| Explanatory
Notes: David W. Daily,
Jr., son of David W. Daily of Clark
County, Indiana, was mustered in 3rd Regiment,
Company I, 22 Jun 1846, at New Albany, Indiana as
Sergeant, by Colonel Samuel Churchill, and
mustered out 27 Jun 1847, at New Orleans, LA, by
Colonel Samuel Churchill. On 26 Jun 1851, he
married Mary Ann Parker, the daughter of John C.
and Nancy. David and Mary Ann were the parents of
Fanny, Harry, Mollie & John C. Daily.
D.W.
Daily was father of Harrison Daily. He
was born David Wise Daily in Charlestown, Indiana
on 16 August 1798 and was the son of Philip Daily
and Mary (Wise).
Captain Thomas W. Gibson
of Clark County was mustered into the 3rd
Regiment, Company I on 22 Jun 1846, at New
Albany, Indiana, by Colonel Samuel Churchill; and
was mustered out 27 Jun 1847, at New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Joe Crawford,
probably the same as Josias Crawford of Clark
County. He was mustered into the 3rd Regiment,
Company I on 22 Jun 1846, at New Albany, Indiana,
by Colonel Samuel Churchill; and mustered out 27
Jun 1847, at New Orleans, Louisiana.
William Harrison
"Harry" Daily was David's
brother who was born in Charlestown, Clark Co.,
Indiana in 1819 and was the eldest child of David
Wise Daily and his wife, Mary A. (Shirley). He
was a 1st lieutenant, Adjutant, of Company I of
the 3rd regiment and was mustered in on 22 June
1846 at New Albany, Indiana, by Colonel Samuel
Churchill. Transferred to staff, Harrison was
mustered out 24 June 1847, at New Orleans,
Louisiana.
John Sullivan may
be the same as the John Sullivan born about 1810
in Kentucky with wife Mary who was residing in
Jeffersonville in 1860.
General Zachary Taylor
was born in Barboursville, Virginia in 1784. In
1808, he joined the U.S. Army and was
commissioned as a first lieutenant. Soon
afterward he was ordered west into Indiana
Territory, taking command of Fort Harrison. In
the War of 1812 he became known as an excellent
military commander. He served in the Black Hawk
War and the Second Seminole War (1835–1842),
and in 1846 President James K. Polk sent an army
under his command to the Rio Grande. When the
Mexicans attacked his troops, Taylor defeated
them despite being outnumbered four to one and he
won additional important victories at Monterrey
and Buena Vista, becoming a national hero. He was
sworn in as the 12th President of the U.S. on 05
Mar 1849, and died the following year in
Washington D.C. on the 9th of July.
Uncle Silas is most
probably Silas Shirley, brother to David's
mother. Silas was born in Boonesboro, Kentucky in
1806, and married Pamelia Mary Mott in Tyler
Texas. He is said to have died in Bandera, Texas
in 1895.
Mr. Felix Coombs & his
family is most probably in reference to
David's older sister Rebecca who was married to
Felix Coombs in 1840. At the time of the letter,
Rebecca and Felix were the parents of Arabel,
Mary A., and probably Rebecca who was born in
about 1846. They were also the parents of Dallas,
Felix, Loretta, and India K. Coombs.
Mr. Rickets & Indianna
is in reference to David's older sister and her
husband Dillard Ricketts whom she married in
1845. Dillard was a successful merchant of
Edinburg, and while residing there represented
Johnson county in the State Senate. He was
selected president of the Jeffersonville &
Indianapolis Railroad Company, and moved to
Indianapolis in 1867. He and Indiana had no
children.
Camp Belknap,
located on a long, narrow rise of land called the
"Loma de la Estrella" ("Hill of
the Star"), it was one of the largest
volunteer troop encampment sites of the Mexican
War. Established in July of 1846, it was named
for William Goldsmith Belknap, a regular army
officer.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
was first discovered and named by the French
explorer Iberville in 1699 and means "red
stick" or "red staff." It refers
to the tall cypress tree which, after being
stripped of its bark and wrapped with freshly
killed animals, marked the boundary between the
hunting grounds of two indian tribes. In the
eighteenth century, it was ruled successively by
the French, British, and Spanish.
Matamoros is a city
and port in northeastern Mexico on the Río
Grande, near its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico and
is situated opposite of Brownsville, Texas. It
was the scene of bitter fighting in the Mexican
War and was occupied by U.S. troops under Zachary
Taylor in 1846. It is now one of Mexico's chief
ports of entry for tourists and for the import
and export of goods.
Camargo was founded
in 1749 and was the first settlement on the lower
Rio Grande. Located west of Reynosa, east of
Cerralvo, and southeast of Mier. Most of its
settlers came from Cerralvo, Cadereyta, Monterrey
and those surrounding townships. On 14 July 1846,
the U.S. forces occupied Camargo and Taylor
established it as another depot. Situated three
hundred miles up the shallow Rio Grande, it could
be supplied only by steamboat.
New Orleans, during
the war with Mexico, was the place where many
troops passed through on their way to and from
Texas and Mexico. After General Taylor received
word to advance to Texas, he brought his men
first to New Orleans and it was here that they
boarded the vessels that took them to Corpus
Christi. New Orleans was also a major port from
which supplies for the Quartermaster Corps were
sent throughout the war. It is also the place
where many returning soldiers were cheated out of
their Mexican War land bounty warrants by
unscrupulous land speculators.
Point Isabelle is a
small, picturesque village on the Laguna Madre,
located on the Gulf Coast in the beautiful Rio
Grande Valley of Texas between the Texas mainland
and Padre Island, it was named for Spanish Queen
Isabella who financed Columbus's voyage. General
Zachary Taylor's forces arrived at Point Isabel
on March 27, 1846 and used the area as a supply
base for Taylor's army in Brownsville. In
1848-49, it saw a flow of gold seekers from the
East, who landed here to begin their overland
trek to California.
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