George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army
George Gordon Meade, Ed.

[84] thousand in Matamoras. Could we have crossed the river on the tenth, the town would have been ours without a shot, but the necessity of recruiting our people, and the want of means to cross, prevented us, and it is not improbable that they may have recuperated so far as to induce them to make a stand.

But while their forces are diminishing, ours are daily increasing. Already six hundred regulars and volunteers have arrived, and information has been received that ten thousand volunteers are being raised and will be here in a few weeks, making our force fully twelve thousand efficient men. Now, if two thousand routed seven thousand, how many will twelve thousand rout; you can establish the proportion, and I trust the result will remove from your mind any apprehension of my safety, inasmuch as it is a perfect impossibility that the Mexican Government can raise one-half the number required by the answer.

We shall to-morrow cross the river some few miles above here and invest the town, at the same time summoning them to surrender. In the event of their refusal, we shall open our batteries, consisting of six eighteen-pounders, four twelve-pounders, eight nine-pounders, and twelve six-pounders, and two ten-inch mortars, and if we do not soon make them change their minds, I shall be very much mistaken. At the same time we shall cut off all their supplies from the interior and starve them out.

The town must fall or be knocked to pieces, and I think the inhabitants will compel the soldiers to evacuate it, rather than stand the bombardment. We have now a chance to return the compliments they paid to our fort, called Fort Brown (in honor of its gallant commander, who fell while defending it), in which, during the seven days we were absent, they threw one thousand shells, and, strange to say, they only killed one sergeant and the commander, Major Brown. You will regret to hear poor Ringgold died of his wounds. This makes nine officers killed and eleven wounded so far. Our loss on the eighth and ninth amounts to one hundred and eighty-two killed and wounded, being about one-twelfth of those engaged, said to be large, but most trifling in comparison with that of the Mexicans.

I cannot as yet anticipate the future. The opinion of some is that they cannot recuperate, but I am disposed to believe they will try it again; but as I feel confident the result will be the same, I think then they will be ready to negotiate and compromise matters. Indeed, I do not think the war will now be of many months' duration,