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Mexican Authorities.
CORRESPONDENCE.THE PENNSYLVANIANS IN MEXICO. Letters from our Correspondent. Col. Wynkoop and the Mexican Authorities--Recovery of Capt. Small's Trunk--Execution of American Teamsters--Execution of Guerrillas, and Excitement of the People. We received yesterday a batch of letters from our correspondent in the army. They are a little behind time, but the incidents they record possess interest in this quarter. They are almost the only letters from the army which record the movements of the Pennsylvanians. The correspondents of the New Orleans papers, from which the Mexican news is usually culled, devote nearly all their letters to the movements of the Louisiana volunteers, so that every trifling matter in which they are engaged is more extensively known over the country, than the important events in which the Pennsylvania and New York troops have taken so conspicuous a part. Our correspondent has done his duty in endeavoring to present fairly before the public the services rendered by the volunteers of the Keystone State, and it is through his letters that whatever is known of their actions has received its publicity.
JALAPA, (Mexico,) Nov. 16, 1847. Since the date of my last letter a train arrived here from Mexico, bringing a large number of sick and wounded officers and men, and much highly interesting intelligence; but as it scarcely halted here, and carried all its news with it, I considered it unnecessary to send a letter by it. I cannot, however, refrain an expression of the satisfaction I experienced, in common with every Pennsylvanian here, on hearing the high encomiums passed by every officer from Mexico upon the second Pennsylvania regiment. They have won immortal honor by their gallantry in the great battles before the capital, and well deserve the highest laurels that the mountains of the Keystone State produce. The 11th regiment, too, composed as it is of a large majority of Pennsylvanians, has earned a brilliant reputation, and given new cause to our good Commonwealth to be proud of her sons. I assure you it is no mean honor to be known as a Pennsylvanian. Both regulars and volunteers, of all ranks, join in commending our two regiments, and in speaking in the highest terms of the men recruited in our State. I heard Generals Quitman and Shields pass the warmest eulogiums upon them, the latter being in perfect raptures with our gallant fellows. They too are equally in love with him; and when he arrived at the plaza here, the first Pennsylvanians saluted him with the most enthusiastic shouts, and crowded by scores around him to get a shake of his hand. He dismounted from his horse, and a happier man you could not find than he was. He afterwards visited the men in their quarters, and expressed the warmest attachment for them, while they gave him, in return, the liveliest assurances of admiration and esteem. I informed you in my last letter that Col. Wynkoop, who is Governor here, had made a demand upon the Mexican authorities and city for the restitution of Capt. Small's trunk, which was stolen by a Mexican in a street here. As the police of the place, like that of every town and city of the country I have been in, is not worth a farthing, the trunk was not brought to light, and the Governor then demanded its value. This produced quite a sensation among the members of the administration, and the Alcaldes and Ayuntiamento asked leave to resign. A conference took place between them and the Governors, in the city council chamber which was mighty interesting as well as amusing. The Council said if they had to pay for all the articles stolen by their countrymen they would be ruined, as they could get no indemnity from their government. Gov. Wynkoop replied that as he was not responsible for the errors of their government or people, he could not help to free them from the consequences of their position. But, said they, this is a new obligation, and you ought to permit us to resign. The Governor replied that he could not allow them to give up their offices, as Alcaldes and an Ayuntiamento were absolutely necessary--neither could he agree with them that any new obligation was imposed on them by Gen. Scott's order. They were conservators of the public peace and had a sufficient force and revenue to maintain it, and if they permitted crimes to be committed and the offenders to escape, they must "take the responsibility." They talked an immense amount of nonsense, but did not effect any thing, except to excite the indignation of the Governor. After endeavoring to convince them of the justice of the demand by showing them that the American army had not only refrained from the commission of outrages but had made restitution or indemnity when its soldiers took anything from the people without warrant, Col. Wynkoop said to them, with a gesture that bespoke his sincerity, "I found you here, in power, when I came, and I intend to hold you responsible; I ask nothing but what I am willing to accord, in similar cases, and what I might demand by the law of conquest, and I warn you, if the price of the stolen property be not paid to Capt. Small, who is here and will wait for the money, within the next half hour, I will put the whole of you in your own Calabosa, and take other means to produce the amount required from your private property." The Governor then left them looking at each other with rather rueful countenances, but as they did not like the suggestion of the Calabosa, they adopted the other, and paid the money! A shocking murder was committed a short distance from the city, yesterday, by a party of teamsters, upon a Mexican boy, named Ramirez. The teamsters were out in search of some mules which had been stolen from them the night before, and were returning, when they met the boy and horse. One of them accused him of having stolen his mule, and shot him in the knee, the same shot killing the boy's horse. The same man afterwards