transportation? And why was the movement of it to Camargo delayed? I wish as precise and minute answers to the foregoing questions as Captain Ogden can give. NEW ORLEANS, November 18, 1846. TH. S. JESUP. HEAD-QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT, New Orleans, November 24, 1846. COLONEL: I enclose, herewith, a plan and specifications for a steamer which I have to request you will have built under the supervision of the bearer, Captain N. P. Boardman, the inventor, either at Louisville or Cincinnati, wherever it can be done at the least cost and in the shortest time. Any modifications that may occur to Captain B., during the progress of the construction, you will permit him to make, should you be convinced of the advantage of doing so. The funds necessary for the purpose will be remitted to you by Colonel Stanton, on your estimates. Lieut. Col. S. H. LONG, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Topographical Engineers, Louisville, Ky. [Extract.] HEAD-QUARTERS, QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT, New Orleans, November 24, 1846. COLONEL: Colonel S. H. Long, topographical engineers, has been instructed to build another steamer at Louisville, agreeably to a plan presented by Capt. N. P. Boardman, the inventor. The plan is the same as that of the Mentoria, a vessel now belonging to the department, and one which has rendered more efficient service than any other steamer at the Brazos. She is to be built under Captain Boardman's supervision, and will cost probably $16,000 TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. To Col. HENRY STANTON, Washington city. HEAD-QUARTERS, QUARTERMASTER'S, DEPARTMENT, COLONEL: Having succeeded in purchasing the Alabama, the necessity for purchasing the Georgia no longer exists, and you are therefore requested, unless you have already closed the contract, not to do so. TH. S. JESUP, To Col. HENRY STANTON, Washington city. NEW ORLEANS, November 27, 1846. COLONEL: General Taylor, in an official despatch to the adjutant general of the army, complained that you failed to furnish a steamer which he required Major Thomas to call upon you for in May. I wish you to state to me, officially, when you received the requisition, and also why it was not complied with; also, whether there was any other order or requisition of General Taylor that was not complied with. I wish an answer to-day. TH. S. JESUP, Lieut Colonel THо. F. HUNT, NEW ORLEANS, November 28, 1846. COLONEL: General Taylor has complained, officially, to the adjutant general, that his dragoons were disabled for want of shoes. Did General Taylor order you to furnish shoes for them, or did the commander of the dragoons make a requisition on you for horse.shoes, shoeing tools, or iron? I wish to use your answer in an official report, and I would be glad to receive it as early as you can make it. Lieut Col. T. F. HUNT, TH. S. JESUP, Deputy Q. M. General, New Orleans. [Extract.] HEAD-QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT, New Orleans, December 3, 1846. COLONEL: I have to acknowledge your letter of the 23d ultimo, with its enclosures, received this morning. All the information that I have obtained from Mexico since my arrival here confirms my views of last spring. Mules can be had in Mexico in any number that we may require: and I have contracted with an able and efficient man to deliver to the officers of the department in Mexico, within the month, and subject to their inspection, two thousand mules at twenty-five dollars a head-as many to be broke mules as can be obtained, and to give his personal attention to breaking the balance. Major Anderson consequently has been directed to purchase no more mules, and similar instructions will be given to all other officers purchasing in the United States. Horses, however, must still be forwarded, as those of Mexico are. unsuitable to dragoon and artillery purposes, and the supply is uncertain. Col. HENRY STANTON, Washington city. TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. NEW ORLEANS, December 5, 1846. MAJOR: Send down, as rapidly as possible, the horses which you were requested to purchase on the 16th ultimo. Send at least twenty of them without being branded, as they are wanted for officers, who are allowed to take them at the original cost and charges. Of those not branded send a list, with the prices, also the cost of foraging them and their transportation. Major N. ANDErson, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Quartermaster, Memphis, Tennessee. [Extract.] BRAZOS SANTIAGO, TEXAS, COLONEL: I have received your letter of the 4th and 11th inst. The Eudora is here, and is an excellent boat. I am glad you have purchased the "Ocean" and the "Ashland." For this service, however, the two latter named boats require strengthening. An excellent seaman, who is well acquainted with the boats, informed me, a few days ago, that unless their deck timbers were strengthened and strongly kneed down, there would be great danger of their becoming