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This webpage reproduces a publication of the United States government:
it is therefore in the public domain.

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A Historical Sketch of the Fourth Infantry
from 1796 to 1861​a

[p3] Preface

The following pages were written by request of the Military Service Institution. When completed they were found to exceed the limit of space allowed a single regiment in the pages of the Journal, that space being the same for all regiments whether their organizations dated from 1796 or 1861.

The narrative is published now not as a history, but as a simple sketch of the part taken by the regiment in the earlier affairs of the Army, and with the object of obtaining information for a more extended and complete account of the regiment and its services. Officers noting errors or important omissions will confer a favor by informing the writer. A similar sketch covering the period 1861 to the present time will be prepared should these pages meet the favor and co‑operation requested. There are few of the older officers to whom this sketch will not bring to mind some important facts that should find a place in a history of the regiment. With the hope of such assistance and co‑operation I submit this little narrative.

Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.James A. Leyden,

1st Lieut. and Adjutant, 4th Infantry.

[p4] The Fourth Infantry

In August, 1789, shortly after the present Constitution of the United States, the Regular Army consisted of but 672 enlisted men. The necessity of protecting settlers on the frontier west of the Allegheny Mountains led Congress to make, not without grave misapprehension, an increase in the number of men organized and called the Regular Army.

The region west of the Allegheny Mountains, both north and south of the Ohio River, contained many powerful Indian tribes: and these, with their own grievances aided and abetted by foreign agents, made Indian troubles the marked features of the time.

On May 15th, 1791, but 264 men of the United States troops in the West were available for duty. Numerous outrages led to the sending of additional troops to chastise the Indians; and thus early in our country's history is to be noted the oft‑repeated folly of sending a few to chastise the many. General St. Clair's command was defeated and routed by the Indians against whom it was sent.

The following extract from the report of General Knox, Secretary of War, is also not wanting in subsequent parallel: "Hence it would appear that the principles of justice, as well as policy, and, it may be added, the principles of economy, all combine to dictate that an adequate military force should be raised as soon as possible." General Knox further states: "With great reluctance as the result of my judgment, that the public service requires an increase of military force." . . . . "The military establishment to consist of 5,168 non‑commissioned officers, privates and musicians," and recommends "an organization of five regiments of infantry as a part of the above force, and further, that 'the nett pay of the private soldier at present, free of all deductions, is two dollars per month . . . . to raise the pay to three dollars per month.' "

Congress, by Act of March 5th, 1792, authorized the raising of three additional regiments of infantry, and directed the completion of the two regiments then in service. The third section of this act provided that it should be lawful for the President to organize the five regiments, etc., comprising the Regular Army as he should judge expedient.

Accordingly, in May, 1792, President Washington established the Legion as the organization of the troops of the United States. The legion was sub‑divided into four parts called Sub‑Legions. Each of these contained Dragoons, Rifles, Artillery and Infantry, and had a total of 1,280 enlisted men. The Legion was organized at Pittsburg, Pa., with General Anthony Wayne as Commander-in‑Chief. The President instructed General Wayne to "train and discipline them for the service they are meant for, . . . . and do not spare powder and lead, so that the men be made marksmen."

In December, the force being recruited, was camped about twenty‑two miles below Pittsburg at a place called Legionville, where it remained until the latter part of April, 1793, when it proceeded by river to Cincinnati, camp being made at "Hobson's Choice," so called on account of the difficulty in landing, owing to the high state of  p5 water in the river. Fever and desertion depleted the strength of the Legion, until October 7th it numbered, on leaving the Ohio River, but 2,600 regular troops. The command wintered at Greenville, Ohio. Parleying with the Indians occupied much of the summer of 1794, but at this time the little Army was increased by a considerable force of Kentucky mounted volunteers, and on August 20th it fought its only battle under the legionary formation, near the Miami Rapids, within pistol-shot of a fort commanded by a Major in H. B. M. service.

This legionary formation was a favorite one with General Knox, but was found not to meet the varied requirements of frontier service, and November 1st, 1796, it was broken up, pursuant to an Acto Congress of May 30th of that year; the President arranging and completing out of the Legion four regiments of infantry and two companies of light dragoons.

The Fourth Infantry, which had received an organization by the Act of March 5th, 1792, received a number of officers from the Fourth Sub‑Legion, among whether was Major Thomas Butler, its first Lieutenant-Colonel and Commandant. The organization prescribed on disbanding the Legion was of eight companies with a total of thirty commissioned and 502 enlisted.

The unfriendly attitude of France in 1798 led Congress to increase the number of companies in the regiments then existing to ten, and to provide for additional forces; (Act of July 16th, 1798). By this increase the authorized strength of the regiment was 36 commissioned and 704 enlisted. The following year these totals were further increased to 49 commissioned and 1,036 enlisted (Act of March 3d, 1799). The Act of May 14th, 1800, reduced the organization to that of 1796. The Military Peace Establishment of 1802 provided for but two regiments of infantry, and the Fourth Infantry was, June 1st of that year, disbanded. Some of its officers were retained in other organizations, some resigned, and the remainder were honorably discharged.

During these years of frequent changes but little is known of the service of the regiment. It was undoubtedly located in Virginia and engaged in protecting settlers from Indian depredations, but available records fail to show the points at which the troops were stationed or the nature of the service they performed.

International affairs in 1808 were in such a condition that the President asked Congress to increase the military strength of the Regular Army; and by the unparalleled vote, on military matters, of 98 to 16, the House passed a bill providing for an increase of seven regiments of infantry. . . . The Fourth Infantry under this Act was reorganized in the months of May and June, 1808. It was recruited in the Eastern States, and John P. Boyd, of East India fame, was named its first Colonel. In the spring of 1809 the organization was completed and the companies were stationed at Boston and various other points in the New England States. No important changes of station occurred until the spring of 1811, when the regiment was ordered to concentrate at Philadelphia, Pa. The companies having arrived at the Lazaretto, a short distance from the city of Philadelphia, orders were received for the regiment to proceed to Pittsburg. In compliance with these orders the regiment started, June 3d, on the march across the State of Pennsylvania, arriving in Pittsburg on the 28th of the same month. Four weeks had been pleasantly passed in the city when orders were received for the regiment to proceed by river to Cincinnati. Many desertions occurred before starting from a fear that the ultimate destination of the regiment was New Orleans, from which point alarming reports of fever had been received. Colonel Boyd  p6 joined the regiment at Pittsburg and accompanied it down the river to Cincinnati. After arriving at the latter place camp was made on the present site of Newport Barracks until August 31st. War Department orders then directed that the regiment proceed to Vincennes, in the Indian Territory. The journey down the Ohio was resumed; Colonel Boyd was met at the falls of the river by Governor Harrison, and, at his request, the Colonel proceeded overland with him to Vincennes. The regiment having made the portage at the falls, continued down the river to the mouth of the Wabash, and thence up that stream to Vincennes, experiencing many hardships and difficulties owing to the size of the boats and the difficult current of the stream. At Vincennes the regiment was joined by a force of militia and volunteers, and August 27th the entire command left the trading post and marched up the river to a point near the present town of Terre Haute, where a post called Fort Harrison was built. The Prophet, brother of Tecumseh, and leader of the Indians then causing trouble, refused all overtures, and November 6th found the command within three miles of his village.

