USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky, from its earliest discovery and settlement, to the present date, V. 2 > Part 17
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State finances.
Convention meets.
Notable changes made. First election of judges. " Irrepressible conflict."
Powell defeats Dixon and Clay for gov- ernor.
Pierce elected President in 1852.
Rise of the Native American or .. Know Nothing " party.
Morehead, Know Nothing, elected gov- ernor.
Mobs in Louisville and other cities. " Bloody Monday." Overthrow of the Know Nothing party.
Clay's Missouri compromise.
His last effort for union and peace.
"Omnibus Bill."
His life and works.
His nullification compromise.
Jackson, Calhoun, and Letcher on the same.
Measures advocated by him.
Resigns his senatorship.
Called again to Congress, he dies in his last years and labors for his country.
Senators David Merriwether and Archi- bald Dixon elected.
Elections in 1856.
Buchanan president.
Magoffin elected governor in 1859.
Joshua F. Bell.
Financial depression in 1857.
The banks.
Events preceding the civil war.
Ancestry and origin of Kentucky popu- lation.
Fecundity.
Large emigration to new States.
Effects from whisky.
Tobacco and slavery.
In:lustries. Self-reliance.
Advantages of commerce.
On the ad of March, 1836, the representatives of the people of Texas assembled in convention and declared their State independent of Mexican I Frust's History of the Mexican War.
561
SANTA ANNA'S TREATY DENOUNCED.
rule. The invading army was already marching in three divisions through the country to suppress this rebellion, the second, under General Santa Anna, being the center. General Houston, after falling back before one party of the foe, suddenly made a forced march to encounter Santa Anna. On the 20th of April, he bivouacked on the San Jacinto, and while his hungry and wearied Texans were preparing for their supper, the advance of Santa Anna's party came up. A skirmish resulted rather favorably to the Mexicans. The next day, the Mexican army, fifteen hundred strong, was confronted by seven hundred and sixty Texans. With the bloody butcheries of the Fannin massacre, the Alamo, and other scenes of Mexican atrocities fresh in mind, the Texans charged, with one desperate resolve, the ranks of the enemy. It was a rout and a slaughter rather than a pitched battle. Six hundred and thirty Mexicans were killed, two hundred and eighty wounded, and seven hundred taken prisoners, an army annihilated. General Santa Anna, then president of Mexico, was among the prisoners, and, in trepida- tion, offered to end the war by making a treaty on the 14th of May, binding himself solemnly to acknowledge, sanction, and ratify the independence of Texas.
The authorities of Mexico denounced the treaty, and declared that the 'independence of Texas would not be consented to. The relations between the two were turbulent for some years, in which time Texas sought safety by asking admission as one of the United States. The Texans were mostly emigrants from this country, and a powerful mutual sympathy existed. The presidential contest of 1844 turned upon this question in the election of Polk over Clay as president, and on the verdict rendered by the people, Congress passed the requisite act of admission, in 1845. War ensued the next year between the United States and Mexico in consequence. General Zachary Taylor, of the regular army, and a native of Kentucky, was ordered to rendezvous the United States troops at Corpus Christi, on the Texas coast, ready for either alternative of defense or aggression, as the action of the Mexican Government might determine.
1 Here he remained until the 11th of March, 1846, when he was in- structed to march his force to the east bank of the Rio Grande. At the Rio Colorado, he was encountered by the Mexican authorities and informed that an attempt to cross that river would be followed by actual hostilities. He crossed, nevertheless, and, leaving his army on its march, advanced with a body of dragoons to Point Isabel. near the mouth of the Rio Grande, where he established a camp and received supplies for his army. Having rejoined the main body of his army, General Taylor proceeded to take up a position on the eastern bank of the Rio Grande, opposite Matamoras, which he for- tified. This fort subsequently received the name of Fort Brown.
The communication between Fort Brown and Point Isabel having been interrupted by the interposition of large forces of Mexicans between those
I Collins, Vol. I., p. 384.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
points, General Taylor, on the Ist of May, leaving a small but effective force in possession of Fort Brown, marched the main body of his army to Point Isabel, determined to open the communication. On the 3d of May. he reached Point Isabel without interruption, and on the 7th of the same month started again for Fort Brown. He had with him a force of less than twenty-three hundred men, two eighteen-pounders, drawn by oxen, and Ringgold's and Duncan's batteries of light artillery. At a place called Palo Alto, about twelve miles from Point Isabel, he encountered, on the 8th. of May, a force of six thousand Mexican regulars, provided with ten pieces of artillery and supported by a considerable body of rancheros.
