“WE SUFFER EVERY THING BY THE MUSQUETO & SAND FLIES.... THE MEXICANS THEMSELVES HAVE DIED OFF LIKE ROTTEN SHEEP THEY BURY THEIR DEAD WITHOUT ANY COFFIN OR BOX OR ANY SORT ABOUT THREE FEET DEEP AND POUND THE DIRT DOWN WITH STONES SO HARD THAT WE COULD HEAR THEIR BONES CRACK….”
“WE SUFFER EVERY THING BY THE MUSQUETO & SAND FLIES.... THE MEXICANS THEMSELVES HAVE DIED OFF LIKE ROTTEN SHEEP THEY BURY THEIR DEAD WITHOUT ANY COFFIN OR BOX OR ANY SORT ABOUT THREE FEET DEEP AND POUND THE DIRT DOWN WITH STONES SO HARD THAT WE COULD HEAR THEIR BONES CRACK….”
(1st letter)
(Mexican War) Welch, James. 4 page letter folded and addressed to Mr. Elisha Welch, Eden, Erie, N.Y. from Tampico Mex – Sept. 28. One hole effecting several words, but overall quite readable and in vg cond.
Tampico – Sept 8, 1847
My Dear parents
having an opportunity to send you these few lines to inform you of my whereabouts & how I am situated & how my health is & has been I am now in Tampico as you will see by the caption of this sheet a thing perhaps that you or I little thought of when I saw you last so little do we know what the future has in store for us when I wrote to you last I was at pierce Ill. - My health was not good then nor did it improve during our stay at Alton, the place of rendezvous for our regiment, we staid there some two or three weeks when we left for N.O. we left there in about four or five days for Tampico at which place we arrived in three days & half we had a fine time in crossing the gulf we saw thousands of flying fish every day besides porpoises dolphins & c. Tampico is finely situated on Tapico river six miles from its mouth. Tampico Lake which is four miles long one & half wide is situated in the rear of the city in the front of the city on the opposite side of the river and about one mile from the river is an arm that runs in from the Gulf to the mountains which is a complete oyster bed and the river itself is full of fish which we can get abundance the town itself is strongly fortified in every point the buildings themselves that is the most prominent of them are very strongly built, here we find people from every part of the globe the counsels of different nations the buildings they occupy are each a fort of itself. The doors are double & are ten feet high six inches thick the windows have no sash or glass but are barred with iron inch & half thick two inches apart with blinds three inches thick encased with iron as is the case with all the most prominent buildings in the place the most of them are occupied by U. Sam men. But I forgot to inform you that our regiment was divided at New Orleans five companies with the Colonel were sent to Veracruze while we were dispatched to Tampico to drill and await further orders our camp is situated in the lower part of the town towards the gulf we ocupy long sheds thatched with palmetto leaves with a tent to every six men which constitutes a mess each commissioned officer has a markee tent and a shed fourteen feet long.
Our part of the regiment which is the second battalion is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hicks and consists of five companies ninty five men each the first which went to Vera Cruze is commanded by Colonel Collins and consists of the remaining five companies we have about eighty or ninety men in the hospital besides some sick in Camps. We suffer every thing by the musqueto & sand flies. They get through our musqeto bars in swarms. we have had some eight or nine deaths in our Company but the health of our battalion is and has been better than that that have been here during the summer for since we have been here there has not a day past but more or lesf have been buried the Louisana Regiment have sufered full the most. The Mexicans themselves have died off like rotten sheep they bury their dead without any coffin or box of any sort about three feet deep and pound the dirt down with stones so hard that we could hear their bones crack, there has been two or three Mexican citizens killed by some of our boys at their fandangoes which they have regular every sunday & sunday evening. We have been out some twenty of us three different times on scouting expeditions and had one brush with a guerella party & tomorrow we start for the sea shore on a pleasure party to bathe & pick up shells & see what other curiosities we can find.
And now for the market which is well worth any mans time to go see in the morning it situated on the grand plaza and opposite the fonda & quarter masters department there is Oranges, lemons, limes, yams, coconuts, parrots, armadilloes, ant Eaters and all such things that abound in the torrid zone pine apples grow in abundance here Orange lime & lemon trees grow in abundance here besides other trees & srubs which are a curiosity of them selves to us northerners. We have just received word that general Scotts armies cut to pieces and that soon we shall have to & reinforce him but Col. Gates who has the command of the town refused to let us go at present until further reinforcements.
I must now bid you all good by for some time & perhaps I shall never see you again give my love to all enquiring friends.
This from you Son
James Welch
I forgot to inform you that I am bass drummer for the regiment. My wages are good enough so that I have laid by seventy five dollars in gold and about fifty dollars in clothing and that that is first rate my drum I had to pay for myself which I will bring home with me My sword was presented to me by the regiment.
Yours J. Welch
I must now bid you all good by for sometime & perhaps I shall never see you again. Give my love to all enquiring friends.
This from your son
James Welch.
(2nd letter)
Four page folded letter addressed to Mr. E. Welch Eden, ___ Buffalo NY. From Tampico. Small hole caused from pulled sealing wax, overall very readable in vg cond. James Welch had died at Jalapa, Mexico on January 7, 1848 according to military records. It is interesting that the following letter states that he died on 2 Nov. 1847. The letter to notify his family is the following:
Camp, Tampico Mexico Jan 16 48
My Dear Sir
It becomes my painful duty to inform you that the son that you address with so much felt affection is no more he died the 2 Nov of yellow fever that has swept our rank like some madend monster bent on destruction. There is 2 months pay due him. No effects as I know of worth mentioning. I suppose that his ____ may be drawn by his Corporal being you wish to know the letter of his company and etc his company is (II) 2. Reg Ill Vols.
I want now mention that if I can bequest you in any way write me I shall ever be ready to communicate any thing that I know in the matter. We are about to be moved from this place. On to join our other Battalion at Jalloppa and ther march to the city in Mexico. If you wish to address me you can write to Tampico or els wheres to Lewis A. Norton, 1 Lieut Co (II) 2 Reg Ill Vols.
Yours in haste.
L.A. Norton 1 Lieut Co (II)
2 Reg Ill Vols
Lewis Adelbert Norton (b. 1819) grew up in Canada and western New York. Banished from Canada for taking the Patriot side in the Rebellion of 1837-1838, Norton settled in Illinois, where he raised a regiment for the Mexican War. On his return home, he led an overland party to California. Life and adventures of Col. L.A. Norton (1887) describes Norton's early life and his journey west. Of his life in California, he chronicles careers as miner, lawyer, and merchant in Placerville. In 1856 he moves to Healdsburg, where his law practice involves him in the Squatter War on the Russian River. The book closes with his account of an 1874 rail trip east, revisiting Canada, New York, and New England before returning to Healdsburg.
(Source: THE LIFE AND ADVENTURE OF COL. L.A. NORTON)
An important pair of letters seldom found from the Private who wrote in depth concerning his wartime experiences followed by the a letter from his 1st Lieut. To his parents relating his death.