Army of Observation
Corpus Christi, Texas
December 17, 1845
Messrs. Editors.
— The Washington Union of the 29th November last contains a
letter from Paymaster General Towson,
U. S. A., attempting to explain the charge of neglect, in not paying
the troops here, made against his Department in my letter of the 31st
October from this place. The publication of that explanation is
preceded by an editorial in the Union denying, by authority, other
facts contained in my communication, casting unmerited censure on the
writer, and assuming, most unreasonably, that the abuses exposed were
charged against the Administration. The Union assures the
country that official reports represent the troops here as
“disciplined, efficient and thoroughly equipped.” It is deeply
regretted that the National Intelligencer, in its fierce and
uncompromising warfare on the Administration, should have used this
letter as the basis of one of its attacks, thereby misdirecting the
great mass of this army, knows and acknowledges that the
Administration has acted with great promptness, decision and energy in
all matters connected with it, and has won for itself golden opinions
even from political opponents. It is regretted still more that the
Union, a little too sensitive, and from the high position of its
informers a little credulous on this subject, should have been drawn
into a defense of the Administration against charges never made,
nor even entertained. This is not the first instance that the
Union has been thus led into error by the same means and for a like
purpose; and a suggestion to its editor that other than patriotic
motives may prompt the incorrect information he receives will, it is
hoped, excite some suspicion in his mind that these attempts to shift
responsibility from the Staff Departments of the army to the
Administration are not without their motive. If the errors and
neglects of these Departments, when exposed, can be thus easily
transferred to the Administration, may we not expect them to increase
and multiply with a view to embarrass the Executive and his friends,
and thereby pave the way to the succession of a certain high military
functionary known to be a prominent whig aspirant?
The remarks of the Union have imposed
upon me the unpleasant but easy duty of sustaining the positions of my
letter of the 31st of October. In doing so I will state
facts which can be substantiated by the whole army, and I should have
blushed under other circumstances to make disclosures so discreditable
to particular branches of the service, and incidentally injurious to
the whole. But they have been forced upon me, and on the guilty heads
be the consequences. I emphatically assert, too, that the
Administration (the Executive and Cabinet) is not responsible for
these abuses, which have resulted from a neglect of the orders of the
Executive, who in this matter has been ever prompt and decisive.
Paymaster General Towson
gives a reason, such as it is, why Company “E,” 3d Artillery, commanded
by Lieut. Bragg, was not paid at the end of two months; but he
forgets or dodges the same company at the end of four months,
when it was again mustered for pay; and he does not pretend to give any
reason for not paying forty-five other companies – more than half
this army – which, by his own showing, had two month’s pay due at the
end of August, and which they did not receive until sometime in
November! Whether Lieut. Bragg wished or applied to have his company
paid in New Orleans, is a matter in no way connected with the question.
On the 31st of October that company had six months pay due
it, and no opportunity had been afforded Lieut. B. to have it paid
for the four preceding months, though the laws regulat5ing the Paymaster
General’s Department require that the arrearages shall never exceed
two months. Not even a hope was entertained here on the 31st
October that payments would arrive the next day or even the next month.
We had reports as early as the 1st September, which were
repeated weekly, that those officers were coming; but the cry of wolf
had been so frequently raised and proved false, that no one thought of
noticing it. That report even was not in circulation on the 31st
October.
Lieut. Bragg may have had, and
probably did have reasons for not wishing his company paid in New
Orleans, such, for instance as the limited time he had to remain there,
(three days) during which he was necessarily very busy in changing his
equipments and preparing for field instead of garrison service – he
having been kept in ignorance as to his destination until he reached New
Orleans. Situated as his company was, in the midst of the city of New
Orleans, surrounded by every temptation to dissipation, aster a sea
voyage of more than twenty days, and without the usual garrison means of
restraint, it would have been impossible for him to have effected this
had his men been supplied with money, unless indeed they had been of
different materials from the generality of soldiers. But admitting Lt.
B. did not apply for the payment of company, it is strange that the
Paymaster in New Orleans did not know that pay was due it. The
newspapers of the country, and especially those of New Orleans, have
noticed the departure of this company from Charleston before the end of
June – a strong point in the Paymaster General’s defense – and
consequently it must have been mustered for payment at sea. This fact,
too, was particularly known to the officers of the army in New Orleans,
as orders were there awaiting Lieut. Bragg, to report o General Taylor
for duty in Texas with the forces then concentrating for the purpose in
that city. This much of the Paymaster General’s letter then is entirely
unsatisfactory. Forty-six companies, more than half this army,
the Paymaster General acknowledges were not, until November, paid for
the months of July and August, though the pay was due on the 31st
of the latter month. Will Paymaster General
Towson attribute this to Lieut. Bragg, or will
he assume it himself? Twenty-six of those companies were here at
the time of muster, and the weather was fair and pleasant enough even
for a Paymaster to have turned out.
Long before the arrival of a Paymaster
here many of the officers of the army were destitute of the means of
paying for their daily subsistence; and it was a frequent occurrence to
see them with their _________ or certificates of pay due, searching
through the camp for some more fortunate friend who would advance them
the money to liquidate their bills for beard, servant-hire, washing,
&c., &c. due to poor dependants more destitute, though not more
needy than themselves! Responsible names of commissioned officers can
and will be given, if necessary, to vouch for this. Some officers,
myself among the number, had to expand public funds in our possession
for these same purposes, notwithstanding the severe penalties pronounced
against such a practice. The funds have been replaced and we are
prepared to defend the act under the imperative law of necessity. What
must have been the distress caused in the families of officers and
soldiers left behind, and dependent for their daily support on
remittances from their friends, I will not attempt to depict. One
instance of extreme necessity here may not be out of place. An officer
who had been dangerously ill for a length of time was advised by his
medical attendant to quit the country, or he must die. The commanding
General promptly gave the necessary leave of absence, which was of no
avail until the commander of the regiment to which the ___________
belonged, granted him permission to leave his certificate of pay due,
and take the amount from his “company fund,” not required for immediate
use.
The most cruel and criminal part of our
story is yet to come. From the time of the first arrival of troops in
Texas (1st August) up to that of the arrival of Paymasters in
November, many regular and honorable discharges were granted to soldiers
— some on the expiration of their time of service; others on surgeon’s
certificates of disability for service; and probably others on pension
certificates given for injuries received when in the discharge of their
duties. These poor and destitute men, after serving their country
honestly and faithfully, received the usual certificate from their
company commander of the average of pay, &c., due them at the time of
discharge, which Paymasters are required to cash on presentation; but in
the __________ of these officers, many poor men had to submit to the
operation of shaving before the means could be raised to return
to their homes. One who has ever been subjected to this performance
under the hands of a __________ ___________, can well imagine ....
Source: The Daily Picayune, January
8, 1846, p. 1, col. 7.
