Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

SET FORWARD FOR THE RIO GRANDE. 31
of the year, however, many convenient hospitals were
established, ample means of transportation were provided,
and the comforts of life were so multiplied at all our posts,
that the volunteers of 1847 suffered but little in comparison
with those of 1846. A government, pursuing the wise
policy that distinguishes ours in its military establishments,
cannot be expected to set an army in the field, or a navy on
the sea, in a day; yet, if the Cabinet had regarded the
words of wisdom contained in the somewhat famous letter of
the Commander-in-chief, General Scott, our privations would
have been comparatively few and trifling, while, at the same
time, the true interests of the country would have been promoted. The troops would have been accompanied by all
the necessary supplies and material of war, and hundreds of
Americans rescued from inglorious graves upon the coast,
to meet the enemy in battle.
I was detained at Brazos Santiago but a few hours,
during most of which time I lay on the beach close to a pile
of baggage and camp equipage, so arranged as to afford me
some shelter from the sun's rays. Miuch to my surprise and
satisfaction, I was enabled to procure some ice, sold from a
Boston vessel at one dollar per pound, which costly and
fleeting luxury allayed my fever very much. Having ascertained that my regiment was encamped on the left
bank of the Rio Grande, about three leagues fiom "the
mouth," and being as yet too feeble for the saddle, I remlnbarked in a small vessel, bound to the river for a cargo of
fresh water. That article, by the way, is not to be found
on the island; nor was the water brought from the Rio