November 7th, before dawn, the Indians made a furious attack upon the camp of General Harrison's little army. Captain Barton's company of the Fourth Infantry met the first onslaught, the militia on its right temporarily giving way. The camp fires gave an advantage to the Indians in the almost impenetrable darkness before dawn; they were rapidly extinguished, and the desperate struggle continued on all sides of the irregular parallelogram including the camp until dawn. Daylight showed the position of the Indians, and a few vigorous bayonet charges drove them from the field. The loss of the troops engaged in killed and wounded was 188, of which the regiment lost 77 out of its 300 present. Many of the officers of the regiment were mentioned, and the troops especially commended, for good conduct by Governor Harrison in his report of the engagement.

Owing to want of supplies and proper accommodation for the large number of wounded, the little army returned to Fort Harrison, where Captain Snelling's company was left as a garrison, and thence returned to Vincennes for the winter.

In the spring of 1812 the Indians to the north were causing much trouble, and there were strong probabilities of a war with Great Britain, whose agents were identified with the Indian difficulties. General Hull, on account of his knowledge of the Indians and his former good record, had been given command of all the forces in the Northwest, and the regiment was accordingly ordered to join other troops under his immediate command.

In obedience to these orders the regiment marched from Vincennes to Cincinnati and thence to Urbana, arriving at the latter place July 3d, the day before the receipt of the declaration of war against England. General Hull's command arrived at Detroit on July 6th, after a most arduous and trying march through the forests of Ohio. On the 12th it crossed the river for "an invasion and conquest of Upper Canada." Camp was established at Sandwich, on the Canadian side of the river, and the troops remained there for nearly a month without making hostile demonstration, although the Canadians and Indians were known to be concentrating at Malden, but thirteen miles down the river. A mutinous spirit began to manifest itself on account of this inactivity.

Governor Meigs had forwarded a considerable supply of provisions and clothing for the use of the Army, and Major Van Horn of the volunteers was sent with a small command to escort the supplies to Sandwich. His command was surprised and routed  p7 by a large force of Canadians and Indians. General Hull was prevailed upon later to send an additional force to bring the supplies into camp, and the Fourth Infantry, under the command of the youthful and gallant Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller, was reluctantly ordered upon the duty. Colonel Miller, before starting, briefly harangued his troops, saying: "And now, if there is any man in the ranks of this detachment who fears to meet the enemy, let him fall out and stay behind." None fell out. About 4 o'clock P.M. August 9th the command reached the vicinity of Maguago, fourteen miles below Detroit. The advance guard, under the command of Captain Snelling, suddenly received from ambush a fierce volley from a mixed force of British, Canadians and Indians, under the command of Major Muir of the English Army and Tecumseh, the Indian chief. Snelling held his ground with what remained of his little force until the main body formed for the attack. The line moved forward with fixed bayonets and, although receiving a terrific fire from behind breastworks of fallen trees, charged the British and Canadians. Before they had time to reload the first work was carried and the white men broke and fled, closely pursued by the American troops; the enemy was unable to form behind his second line of breastworks, and, completely routed, made the best of his way to the river and crossed to the other side. The Indians, thus deserted by their white allies, soon broke and fled in their turn, disappearing in the forest. Colonel Miller determined to march at once on Malden, but at sundown he was met with a peremptory order from General Hull to return to Detroit. The loss to Miller's command was 75 killed and wounded, of which the Fourth Infantry lost 58. Forty Indians were found dead on the battle field and Tecumseh, the Indian chief, was wounded.

In compliance with the orders it received, Miller's command started immediately on the return to Detroit. Arriving after a trying night march in the rain, no unusual circumstance appeared to warrant General Hull's order for so hasty a march. One week from the battle of Maguago, and with troops flushed and enthused with the success of that battle, General Hull basely surrendered his entire command, without a show of resistance, to less than its own numbers of British, Canadians and Indians.

General Hull had an honorable record in earlier times, and it is difficult to understand how he should have so completely become a prey to the visionary fears which unnerved him and led him to magnify his enemy. History has shown conclusively that the American force under General Hull was larger than that to which it surrendered, including Indians.

Colonel Dallas, the Judge Advocate of the Court which tried General Hull, stated that Hull's indecision and inaction were the result of the "imbecility of age" rather than treason or cowardice. As one of the results of this base surrender, the regiment lost a beautiful stand of colors, presented to it by the ladies of Boston when it was stationed in the Eastern States. These colors are now kept in the Tower of London among similar trophies there preserved.​*

The Court Martial which tried General Hull found him guilty of "cowardice and neglect of duty," and sentenced him "to be shot dead and to have his name stricken from the rolls of the Army." Clemency was recommended, and the President, mitigating the sentence, ordered that "the rolls of the Army are no longer to be debased by having upon them the name of Brigadier General Hull."

After the surrender the officers and men of the regiment were taken as prisoners of war to Montreal, Canada, suffering great hardships on the way from excessive ill‑treatment  p8 and the want of even the plainest food. "Arriving at Montreal on the evening of September 27th, 1812, the reform was met by crowds of people who had collected, as they said, 'to have a peep at General Hull's exterminating Yankees.' A band of music joined the escort and struck up our much admired ditty, 'Yankee Doodle,' in which it was joined by all of us who could whistle the tune. When they ceased to play, 'Yankee Doodle' was loudly called for by the regiment. At last, mortified at our conduct, the band began 'Rule Britannia,' which was cheered by the multitude, but we still continued our favorite song, some singing and others whistling, till we reached the barracks."1

