De Lancey Floyd-Jones Letters 1846-1862 1846-1848

ArchivalResource

De Lancey Floyd-Jones Letters AR491., 1846-1862, 1846-1848

De Lancey Floyd-Jones Letters 1846-1862 1846-1848

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utarl/00204/00204-P.html

De Lancey Floyd-Jones of New York was a career officer in the United States Army, rising from the rank of second lieutenant upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1846 to the rank of colonel at his retirement in 1879. He served in the Mexican War and the Civil War, earning brevet promotions in both wars for gallantry in combat. During the Mexican War, Floyd-Jones served in the garrison force at Monterrey, participated in the battles of Veracruz and Cerro Gordo and the campaign against Mexico City, and served in the occupation force at Mexico City. During the Civil War, Floyd-Jones participated in many campaigns, including the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia in 1862. This collection is comprised of 40 autograph letters (circa 145 pages), signed, in ink, written by 4th U.S. Infantry 1st Lieutenant De Lancey Floyd-Jones to various correspondents, primarily his sister, mother and father, all of Long Island, New York; plus two manuscript maps of battles in Mexico; and three manuscript Mexican Army decrees (circa 8 pages). This is a rare and significant collection of letters written by an American officer during the Mexican War providing an intimate, highly detailed first-hand account of his experiences and observations. Floyd-Jones writes from varied locations - from aboard troop transport ships, to camps at the mouth of the Rio Grande, to Monterrey, Camargo, Vera Cruz and Mexico City - telling of troop positions, strategic movements, travel conditions, news of dispatches, encampment grounds, reconnoitering parties, battles, casualties, and terms of surrender. The letters also offer pointed comments about superior officers (especially General William Jenkins Worth and General Gideon Pillow); low pay and lack of advancement in the Army; volunteer American troops; domestic politics (including the attitudes of civilians toward military service and war); American policy toward Mexico; and Santa Anna and the Mexican troops. Those letters written to the lieutenant's father, fellow Army officer, Major General Henry Floyd-Jones, are perhaps the most noteworthy including one ten-page letter that provides meticulously detailed descriptions of the battle of Monterrey complete with a two-page manuscript map keyed to his narrative.

eng,

Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library