# History of the War between the United States and Mexico/Chapter 4

Contents
CHAPTER IV.
MONTEREY.
Censure of General Arista — Arrival of Volunteers on the Rio Grande — Proclamation — Difficulty in procuring Transportation and Supplies — Advance of the Army — Encounter at Ramos — Defences of Monterey — Skirmish at San Jeromino — Storming of Federacion Hill and the Soldada — Diversion in the lower part of the Town — The Enemy's line of defence penetrated — Terrible slaughter among the Assailants — Ca{>ture of the Bishop's Palace — The Americans in the City — Street-fighting — Capitulation.
In addition to the mortification of defeat, General Arista was fated to experience the bitterness of the truth, that the unsuccessful warrior rarely finds sympathy among those whom he has vainly endeavored to serve. Heroes are but too often the creatures of chance, and "a breath unmakes them, as a breath has made." The government of Paredes had not entertained the idea that the army under General Taylor would dare to cope with the well-appointed legions which had been sent into the field; they were ignorant of the spirit that animated the American soldiers; they did not know, that ere the flag of their country should have trailed in defeat, not one would have been left to witness its humiliation.
After leaving Matamoras, Arista retired with the remnant of his army to the vicinity of Linares, and subsequently to the city of Monterey. Pickets were thrown out on the road to Matamoras, in anticipation ​of a general pursuit. This was not attempted by the American commander, and the enemy were allowed to collect their scattered forces at Monterey entirely unmolested. Arista was severely censured by his superiors, and relieved from his command. Galling under the rebuke, and never being particularly friendly to the elevation of Paredes, he attempted to produce another revolution in public affairs. His reverses had alienated the army, in a great measure, and he was unable to secure their co-operation. The design, therefore, could not be carried into effect, and he retired to his hacienda near Monterey, refusing to obey the summons directing him to repair to the capital. On the 16th of June, 1846, Paredes was regularly chosen to the Presidency, and a change was made in the officers commanding the forces on the northern frontier. General Arevalo was ordered to Monterey, and General Ampudia to San Luis Potosi, to collect reinforcements, and be in readiness to relieve any point that might be menaced by the American army. Proclamations were at the same time issued by Paredes, exhorting the Mexican people to make greater exertions, and promising them certain success for the future. Congratulations were liberally showered, from every quarter of the Union, upon the army of occupation, for their gallant achievements on the banks of the Rio Grande. The captured standards and colors brought to Washington by Lieutenant Colonel Payne, of the 4th artillery, acting Inspector-general of the army, who had been disabled at Resaca de la Palma, were deposited among the national archives. The thanks of Congress, and of the people in their public meetings, were freely tendered. General Taylor was rewarded with the brevet of Major General, and soon after ​received a full commission of the same rank, in pursuance of a law authorizing the appointment of an additional officer of that grade. The volunteers enlisted under the act of Congress were sent forward to the Rio Grande as expeditiously as possible, and early in the month of June the army under General Taylor numbered not far from 9,000 men.
In anticipation of a movement towards the interior of the enemy's country, General Taylor caused a proclamation prepared at the War Department, and translated into the Spanish language, to be circulated among the Mexican people, in order to apprize them of the objects for which the war was prosecuted, and the manner in which it would be conducted. The first and most ​important point to be secured, after the capture of Matamoras, was the city of Monterey, situated at the base of the Sierra Madre, at a point where all the principal approaches from the Rio Grande concentrated, and commanding the main pass through the wall of mountains, the only road practicable for artillery leading to the heart of Mexico. Two routes lay open for the choice of General Taylor; the one to leave the river at Matamoras, and follow the track of the retreating Mexicans through the interior; and the other to proceed up the Rio Grande as far as Mier, and then take the road through Seralvo and Marin. The ﬁrst was almost entirely destitute of subsistence; on the second there was but a limited supply; and an army moving in either direction would be compelled to depend on its principal dépôts upon or near the Rio Grande. But by pushing his supplies up the river, General Taylor found he could establish a dépôt much nearer to Monterey than the position at Matamoras, besides being more convenient to the route by way of
​Seralvo and Marin. He therefore decided to pursue that route, as it would require less transportation by land, and to establish his main dépôt at Camargo.
