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

[97] Tampico and Monterey. Here an epidemic, in the shape of a typhoid fever, had broken out among them, and one general, a General Garcia, together with a great many men, had died. General Terrejone was said to be dying, and what with disease and desertion the force was reduced from four to one thousand men. It was also reported that, in consequence of the intrigues of Ampudia, Arista had been arrested by the troops and sent to the City of Mexico, upon the charge of having sold them to General Taylor. Another report stated that Arista had arrested Ampudia, on the charge of desertion, on the ninth, and had despatched him to Mexico. We do not know what confidence to place in these reports, but their existence evidently proves the total disorganization of the enemy, and their inability to meet us for some time.

You must not entertain any apprehension for our health, from the reported sickness of the Mexicans. They are but poorly clothed, entirely without protection from the weather, fed only on fresh beef and corn, and marched to death. Such treatment, of course, will break down the hardest troops; and then their surgeons are for the most part quacks, who are unable to give them the treatment their disease requires. The state of affairs with us is quite different. Our men are well fed and clothed, and comparatively protected from the weather. The consequence is that our sick list is quite small, and I trust we shall get through the summer without much disease.

I enclose you the first number of a paper just published in town by a Texan of the name of McLeod, a classmate of mine at West Point, who, on leaving that institution, resigned his commission in the army and went to Texas, where he has figured prominently since as a military man, politician and newspaper editor. I do not know what the general feeling is with regard to his paper in the camp, but for myself, I consider it most pernicious, and were I in General Taylor's place, I would order it stopped. His address to the people will only tend to inflame them against us, and will give an opportunity to Mexico to appeal to foreign nations to rescue her from impending destruction. Now, as his sentiments are simply those of a private individual, unauthorized by the authorities, being written and published and distributed right under the eye of the commanding general, they will be quoted as the opinions of the army and Government of the United States, and used accordingly.

Information has been received of the coming of General Scott, but it is reported he will not be here before September.