User:Asiaticus/sandbox/Robert M. Morris

Robert Murray Morris, (May 12, 1824 - Dec. 7, 1896) Army officer in the U. S. Army and Union Army. During his career he rose to the rank of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, from 1846 to 1873, distinguishing himself at Contreras and Chepultapec in the Mexican-American War and at Valverde and the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House the American Civil War.

Early Life
Robert Murray Morris was born in the District of Columbia on May 12, 1824. He was the second of the four sons of Commodore Charles Morris, who married Harriet Bowen in February 1815. He was appointed to United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and attended it from July 1841 to January 1842 when he resigned.

Army Career
With the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, Morris was commisioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. He took part in Scott's Mexico City campaign receiving citations for "Gallant and Meritorious conduct" and a brevet promotion for his actions in each of the battles of Churubusco and Chapultepec.

The newspapers tell us that when the marines faltered in the assault of Chapultepec through loss of officers, Morris of the Rifles reminded them that he was a son of his naval father, and led them on to victory.

NNR 73.152 6 NOV 1847 Lt. Robert M. Morris' appeal to the Marines

Lieut. Morris’ appeal to the Marines

Lieut. Morris of the rifles- It happened soon after Maj. Twiggs, of the marines, was killed, that Lt. Morris, of the rifles, was ordered to make a charge in order to attain a certain point. Deeming his own men too few for the undertaking, and seeing the marines without an officer, he ordered them to help him. They replied, that he was no officer of theirs, and refused-he remonstrated, and they still refused. Finding authority and remonstrance of no avail, he shouted to them-“Marines, I am the son of Commodore Morris-if you have any veneration for his memory, follow me.” This appeal was irresistible; their sailor hearts were touched, and with a cry, as of joy, they pounded forward, and shared his dangers and his perils, until success was obtained. [MDT] ---

The incidents of the long, weary march Of 2500 miles to Oregon, beginning May 10, 1849, through a country without roads and often without wood, water or grass, and compared to which the loud boasted modern ones sink into insignificance, would, more than fill the limits of this sketch. Cholera raged in the stream of emigrants allured by visions of gold to the new Eldorado in California, and fabulous stories were inflaming the minds and turning the heads of the soldiers. Unlimited wealth could be picked up for the trouble! The death rate was appalling. Excepting Fort Kearney and the fur trading station, Laramie, there was not a house between Leavenworth and the Columbia. On reaching the latter the horses were too much worn down to march, and the mules to haul loads over the Cascade Range. Men were 199

dismounted and the horses driven by details at easy stages. An enormous raft was constructed and the baggage put aboard to float down, while the command marched on foot. The detachment on the raft let it get into the terrific current of the rapids, it became unmanageable and was dashed to pieces against the boulders. All but one were drowned and the entire cargo was lost. It was a sad plight in this region, but not unmixed, for the officers' returns were nicely balanced to date, and calumny says that for years after things would turn up lost on that raft.

Quarters for the winter were found in Oregon City, about the only town in the region. Loring soon looks up a site and locates Columbia Barracks, now Fort Vancouver, leaves a natural tree for a fine flagstaff, and by actual experiment places the officers' quarters so far apart that a crying baby cannot be heard in the next.

There was hard work, much detached service, and disagreeable service, but not much fighting.

In 1851 the regiment returned to the States, the horses and all the men but about seven non-commissioned officers to each company being transferred to the First Dragoons. The regiment left Vancouver May 8, and proceeding by water via Savanna, Havana and New Orleans reached Jefferson Barracks July 16, to recruit and organize. Recruits came streaming in and the companies were soon filled, and in December, 1851, and January, 1852, the regiment, except A and K, was transferred to Texas. We left A and K at Leavenworth. They were kept constantly on the move in the country between Laramie and Leavenworth until January, 1854, when they also were transferred to Texas, reaching Fort Inge February 27. Some 40 men of A, with Lieutenants Morris and Baker, were not along, but were an escort to Captain Gunnison, Topographical Engineers, and went to southern Utah, where three men were killed, with the captain, October 26, 1854 near Lake Sevier.

In 1856 the Indian troubles in New Mexico, which then included Arizona, demanded. more troops, and the regiment was ordered there, being relieved by the Second (now Fifth) Cavalry. At Camp Crawford, near Fort Fillmore, orders were received assigning the companies to Forts Craig, Stanton, Thorn, Fillmore, Bliss and Marcy, and Las Lunas, and Cantonment Burgwin. Some of the companies marched fifteen hundred miles in this change.

The enormous territory over which the regiment was scattered, the predatory disposition of the Indians, and the entirely inadequate force of troops, kept the companies of the regiment on the keen jump until it left for the States to take part in the Civil War. The country from Denver to Las Nogales, and from Texas to Utah, was within the sphere of its operations, and it was required to restrain and subdue hostile Indians outnumbering it fifty to one. It would take a volume to give any definite notion of its field work, or even of the scouts and expeditions upon which the enemy was met and defeated with more or less loss in killed and wounded.

Company A, were participating in the Navajo war, in 1856.

Late in September, 1860, Morris, with C, G and K, engaged and defeated a rebel force of Texans near Fort Thorn.