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LETTER FROM COL. F. M. WYNKOOP.-- Francis W. Hughes, Esq., of Pottsville, to whom the following letter was addressed, has kindly placed it at our disposal. It expresses the frank opinions of a gallant soldier, in phrase so direct as to prevent all misconception. A perusal of it will make our federal friends re-regret the course they have pursued, and rejoice the heart of every true lover of our country, her glory, and her institutions. Colonel Wynkoop was a "whig" at home; but the conduct of the leaders and the organs of the federal party, in their "aid and comfort" of the enemy, has been so glaringly unpatriotic, that it has converted him into a good democrat while abroad; a patriot he has always been, as his conduct fully proves.
My Dear Sir: Having a little leisure from my daily occupations, and remembering warmly and freshly several acts of kindness towards me, it gives me pleasure to address you, knowing that you entertain some interest for my welfare. I am now in command of this military department, and am kept quite busy with continual skirmishes with guerillas, and an occasional sharp fight with large forces that gather between here and the coast, in order to oppose trains. The health of my garrison is good, and I have hopes that the great mortality which has existed in the army is decreasing. This is hard, laborious, and precarious service. Many of our best men have died, and I truly consider the climate in itself, a much more formidable enemy than the Mexicans. A noble and self-denying spirit of endurance actuates the men, and complaint of any kind is rare.--Contented to do their duty, they risk everything in the effort, and with a cheerfulness which is gratifying to those who command, step up readily to any work, no matter what the chances. It is, as I have before remarked, a hard service, full of toil, privations and danger; but it is willingly encountered and bravely endured. Judge, then, of the effect upon our good men here, when they look back over the distance which separates them from their friends, in an effort to find at home some proper appreciation of their self-sacrificing conduct! It is bitter and humiliating. I tell you, sir, there is a spirit abroad among the GOOD Americans engaged in this war, which will not sleep during futurity--a spirit which awaits but their return to thunder down upon the mouthing, scribbling sycophants of a most unjust party, the full measure of an honest indignation. It is the same that brooded over the land during the war of the Revolution and the last war; and men of the present day, palsied with age, have lived to curse, with tears of repentance, the hour when she, with scornful finger, marked them for life as the TO�RIES of their country. WE HERE can see no difference between the men who in '76 succored the British, and those who in '47 give arguments and sympathy to the Mexicans. This kind of language from a man who came into this campaign a whig in policy, may sound strange to you; but I have again and again been compelled to listen to and to suffer that which would have changed the disposition and alienated the affections of the most determined partisan. Even now, I do not object to the leading and main principles of my old party, so much as I curse and deprecate the tone of its acknowledged leaders and supporters. If there is any reason which will prevent Gen. Scott from effecting an honorable peace, commanding, as he does, the whole city of the Aztecs, with his powerful battery, it is the spirit of treason which I unhesitatingly say is promulgated by the leading whig journals at home. In a sortie upon some ladrones of Jalapa, a short time since, I possessed myself of all the late newspapers published in that place; and upon examining them, I find that, in that place, same as in Mexico, the strongest arguments published against our army, are selections from whig papers in the United States. I send you a late copy of the "Boletin de Noticias," in which you will perceive that the first article is an extract from the National Intelligencer. Your friend, You may publish this, if you please. I have become so disgusted with what I have seen, that I have no care for the consequences which this kind of truth may produce.F. M. WYNKOOP.
Source: Collection of John McWilliams: Wynkoop, F. M., "Letter From Col., F. M. Wynkoop", New Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette, Concord, N.H., Thursday, 16 December 1847, p. , cols. - .
I'd like to thank John McWilliams, [email protected], of Los Altos, California, for very generously scanning a copy of this letter for me from his private collection. John is researching Captain Samuel H. Walker of the Texas Rangers and would be interested in hearing from anyone who has access to original letters, diaries or memoirs regarding his activities in the Mexican War, (1844-1847). A great many of the New Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette newspapers have been microfilmed, but this issue is not one of them, and thus is unavailable to the general researcher. In fact, I've noticed a disturbing trend in many small town papers from that time period, (late 1847-mid 1848.) Many of these papers seem to be missing, thus making it nearly impossible to research the late Mexican American War from these important sources. It is only through private collectors like John that any of this material can still occasionally be found. I've known about this letter, (which got Frank in a lot of hot water back home), for several years now, but had been unable to locate a copy of it because the Pottsville Miner's Journal and the Bedford Gazette, both Pennsylvania newspapers of the time period, are incomplete as microfilmed. John's generosity has helped me fill in an important moment in Frank's military and political career. John, thanks so much for your help! All my best, Chris
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