Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS
said, as a friend to the army, he rejoiced at the evidence now afforded of a
disposition in this House to deal justly, to feel generously towards those to
whom the honor of our flag has been intrusted. Too often and too long had we
listened to harsh and invidious reflections upon our gallant little army, and
the accomplished officers who command it. A partial opportunity had been
offered to exhibit their soldierly qualities in their true light, and he
trusted these aspersions were hushed-hushed now forever. As an American, whose
heart promptly responds to all which illustrates our national character, and
adds new glory to our national name, he rejoiced with exceeding joy at the
recent triumph of our arms. Yet it is no more than he expected from the gallant
soldiers who hold our post upon the Rio Grande-no more than, when occasion
offers, they will achieve again. It was the triumph of American courage,
professional skill, and that patriotic pride which blooms in the breast of our
educated soldier, and which droops not under the withering scoff of political
revilers.
These men will feel,
deeply feel, the expression of your gratitude. It will nerve their hearts in
the hour of future conflict, to know that their country acknowledges and honors
their devotion. It will shed a solace on the dying moment of those who fall, to
be assured their country mourns the loss. This is the meed for which the
soldier bleeds and dies. This he will remember long after the paltry pittance
of one month's extra pay has been forgotten.
Beyond this expression
of the nation's thanks, he liked the principle of the proposition offered by
the gentleman from South Carolina. We have a pension system providing for the
disabled soldier, but he seeks well and wisely to extend it to all who may be
wounded, however slightly. It is a reward offered to those who seek for danger,
who first and foremost plunge into the fight. It has been this incentive,
extended so as to cover all feats of gallantry, that has so often crowned the
British arms with victory, and caused their prowess to be recognised in every
quarter of the globe. It was the sure and high reward of gallantry, the
confident reliance upon their nation's gratitude, which led Napoleon's armies
over Europe, conquering and to conquer; and it was these influences which, in
an earlier time, rendered the Roman arms invincible, and brought their eagle
back victorious from every land on which it gazed. Sir, let not that prevent us
from parsimony, (for he did not deem it economy,) adopting a system which in
war will add so much to the efficiency of troops. Instead of seeking to fill
the ranks of your army by increased pay, let the soldier feel that a liberal
pension will relieve him from the fear of want in the event of disability,
provide for his family in the event of death, and that he wins his way to
gratitude and the reward of his countrymen by perilling all for honor in the
field.
The achievement
which we now propose to honor is one which richly deserves it. Seldom, sir, in
the annals of military history has there been one in which desperate daring and
military skill were more happily combined. The enemy selected his own ground,
and united to the advantage of a strong position a numerical majority of three
to one. Driven from his first position by an attack in which it is hard to say
whether professional skill or manly courage is to be more admired, he retired
and posted his artillery on a narrow defile, to sweep the ground over which our
troops were compelled to pass. There, posted in strength three times greater
than our own, they waited the approach of our gallant little army.
General Taylor knew
the danger and destitution of the band he left to hold his camp opposite
Matamoras, and he paused for no regular approaches, but opened his field
artillery, and dashed with sword and bayonet on the foe. A single charge left
him master of their battery, and the number of slain attests the skill and
discipline of his army. Mr. D. referred to a gentleman who, a short time since,
upon this floor, expressed extreme distrust in our army, and poured out the
vials of his denunciation upon the graduates of the Military Academy. He hoped
now the gentleman will withdraw those denunciations; that now he will learn the
value of military science; that he will see in the location, the construction,
the defence of the bastioned field-work opposite Matamoras the utility, the
necessity of a military education. Let him compare the few men who held that
with the army that assailed it; let him mark the comparative safety with which
they stood within that temporary work; let him consider why the guns along its
ramparts were preserved, whilst they silenced the batteries of the enemy; why
that intrenchment stands unharmed by Mexican shot, whilst its guns have
crumbled the stone walls in Matamoras to the ground, and then say whether he
believes a blacksmith or a tailor could have secured the same results. He
trusted the gentleman would be convinced that arms, like every occupation,
requires to be studied before it can be understood; and from these things, to
which he had called his attention, he will learn the power and advantage of
military science. He would make but one other allusion to the remarks of the
gentleman he had noticed, who said nine-tenths of the graduates of the Military
Academy abandoned the service of the United States. If he would take the
trouble to examine the records upon this point, he doubted not he would be
surprised at the extent of his mistake. There he would learn that a majority of
all the graduates are still in service; and if he would push his inquiry a
little further, he would find that a large majority of the commissioned
officers who bled in the actions of the 8th and 9th were graduates of that
academy.
He would not enter
into a discussion on the military at this time. His pride, his gratification
arose from the success of our arms. Much was due to the courage which Americans
have displayed on many battle-fields in former times; but this courage,
characteristic of our people, and pervading all sections and all classes, could
never have availed so much had it not been combined with military science. And
the occasion seemed suited to enforce this lesson on the minds of those who
have been accustomed, in season and out of season, to rail at the scientific
attainments of our officers.
The influence of
military skill—the advantage of discipline in the troops—the power derived from
the science of war, increases with the increased size of the contending armies.
With two thousand we had beaten six thousand; with twenty thousand we would far
more easily beat sixty thousand, because the General must be an educated
soldier who wields large bodies of men, and the troops, to act efficiently,
must be disciplined and commanded by able officers. He but said what he had
long thought and often said, when he expressed his confidence in the ability of
our officers to meet those of any service—favorably to compare, in all that
constitutes the soldier, with any army in the world; and as the field widened
for the exhibition, so would their merits shine more brightly still.
With many of the
officers now serving on the Rio Grande he had enjoyed a personal acquaintance,
and hesitated not to say that all which skill and courage and patriotism could
perform, might be expected from them. He had forborne to speak of the General
commanding on the Rio Grande on any former occasion; but he would now say to
those who had expressed distrust, that the world held not a soldier better
qualified for the service he was engaged in than General Taylor. Trained from
his youth to arms, having spent the greater portion of his life on our
frontier, his experience peculiarly fits him for the command he holds. Such as
his conduct was in Fort Harrison, on the Upper Mississippi, in Florida, and on
the Rio Grande, will it be wherever he meets the enemy of his country.
Those soldiers to
whom so many have applied deprecatory epithets, upon whom it has been so often
said no reliance could be placed, they, too, will be found in every emergency
renewing such feats as have recently graced our arms, bearing the American flag
to honorable triumphs, or falling beneath its folds as devotees to our common
cause to die a soldier's death.
He rejoiced that the
gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. BLACK] had shown himself so ready to pay
this tribute to our army. He hoped not a voice would be raised in opposition to
it; that nothing but the stern regret which is prompted by remembrance of those
who bravely fought and nobly died will break the joy, the pride, the patriotic
gratulation with which we hail this triumph of our brethren on the Rio Grande.
SOURCE: Dunbar Rowland, Editor, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches, Volume 1, p. 46-9
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