letter to Robert Wood, 12 October 1846

Monterey Mexico

October 12th 1846 My dear Doctor,

Your several & interesting letters of the 19th 26th 28th & 24th were duly rec d for all of which you have my sincere thanks, & I need hardly assure you that I was very much gratified to hear the health of the command at Fort Polk was improving, & trust your own health which I conclude as a matter of course was good, as you say nothing to the contrary, & I truly hope it will continue so. I regret to hear the hospital had not been completed, as I expected there would be a large number of patients who would wish & ought to find accommodation in it from the regulars, & particularly from the passing volunteers & those stationed on the Rio Grande near its mouth, where they had but limited accomodation, & I feared ignorant medical officers, & bad attention & arrangements, & I was gratified to know you had done all in your power for them ; & alth the Q r Masters dep is on crutches, yet I trust the hospital so long in contemplation at the Point, will be made comfortable for the sick, before the approach or arrival of very cold weather ; I think you done well to order at once stoves for the same. Garland informed me a few days since that he had a letter from his wife in Detroit saying among other things, that Ann was preparing to leave Detroit, & Col Taylor who goes down to Brasos immediately & who will hand you this, informs me that he had just rec d a letter from his wife that she would come to Cincinnati where she would stop a short time & after putting the boys to school or college, would proceed to B. Rouge where she would pass the winter with her mother, which under all the circumstances of the case, was about as good a move as could have been made, if not the very best. I have informed Mrs Taylor of this arrangement, who will be delighted with it, & will be prepared to receive her & any of the children she may bring with her, & I hope they will get down if the Ohio is navigable by the last of the present month, or early in the next. I was quite pleased to hear Ann had been able to offer Mrs Long a shelter for a short time, as she is really an object of charity ; I hope her husbands relations will find it convenient to give her a comfortable home. I regret if anything unpleasant has taken place between Mrs Col T. which I think likely, & her step mother, & believe with you it was rather running too great a risk in Mrs T. locating herself as she did for any length of time where there was several sets of children, which is almost inevitable to produce unpleasant feelings between some of the establishment ; Mrs Taylor is now going to housekeeping, at least I suppose is the case from some of the remarks of the Col which it would perhaps have been better for her to have done in the first instance

The constant excitement common to such operations as will be con stantly going on under Gen Wool, may have the effect of saving Wharton, 1 if it does not change his habits, he must very soon blow out. I am surprised the new batch of medical officers have not have arrived, particularly McLaren who is not very distant, & who I presume would have acted very promptly. I thank you for the various extracts taken from different papers in relation to the battles of Palialto & Resacka, in addition to Mexican affairs in Gen the first may be considered too flatter ing or at any rate enough so, to satisfy the wishes or vanity of an one, much less so far as I am concerned, they are read with indifference Lt Armsted reached here last night with despatches from Washington, but by no means bringing any of importance ; the principal information communicated was that Gen Salas? the acts president of Mexico had declined to entertain Mr Buchanans proposals to enter into engagements for settling the difficulties between the two countries by negotiation ; stating that the same must be submitted to their congress, which meets early in Dec r next ; directing the war to be prosecuted with vigor, which cannot be done by me without further instructions from Washington, until the cessasion of arms entered into between Gen Ampudia & my self terminates, which will be about the 20th of November, unless his gov r decides otherwise ; if so we must try & be prepared for any event. At any rate I see but little prospect of peace. I have not heard from my family for some time. Van Horn wrote to some one here that he had seen them at Pascagoula on his way to Mobile to muster out some volunteers, that they were well ; at the time he wrote Dick was in N. Orleans on his way to the Warm Springs in Arkansas where he hoped to get relief froMrheumatism, from the effects of which he was suffer ing severely. The last N. Orleans paper you sent me, I think dated the 22 d of Sept r among the arrival in it mentioned at the S c Charles, was that of Mrs Taylor Mrs W m Taylor of Point Coupee & servants ; but no mention was made of Betty, which I presume was a mistake or omission ; so there is no doubt Mrs. T. & Betty are both in B. Rouge, so that you must write to Ann to meet them at any time with the girls as soon as the Ohio is fully navigable I wrote you a short time since giving an ace of our operations here, & now must refer to Col Taylor for many particulars ; the Col is quite reserved about matters & things at Cincinnati in regard to family matters My love to Ann & the children when you write, as well as regards to inquiring friends at Brasos or Fort Polk & wishing you & yours continued health & prosperity I remain

Truly Your Friend

SURG N R. C. WOOD Z. TAYLOR

U. S. A. Fort Polk Texas

P. S. Since writing the mail from Camargo has arrived an hour or two since, by which I rec d your interesting favor of the 2 d ins 1 with the several accompanyments ; all of which were very acceptable ; and alth dearly won, I thank you for your congratulations for our success in the attack on Monterey. I apprehended as soon as my name was connected with the next presidency that the various aspirants for that high office some of whom are in high places, would open their batteries through the papers on me, this however I disregard, further than some of their plans may possibly serve to embarrass my operations in carrying on this war successfully I regret to hear the steamer Florid is off the harbor without being able to get in, as she is reported to have a large mail ; most of which I presume is private letters The purchase of the Neptune must have been a political operation instead of a military one

Z. T.