From Montreal the regiment was sent to Quebec, where the men were confined on board two transports in the river. Many men died during their imprisonment from the ill‑usage they had received, and the bodies were buried back of the city. Finally the regiment was exchanged and sent from Quebec on October 29th on an old schooner bound for Boston. On the Gulf of St. Lawrence a furious storm was encountered, and the old schooner became the prey of the waves for several days. Land was finally made at Shelturn, on the east side of the Bay of Fundy.​b On the voyage thus far no less than fifteen men died and were buried at sea. Two more died at Shelturn, and before Boston was reached, on November 28th, thirty in all had been thrown overboard. Upon arriving in Boston General Boyd, the former Colonel of the regiment, did everything in his power to make the men who had served under him at Tippecanoe comfortable. On January 1st, 1813, all the remaining men, about 200, were given furloughs to return to their homes.2

Early in 1813 recruiting for the regiment began. The recruits were collected and the regiment assembled and organized, under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Darrington, at Greenbush.​3 Shortly after the organization such part of the regiment as had arrived at Greenbush was ordered to rendezvous at Burlington, Vt.4

Detachments of the regiment were present at the battle of La Cole Mill, Lower Canada, March 30th, and at Plattsburg, September 6th to 11th, 1814. Shortly after the return of the regiment from Canada in 1812 Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller, one of the bravest and most distinguished officers the war produced, was transferred to another command on the Niagara frontier, where he won the brevet of Brigadier General, and Congress voted him a gold medal for his gallantry and good conduct.

Upon the reduction of the Army in 1815 many regiments were consolidated to give a smaller number of regimental organizations, and the Fourth Infantry was, with five other regiments, consolidated to form the Fifth Infantry. In the same way three regiments, the Twelfth, Fourteenth and Twentieth, were consolidated and called the Fourth Infantry. The official Army Register had for many years given other regiments as beings consolidated to form the Fourth Infantry, but careful investigation shows that the Army Register is partially in error in this respect.

The War Department has ruled that by these consolidations the distinguished services of the regiment prior to May 15th, 1815, are to be credited to the Fifth Infantry, and that the Fourth Infantry, in a similar way, inherited the records of the  p9 regiments consolidated into its organization. The names Fort Niagara, Fort George, Beaver Dams, Chrystler's Fields, Chippeway and Cook's Mill are therefore borne upon the regimental colors, although in none of these battles did the regiment or any portion of it participate.

After the reorganization of the regiment it was ordered South, owing to the difficulties with the Creek and Seminole Indians in Florida and Alabama. For several years its history was one of continual marching and counter marching, building cantonements and opening military roads through the wilderness, the policy of the General Government then being that the Infantry arm of the service should build its own barracks and open roads through the Indian country.

In the Spring of 1817 the regiment marched from South Carolina and Georgia to Alabama, and proceeded thence to Florida to operate, under the command of Major-General Jackson, against the Spanish forces in Pensacola harbor. In 1821 companies were for the first time designated by letters of the alphabet, and, in the reduction of the Army, the regiment received a considerable number of men and officers from the disbanded Eighth regiment. The regimental headquarters were, by the same order which directed these changes, stationed at Pensacola.5

It would be tedious and uninteresting to detail the many changes of station that occurred in the southern country during the distressing Seminole wars. Troops were changing and moving about continually, and when not moving were occupied in building quarters for their protection. "Nine companies in 1822 commenced the erection of a cantonement, afterward called 'Cantonement Clinch,' after the much beloved Colonel of the regiment. Each company built its own double block of two rooms of logs, and a house of one story (of logs) of two rooms for officers' quarters. The troops also sawed the boards for flooring and rived the pine shingles for roofs. In truth, the troops did the entire work, the Quartermaster's Department only furnishing the few tools to work with, the nails and other hardware. Scarce a nail was used to secure the shingles; they were hung on the rafters with wooden pegs. The spaces between the logs were chinked with split pieces of pine and daubed with clay, and afterward the whole was whitewashed. This was the mode of erecting quarters by the Infantry arm in those days."​6 Cantonement Brooke, named for the distinguished and popular Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment, was built in 1824, and during the second Seminole war became an important depot and base of supplies.

"When the battalions of the First and Fourth Infantry were ordered in 1826 to return to Cantonement Clinch, there being but little transportation for baggage or supplies, and none to be obtained in an Indian country, the companies went to work and cut down trees, sawed out the sides and necessary timber to construct a large flatboat, or 'broad-horns,' as they were called, to contain the company and supplies for the voyage to the Gulf, burned tar kilns, picked oakum, etc. The boats were launched in the Chattahoochee River, and all having safely embarked in these boats, without shelter of any kind, started, each company vieing with the others which could first reach its destination. Each boat was propelled with from four to six oars, and, being favored with a current, good time was made. Before nightfall the boats tied up by the bank of the river and the evening meal was prepared and hastily dispatched, and  p10 onward went the boats. Nine companies of troops have rarely been transported so many miles at so little expense."​7

In 1831 the regimental headquarters were at Baton Rouge, La., and there seemed to be an intention to withdraw the regiment from Florida. The war with the Sacs and Foxes (Black Hawk War) had broken out and two companies were sent up the Mississippi to reinforce General Atkinson's command at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, Wis. From Fort Crawford these companies returned to Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, Ill., and while at the latter place the cholera made its appearance among the points. The following characteristic order, taken verbatim from an old Company Order Book, is not without a species of grim humor:

Adjutant General's Office,
N. W. Army.

August 28th, 1832.

Orders
No. 16

*[image ALT: an underscored blank]*[image ALT: an underscored blank][Extract][image ALT: an underscored blank]*[image ALT: an underscored blank]*

I. The cholera epidemic has made its appearance on Rock Island. The first two cases were brought by mistake from Captain Ford's company of U. S. Mounted Rangers. One of them died yesterday; the other is convalescent. A second death occurred this morning in the hospital at Fort Armstrong. The man was of the Fourth Infantry, and had been some time under treatment for Debility. The Ranger, now convalescent, was in the same hospital with him for 16 hours before a cholera hospital could be established outside of the camp and post.

II. It is believed that all of these men were of intemperate habits. The Ranger who is dead it is known generated the disease within him by a fit of intoxication.

********

V. In addition to the foregoing, the senior surgeon present recommends the use of flannel shirts, flannel drawers and woolen stockings, but the Commanding General, who has seen much of the disease, knows that it is intemperance which, in the present state of the atmosphere, generates and spreads the calamity, and that when once much spread good and temperate men are likely to be infected. He therefore peremptorily commands that every soldier or ranger who shall be found drunk or sensibly intoxicated, after the publication of this order, be compelled as soon as his strength will permit, to dig a grave at a suitable burying place, large enough for his own reception, as such graves cannot fail to be wanted, for the drunken man himself or some drunken companion.

VI. This order is given as well to serve as a punishment for drunkenness as to spare good and temperate men the labour of digging graves for their worthless companions.

By order of Maj.‑Gen'l Scott.

[Signed] P. Galt,

Assistant Adjutant General.