The Mexicans were drawn up in a line of battle extending a mile and a half across the plain, and outflanking the American army at either extreme. The lancers were posted in advance on the left, their arms glittering in the meridian sun, and presenting a most brilliant and martial appearance. The rest of the line was formed by the infantry and artillery.
The right of the American line of battle was composed of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth regiments of regular infantry and Ringgold's artillery, under the command of Colonel Twiggs. The two eighteen-pounders, under Lieutenant Churchill, occupied the center, while the left of the line was formed by the Eighth infantry and Duncan's artillery, under Colonel Bel- knap.
The action was commenced by the Mexican artillery, which opened its fire while the American army was yet at. some distance. The engagement soon became general, and was fought almost entirely by the artillery. Ring- gold's battery opened with terrible effect on the Mexican left. scattering that brave array of cavalry as if it had been smitten by the sweep of a cyclone. They soon recovered, however, and, making a detour, attempted to fall on the American rear, but were met by the infantry, in squares, and repelled with immense slaughter. While Ringgold's battery, supported by the in- fantry, was sweeping everything before it on the right, Duncan, on the left, was hurling his fierce volleys into the reeling columns of the foe, who melted away at every discharge; and in the center, the two eighteen-pounders kept up a steady and destructive fire. Here the prairie took fire, and the flames, gathering force and fury as they flew, rolled their devouring billows over the field, and wrapped the two armies in an impervious canopy of smoke. This for a time stayed the contest. But Duncan and his men. dashing through the flames, which curled ten feet high, showed themselves on the Mexican flank, and, opening a furious fire, scattered the terror-stricken col- umns in every direction. This terminated the contest. The Mexicans re- treated to the chaparral and the Americans encamped on the field of battle. The Mexican loss in this affair was two hundred killed and four hundred wounded ; that of the Americans was four killed and thirty-seven wounded. Of the killed, three were officers, among whom were Major Ringgold and Captain Page.
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563
MATAMORAS SURRENDERS TO GENERAL TAYLOR.
That night the enemy retired four miles, and, having received a re-en- torcement of two thousand men, selected a strong position at Resaca de la. Palma, with a ravine in front, guarded by a pond on one flank and a chap- arral on the other, and, having placed eight pieces of artillery in a situation to command the approaches, determined to await the advance of the Amer- icans. Contrary to the advice of his officers, General Taylor, notwithstand- ing the immense superiority of the force opposed to him, determined to continue his march to Fort Brown, and early next morning the army again advanced against the foe.
As soon as the presence of the enemy was ascertained, the artillery of Lieutenant Ridgely was moved to the front, and opened its fire upon that of the Mexicans. The infantry was pressed forward on the right, and, after a desperate struggle, succeeded in penetrating through the chaparral and gaining the flank, while on the left our troops gained a decided advantage. But, in the meantime, the enemy's center kept up a deadly and destructive fire, which arrested the advance of the Americans, and rendered the fort- unes of the day for some time doubtful. Though Ridgely's artillery con- tinued to make terrible havoc in the ranks of the foe, the Mexicans still kept up a well-directed fire. which swept our lines and did fearful execution. At this crisis, General Taylor ordered Captain May to charge the battery with his dragoons. Without a moment's hesitation, the gallant May and his fear- less horsemen dashed forward through the tempest of fire and iron which the well-worked artillery of the Mexicans hurled in one unbroken torrent over the plain, and, though he lost many of his followers by the discharge with which his advance was met, he faltered not, but, with trumpets ringing merrily and gleaming sabers, swept on like a tornado, before which the firm lines of the enemy wavered and broke and fled. This advantage was fol- lowed up by a fierce onslaught from the infantry, at the point of the bayo- net. The enemy's center was broken and the fortune of the day decided. The victory was complete. General Taylor brought into action but seven- teen hundred wearied men, against a force of at least six thousand, well dis- ciplined, officered, and conditioned. The enemy had every advantage of position, and maintained it valiantly and well, and nothing but hard fighting wrested the victory from them. Our loss in the battle was one hundred and ten killed and wounded. That of the enemy was probably tenfold, though never precisely ascertained. On the 18th of May, General Taylor took possession of Matamoras without resistance.
