MILITARY PREPARATIONS. 



337 



ever, were constantly arriving in the city. Ampudia and Arista 

 were there. Interviews were held between the Mexican authori- 

 ties and our officers, in which the latter were ordered to retire from 

 the soil it was alleged they were usurping. But as this was a 

 diplomatic, and not a military question, General Taylor resolved to 

 continue in position, though his forces were perhaps inadequate to 

 contend with the augmenting numbers of the foe. He examined 

 the country thoroughly by his scouting parties and pushed his re- 

 connoissances, on the left bank, from Point Isabel to some distance 

 beyond his encampment opposite Matamoros. Whilst engaged in 

 this service, some of his officers and men were captured or killed 

 by the rancher o cavalry of the enemy ; and, on the 24th of April, 

 Captain Thornton who had been sent to observe the country 

 above the encampment with sixty-three dragoons, fell into an am- 

 buscade, out of which they endeavored to cut their way, but were 

 forced to surrender with a loss of sixteen killed and wounded. 

 This was the first blood spilled in actual conflict. 



Meanwhile, in the United States, the news of Taylor's supposed 

 danger, greatly exaggerated by rumor, was spread far and wide. 

 An actual war had, perhaps, not been seriously apprehended. Taylor 

 had been expressly commanded to refrain from aggression. It was 

 supposed that the mere presence of our troops on the frontier would 

 preserve Texas from invasion, and that negotiations would ulti- 

 mately terminate the dispute. This is the only ground upon which 

 we can reasonably account for the apparent carelessness of our 

 government in not placing a force upon the Rio Grande, adequate 

 to encounter all the opposing array. Congress was in session 

 when the news reached Washington. The president immediately 

 announced the fact, and, on the 13th of May, 1846, ten millions of 

 dollars were appropriated to carry on the war, and fifty thousand 

 volunteers were ordered to be raised. An "Army of the West" 

 was directed to be formed under the command of Kearney, at fort 

 Leavenworth, on the Missouri, which was to cross the country to 

 the Pacific, after capturing New Mexico. An "Army of the 

 Centre, " under General Wool, was to assemble at San Antonio 

 de Bejar whence it was to march upon Coahuila and Chihuahua, 

 and, whilst the heart and the west of Mexico were penetrated by 

 these officers, it was designed that Taylor should make war on the 

 northern and eastern states of the Mexican republic. In addition 

 to these orders to the army, the naval forces, under Commodores 

 Stockton and Sloat in the Pacific, and Commodore Conner, in the 

 Gulf of Mexico, were commanded to co-operate with our land 