It would seem that the fondness of the soldier for liquor was as pronounced then as in more recent times, when the commutation of the whisky ration does not form a part of his monthly revenue. Desertions also were not infrequent, although the punishment was most severe. Two years in the Leavenworth Military Prison, learning some useful trade, contrasts peculiarly with the following, not an isolate case:

Headquarters Western Department.

Memphis, Tenn., 4th March, 1834.

[Extract]

At a Gen'l Court Martial, whereof Capt. H. Wilson was President, held at Baton Rouge, La., in virtue of Western Dept. Order No. 47 of 1832 was tried the following prisoners:º

Private John Mooney. [image ALT: an underscored blank] Charge, Desertion.

To which he pleaded Not Guilty. The Court found him guilty as Charged and Sentences him to be tied to a stack of arms and to receive ten lashes for Five Successive Mornings with a Cat o' Nine Tails on his bare Back in presence of the command, to have his head and Eye Brows Shaved, to forfeit all pay and traveling expenses and to be Drumd out of Service.

 p11  The regimental headquarters made several changes of station to and from Florida, and finally returned with the greater part of the regiment to take part in the Seminole War of 1836. Rarely, if ever, have troops been called upon for service under such trying circumstances as in this war. Absolute want of roads and transportation facilities; swamps and overflowed thickets; dense tropical forests of unknown extent; poisonous insects and serpents under foot, and an atmosphere reeking with many types of fever and disease, and at the same time against an enemy as cunning and active as he was cruel and treacherous. For days at a time the troops waded in the swamps or patrolled the streams in search of an enemy who only showed himself when in sufficient numbers to massacre isolated detachments. Treachery and deceit resulted from every conference with the Indians. The war was only temporarily brought to a close by the questionable seizure of Osceola under a flag of truce.

In all this war, which lasted about seven years and cost the Government hundreds of lives and millions of treasure,​8 the Fourth Infantry bore an honorable part. It participated in nearly all of the engagements and lost severely in killed and wounded, and, what in that region was worse, in missing, the totals for the regiment being: Officers killed in action or died of disease, 6; men killed in action or died of disease, 128.​9 About December 20th, 1835, Captain and Brevet Major Dade volunteered to command a detachment, consisting of two companies of Artillery and eleven of the men of his own company, that had been ordered to proceed from Fort Brooke to Fort King, the Seminole Agency. The detachment was originally ordered to proceed under the command of Major Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Gardinerº of the Artillery, but that officer, on account of severe sickness in his family, was prevented from going. Dade therefore volunteered and started with the command. When about 55 miles on its way the decision was attacked by a large force of Indians in ambush.​c The fight lasted from eight o'clock in the morning until the middle of the afternoon, December 28th. Three privates only escaped, and, though badly wounded, made their way back to Fort Brooke with the news of the massacre. On February 22d, 1836, General Gaines, with a force including seven companies of the Fourth Infantry, arrived on the battle ground and buried the remains of Major Dade and his command. This force then proceeded to Fort King, where it remained a few days awaiting supplies from Fort Drane, on General Clinch's plantation in Alachua. The supplies received, the march was resumed by a route to Fort Brooke far to the westward of the march north. While seeking for a practicable ford across the Withlacoochie, about 35 miles from Fort King, the command was attacked by swarms of Indians. Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Izard, A. D. C. to General Gaines, was mortally wounded at the beginning of the skirmish. The engagements which took place in that vicinity, and which continued for several days, are variously known as the engagements at Camp Izard, Gaines' Pen, and Withlacoochie. General Gaines had about 700 men. The Indians had, as was afterward ascertained, about 1,600 warriors. General Gaines determined not to attack the Indians in force, but to skirmish with them sufficiently to keep them together, and to send word to General Scott requesting his co‑operation, and, by a decisive battle, to end the war at once. General Gaines' dispatches were all received by General Scott, but he declined to co‑operate. Supplies were forwarded to General Gaines, and his command returned  p12 to Fort Drane. General Gaines and Colonel Twiggs shortly afterward left Florida and took no further part in the Seminole War.

"General Scott took the field from Fort Drane, with a large force and a long wagon train, and marched for Tampa Bay, striking the Withlacoochie at Camp Izard, crossed the river by means of scows, and the next day proceeded on his march. Some time in the afternoon a heavy trail of Indians was struck leading directly across our route eastward, and directly toward what was known as 'the Black Swamp,' occupying a large tract of country lying along the Withlacoochie. After pursuing this trail for some distance the wagon train was parked and left under a guard. We then followed the trail with much greater celerity until just before dark, when we were stopped by an extensive bog and an Indian on the opposite side displaying a white flag, which was respected, and Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Joseph E. Johnston was sent to meet it. The result was an appointment for the Indians to come in next morning and have a talk with the 'Big Chief General Scott.' We encamped near the borders of the swamp. Next morning no Indians appeared and we continued our march. No sooner was the movement commenced than the screams of the Indian sentinels sent warning to their retreating friends, who had used the entire night to put distance between us. We crossed the bog before us, in mud thigh deep, with much difficulty and delay, but before we reached the opposite side we were fired upon and had a running skirmish with a small party of Indians for three miles, most of the way through thick bushes.​10 When we reached the Withlacoochie River it was too deep to be forded, and our pursuit ended without beneficial results. Five men were killed and some wounded, but I never knew how many. We returned to the wagon train and continued our march for Tampa Bay, where we arrived early in April."​11

The season was by this time too far advanced for further field service, and the regiment was left at Tampa Bay. While here a detachment of 400 men — 200 from the Fourth Infantry and 200 volunteers — was sent to the Hillsboro River to bring in a company of Alabama volunteers that had been left guarding a bridge (Fort Foster) on that stream. On the return the command ran into an ambuscade and had a lively skirmish for half an hour, the loss to the Fourth Infantry being five killed and wounded. This skirmish is known as the engagement at Flint Creek, or Thlonotosassa, and occurred April 27th, 1836.

In the Fall of 1836 great preparations were made for an active campaign under General Thomas G. Jessup, Quartermaster General of the Army. Troops and supplies were gathered, and marching and countermarching began. The Fourth Infantry most of the time operated as an independent command. The movements of the entire force during the Winter resulted in bringing in the King, Micanopy, with a considerable number of his warriors. Campaigning then for a time ceased.