The Rio Grande has been very properly termed, "the muddiest, crookedest, and swiftest river in North America." The channel is constantly shifting, and the navigation obstructed by so many sand-bars, that it is difficult for the smallest steamboats to proceed further up than Reinosa, except in high water. Notwithstanding the efforts made by the Quartermaster's Department to forward supplies for the army, and procure suitable boats to navigate the river, most of which had to be obtained in the United States, and at remote distances from the seaboard, it was not until the month of August that General Taylor was able to move forward with his troops. The causes of this delay were various, and, in most cases, could not well have been avoided. In some instances requisitions were not made in due season; in others the contractors failed to fulfil their obligations; and in others still, the officers of the bureau may have been at fault, although the official correspondence of General Jesup, the Quartermaster-general, and his subordinates, shows that they labored most assiduously in the performance of their duties. ​Had General Taylor been in a situation to advance with a large army, immediately after the capture of Matamoras, there can be no doubt that Monterey might have been taken without the least difficulty, and, perhaps, without striking a single blow. At ﬁrst blush this would seem to have been a. most desirable result; but a moment's reflection will suggest an important consideration decidedly opposed to such a conclusion. The history of the war, as conducted in the provinces of California and New Mexico, presents one truth in bold and strong relief, — which is, that something more than the occupation of an enemy's territory by an armed force apparently sufficient to overawe the inhabitants, is necessary to constitute an effectual conquest. General Taylor might have overrun the whole country between the Rio Grande and the Sierra Madre, and yet there have been no safety for his army, if separated into detachments, until the enemy had concentrated their forces, and there had been a fair trial of strength in the field. To conquer a people at home, on their own soil, their moral energies must be prostrated, and that can only be done by a defeat. The loss before Monterey. was severe, but was it not better thus, than that the valley of the San Juan should have been deluged with the blood of American soldiers lulled into a false security, and unprepared for the sudden onslaught of Mexican guerilleros and rancheros?
After the arrival of the volunteers, and while waiting for boats to navigate the river, General Taylor wisely directed that the troops should be thoroughly drilled and disciplined. The sickly season came on before he proceeded up the Rio Grande, and large numbers of the volunteer corps were swept away by the noxious vapors of the tierra caliente, aggravated, no doubt, in ​their influence, by the irregular habits formed in the camp by those who were unaccustomed to this new mode of life. Notwithstanding the interference of General Taylor, and the adoption of more stringent regulations, the causes of this mortality were never wholly removed, though they were ultimately checked to a great extent.
The army commenced moving towards Monterey early in August. General Taylor arrived at Camargo on the 8th instant, and on the 17th, General Worth marched for Seralvo, with the first brigade of his division, followed by the second brigade on the 25th. The spy companies had previously been thrown forward, but had not found the enemy posted in force on either side of the San Juan. On the 11th of August, a party of sixty Mexicans, armed with carbines, and well supplied with ammunition, were captured and brought into Camargo. Captain McCulloch, with his company of fifty men, discovered a body of irregular cavalry, over one hundred strong, at China, and made his dispositions to attack them, but they prudently avoided an engagement.
On the 4th of September, General Taylor received a dispatch from General Worth, informing him that Ampudia had arrived at Monterey with reinforcements; that the Mexican cavalry were supposed to be at Caiderita; and that General Canales was at Marin with 600 men, and had his advance at Papayallos on the road to Seralvo. On the following day, the remaining divisions of the army commenced the march; ​the Texas cavalry, under General Henderson, being sent round by China and Caiderita, with orders to join the main army at Marin; and General Taylor, with the rest of his forces, crossing the San Juan at Camargo, and moving forward by the other road to Seralvo.
