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Wool’s March into Mexico / 167 evidently due to embarrassment or perhaps to discourage the erotic emotions to which he was prone. A visit to the Alamo shortly thereafter stirred him deeply, causing him to feel still more eager to see action, though he was ambivalent regarding the justice of the American cause. He was also sentimentally aroused to learn of the battlefield death at Monterrey of one of his wife’s cousins, Captain William G. Williams.26 It was not Lee, however, but the topographical engineers whom General Wool selected to lead his column toward the Rio Grande. The topogs departed San Antonio on “the 23rd of September, at 5 o’clock p.m.” Lieutenant Bryan having been temporarily detached as an aide to General Wool,the topographical party consisted of Hughes, Sitgreaves, Franklin, an interpreter, a hunter and guide, two wagoners, four laborers, “and two private servants.”27 The main body of Wool’s troops, led by Colonel Harney, marched three days later. Wool, knowing he did not have enough wagons to transport supplies for all of his men, stipulated which units were to accompany Harney: the artillery; the Second Dragoons; Bonneville’s Sixth Infantry brigade (including Captain Williams’s independent company of Kentucky volunteers); six cavalry companies of the Arkansas regiment; and four companies of Illinois volunteers (those of Captains James D. Morgan and Benjamin M. Prentiss, First Illinois, and Captains Henry L.Webb and Julius Raith, Second Illinois). As for Wool himself , he announced that he would leave on the twenty-ninth, escorted by the First Dragoons. (Evidently Captains Lee and Fraser left San Antonio somewhat ahead of General Wool, since Captain Hughes reported that on October 2, “[t]he engineers came [into camp] with the pontoon train early; the general and staff and the advance of the army arrived in the afternoon . . .”) Colonel Churchill was placed in charge of bringing up the rest of the troops as transportation and supplies became available.28 Having speedily caught up with his main column, General Wool left their camp on the Nueces River on October 4,taking with him the artillery and “two companies of cavalry” in an effort to reach the Rio Grande within another two days, having heard that the Mexicans were assembling a force near the river to block a crossing by the Americans. By the seventh Webb’s and Raith’s Second Illinois companies, and presumably most of the troops with Wool, were in sight of the Rio Grande, although on that day and the next their “route was parallel to the river.” By the eighth Wool had established his “Camp on the Rio Grande” on the river’s eastern bank, about 165 miles from San Antonio. No enemy force was visible, and they “had hardly arrived when a Mexican came across and said that all Mexican troops had left and that the mayor of the town [Presidio del Rio Grande, near the river’s western bank] wanted to come across and turn the town over to Gen. Wool.” Presidio’s mayor, when he met with Wool, “reported that Gen.Taylor had won a bloody battle at Monterey.”29 168 / Wool’s March into Mexico The first Americans to cross were the topographical engineers together with Colonel Harney, a squadron of Second Dragoons, and several staff of- ficers. They were sent on the ninth to find a suitable place for Wool’s column to “camp beyond the Presidio,” after which they were to report back to headquarters that evening.Wool also issued orders praising his soldiers and informing them that they would cross into the enemy’s territory the next day.He went on to say that any Mexicans who did not “take up arms” against the American troops would not be molested and would be paid “liberally” for supplies purchased from them.That evening, as Adolph Engelmann informed his parents, Wool gave a party for his officers: “The General treated to champagne, port wine and Mexican whiskey (miserable stuff, highly peppered and mixed with Muscat).”30 On the tenth Colonel Yell and the six companies of Arkansas cavalry with the main column were told to proceed “to the right bank of the Rio Grande” and report to Colonel Harney.The Arkansas men were to camp with the Second Dragoons at a location that offered “good grazing” and room for all of Wool’s troops. Engelmann was under the impression that Harney and his dragoons had remained the previous evening west of...

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