In 1837 there was "marching up and down, to and fro, hither and yon,' and very little accomplished. On Christmas Day, however, one of the severest engagements in the war took place on the shores of Lake Okeechobee, Colonel Zachary Taylor, First Infantry, commanding. The six companies of the Fourth Infantry engaged lost an aggregate of 22 killed and wounded. "The expedition through the everglades was very trying. The troops made many marches where animals could not go, carrying  p13 their rations and other necessaries upon their backs, wading in the cypress swamps through water from ankle to thigh deep (and even to arm‑pits on one occasion) for miles in succession, each expedition requiring seven days, and one eight days, from camp."12

In May, 1838, the regiment was en route to the Cherokee Nation in Tennessee, in connection with the removal of the Cherokee Indians by General Scott. In December, 1840, the regimental headquarters were at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, with a garrison of six companies, the other companies being widely distributed. In 1841 the fourth return to Florida took place, and a portion of the regiment took part in the final campaign of the Seminole War, in the region called Pi‑la‑li‑ka‑ha, southeast from Fort King. But little skirmishing and few casualties from fighting occurred. The clothing and food supplies of the Indians were captured, and finally the chief, Halleck Tustenuggee, was taken prisoner by an artifice justified only by necessity. Soon after his capture the last of the warrior bands was removed from Florida.

In September, 1842, the regiment was ordered to take station at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., where it remained until the proposed annexation of Texas, in 1844, led to rumblings of war with Mexico. As a part of the "Army of Observation" the regiment was moved to Grand Ecore, La., where it remained until July, 1845, being moved thence to Corpus Christi, Texas, as a part of the "Army of Occupation." The first act of war on the part of Mexico was the murder, on April 10th, of Colonel Cross, Assistant Quartermaster General, a few miles from camp, by a roving party of banditti. Lieutenant Porter, of the Fourth Infantry, with a small party, was sent out to search for the body of Colonel Cross, and on the return of the party it was ambuscaded, Lieutenant Porter and one man being killed. Soon after the Government recognized a state of war existing between the United States and Mexico, and preparations were made for an invasion of the territory of the latter.

When General Taylor's Army reached the Rio Grande from Corpus Christi, General Mejia issued a pronunciamento: "The water of the Rio Grande is deep, and it shall be the sepulcher of these degenerate sons of Washington." Operations did not cease on account of this proclamation. Fort Taylor was built, and, returning from Point Isabel, the Army of Occupation, about noon of May 8th, met and engaged the Mexican Army under General Ampudia at Palo Alto. The battle opened with a game of long bowls on the part of the Mexican artillery.​13 The Fourth Infantry, under the immediate command of Brevet Major G. W. Allen, was ordered to support Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Ringgold'sº battery, and was subject to a galling fire, by which several men were killed and Captain Page dangerously wounded.​14 Early on the following morning the enemy retreated, and, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, took up a position at Resaca de la Palma.​d The Fourth Infantry was deployed on the right of the road leading to his position, and at various points became briskly engaged with the enemy. A small party, under Captain Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Buchanan, afterward the distinguished Commander of the Regular Brigade of the Army of the Potomac, drove the enemy from the breastworks which he occupied, and captured a piece of artillery. The Fourth Infantry took possession of a camp where the headquarters of the Mexican General-in‑Chief were established. All his official  p14 correspondence was captured at this place, together with a large amount of ammunition, some 400 mules, saddles and every variety of army equipage.​15 The regiment lost in these two engagements: Lieutenant R. E. Cochrane and four men were killed; Captain Page, Lieutenants Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Wood and Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Hays and six men wounded.

In July the march into the interior began, and September 19th found the Army of Occupation encamped near Monterey. On the night of the 20th the Fourth Infantry, then consisting of but six reduced companies, was ordered to support the artillerists, while they were intrenching themselves and their guns. At daylight next morning fire was opened on both sides and continued with great fury. A short time after an order to charge was given. As soon as the troops were out of the depression they came under the fire of Black Fort, and as they advanced they got under fire from batteries guarding the east end of the city. About one‑third of the men engaged in the charge were killed and wounded in the space of a few minutes. The regiment halted in a place of safety — what there was left of it. In a short time the advance began again and the troops reached the suburbs. A little battery covering the approaches to the lower end of the city was captured and turned upon another work of the enemy. An entrance into the east end of the city was now secured. An advance was made to within a square of the plaza, not without heavy loss, when the ammunition began to grow low.​16 Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Grant made a dashing and perilous ride back to ask that ammunition be forwarded. Before it could be collected the remnants of the two regiments, the Third and Fourth Infantry, returned. The following day the city capitulated. Among the casualties were: Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Hoskins, Adjutant of the regiment, and 11 men killed; Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Graham and 23 men wounded.

In January, 1847, the regiment was ordered, as a part of the force sent from General Taylor, to General Scott's Army at Vera Cruz, and it joined General Scott on March 9th, taking part in the siege of Vera Cruz. The troops taking part in the siege "bore the heaviest labors in camp and in trenches without failure or murmur, amidst sand-storms of distressing frequency and violence, skirmishes by day and night, and under the incessant fire of the enemy's heavy batteries of the city and castle."17

Leaving Vera Cruz on April 13th, the regiment proceeded to Plan del Rio, near Cerro Gordo, on the 16th, the battle of the latter place taking place on the 17th‑18th. Previous to this battle, General Santa Anna stated to his Army: "I am resolved to go out and encounter the enemy. * * * * My duty is to sacrifice myself, and I will know how to fulfill it! Perhaps the American hosts may proudly trodº the imperial capital of Azteca. I will never witness such an opprobrium, for I am decided first to die fighting."​18 The General encountered the American Army at Cerro Gordo, and lost a leg in the retreat from that battle. Perhaps it may not be improper to state that it was the General's wooden leg that was lost in his hasty retreat.

The troops were glad to get away from the low lands, or tierra caliente, where disease was rapidly thinning the ranks. From Plan del Rio the Cattle de Perote was reached on the 22d, and Tepejahualco on the 27th, where a halt was made until May 10th. General Worth's division, in which the regiment served in the Valley of Mexico, advanced within about 12 miles of the City of Puebla. General Worth ordered his  p15 command to clean up, to make a good appearance upon entering the city the next day. While the muskets were taken apart, and while the pipe-clay was drying upon the white belts, the long roll beat to arms. The officers of the Fourth Infantry had a moment to ascend an azotea, and there they saw an immense column of Mexican cavalry rapidly approaching. Duncan's battery was run out to meet it, and the regiment was hurried to support the battery. A few rounds from the battery emptied many saddles and caused the column to diverge from the road. The Mexicans passed around the division, getting between General Worth and General Twiggs, who was a march in rear. General Worth assumed that Santa Anna intended to attack each division in turn, and thus beat the Army in detail, and he made provision to meet the expected attack. The Fourth Infantry was posted as a picquet guard several miles beyond Amasoque, in the direction of Puebla. During the night a terrific tropical storm broke, and in a few minutes made the corn-field where the regiment was lying a sea of mud. The nice uniforms and the white belts and the men who wore them were covered with Mexican mud, and possibly the shabbiest looking regiment ever in the Regular Army was the Fourth Infantry when it entered Puebla on May 15th, 1847. The azoteas, the windows and the streets were filled with men and women to look upon these "degenerate sons of Washington."