The entire strength of the army destined for the reduction of Monterey, was about 6,600, nearly one-half of whom were regulars, whose coolness and constancy in battle were not to be questioned. But few of the volunteers had ever been in an engagement; but they were all brave and ambitious, well disciplined, and determined to accomplish something that would reflect honor on the country to which they belonged, and to follow, in all things, the bidding of the leader under whose banner they marched, to fight and to conquer. General Patterson was left in command on the Rio Grande, with near 3,000 men. A portion of these troops might have been added to the main column under General Taylor, but he was convinced that it would be impracticable to sustain a larger body of men, in consequence of the deficiency in transportation. He was forced to depend upon the resources of the country, and it was with great difficulty that he procured a sufficient number of pack mules to carry the necessary supplies for his men on the march. ​The army halted for a few days at Seralvo, where a dépôt was established. The first division resumed the march on the 13th of September, and was followed, on successive days, by the other divisions; the troops being provided with eight days' rations, and forty rounds of ammunition. The advance, consisting of McCulloch's rangers, Captain Graham's dragoons, and a small body of pioneers and engineers, marched early on the 12th. The roads were generally hard and level, but occasionally crossed by a deep gully, which required some preparation to ﬁt it for the passage of artillery. From Papayallos the advance were always in sight of the Mexican pickets, who retired slowly before them. On the 14th, the rangers encountered a body of two hundred cavalry at Ramos. Dashing furiously upon the enemy, they routed them in an instant, and drove them rapidly through the town. They entered Marin, near the San Juan, on the next day,and there found General Torrejon, with 1,000 cavalry, who were drawn up in the principal street, their bright and new escopetas and
​lances glowing with sunbeams, and their gay scarlet uniforms presenting a most brilliant appearance. The Mexicans were soon in great commotion, and fancying that General Taylor's army was about pouncing down upon them from the neighboring hills, retreated in haste towards Monterey, without firing a single gun.
It was not unusual, on the march from the Rio Grande, to behold the most decided evidences of terror and apprehension among the Mexican inhabitants, and more particularly whenever they caught sight of the Texan rangers, with their wide-brimmed sombreros shading the swarthy countenances whose ferocity was enhanced by their long beards and mustachios, — each man's belt garnished with revolvers, the deadly rifle slung over his shoulder, and, still fresh in his heart, the recollections of Salado and the Alamo. The husbandman would shrink behind the covert of muskeet bushes lining the roadside, while his wife and daughters, with their dark eyes half-veiled beneath the drooping lashes, and swimming with tears, and their clear olive complexions blanched in affright, would press their trembling lips to the glittering crosses suspended from their necks, and hurriedly murmur forth a fervent prayer to ​"our Lady of Gaudalupe," to protect and shield them from the invader. But when the army under General Taylor came upon the track of the Mexican cavalry. they found that the poor and inoffensive inhabitants had been stripped of their property, or compelled to witness its destruction, in order, as they were assured, that no supplies might be left on the route for the enemy; and los buenos Americanos were repeatedly entreated to save them from the cruelty of Torrejon and the rancheros.
The different corps of the American army were concentrated at Marin, 107 miles from Camargo, and within 24 miles of Monterey, on the 17th of September. Early in the morning of the 18th, they were again in motion. In case the enemy were met in force on the march, the line of battle was ordered to be formed, with the first division on the right, the second division on the left, and the. volunteer division in the centre. After leaving Marin, the country appeared much more fertile than between that town and the Rio Grande. The valleys, irrigated by the mountain streams, abounded in the most luxuriant vegetation; there were large fields of corn and sugar cane, tempting patches of melons, gay parterres of tropical flowers, groves of figs and olives, with an occasional thicket of Chaparral, whose dark foliage added a great deal to the beauty of the landscape; and the soft breeze that sighed among the jagged cliffs of the Sierra Madre, or rippled the waters of the San Juan, was laden with the fragrance of the wild rose and the jasmine, the orange and the pomegranate.
The American forcing their way to the Main Plaza. Sept 23rd 1846.