In response to the call of the Government, volunteers from the Western States came in numbers exceeding the demands of the campaign, and the commander-in-chief found himself suddenly embarrassed by volunteer re- enforcements, far beyond the provisions to maintain and move them for- ward. Kentucky was called on for a quota of twenty-four hundred men. Ten thousand of her citizens eagerly responded. ready for the war, and it became a struggle for the chance of the service. Governor Owsley, on the
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
17th of May, had issued his proclamation to Kentuckians, "to form them- selves into volunteer companies," and report to him forthwith. In anticipa- tion, the Louisville Legion, commanded by Colonel Ormsby, had organized- with nine full companies, and tendered its services to the governor on the 18th, the day following the proclamation. By the 26th, it had embarked for the seat of war. The Second regiment of infantry, W. R. McKee, colonel, Henry Clay, Jr., lieutenant-colonel, and Cary H. Fry, major, and the First regiment of cavalry, Humphrey Marshall, colonel, E. H. Field, lieutenant- colonel, and John P. Gaines, major, were next accepted, and soon en route for the Rio Grande. In addition to these, the company of John S. Will- iams, of Clark county, having been excluded from the quota by mistake, was specially accepted by the order of the War Department. Out of one hundred and five companies of volunteers, seventy-five were declined and disbanded. Of the general officers of the army appointed from Kentucky by the president, were Zachary Taylor, to be major-general in the regular army, William O. Butler, of Carroll county, to be major-general of volun- teers, and Thomas Marshall, of Lewis county, to be brigadier-general of volunteers. Of the companies forming the Second regiment, the captains were, respectively, William H. Maxcy, Franklin Chambers. Philip B. Thomp- son, Speed Smith Fry, George W. Cutter, William T. Willis, William Dough- erty, William M. Joyner, Wilkerson Turpin, and George W. Kavanaugh ; of the First regiment of cavalry, W. J. Heady, A. Pennington, Cassius M. Clay, Thomas F. Marshall, J. C. Stone, J. Price, G. L. Postlethwaite, J. S. Lillard, John Shawhan, and B. C. Milam.
The Louisville Legion was the first body of Kentucky volunteers to join the American army in its march of invasion from the mouth of the Rio Grande, and in time to participate in the next great battle fought.
1 At length, these obstacles being removed. the army was set in motion and advanced upon Monterey. This was a place strong by nature, amply fortified, and maintained by an army of seven thousand troops of the line and three thousand irregulars. To reduce this stronghold, General Taylor had a force comprising four hundred and twenty-five officers and sixty-two hundred and twenty men. Against the forty-two pieces of cannon of the Mexicans, he arrayed but one ten-inch mortar, two twenty-four-pound how- itzers, and four light field batteries of four guns each, the mortar being the only piece suitable to the operations of a siege. With these fearful odds against him, he invested the city.
Having established his camp three miles from the defenses of the city. reconnoissances were made, and it was found possible to turn the enemy's position and gain the heights in his rear. General Worth was detached upon this duty, which having been performed, he was to carry the enemy's works on that side of the town. The operations soon became twofold, the assailing party of Worth being independent of the command of Taylor, whose prin-
1 Collins, Vol. II., p. 385.
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565
MONTEREY REDUCED.
cipal efforts were to divert the attention of the enemy, while Worth pro- ceeded to the execution of his orders.
The order was issued on the 19th of September, and the next day at two o'clock Worth commenced his advance, and succeeded in reaching a posi- tion above the bishop's palace. The next morning, the battle commenced in earnest. Pressing forward, Worth encountered the enemy in force, and drove them before him with slaughter. Gaining the Saltillo road, he cut off the communications, and, carrying two heights west of the Saltillo road, from one of them he was enabled, with his guns, to command the bishop's palace. In the meantime, a determined assault was made upon the town from below by the force under General Taylor. A series of terrific and bloody contests ensued. Our loss was very heavy, from the character of the enemy's defenses and the daring ardor of our troops. General Taylor's pur- pose of diverting attention from Worth was, however, attained. One of their advanced works was carried at the point of the bayonet, and a strong foot- ing secured in the town. This was on the third day after the commencement of active operations. On the fourth, Worth was victorious at every point. The bishop's palace was taken, while the troops under Taylor pressed upon the city, the lower part of which was evacuated that night. On the fifth day of the siege, the troops under Taylor advanced from square to square, every inch of ground desperately disputed, until they reached within a square of the Plaza; while Worth pressed onward, on the opposite side of the city, carrying all before him. At length, matters being ripe for such a movement, preparations were made for a concerted storm of the enemy's position on the next day. The morning, however, brought an offer of capitulation, which resulted in the surrender of the city. Our loss in the affair was about five hundred killed and wounded; but the victory secured the possession of an immense territory and a vast amount of military stores.