General Scott's army, after passing the Rio Frio Mountains, was rapidly concentrated at Ayolata, near the eastern end of Lake Chalco, in the Valley of Mexico. Garland's brigade, which included the Fourth Infantry, was sent to confront San Antonio, on the road to Cherubusco,º and on August 18th it secured a position within easy range of the advanced intrenchments of that place. On the 20th, Clark's brigade having turned the works of San Antonio by a circuitous route through rough and broken lava rock, or pedregal, the enemy commenced an evacuation of the works.​19 Garland's column was soon in and rapidly passed through on the high road to the capital. Approaching Cherubusco the brigade was thrown rapidly to the right of the causeway, and soon engaged the enemy's more regular masses. A fierce hand-to‑hand encounter followed for considerable time, when the enemy gave way, and the main body was soon in full and confused retreat. Pursuit was continued to within a mile and a half of the gate to the city.20

Company F, having been reorganized and recruited in New York, arrived at Vera Cruz, and in July formed part of the guard to the long and heavy train of supplies and treasure that was forwarded to the Army at Puebla. While en route Colonel McIntosh, who commanded the train guard, had a lively skirmish with Mexicans at Tolme on July 6th. In this skirmish the company lost six men in killed and wounded. Similarly Companies H and K, having arrived from New York, were sent forward in August, under the command of Major Lally. The detachment had repeated and severe skirmishes with guerillas and irregular Mexican troops, these two companies losing 13 in killed and wounded.

After Cherubusco the Army remained encamped in the vicinity of Tacubaya, pending a truce. The truce was violated by the Mexicans, and, negotiations having failed, active operations were resumed September 7th. At daylight on September 8th the troops of General Worth's division were at their places for the assault of Molino del Rey. A storming party, which included Lieutenants Haller21 and Maloney and 100  p16 men of the regiment, had been organized during the night. After a fierce cannonade the storming party moved to the assault. Molino del Rey was carried at the point of the bayonet, but not without the loss of 11 out of the 14 officers who were in the storming party. The remnant of the detachment belonging to the Fourth Infantry joined the regiment in the final assault made in support of the storming party. A fierce and bloody hand-to‑hand fight took place before the enemy was finally driven from his chosen position. The regiment lost during the day 67 in killed and wounded, including three officers wounded — Lieutenants Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Prince,​22 Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Lincoln and Smith. After the battle the troops returned to camp at Tacubaya.

The final great battle of the Mexican War was fought on September 13th and 14th at Chapultepec and the gates of the city. As at Molino del Rey, a storming party was organized. To this the Fourth Infantry furnished 50 men and two officers. The heavy cannonade which began on the 12th was continued until about 8 A.M. on the 13th. A short lull in the firing was the signal for the advance of the storming party. Under a terrific storm of shot and shell the ditch and wall of the main work were reached, the scaling ladders were brought up and planted, a lodgement was made, and long continued shouts and cheers carried dismay into the capital. No scene could have been more animating or glorious.23

The part taken by the remaining portion of the regiment is best told in the words of its commanding officer, Major Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Lee:24

"On the morning of the 13th the battalion, numbering 235 bayonets, took its proper position on the left of the First Brigade and moved out to El Molino. After remaining a few minutes in front of the mill, it was ordered forward on the road running on the north of Fort Chapultepec, to support Captain Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Magruder's battery, under the walls of that fort. As we approached the enemy commenced to retire, and immediately the battalion, crossing the wet field to the left of the road, was in full pursuit. We followed them nearly to the first barrier, at the angle of the aqueduct, when we were ordered to halt and re‑form on the road. At the first barrier the enemy was strong in force, which rendered it necessary to advance with caution. This was done, and when the head of the battalion was within short musket range of the barrier, Lieutenant Grant, Fourth Infantry, and Captain Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Brooks, Second Artillery, with a few men of their respective regiments, by a handsome movement to the left turned the right flank of the enemy, and the barrier was carried. Lieutenant Gore, who had attacked the enemy's front, now joined Lieutenant Grant and Captain Brooks. They, with a few men of their regiments, followed the enemy to the second barrier, from which the Fourth Infantry was withdrawn by an order to assemble the battalion for the support of the howitzer battery. Meanwhile Major Buchanan, with a small party of eight men, gained a position on the roof of a house near the second barrier, and when the mountain howitzers got up was enabled to place them so as to do much execution. From his position the Major was also enabled to direct me with the battalion to a church on the right of the road, from whence we succeeded in gaining possession of the second barrier. Just before reaching this point I detached Lieutenants Haller and Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Judah,​25 with A and C Companies, to support Major Buchanan, and by his orders they were advanced, on the left of the road, through and over the houses toward the garita. After holding possession of the second barrier for  p17 nearly an hour and a half, the troops were ordered forward on both sides of the road, and in a few minutes the garita was carried. Lieutenants Smith and Judah, with Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.G. W. Smith of the Engineers, and a small party of Sappers and Miners and Fourth Infantry, pursued the enemy nearly half a mile into the city and captured the Adjutant-General of the Mexican Army, and another gun. By this time it was nightfall, and the battle ceased. On the 14th, above marching into the city, the troops were fired upon by Mexicans from the streets and housetops. Major Buchanan, with one wing of the Fourth Infantry, was ordered by General Worth to dislodge them and clear the streets. He was actively engaged during the greater part of the day in the execution of the orders, and only returned from want of ammunition about sundown. At this time I detached Lieutenants Judah and Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Jones,​26 with A and D Companies, on the same duty, and by night it was completed. Lieutenant Haller had previously been detached with Company C to another part of the city on similar duty, which he executed in a satisfactory manner."

The casualties on these two days amounted to one officer​27 and 10 men killed; two officers​28 and 34 men wounded, and one private missing.

From the capture of the Mexican capital until the ratification of the treaty of peace only a few minor skirmishes occurred. In one of these, however, Lieutenant Henderson Ridgleyº lost his life. He was at the time of his death Acting Adjutant-General to Brigadier-General Lane.

Thus ended the Mexican War for the Fourth Infantry, there having been but one important battle from the Rio Grande to the city of Mexico in which it did not participate.

