The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924 Page: 41
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Memoirs of Major George Bernard Eirath
lected quite a quantity of all kinds of articles, especially of light
weight; nor should I like to give a description of some of these
articles collected. It created a dissatisfaction and considerable
difference among us. All the older soldiers, those who had done
the most service and especially those who as prisoners had ex-
perienced the kindness of Mexican women, were much excited on
the subject.
When we were established in our last camp, between four and
five o'clock of the day, the alcalde with men and women appealed
to General Somervell for the return of the plundered articles;
the result was that all were ordered brought together to be re-
turned the next morning to the Mexicans. Although the ma-
jority of our men had been opposed to the course of those who
had gone into town, still many, themselves incapable of such
conduct, now wanted to justify it on the ground of the right to
retaliate for Mexican outrages on our border. This created a
sensation about which perhaps it is as well to say little, but the
next morning four hundred dissatisfied men, some of them or-
ganized in companies, left us and returned home. Colonel Cook,
the commander of the first regiment, and a number of officers
of earlier prominence went with them. As to other causes for
this departure, it may be said that there was no appearance of
a Mexican army; General Woll with about a thousand men was
above Presidio, General Ampudia with a still larger but scat-
tered force was near Matomoros, and it may have been known to
some of the men that General Somervell expected to remain only
a few days longer on the Rio Grande and anticipated no fight.
In view of such prospects they thought they might as well leave
at once. It left us about six hundred men.
The town of Guerrero is located thirty-five miles below Laredo,
on the west side and two miles from the Rio Grande. It is on
the Salado River, a deep stream that is not fordable, and joins
the Rio Grande a short distance below the town. We reached a
point opposite the town on Saturday, the 10th of December, after
a three days' march from Laredo. At Laredo we had obtained
about two hundred pounds of flour, which had been divided out
immediately, two pounds to a man, and we had also collected a
few beeves. On our way to the point named we passed a ranch
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924, periodical, 1924; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101086/m1/47/?rotate=90: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.