loose from the hulls. If they shall not leave Philadelphia before the receipt of this letter, I will thank you to have this matter attended to. I agree with you entirely in relation to side wheel steamers. I have purchased two since I have been in this country-the Alabama and Fashion. The former is an excellent sea steamer, but the latter is not suited to rough weather. I propose to use her, during the winter, in the bay of Tampico and on the Panuco river, which can be navigated in the direction of San Luis Potosi about seventy-five or eighty miles, and she will carry an armament sufficient to defend her; and in the spring, when there is no danger from the northers, she will make an excellent despatch boat. Col. HENRY STANTON, Washington city. TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. BRAZOS SANTIAGO, TEXAS, MAJOR: In addition to the two hundred teamsters which you were ordered to engage and send to Lieutenant Colonel Hunt, on the 6th instant, you will employ two hundred additional teamsters, all men of good character and industrious habit, to serve six months unless sooner discharged. You will send them to Lieutenant Colonel Hunt as you employ them, in parties of from ten to thirty or forty. They are required for service in Mexico. Major N. ANDerson, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Quartermaster, Memphis, Tennessee. HEAD-QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT, Brazos Santiago, December 28, 1846. COLONEL: I have decided to have another boat built for a lighter, similar to the plan and specifications herewith, numbered 2. Captain Harrison, the bearer, I have employed to superintend the building thereof, under your directions. You can have her built either at Louisville, New Albany, or Cincinnati, wherever it can be done on the best terms and in the shortest time. It is important she should be ready for service at as early a day as practicable. Captain Harrison will apprise you of the importance of having the boilers in the hold. For the service required of them here, vessels thus constructed are far preferable to those with the boilers on deck. Lieut. Col. S. H. LONG, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Topographical Engineers, Louisville, Ky. HEAD-QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT, SIR: I wish you to proceed, without delay, to Louisville, Kentucky, and report to Lieutenant Colonel Long, topographical engineers, who has been directed to build a boat according to your plan numbered 2. You will, under the direction of Colonel Long, superintend its construction; and I wish you to hasten the work as much as you can. When completed, you will take command of her, and, with competent engineers and crew, bring her to this place, to be used as a lighter, or in such other manner as shall be directed. TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Captain HARRISON, Brazos Santiago, Texas. HEAD-QUARTERS, NEW ORLEANS, COLONEL: In reply to your letter of the 21st ultimo, which has ́just been received, I have to state that arrangements will be made here for supplying the army with pack-saddles. It is found that the Mexican pattern is better adapted to the service than any other. TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Col. HENRY STANTON, Assistant Quartermaster General, Washington. NEW ORLEANS, January 13, 1847. COLONEL: I received last night your letter of the 11th ultimo. The subject of transportation should not give you the slightest embarrassment. You have ample means in the country, and you must use them. The transportation required and used by the army in Mexico is so enormous as to cause not only great embarrassment to the public service, but to cause a drain upon the treasury unparallelled in any other period of our history or in any other service in the world. Not a single wheel should ever have been used in Mexico, except for artillery. The enemy uses none, and to make our operations effective we must do as he does. As to packing subsistence, there should be no difficulty. The second officer of the commissary's department is in Mexico; require him to have his subsistence put up in such packages as shall be readily transported. He has certainly had time enough to have the system of his department adapted to the circumstances of the country in which the war is going on. Have you made the proper representations to the commanding general on the subject? If you have not, let it be done at once, and let the general or the subsistence department be responsible if the difficulty of which you complain be continued. All the drivers for company and regimental purposes should be taken from the army. I hope you have made written requisitions for them whenever you have required their services. The time is coming when the evidence of your having done so will be necessary to your own vindication, as well as to that of the department. TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Colonel HENRY WHITING, Head quarters, Army of Occupation, Mexico. tion, |