shot him in the arm with a small pistol, when a second one of the party came up and finished their victim by shooting him through the head. The report of the murder made quite a sensation among our people, who expressed the greatest indignation against the murderers. Immediately on the report of the circumstances related above to Col. Wynkoop, he sent out for the body of the boy, had it brought in to the lad's father, and then arrested the men charged with the murder. Their names are James D. Meeks, wagon master, and Andrew Dennis, teamster. They are now in irons, and will be sent before the Military Commission, now in session, for trial. In this matter Col. Wynkoop has acted with a commendable spirit, and is determined to see justice done to the prisoners. The teamsters generally are the most desperate and lawless rascals that ever followed an army. They are constantly committing some excess or other, and almost invariably throw the censure and odium of their vices upon our soldiers. The Colonel is determined to check or stop this, and if the two men arrested shall be convicted of the murder, they will most certainly be hung. The First Pennsylvania Regiment is to be inspected in a day or two, and as this announcement brought my attention to the estimate of its strength, I called upon the acting Adjutant, Lieut. Robert Woods, and learned that its aggregate now here, which includes the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates, is 230! about one fourth of what it was when mustered into service! There are a number of men and several officers at Perote and Puebla, sick or temporarily detached, but these will not add a hundred to the force of the regiment, if they all resume duty. Much of this reduction is, of course, owing to the discharge of invalids; but from whatever cause it may be, it is sufficient to entitle the regiment to an honorable discharge. Those who remain with it have suffered enough and fought bravely enough to merit such an indulgence. There are men, too, in it, of every grade, who have left important interests at home, and as none calculated upon, or provided for a longer absence than a year, they will find themselves much reduced, if not entirely ruined, on their return home, if kept here much longer. JALAPA, Mexico, Nov. 21, 1847. We have had a succession of tragedies here during the last ten days, which have kept the town quite animated with grief, gossip and excitement. The first of these events was the suicide of a notorious mulatto guerrilla, who was captured on the 13th or 14th inst. by Capt. John Bennett, of the 1st Penn. Vols., and who cut his throat in the guard house the next day. He is known to have murdered a number of sick and disabled Americans between this and Vera Cruz, and would certainly have been hung had he not saved the Provost Marshal the trouble, by executing himself. On the heels of this event followed the murder of the Mexican boy Ramirez, on the 15th, as related in my last letter, and then came the trial, before a military commission, of Meeks and Dennis, and their subsequent conviction of and execution for the murder. They were defended by Capt. Small, of your city, but although successful in many such efforts heretofore, in important military trials here, he was unable to extricate them from the fate which the testimony already proved to be legally their due. After their conviction several of the Mexican people and one or two priests interceded very strongly with Gen. Patterson in their behalf, and even those who were most incensed by their crime, joined in the efforts made to procure their pardon or a modification of their sentences. The women, of course, were prominent in this mission of mercy, as they ever are, in every thing good and generous, but all their supplications for mercy to such wretches were necessarily vain. As I stated in a former letter, the teamsters of our army, to which class the two culprits belonged, have become insufferable by their brutal excesses, and a terrible example was necessary. They placed themselves in a situation to exhibit this and the honor and interests of the service demanded that they should not escape. They were accordingly hung yesterday in the plaza fronting the cuartel or barrack of San Jose, in sight of a large military force and a multitude of people. Immediately after these executions, it was announced that two Mexican officers, who had been captured a few days before, had been tried and sentenced to be shot for a breach of parol, and the city was thrown into a perfect paroxysm of grief and despair. A crowd of the most influential men and most respectable and distinguished women of the city again went to Gen. Patterson, and supplicated him to pardon the offenders. His situation on this occasion was exceedingly painful, as every appeal which could be made to a generous and noble heart was made to him. Necessity, however, again compelled him to be stern. The officers in question were made prisoners at the surrender of Vera Cruz, on the 29th of March last, and had been released upon their parol of honor. Without being exchanged or freed in any manner from their obligations as prisoners of war, they had again taken up arms against us, and that, too, in the worst shape, as guerrillas. Their fate then became inevitable, and they were shot at noon, to-day, in part of the barracks of San Jose. They passed the previous night, according to the custom here, in a small chapel in the city prison, which is separated by an iron grating from, but in view of, the rest of the prisoners confined there. A priest remained with them in prayer until midnight, and returned to them at daylight, to administer the sacrament and anoint them. After this they dressed themselves in new and splendid uniforms, which had been purchased for them by the citizens, and received and conversed with a few friends until near noon, when they were led, blindfold, through the streets to the place of execution, repeating the