Making his headquarters at Monterey, General Taylor proceeded to oc- cupy Saltillo and Paras, while the Mexicans fell back upon San Luis Potosi. Santa Anna was recalled to Mexico and placed at the head of the Govern- ment and army. Before December, he had twenty thousand men under his command, well organized, and with this force he determined to crush Tay- lor at a blow and redeem the conquered provinces. While these prepara- tions were going on, the Government of the United States, for the purpose of an attack on Vera Cruz, withdrew from General Taylor the most effective portion of his forces, leaving him with an extended line of territory to de- fend, a formidable foe in front, and with only a small force, principally un- tried volunteers, to encounter the enemy. Rejecting the advice of the department to retire to Monterey and there defend himself, General Taylor determined to encounter Santa Anna at an advanced position, and selected Buena Vista for that purpose. This field was admirably chosen, and the hero, with his little band, there awaited the shock of his powerful adversary. Santa Anna brought into the field twenty thousand men, to encounter which
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
General Taylor had a force of three hundred and thirty-four officers and forty-four hundred and twenty-five men.
In the siege of Monterey, the Louisville Legion had joined General Taylor's army in time to participate. They were assigned to the duty of guarding a mortar battery, where, for twenty-four hours, they were exposed to the enemy's cannon, without the privilege or possibility of returning the fire, or of protective defense. During this time they held in check the Mexican cavalry, and, according to the report of the commanding general, "displayed obedience, patience, discipline, and calm courage," the highest qualities that could be possessed by an undisciplined soldiery, and under the severest ordeal of battle. In the action General William O. Butler was dan- gerously wounded, and Major Philip N. Barbour, of the regular army, and a native of Kentucky, was killed.
In due time, the Second regiment of Kentucky infantry, and the First regiment of cavalry, joined the army of General Taylor, after the capture of Monterey, ready for the next great impending battle that gave most fame to the chief, and most severely tested the bravery of Kentucky volunteers. Not since the memorable battle of New Orleans, thirty-one years before. had an occasion arisen for Kentuckians to test the valor and endurance of untried volunteers, under the press of superior numbers, and through a long and desperate fight which often seemed hopeless to the stoutest hearts; and the crucial test of the desperately-contested issue of Angostura Pass served in later times to affect the military conduct of Kentuckians on other fields of battle.
The war between the neighboring republics had now assumed a magni- tude that absorbed the national attention on both sides, and drew forth the entire national resources, at least of the defensive combatant. It became apparent that nothing less than the march of an invading army to the capital of Mexico would break the haughty pride of rulers and people, and enforce such terms of peace as looked now beyond the simple concession of first demands, to the indemnifying acquisition of territorial empire. The diffi- culties and disadvantages of marching an aggressive and conquering army inland from Monterey to Mexico were too formidable. At military head- quarters at Washington, it was determined to effect the landing of the main invading army at Vera Cruz, to capture and occupy this fortified stronghold. and from this point march upon the magnificent capital of the nation. Gen- eral Winfield Scott was placed at the head of this new army of invasion.
1 At the time when the victorious army of Taylor was being made invin- cibly strong, by the accretions of these volunteer re-enforcements, the demand was made upon him for the main body of regulars who had fought with him from Palo Alto to Monterey, to be transferred to Scott. He now found himself with insufficient troops to carry his campaign farther into the interior. It was imperative that he should hold Monterey and Saltillo. to
I Shaler's American Commonwealths, p. 204.
567
OFFICIAL REPORT OF GENERAL TAYLOR.
protect his lines of communication ; and for this duty he was left with what the Government deemed a force sufficiently strong. As long as he main- tained the ground he had won, no Mexican army could invade Texas while Scott was marching on the City of Mexico. Underrating the forces and soldierly qualities of the enemy, the higher disposing authorities did not contemplate the possibility of a struggle with any formidable army sent against General Taylor ; less, even, that an occasion would arise, to make it expedient for the latter to move forward with the depleted army. No sooner had the depletion of the veteran regiments of this army been observed by the vigilance of Santa Anna, than this greatest of the Mexican chieftains pre- pared suddenly to overwhelm this Federal army with four or five times their numbers, before Scott's columns could get into position to assail him. Leav- ing garrisons in Monterey and Saltillo, Taylor wisely anticipated the advance of the enemy, by moving the main body of his army southward to find a suitable place to meet the attack which threatened. Once penned within the forts he knew that a surrender was but a question of time.
