about forty miles distant from its source, and at this post my company continued in the performance of the ordinary duties of soldiers upon the frontier till the declaration of war in 1861. In November, 1860, I was granted a leave of absence for six months, and on my arrival at Indianola I received an order directing me to report for duty as Chief of Cavalry at West Point. I immediately proceeded to Washington, and made application in person to Colonel S. Cooper, Adjutant General, to
Horace Greeley, The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860-65: its Causes, Incidents, and Results: Intended to exhibit especially its moral and political phases with the drift and progress of American opinion respecting human slavery from 1776 to the close of the War for the Union. Volume I., Xiv. The Wilmot Proviso. (search)
1,500 strong, under Gen. Zachary Taylor, commander of the Southwestern department, in obedience to orders from Washington, embarked (July, 1845) at New Orleans, and landed, early in August, at Corpus Christi, on Aransas Bay, near the mouth of the Nueces, which was the extreme western limit of Texan occupation. Hon. Charles J. Ingersoll, a leading Democratic representative in Congress from Pennsylvania, and a zealous annexationist, in a speech in the house, January 3, 1845, said: The terrimarked in the configuration of this continent by an almighty hand. The platte, the Arkansas, the red, and the Mississippi Rivers * * * these are naturally our waters, with their estuaries in the Bay of Mexico. The stupendous deserts between the Nueces and the Bravo rivers, are the natural boundaries between the Anglo-Saxon and the Mauritanian races. there ends the valley of the West. There Mexico begins. * * * We ought to stop there, because interminable conflicts must ensue, either on our g
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Army. (search)
hen in command of the Department of the Southwest. In a letter of instructions from the War Department, he was told, Texas must be protected from hostile invasion; and for that purpose you will, of course, employ to the utmost extent all the means you possess or can command. He at once repaired to New Orleans with 1,500 men (July, 1845), where he embarked, and early in August arrived at the island of St. Josephs on the Texan coast, whence he sailed for Corpus Christi, near the mouth of the Nueces, where he established his headquarters. There he was soon afterwards reinforced by seven companies of infantry under Major Brown and two volunteer companies under Major Gally. With these forces he remained at Corpus Christi until the next spring, when the camp at that place was broken up (March 8, 1846), and the Army of Occupation proceeded to Point Isabel, nearer the Rio Grande. When approaching Point Isabel, Taylor was met by a deputation of citizens, and presented with a protest, signe
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