Note 18 — MEXICAN WAR DIARY OF GEORGE B. McCLELLAN 1846-1847

George C. Furber, in his Twelve Months Volunteer; or Journal of a Private in the Campaign in Mexico, gives in chapters VIII and IX (pages 275-393) a lively account of this same march, in which he took part, from Matamoros to Victoria and Tampico. He describes many of the events noted by McClellan, but from the standpoint of an enthusiastic and self-confident member of the volunteer forces.

The contemptuous sting in McClellan’s frequent references to “mustangs” can be appreciated from the following. Says Furber (page 376): “The ‘mustang cavalry’—a description of force unknown to the army regulations ... accompanied us from Victoria.—It was composed of numbers from the three regiments of infantry. Any one that could raise the means to buy a long-eared burro (jackass), or a mule, or old Mexican horse, or any such conveyance, immediately entered the mustang cavalry. Such animals could be bought for from three to five dollars. Some of the riders had procured Mexican saddles, with their horsehair housings and bridles also; while some had bridles, but no saddles; others had saddles without bridles; while others, again, had neither. Here was a soldier large as life, with his musket in his hand, on a little jackass, without saddle or bridle, and so small that the rider had to lift his feet from the ground;—the little burro jogged along with him, occasionally stopping to gather a bite of grass.”