prayers uttered by their confessor on the way. When the escort arrived in front of the barracks it was formed in a large hollow square, two or three companies of cavalry holding one of the sides, and the orders for the execution were read. The two officers were then seated on their coffins and left in prayer a short time with the priest. The most intense excitement prevailed throughout the progress of these ceremonies, but the presence and discipline of our troops held it in check, or at least veiled it from the eye. At last the clock of the old Lateran Church, built by Cortez, struck twelve, and the order for the execution was given. The prisoners remained seated on their coffins, and as the priest ceased speaking, Capt. Taylor, of the Baltimore battalion, who is the Provost Marshal, took the right of the firing party and gave the word "ready." The prisoners became deathly pale, but remained firm; one of them, Alcalde, exclaimed--"Viva la Republica Mexicana," which was followed by the voice of the Provost Marshal, commanding "aim,"--"fire,"--when a sharp and admirably delivered volley dealt instant death to the prisoners. Both fell backwards over their coffins in precisely the same position, and neither moved a limb or muscle afterwards. An examination of their bodies proved that each had been shot by several balls directly through the heart, with the unerring aim of the American rifle. Their bodies were then delivered over to eight Mexicans, dressed in white, with black waist-sashes, and placed in coffins covered with black velvet, bound and crossed with white ribbons. In the afternoon they were buried with much pomp, the funeral being attended by a large band of music and about two hundred gentlemen dressed in black, besides a host of the humbler classes. The procession passed the General's quarters, for effect, and the stores remained closed throughout the day. These executions have made a deep impression, and will no doubt have a salutary effect upon any other parolled Mexican officers who may be serving in the regular forces or the guerilla parties of the country. As the capture of the Mexican officers alluded to has been attended by such tragic results, and was in itself a brilliant and daring affair, I give you below a brief but faithful history of it. Col. Wynkoop, of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, who is an indefatigable and enterprising officer, learned by means of spies on the morning of the 19th inst. where Col. Juan Clemancho Rebellado, a noted guerrilla chief, and his band, then were, and obtained leave from Gen. Patterson to go in search of them.--Taking with him a company of 50 of the mounted Texas Rangers, under command of Capt. Witt, and accompanied by Lieut. Perry, of the General's staff, and a guide, he set out in the afternoon upon this enterprise. By making a pretty wide circuit, and then returning to his true road, he effectually baffled all efforts that might be made to convey intelligence of his movements to the enemy. At nine o'clock he reached the Hacienda of Tusamapa, about sixteen miles from Jalapa, where he captured two armed Rancheros, one of whom he pressed into his service as a guide. He halted here until midnight to verify his information, and having satisfied himself of its truth, gave out that he was going to Watousta and then started at midnight for the Indian village of Halcomulco, which has a population of about one thousand, and was the headquarters of the band he was in search of. He arrived within three miles of the place shortly after three o'clock in the morning, and there encountered the advance pickets of the enemy. By a rapid and skilful effort, he surprised these, and captured all but one of them, who was killed in attempting to escape. Forcing another of the picket to act as a further guide, and point out the quarters of the Guerilla Chief, Colonel Wynkoop pushed on his party with the utmost speed, and in a few minutes reached Halcomulco. Here the road terminated in a precipitous hill, and the party were obliged to dismount, and twenty of them remain in charge of the horses, while the others went on foot into the town. The party was guided directly to the door of the house in which the Mexican Colonel quartered, and dashing at it in a run, they knocked down the sentry before he had time to re-cock his escopet, which he attempted to fire. In a few minutes the house was surrounded, the door forced in, and the Mexican Colonel and three of his officers captured while yet in their beds. They were greatly astonished by the unexpected visit of Col. Wynkoop, but at the urgent request of that enterprising officer, made a very hasty toilet, and started off with them on his return to Jalapa, without disturbing the village or the houses. It was daylight when the party remounted their horses on the top of the hill, but although much exhausted by the labors they had performed, and the difficulties they had encountered in the darkness, and in bypaths and execrable roads, they set off with spirit, and reached this city between three and four o'clock in the afternoon; having been absent almost twenty-four hours, and ridden more than sixty miles, almost without intermission, in that time. The consequences of this brilliant and successful enterprise will be highly important and beneficial to us. It will teach the guerillas that they are not safe at any moment or at any distance from us, and if any parolled officers are yet among them, they will not remain in arms very long after hearing the fate of those whose execution I have mentioned. The names of the three officers captured with Col. Clemancho, are Captain Rafael Corrarubio, Second Adjutant Antonio Garcia, and Lieut. Ambrosio Alcalde. The two latter are those who were shot.
Source: Unknown, "The Pennsylvanians in Mexico, Letters from our Correspondent," The Dollar Newspaper, Philadelphia, Pa., Wednesday, 5 January 1848, p. 4, cols. 1-3.
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