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New historical novel "Spoils of War"
The Moon Of Wind, March, 1846
US Military encampment on the south side of the Nueces River where it emptied its flow of water into the Gulf of Mexico. Both Mexico and the United States claim the land.
CHAPTER 1
General Zachary Taylor awoke on his cot in the darkness of his army tent. He sensed day was close at hand. He lay silently listening for any sound, any sign that the black night had brought danger upon him and his small army camped upon the land claimed by a strong enemy that would like to see his army destroyed and him dead.
The distant call of a patrolling sentry came to Taylor. And closer to his tent, came the soft snuffle of his horse that was always tied close by should he need it in a hurry. Closer still, came the sound of movement of his orderly who always managed to rise before him.
Satisfied that all was secure with his army, he swung his feet onto the canvass that covered the ground and sat quietly on the cot. To prepare him for the day, he allowed his fondest memories rise up from where they were stored in those secret pockets of his mind. First among them was his wife Sarah with her soft body, gently words and loving ways. Second was his plantation of two thousand acres of fertile land along the River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. God, how he enjoyed riding horseback upon that land and watching his eighty slaves plant seed in the spring, harvest the cotton, tobacco and the corn in the fall. He would not have the presence of his four daughters for they were all married and had their own homes. Both wife and land would soon have his permanent presence for this was the last time he would lead men into deadly battle.
He rose to his feet, age 62, standing five feet and eight inches tall and strongly built, and dressed in the darkness. He lit the candle on his writing desk and stepped across the tent to the flap of canvas that served as a door and shoved it aside. Far away to the east on the flat, wet horizon of the Gulf of Mexico, a thin streak of golden light heralded the imminent arrival of the sun.
Taylor called to the orderly standing in the morning dusk and watching him. “Trooper, go the officers’ mess and tell the chief cook to send me my coffee. And tell him it had better be hot or I’ll skin him.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then find Colonel Simpson and tell him that I would like to see him at his earliest convenience.”
“Yes, sir.”
The trooper left with long, swift strides.
Taylor turned to survey the army encampment that was taking form in the growing daylight. From his elevated position on a rise land, the camp was visible stretching for a mile along the shore of the gulf. On the flat sand beach just above high tide, two parallel rows of tents, five hundred in each, sheltered his 4,000 troopers. This number was half of the entire American army. Next inland were the mess tents and those serving as hospitals, then the rows of cannon on their wheeled carriages and then the scores of wagons needed to transport all other supplies. Farther inland where the grass grew, were pastures for the hundreds of big draft horses and one for the smaller mounts of the Dragoons.
Taylor turned and focused on a young mess cook that came hurrying with a large mug of coffee. He nodded at the fellow, took the coffee and entered the tent.
He took a long swig of the coffee and placed it on his writing desk. He seated himself and took up the report he had prepared for President James Polk. He read the communiqué describing the condition of his army and his plan of action. Satisfied with its contents, he took up the candle and dripped several drops of the melted wax to seal it from prying eyes. Next he inserted it into an official military mail pouch and locked it with a key. The secretary of war and the president had identical keys.
Cuddling the hot mug of coffee between his hands, Taylor reviewed the events that had brought him to this encampment. In July the year past, President Polk had called him to Washington. There he had met with the President and William Marcy, Secretary of War.
The President, an intense, assertive man, had spoken with fervor and at length about the God given right for the United States to stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. He called it “Manifest Destiny”. Taylor shared in this belief. However there were two major obstacles to reaching this goal. The most formidable was the two large Mexican states; Alta California that lay along the Pacific for hundreds of miles, and Nueva Mejico that lay adjoining Texas. The second obstacle was the Oregon Territory that lay north of Alta California and along the Pacific, and over which the British were not about to relinquish control.
As Polk spoke, it became obvious that Polk had decided upon a strategy to wrest control of those large areas from their present owners. To obtain the Mexico land, Polk had sent an emissary, John Slidell, to Mexico City with an offer to buy Nueva Mejico for $3,000,000 and Alta California for $2,500,000. Taylor knew a proud nation would never sell half of its land, not for any amount of money. Polk must also know that. The offer was but a ploy.
Knowing the Mexican land could not be bought, that left just one option, take it by force. Taylor was to play a large part in putting Polk’s strategy into action, the part pertaining to Mexico. Further, Taylor knew he had been chosen due to his success in the Blackhawk War in the west and the war with the Seminoles in Florida.
Polk had directed Taylor to assemble an army near Corpus Christi, land claimed by both Texas and Mexico, and await his orders. Over the following months, he had drawn men from the forts in the west and from the military bases in the east, adding to three thousand and four hundred men. New recruits had brought his number of troopers to its present size.
Taylor had received his orders, march his small army south to the Rio Grande. The word “provoke” was not mentioned in the orders; even so, Taylor knew his task was to take some action to cause the Mexicans to attack the Americans and start a war. He was then to whip the Mexican army in battle and force the government to surrender Nuevo Mejico and Alta California. With the Mexican troops outnumbering him at more than two to one and fighting on their own land, defeating them would be a daunting task.