Buena Vista is a village ranche five miles south of Saltillo, on the road to San Luis Potosi. Here the baggage and supply trains were left. On either side of the San Luis road the mountains, abruptly broken into spurs, rose to a great height, enclosing the narrow valley. Three miles south of Buena Vista the gulieys approached so near the base of the eastern mount- ains, as to narrow the valley to the width of the road, forming the Pass of Angostura, the real point of battle.
As much controversy and criticism have been indulged, on the actions of some of the prominent Kentucky officers and troops in the battle of Buena Vista, based mainly upon what we conceive to be partial, and not altogether unprejudiced. testimony, and as presenting a true and graphic description of the action by the most competent authority, we prefer here to introduce the official report of Commanding General Zachary Taylor, as part of the narrative of our history :
" HEADQUARTERS. ARMY OF OCCUPATION, AGUA NUEVA, March 6. 1847- Sir : I have the honor to submit a detailed report of the operations of the forces under my command which resulted in the engagement of Buena Vista, the repulse of the Mexican army, and their occupation of this position.
"On the morning of the 22d, I was advised that the enemy was in sight, advancing. Upon reaching the ground it was found that his cavalry ad- vance was in our front, having marched from Encarnacion, as we have since learned, at eleven o'clock on the day previous, and driving in a mounted force left at Agua Nueva to cover the removal of public stores. Our troops were in position occupying a line of remarkable strength. The road at this point is a narrow defile, the valley on its right being rendered quite imprac- ticable for artillery by a system of deep and impassable gullies, while on the left a succession of rugged edges and precipitous ravines extends far back toward the mountain which bounds the valley. The features of the ground
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
were such as nearly to paralyze the artillery and cavalry of the enemy, while his infantry could not derive all the advantage of its numerical superiority. In this position we prepared to receive him. Captain Washington's battery, Fourth artillery, was posted to command the road, while the First and Sec- ond Illinois regiments, under Colonels Hardin and Bissell, each eight com- panies, to the latter of which was attached Captain Conner's company of Texas volunteers, and the Second Kentucky, under Colonel McKee, occu- pied the crests of the ridges on the left and in rear. The Arkansas and Kentucky regiments of cavalry, commanded by Colonels Yell and H. Mar- shall, occupied the extreme left near the base of the mountain, while the Indiana brigade, under Brigadier-General Lane, composed of the Second and Third regiments. under Colonels Bowles and Lane, the Mississippi Rifle- men, under Colonel Davis, the squadrons of the First and Second dragoons under Captain Steen and Lieutenant-Colonel May, and the light batteries of Captains Sherman and Bragg, Third artillery, were held in reserve. At eleven o'clock I received from General Santa Anna a summons to surrender at discretion, which, with a copy of my reply, I have already transmitted. The enemy still forbore his attack, evidently waiting for the arrival of his rear columns, which could be distinctly seen by our look-outs as they ap- proached the field. A demonstration made on his left caused me to detach the Second Kentucky regiment and a section of artillery. to our right. in which position they bivouacked for the night. In the meantime, the Mexi- can light troops had engaged ours on the extreme left, composed of parts of the Kentucky and Arkansas cavalry dismounted, and a rifle battalion from the Indiana brigade under Major Gorman, the whole commanded by Colonel Marshall, and kept up a sharp fire, climbing the mountain side, and apparently endeavoring to gain our flank. Three pieces of Captain Wash- ington's battery had been detached to the left. and were supported by the Second Indiana regiment. An occasional shell was thrown by the enemy into this part of our line, but without effect. The skirmishing of the light troops was kept up with trifling loss on our part until dark, when I became convinced that no serious attack would be made before the morning, and returned with the Mississippi regiment and squadron of Second dragoons to Saltillo. The troops bivouacked without fires, and laid upon their arms. A body of cavalry, some fifteen hundred strong, had been visible all the day in rear of the town, having entered the valley through a narrow pass east of the city. This cavalry, commanded by General Minon, had evi- dently been thrown in our rear to break up and harass our retreat, and perhaps make some attempt against the town if practicable. The city was occupied by four excellent companies of Illinois volunteers under Major Warren of the First regiment. A field work, which commanded most of the approaches, was garrisoned by Captain Webster's company, First artillery, and armed with two twenty-four-pound howitzers, while the train and head- quarter camp was guarded by two companies of Mississippi riflemen under
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