At each post is a store, called the king's, where it was the original intention of the government that the soldiers should be supplied with provisions, clothing, arms, etc., at a cheap rate; but it being a post generally given to some young officer to make his fortune, they are subject to great impositions. When a dragoon joins the service he receives from the king five horses and two mules, and this number he is always obliged to keep good from his own pocket; but when he is discharged, the horses and mules receive the discharge mark and become his private property. They engage for five or ten years, at the option of the soldier, but in the bounty there is a very material difference. It is extremely easy to keep up their corps, as a private dragoon considers himself upon an equality with most of the citizens and infinitely superior to the lower class, and not unfrequently you see men of considerable fortune marrying the daughters of sergeants and corporals.
The pay of the troops of New Spain varies with the locality, but may be averaged, in the internal provinces, as follows:
Colonel, $4,500; lieutenant-colonel, $4,000; major, $3,000; captain, $2,400; first lieutenant, $1,500; second lieutenant, $1,000; ensign, $800; sergeant, $350; corporal, $300; private, $288. With this pay they find their own clothes, provisions, arms, accouterments, etc., after the first equipments.
Corporal punishment is contrary to the Spanish ordinances. They punish by imprisonment, putting in the stocks, and death. As a remarkable instance of the discipline and regularity of conduct of those provincial troops, although marching with them and doing duty as it were for nearly four months, I never saw a man receive a blow or put under confinement for one hour. How impossible would it be to regulate the turbulent dispositions of the Americans with such treatment! In making the foregoing remark I do not include officers, for I saw more rigorous treatment exercised toward some of them than was ever practiced in our army.
The discipline of their troops is very different from ours. As to tactics or military maneuvers, they are not held in much estimation; for, during the whole of the time I was in the country, I never saw a corps of troops exercising as dragoons, but frequently marching by platoons, sections, etc., in garrison, where they serve as infantry with their carabines. In these maneuvers they are very deficient. On a march a detachment of cavalry generally encamp in a circle. They relieve their guards at night; as soon as they halt the new guard is formed on foot with their carabines, and then marched before the commandant's tent, where the commanding officer of the guard invokes the holy virgin three times; the commanding officer replies, "It is well." They then retire and mount their horses, and are told off, some to act as guard of the horses, as cavalry, others as guard of the camp, as infantry. The old guards are then paraded and relieved, and the new sentinels take post. Their sentinels are singing half the time, and it is no uncommon thing for them to quit their post to come to the fire, go for water, etc.—in fact, after the officer is in bed, frequently the whole guard comes in; yet I never knew any man punished for those breaches of military duty. Their mode of attack is by squadrons, on the different flanks of their enemies, but without regularity or concert, shouting, hallooing, and firing their carabines; after which, if they think themselves equal to the enemy, they charge with a pistol and then a lance. From my observation on their discipline I have no hesitation in declaring that I would not be afraid to march over a plain with 500 infantry and a proportionate allowance of horse artillery of the United States army, in the presence of 5,000 of these dragoons. Yet I do not presume to say that an army with that inferiority of numbers would do to oppose them, for they would cut off your supplies, and harass your march and camp, night and day, to such a degree as to oblige you in the end to surrender to them without ever having come to action. If, however, the event depended on one single engagement, it would eventuate with glory to the American arms. The conclusion must not be drawn that I consider they are more deficient in physical firmness than other nations, for we see the savages, 500 of whom on a plain fly before 50 bayonets, on other occasions brave danger and death in its most horrid shapes, with an undaunted fortitude never surpassed by the most disciplined and hardy veterans. It arises solely from the want of discipline and confidence in each other, as is always the case with undisciplined corps, unless stimulated by the godlike sentiment of love of country, of which these poor fellows know little. The traveling food of the dragoons in New Mexico consists of a very excellent species of wheat biscuit, and shaved meat well dried [charqui], with a vast quantity of red pepper [chile colorado], of which they make bouilli and then pour it on their broken biscuit, when the latter becomes soft and excellent eating.
Farther south they use large quantities of parched corn-meal and sugar [pinole], as practiced by our hunters, each dragoon having a small bag. In short, they live, when on command, on an allowance which our troops would conceive little better than starving, never, except at night, attempting to eat anything like a meal, but biting a piece of biscuit, or drinking some parched meal with sugar and water, during the day.
From the physical as well as moral properties of the inhabitants of New Spain, I do believe they are capable of being made the best troops in the world, possessing sobriety, enterprise, great physical force, docility, and a conception equally quick and penetrating.
The mode of promotion in the internal provinces is singular, but probably productive of good effects. Should a vacancy of first lieutenant offer in a company, the captain commanding nominates, with the senior second lieutenant, who by seniority would fill the vacancy, two other lieutenants to the general, giving his comments on all three. The general selects two for a nomination to the court, from whom is selected the fortunate candidate, whose commission is made out and forwarded. As the letters of nomination are always kept a secret, it is impossible for the young officers to say who is to blame if they are disappointed, and the fortunate one is in a direct way to thank the king only for the ultimate decision. And thus with superior grades to the colonel.
The king of Spain's ordinances for the government of his army are generally founded on justice and a high sense of honor. I could not get a set from any of the officers to take to my quarters, consequently my observations on them were extremely cursory. They provide that no old soldier shall ever be discharged the service, unless for infamous crimes. When a man has served with reputation for 15 years and continues, his pay is augmented; 20 years, he receives another augmentation; 27 years, he receives the brevet rank and pay of an ensign; and 32, a lieutenant, etc. Those circumstances are a great stimulant, although not one in a thousand arrives at the third period, when they are permitted to retire from the service with full pay and emoluments. All sons of captains, or of grades superior, are entitled to enter the king's schools as cadets, at the age of 12 years.
The property of any officer or soldier who is killed on the field of battle, or dies of his wounds, is not liable to be taken for debt, and is secured, as well as the king's pension, to the relatives of the deceased.