The city of Monterey was originally founded more than two centuries ago. It is the capital of the State of New Leon, and is situated on the left bank of the Arroyo San Juan, a small branch of the main river of the same name, which winds down the pass leading to Saltillo, and after encircling the town on the south, and partially on the east, continues its way to the stream of which it is a tributary. Upon the north, the plain rises gradually from the river, its well-tilled fields, and beautiful gardens and groves, exhibiting indications of a high state of cultivation. South and west are the mountain ridges of the Sierra Madre, with the gorge opening on the south-west. It is approached on the north-east from Caiderita and Marin, and on the north-west from Monclova and Presquina Grande. The main road to Saltillo leaves the city at its southwestern extremity, and passes along the left bank of the Arroyo San Juan, with a branch crossing the stream, and penetrating the mountains through a smaller defile a short distance east of the principal pass. There are three large squares or plazas: the Plaza de la Capella, in the western part of the town, the Plazuela de Carne, ​nearer the centre, and the great Plaza upon which stands the Cathedral, in the south-east corner. The houses are built of stone, in the old Spanish style, with ﬂat roofs, and battlements, or parapets, between two and three feet high; and, with the exception of the public edifices around the main plaza, they are generally but one story in height. To almost every house there is attached a small garden inclosed by stone walls. The streets are laid out with great regularity, running parallel to each other, with the intersecting streets crossing at right angles.
The natural position of the city rendered it easy of defence, and every advantage had been improved to the utmost. On the north side of the town, between the road to Monclova and that to Marin, there was a large rectangular fortress, known as the citadel, covering nearly three acres of ground, with four bastion fronts, surrounded by a work of solid masonry, and supplied with heavy guns. At the north-eastern angle, in the suburbs, there was a strong redoubt of masonry of four faces, with an open gorge of ten feet, prepared for four guns, overlooked and commanded by a large stone house in the rear, also fortified. South of this was a second redoubt of four faces, with three guns, and defended by an open gorge of twenty feet, commanded by another redoubt with three guns, overlooking the Caiderita road crossing the Arroyo San Juan by the bridge Purissima, which was also defended by a tête du pont of masonry. And still further south, there were two other redoubts, only one of which, with three guns, was occupied, having in its rear a stone house prepared for infantry, with loop-holes and sand-bags. All these redoubts were connected by fleches of masonry, or breastworks of earth and brush. Along the southern ​edge of the city, overlooking the river, ran a stone wall four feet thick, with embrasures for guns, and banquettes for infantry. Upon the west was an isolated hill, called Loma de Independencia, towering up to a height of seven hundred feet, and sloping towards the town on the east, but presenting a steep and almost perpendicular acclivity on the west. On the summit of this hill was a gun-battery, with a breastwork of sand-bags, and about midway of the slope a strongly fortified structure, called the Bishop's palace, with outworks of masonry, containing two or three guns mounted in barbette. About six hundred yards south of the hill of Independence, and on the opposite side of the Arroyo San Juan, between the two gorges of the Saltillo road, was Federacion hill, with strong batteries on its crest, and the Soldada fort on the same height, but retired about six hundred yards from the batteries. This hill not only commanded the hill of Independence. but guarded all the approaches to the town in that quarter. The city itself was one continued fortification. The plazas and streets were barricaded and defended by artillery. Breastworks were thrown up in every direction. The walls of the cemetery on the west side of the town, the sides of the houses, the parapets on the house-tops, and even the garden walls, were pierced with crénelés and loop-holes for musketry; and wherever the firm mason-work was deemed insufficient; sand-bags were provided for the protection of those behind them. The cathedral in the main plaza Was the principal magazine for the ammunition. Months had been spent in completing these defences; forty-two pieces of artillery were planted in different quarters of the town; and General Ampudia had with him about 7,000 regular troops, and two or three thousand ​volunteers and citizens, — yet strongly fortified as was his position, by nature and art, it was doomed to fall before the resistless energy of the American soldiers.