It lost 8 officers and 59 men killed or mortally wounded; 10 officers and 140 men more or less severely wounded; 4 officers in addition to the above lost their lives by steamboat explosions. In the language of General Grant, "the regiment lost more officers during the war than it ever had present in any one engagement."​29 But one captain was present with the regiment during the campaign in the Valley of Mexico — Captain Buchanan, acting Major — and for greater part of the war the regiment had present but six reduced companies.

In June, 1848, the regiment was assembled at Jalapa, prior to its return to the United States. It left camp at Jalapa on July 11th, and, embarking at Vera Cruz, arrived at Camp "Jeff Davis," Pascagoula, Miss., on the 23d, where it remained until October 3d; thence, embarking on the 5th, put to sea for New York. After being out ten days stress of weather forced the vessel back to New Orleans. Another start was made on the 19th in the steamer "Crescent City." This ship ran aground the same night and so remained for five days, getting to sea finally on the 27th. Havana was reached on the 29th and the next day the voyage was resumed. Upon its arrival in New York the regiment was distributed to seven different posts on the lakes between Fort Mackinacº and Plattsburg.

Few and minor changes occurred until June, 1852, when the regiment was concentrated at Fort Columbus, N. Y. H., prior to its journey to the Pacific Coast. Between June 23d and July 4th, 393 recruits were received and assigned to companies. A telegraphic order was received on July 2d directing the regiment to embark on the  p18 United States Mail Steamship "Ohio," a vessel already bearing a full passenger list. In compliance with the order eight companies, with headquarters and band, sailed on July 5th for New York for Aspinwall. The "Ohio" was commanded by Captain Schenck, afterward Admiral Schenck, U. S. Navy, and had all told on this voyage 1,100 people on board. Aspinwall was reached on July 16th without incident, save the extreme discomfort of an overcrowded ship. The rainy season was at that time at its height on the Isthmus, and, what was infinitely worse, the cholera was raging.

The railroad across the Isthmus was completed only to Barbacoas, on the Chagres River. The troops proceeded by rail to that point and by boat to Cruces, the distance from the latter point to Panama being shorter than that to be followed by the troops. The roads were almost without bottom, and the contractor failed to provide pack trains for tents and provisions, as well as for the heavy baggage from Cruces. The main body left Gorgona on July 18th at 1 P.M. It struggled along through mud and rain until dark, when it halted, and men and officers lay down upon the water-soaked ground for the night. Many stragglers there were, and, as the vilest of liquor dens existed all along the route, the officers were kept busy in trying to prevent drunkenness and in gathering up stragglers.

The first case of cholera occurred on that first day's march. The second day was like the first, but it brought the column within eight miles of Panama, and early on the third day the men were safely on board the P. S. S. Co.'s steamer "Golden Gate," Captain C. P. Patterson, U. S. N., subsequently Superintendent of Coast Survey, commander. The ladies had arrived earlier, but Brevet Captain Grant, R. Q. M., experienced the greatest difficulties in procuring the necessary transportation for baggage and for the company remaining as the guard. Finally, after five days' waiting for the contractor to supply mules, he resolved to hire in open market, whatever the cost might be. Cholera appeared in the company acting as guard, men dying in six hours from the first symptom.​30 Eight died before the company reached Panama. The disease appeared in an aggravated form among the troops on the "Golden Gate." An old hulk was improvised as a hospital and the sick transferred to it. On Tuesday, the 27th, the disease began to subside. Upon the arrival of a small steamer in the evening of that day a dozen knapsacks, that had been left lying and moulding on the Isthmus several days, were received on board, and the men to whom they belonged seized and opened them to get a change of clothing. Some of these men were taken sick in the act; all were several hours thereafter taken violently with the cholera, and with only a few exceptions died. It was now determined to land all the troops, and accordingly both the well and sick were put ashore on Flamingo Island, the sick being in huts and the well in a few tents and shelters made from sails. On August 1st, Captain and Brevet Major Gore died and was buried on one of the islands in bay. His was the last case of cholera; but there now appeared the Chagres fever, scarcely less fatal. All were impatient to get away from Panama. The "Golden Gate" sailed on August 4th, but would only take 450 well people. Company B, Captain Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Augur's; the sick, and most of the women and children were left behind to be forwarded on the next steamer. The Chagres fever became epidemic on board the "Golden Gate," so that when the command arrived at Benicia, on August 17th, it was almost decimated. August  p19 8th the steamer "Northern" took on board all but four men of Augur's company, who were left in the hospital, and sailed for San Francisco. The company arrived at Benicia August 26th. The total deaths from cholera, fever and allied diseases, from the time the regiment arrived on the Isthmus up to a few weeks after the arrival at Benicia, amounted to one officer and 106 enlisted men.31

The two companies — A (Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.D. A. Russell) and I (Haller's) — that had been left in New York, sailed November 7th on a naval vessel​32 for San Francisco, via Cape Horn. After touching at Montevideo and Robinson Crusoe Island for fresh fruits and vegetables to avoid scurvy, the companies arrived at San Francisco June 7th, 1853, seven months from the date of sailing.

After its arrival on the Pacific Coast the regiment was rapidly dispersed to many and widely distant stations, the headquarters going to Columbia Barracks, in September, 1852, where they with short absences remained until 1861. The following posts — Forts Vancouver, Reading, Humboldt, Dalles, Steilacoom, Jones, Boise, Lane, Yamhill, Orford, Townshend,º Hoskins, Walla Walla, Crook, Terwaw, Cascade,º Simcoe, Gaston, Chehalis, Yuma and Mojaviº — extending from British Columbia on the north to Mexico on the south, were all garrisoned, and the majority of them built, by companies of the Fourth Infantry, in the interval between 1852 and 1861. Three only of these posts are now occupied by United States troops; the others are abandoned. The location of many of them is familiar only to the old officers who served on the Pacific Coast in that most remarkable period of its history.

Besides the numerous changes which the occupancy of so many posts necessitated, Indian campaigns were not infrequent. The most important campaign was that in Eastern Washington and Oregon in 1855‑'56 against Indians from many tribes under the able leader­ship of Chief Kamiarkin, a name now as unknown as the names Spotted Tail, Joseph and Geronimo will be a generation hence.

The vigorous campaign of Colonel Wright, and the summary punishments meted out by the military to all Indian offenders, brought about a peace that has remained unbroken by the greater part of the Indians in the Pacific Northwest to the present day. Humanitarian temporizing and treaty making had little to do with the opening and settlement of the vast region between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast. The only power that an Indian recognizes — uncompromising and unyielding force — was brought home to those of this region in such a way that it is not forgotten to this day, and the result has not been to the detriment of the Indians.

