The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers; or, the Summer and Fall Campaign of the Army of the United States in Mexico--1846; including Skirmishes with the Mexicans, and an accurate detail of the Storming of Monterey; also the Daring Scouts at Buena Vista together with anecdotes, incidents, descriptions of country, and sketches of the lives of the celebrated partisan chiefs, Hays, McCulloch, and Walker. Page: 89
251 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.View a full description of this book.
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CAMP AT COMAlGO. 89
CHAPTER X.
Camp at Comargo-Scout to Punta Aguda-Lake Guardado-The Chase
and the Death-Encampment near Mier-Captain Duncan in command"Jack
Everitt"-The Fandango at Punta Aguda-The Search for Canales
and Col. Ram6res-The attempted Escape of a Mexican Officer-Corporal
Bawk and the Mexican Ladie-The Dance-The midnight March.
CoMAneo had now become the most important point of military
operations on the whole line. Many of the houses had been
rebuilt, and the town presented the most busy scenes of activity.
The quartermaster's and commissary's departments were
crowded to overflowing, with people on all sorts of business,
making contracts and reports, receiving prders, &c., &c. Hundreds
of Mexicans were daily employed as labourers-and large
contracts had been made for the hire of pack-mules, at fifty
cents per day. The camp of the Regulars had been removed
farther down the river San Juan, on its banks-a fair level spot
having been cleared up for the purpose. The long lines of tents
of the different regiments of the divisions presented a beautiful
scene. The regiments had commenced drilling, and the battalion
drills at evening parade, when the different bands beat off,
made a grand military display. The Mexicans were continually
hovering around the camp of the Regulars-selling fruit, &c.,
and offering horses for sale. It was often suspected that many
who came into camp on a pretext to sell their horses, were Mexican
officers in disguise-and such the fact afterwards proved to
be-for they had been detected taking notes of the force of the
different regiments, &c. But they never were molested.
Such was the state of things, that it was difficult to tell a mocho
from a greaser, or in other words, a soldier from a friendly Mexican.
It may here be necessary to explain, as the terms are frequently
made use of, that mocho is a low Spanish word for a footsoldier,
and the term greaser we suppose is a corruption of the
word grazier, the class of peons or labourers of the country. As
the Mexican officers and soldiers never dressed in uniform, only
when with their companies or regiments, we could not, of course,
distinguish them from citizens, which gave them a double advantage
over us. They would come into our camps, spy out all our
movements, and keep their forces continually advised of all our
operations. Thus, it was impossible to go on any expedition, or to
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Reid, Samuel C., Jr. The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers; or, the Summer and Fall Campaign of the Army of the United States in Mexico--1846; including Skirmishes with the Mexicans, and an accurate detail of the Storming of Monterey; also the Daring Scouts at Buena Vista together with anecdotes, incidents, descriptions of country, and sketches of the lives of the celebrated partisan chiefs, Hays, McCulloch, and Walker., book, 1859; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth38096/m1/94/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.