George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army
George Gordon Meade, Ed.

[141] will get over it. James Ricketts, Mrs. Robert Meade's¹ brother, is safe. I saw him at various times during the actions, as his regiment was under General Worth's command.

Now for a few private lines, in which I wish to express to you my heartfelt gratitude that it has pleased God once more to pass me through untold dangers, and to allow me still to cling to the hope of once more being reunited to you. God knows what joy it brings to my heart to anticipate the happiness we shall have together, and the deep anxiety I have to behold again my blessed little children, whose images are as fresh in my heart as the day I left them. Tell the boys I will give them a long story about it all, when I get back.

After your good father has read this letter, I wish you would communicate its contents to dear mother, Major Bache and Pemberton.

My sketch is exceedingly rough, but will serve to illustrate the narrative.

I have but little information to give you. The Mexican army has all gone to Saltillo, where Ampudia has published a flourishing proclamation, assigning as a reason for his evacuating this place that his ammunition and provisions were exhausted; whereas we captured ammunition to last us two more fights and provisions enough to supply us some weeks. He also states he repelled all our assaults, and that we left on the ground some fifteen hundred killed and wounded. In fact, his whole proclamation is a tissue of the grossest falsehoods, which, of course, we expected him to make to his own people, to save himself. But I very much fear the thing will go further, and that the capitulation of Monterey will, like the convention of Cintra, prove most unpopular.

It is now rendered beyond a doubt that the Mexicans were entirely and completely in our power. A few hours more fighting would have brought about a surrender, at discretion, of the whole army.

General Taylor was actuated by the highest motives in allowing them the terms he did, hoping, upon the representations of Ampudia, it would be the means of negotiating a peace; but from all we can now understand, Ampudia's whole conversation and all his statements prove to be false, made through fear, and with the hope (justly realized) of getting out of a bad scrape.

The general impression now is that we will not obtain peace. If