their influence, by the irregular habits formed in the camp by those who were unaccustomed to this new mode of life. Notwithstanding the interference of General Taylor, and the adoption of more stringent regulations, the causes of this mortality were never wholly removed, though they were ultimately checked to a great extent.
The army commenced moving towards Monterey early in August. General Taylor arrived at Camargo on the 8th instant, and on the 17th, General Worth[1] marched for Seralvo, with the first brigade of his division, followed by the second brigade on the 25th. The spy companies had previously been thrown forward, but had not found the enemy posted in force on either side of the San Juan. On the 11th of August, a party of sixty Mexicans, armed with carbines, and well supplied with ammunition, were captured and brought into Camargo. Captain McCulloch, with his company of fifty men, discovered a body of irregular cavalry, over one hundred strong, at China, and made his dispositions to attack them, but they prudently avoided an engagement.
On the 4th of September, General Taylor received a dispatch from General Worth, informing him that Ampudia had arrived at Monterey with reinforcements; that the Mexican cavalry were supposed to be at Caiderita; and that General Canales was at Marin with 600 men, and had his advance at Papayallos on the road to Seralvo. On the following day, the remaining divisions of the army commenced the march;
- ↑ General Worth was in Washington when the intelligence was received that hostilities had commenced on the Rio Grande, and had already handed in his resignation. He promptly withdrew it and returned to the seat of war, resuming the command of his division on the 28th of May.
