Note 9 — XXXI THE AMERICANS AS CONQUERORS 1846–1848

American officers were not, however, flabby in protecting the lives of their men, and sometimes the authorities or the people of a place where one of these fell a victim to Mexican hate were held responsible until the culprit was discovered (e.g., 61Wool to Pleasanton, Jan. 15, 1848). Such wholesale justice was often the only possible kind, and there is ample evidence that even the cruel retaliation practised by our soldiers had good effects.