In 1859 General Harney, commanding the Department, directed the occupancy of San Juan Island, as a part of the territory of the United States, and Captain Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Pickett's company of the Ninth Infantry was sent under special and unusual instructions to the Island. Subsequently, three companies of the Fourth Infantry were sent as additional military force for the forcible and exclusive occupation, should it be necessary to use force, to secure jurisdiction over the Island. The claim of the United States to exclusive jurisdiction was not allowed by Great Britain, and five men-of‑war, containing 2,140 sailors and marines and carrying 167 guns, were not long in appearing in the harbor where the troops were camped. It is without the limits of this paper to discuss the reasons that gave rise to the San Juan Imbroglio. It is to be remarked  p20 that in this early forerunner of the great Civil War a comparatively insignificant and unimportant fact, in the opinion of one of the officers present at the time, prevented hostilities between the United States and Great Britain. The fact was this: During an interchange of courtesies between the officers of different vessels of the British fleet lying in the harbor of the Island, an American officer known to many of the British officers was invited to be present. In the course of the conversation the American officer casually remarked upon the second battle between France and Austria, in the war then in progress. Questions were asked concerning time, place, etc., of this battle; whether it was not the battle of Magenta that was meant, and of which the British officers already had advices. The particulars showed that it was not the battle of Magenta, but a subsequent one. Questions were then asked as to the manner of imparting information to the Army from the State Department in our Government, which being explained, the subject was not again mentioned. The conclusion was obvious; that the American officers might have later advices from London than the British officers themselves, and that Captain Pickett's positive action might be the result of such advices. The English were in such strength that they could well afford to await the coming of General Scott and his investigation, as well as to wait for positive information from England upon the matter at issue. After General Scott's arrival the matter, so far as the military was concerned, was soon determined, and the companies of the Fourth Infantry were quietly withdrawn. During the stay of the troops the most pleasant relations existed between the officers of the English fleet and the American officers on shore.

In the interval from 1852 to 1861 the Fourth Infantry contained as many distinguished and prominent officers as were ever associated together in one regiment. "The regiment was a home and all were proud of it." There is no need to comment on such names as Buchanan, Augur, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Alden, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Bliss, Grant, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Sheridan, Judah, Floyd-Jones, R. N. Scott, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Hunt, Haller, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Hodges, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Wallen, D. A. Russell, Prince, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Alvord, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Kautz, Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Macfeeleyº and Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Crook. All were tried in the balance and not found wanting in the patriotism, wisdom and valor reposed in them. Most of these names are indelibly woven in the web of our country's history, and so long as valor, honor and patriotism exist in our land, they will stand among the names men most delight to honor.


The Author's Notes:

1 From the diary of Private Adam Walker, Fourth Infantry, published at Keene, N. H., 1816.

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2 It is not known what the status of the regiment was upon leaving Quebec — whether paroled or exchanged. From the furloughs given, and the fact that G. O. January 18th, 1813, exchanged a number of the officers for English soldiers captured on H. B. M. transport "Samuel and Sarah," it is probable that the men were first paroled and then exchanged. J. A. L.

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3 G. O. May 7th, 1813, A. and I. G. O.

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4 G. O. June 8th, 1813, A. and I. G. O.

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5 G. O. May 17th, 1821, A. and I. G. O.

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6 Letter of General Lorenzo Thomas, September 10th, 1870.

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7 Letter of General Lorenzo Thomas, September 10th, 1870.

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8 "As unimportant as the conflict was believed to be, it cost the nation $19,480,000, exclusive of the expenditures pertaining to the Regular Army." — Sprague's Florida War, p101.

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9 Sprague's Florida War, pp540, 541.

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10 This is probably the skirmish known officially as Oloklikaha, which took place March 31st, 1836. — J. A. L.

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11 Letter of General Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.I. V. D. Reeve, December, 1890. General Reeve was in 1836 2d lieutenant Fourth Infantry.

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12 Letter of General Reeve, 1890.

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13 Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant, vol. I, p95.

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14 Captain John Page died from the effects of his horrible wound, July 12th, on a steamer in the Mississippi River returning home.

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15 General Taylor's Official Report, May 16th, 1845.

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16 Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant, vol. I, pp110‑118.

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17 General Scott's Official Report of March 30th, 1847.

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18 Executive Documents No. 1, 1847, p260.

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19 Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant, vol. I, pp141‑143.

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20 General Worth's Official Report, August 23d, 1847.

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21 Colonel Granville O. Haller, U. S. A., retired.

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22 General Henry Prince, U. S. A., retired.

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23 General Scott's Official Report, September 18th, 1847.

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24 Official Report of Major Lee, September 16th, 1847.

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25 The late Brigadier General Henry M. Judah, U. S. A.

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26 Colonel Delancey Floyd-Jones, U. S. A., retired.

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27 Lieutenant Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.A. P. Rodgers killed.

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28 Lieutenant Sidney Smith mortally wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Garland wounded.

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29 Memoirs, vol. I, p163.

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30 Report of Surgeon Tripler, Ex. Doc. 96, 34th Congress, 1st Session.

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31 From retained regimental records, 1852. — J. A. L.

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32 United States Storeship "Fredonia."

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* Correction — On page 7 of the foregoing narrative it is stated that the colors of the regiment, surrendered at Detroit in 1812, are preserved in the Tower of London. The authority for that statement was an article which appeared in the United Service Magazine in 1889. Recent investigations in Canada and in the Tower of London show the statement to be erroneous. That the colors were surrendered appears and is described in the diary of Private Adam Walker, Fourth Infantry, published at Keene, N. H., in 1816. That the colors are not in the hands of Canadian authorities is from a letter from the Adjutant General Canadian Militia, June 22d, 1891. That the colors are not and never have been in the Tower of London is from an investigation made by General Henry Prince, assisted by the "officer in charge" of the Tower, in May, 1891. — J. A. L.


Thayer's Notes:

a Press of the Fourth United States Infantry, Fort Sherman, Idaho, 1891. Public domain, any copyright having lapsed at the latest on Dec. 31, 1947.

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b There is no place by that name on the eastern or other shore of the Bay of Fundy, and I can't find one anywhere in Canada. The place was probably Shelburne, in Nova Scotia but not on the Bay of Fundy: just around the bend on the eastern shore of the peninsula.

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c A full account of Dade's Massacre is given in Florida Historical Quarterly, V.123‑138; with further notes, links to source material, etc.

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d A full account of the Battle of Resaca de la Palma from another unit's viewpoint is given in "Resaca de la Palma • A Traditional Episode in the History of the Second Cavalry" (J. Am. Mil. Hist. Fdn. I.101‑107).


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