General Taylor's Appearance.

RITING to a Philadelphia paper, a correspondent thus describes General Taylor:

"The General is not over five feet seven or eight inches high, is stout, and inclines to corpulency, would weigh, I should think, near two hundred pounds, and the most prominent thing about him is an unusual shortness of legs.-When he is sitting he looks like a tall man-not so when standing. His face is intelligent, and it is usually lit up with a benevolent smile. He is in the habit of eclipsing his left eye. His hair is gray and grizzly. In one word, gentlemen, if you can imagine a plain, old Pennsylvania farmer, who had a farm paid for worth five thousand dollars, and nothing else in the world-an independent, jovial, don't care-a-fig kind of an old coon-you have old Zack' before you."

A writer to the New Orleans Tropic, is still more summary. "A very thick set, farmer-looking old gentleman, in a linen roundabout, and remarkable for short legs and long body, mounted on a snow white charger." This is almost as sententious as Sallust.

General Taylor's Family.

Although the General was born in Virginia, his time of residing in that state was very limited. For a long while he lived in Kentucky, and previous to the present war he removed to a country-seat on the Mississippi, near Baton Rouge, where his family still reside. The Gazette of that place thus describes the situation:

"It may not be generally known abroad that the residence of General Taylor's family, is in the handsome cottage-like building, romantically situated on the fine bluff fronting the river, and the first building which meets the eye to the left upon entering the beautifully shaded avenue leading from Lafayette street to the barracks. While other places at a distance are contending for the honor of having given birth to old Rough and Ready,' we can claim the honor of numbering his respected family among our residents."

General Tagler's Humanity.

Of all General Taylor's good qualities none are more conspicuous than the tenderness of heart, which he has ever exhibited toward the soldiers under his command, as well as to the enemy. Like Washington, he is engaged in war only from stern necessity, not from love of the dear bought honors of military glory. Even the slight incident of stopping his columns at Palo Alto, in order that the men might obtain water, is refreshing; and the following anecdote is of the same nature. "The first care of General Taylor was to visit the wounded, and see that every comfort was supplied, the constant and well directed energies of the medical department left him but little to do; every one, whether officer or soldier, had been attended with unwearied care and watchfulness "

The Council at Palo Alto.

"The troops having partaken of their meal, the order was given to get the command under arms. General Taylor here summoned a council of war, composed of the heads of the different commands, in all thirteen, excluding the commander-in-chief. The General, after returning thanks for their support and bravery on the 8th, and wishing to be advised as to what they thought best to be done, called on each to give his opinion. It was then ascertained that but four were in favor of going ahead, the other officers composing the council voted, some to intrench where they were and await the assistance of the volunteers, and others to retire at once to Point Isabel; but the general said, 'I will be at Fort Brown before night if I live.'

Those who voted for going ahead, as they watched the countenance of the General, might have seen the smile of approbation that lighted up the old man's honest face at the moment, though he bowed with respect to the opinions of those who differed from him; and in saying engrave on the sacred banner of the stars and stripes the names of Taylor, McIntosh, Morris, Scott and Duncan, I mean no reflection upon those who voted against them-they were men tried in many a field before, and their deeds on that day proved them equal to the best.

Lieutenant Ridgely, who was entitled to a vote in the council, was at the time in attendance on the lamented Ringgold, and therefore had no voice in the matter, but as he galloped up to the battery, on returning from his visit to the major, some one said, 'Ridgely, were you at the council?' and he replied no, I did not know that one had been called, but I hope old Zack will go ahead and bring the matter to close quarters.'

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We have given the address of the General to the volunteers, who were about to leave him for a different scene of the war. That parting was an affecting one; but the removal of the gallant fellows who had endeared themselves to him, amid the dangers of Buena Vista, was still more so. As the Mississippi regiment marched by him, on its return home, he attempted to address them; but the recollection of their heroism, and the respect and affection

which they were now anxious to pour upon him for the last time, overpowered him, and with tears gushing down his aged cheeks he exclaimed:-" Go on, boys-go on-I can't speak."

It will be remembered that while Taylor was marching against Santa Anna, most of his troops were withdrawn from him by General Scott, and he was compelled to fall back toward Monterey. We have given but the bare fact in the narrative; but it requires little imagination to conceive that the feelings of an ordinary military man under such circumstances, would be of the most harassing kind. Not so with General Taylor. Great in difficulty as in danger, and destitute of that little ambition which would sacrifice even personal comfort to the desire of popularity, he showed himself as willing to obey, as he had formerly been able to command. He yielded the price of glory and advantage, to his brother officer, without a murmur, and quietly retired to the scene of his former glories. The lesson he thus gave to the world might be profitably learned by many of his contemporaries, far below him in rank and usefulness.

General Taylor at Buena Vista.

T. F. Marshall, who conveyed General Scott's requisition to Taylor, made the following excellent remarks in a late speech at New Orleans.

"General Taylor fought and won the battle of Monterey. He advanced upon Saltillo, and preparatory to a descent upon San Luis Potosi and ultimately upon the city of Mexico itself. He had marched to Victoria, to discover if there was any other pass in the mountains but that of the Rinconada, through which he could advance and avoid the waterless desert beyond Buena Vista, or through which the enemy might enter the valley of the Rio Grande and fall upon his rear. Whilst this reconnoissance was being made, he (Mr. Marshall) was ordered to proceed to General Taylor's camp with despatches. These were the despatches which announced to General Taylor that the flower of his army was to be taken from him, to operate on a new base, and ordered him merely to stand on the defensive.

Mr. Marshall said, great an opinion as he had formed of General

Taylor before he met him at Victoria, he was totally unprepared for the loftiness of character displayed by him on receiving those despatches. He, upon whose crest victory had perched, the lion who was preparing for another spring upon the foe, saw without a murmur that his claws were to be torn from him, that he was to be enfeebled to the defensive, and never did he conceive that a great soldier, fresh from the field of victories, could submit in the simple, uncomplaining manner General Taylor did to orders depriving him of his right arm.

The best of his troops were withdrawn from him. With such as were left under his immediate command he retraced his steps to Monterey, and shortly after joined General Wool at Saltillo. Duplicates of the despatches had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and, acquainted with the weakness of General Taylor's force, he soon made demonstrations indicating an intention to advance and give him battle. It was now, Mr. Marshall said, General Taylor displayed those qualities which proclaim him the greatest military chieftain of the age.

It was known that the enemy was overwhelmingly superior in numbers and commanded by their most skilful general, and military critics declared the only course to pursue was to fall back upon Monterey. General Taylor, with a perception of all the consequences of such a step, thought and acted otherwise. Fronting him was an enemy twenty thousand strong; in his rear was Urrea with three thousand cavalry; his line of communication ran through a country containing half a million of population, waiting but the appearance of success on their side to take up arms, and knowing that even to retreat upon Monterey would be claimed as a victory; that then he would be beleaguered by an army of twenty-five thousand men, that his whole line would be cut up, he determined not to give an inch, but to stake all upon a battle, in which every thing was to be gained by victory, and disaster could not have been increased by defeat. The result is known. The courage of General Taylor, said Mr. Marshall, no one disputed, but some denied him great mental powers; he, Mr. M., pretended to some capacity in judging of men's qualities, and if he ever saw genius, military genius of the highest order, he saw it in General Taylor. It may be that God, in great

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