Reconnaissances of the city and its defences were made, on the eastern side, by Captain Williams of the topographical engineers, and on the west by Major Mansﬁeld, of the corps of engineers. The latter reported that the enemy's position could be turned by throwing forward a column to the Saltillo road, and carrying the detached works in its vicinity. General Worth was selected, with his division and Colonel Hays Texan regiment, to execute the important enterprise. He commenced his march from General Taylor's camp, at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th; his men being supplied with two days' rations, but taking no tents. Making a wide circuit to the right he reached the Presquina Grande road at six o'clock, having traversed only six miles, on account of the delay in making the route practicable for artillery. Halting his division out of range of the battery on the hill of Independence, a reconnaissance was made to the intersection of the (Presquina Grande road with the Saltillo road, and the troops bivouacked at their position during the night. The movement had not escaped the notice of the enemy, and reinforcements were thrown towards the Bishop's palace and the height above it. In order to divert their attention, General Taylor directed the divisions under Generals Butler and Twiggs to be displayed in front of the town until dark. In the night the mortar and twenty-four pounder howitzers were placed in battery, with a view of Opening a fire upon the citadel on the succeeding day.
Early in the morning of the 21st, General Worth put his division again in motion, having written a note to ​General Taylor, suggesting a diversion in his favor, on the north and east of the town. The road wound in and out around the ridges projecting from the mountains on the west, and sometimes brought the column within range of the batteries on the hill of Independence. On turning one of these angles, at the hacienda of San Jeromino, a strong force of Mexican cavalry and infantry came suddenly upon the advance, which consisted of Hays' Texans, supported by the light companies of the first brigade under Captain C. F. Smith, and Duncan's battery. The rangers met the charge with a deadly fire from their unerring rifles, and the light companies also opened upon the attacking party. Duncan's battery was in action in a moment, together with a section of Lieutenant Mackall's battery. The conflict lasted about fifteen minutes, when, as the whole first brigade had now formed to the front, the enemy retired in disorder along the Saltillo road, closely followed by the Americans, who took possession of the gorge, and thus prevented their return to the city, and excluded all reinforcements and supplies from entering in that direction. The enemy left one hundred of their men, either killed or wounded, on the ground, and among them a colonel of lancers.
General Worth halted his division at the opening of the gorge, but on discovering that his men were still within reach of the enemy's fire, be advanced about half a mile further on the Saltillo road. At twelve o'clock, Captain C. F. Smith was detached with four companies of the artillery battalion, and six companies of Texan rangers, on foot, under Major Chevalier, about three hundred men in all, to storm the batteries on Federacion hill The movement could not be masked, ​and the party was almost regarded as a forlorn hope, when the enemy's guns opened a plunging fire upon them, and their light troops were seen descending the slopes, and preparing for the onset. Captain Miles was instantly ordered, with the 7th infantry, to support the assaulting party. Instead of taking the more circuitous route pursued by the former detachment, the regiment moved directly to the foot of the height, pressing forward with alacrity, though the waters of the river, as they forded it, hissed and foamed with the shot which fell thick and fast around them. Without wavering or faltering in the least, both detachments advanced up the hill, clinging to the pointed rocks and bushes of thorn for support, as the loose stones and earth crumbled away beneath their feet, with the balls whistling over their heads, and fragments of rock and gravel falling constantly upon them. They halted only to deliver their fire, and the enemy were driven steadily before them. Heavy reinforcements now appeared on the height, and again there was danger. Colonel P. F. Smith hastened with the 5th infantry under Major Scott, the Louisiana volunteers, and fifty of the rangers under Colonel Hays, to the assistance of his comrades. On arriving at the foot of the ascent, he saw that he could take advantage of the ground, and, by moving a part of his force obliquely up the hill to the right, carry both batteries at once. The
​movement was ordered. Up they all went, animating each other by the loud cheers that rang down the hill side, and echoed among the gorges. Captain Smith drove the enemy from the breastwork, like chaff before a. whirlwind, and then came a contest between the victors, as to who should first reach the Soldada. The assault terminated in a race. Each man strained every nerve. The 5th was foremost, though hard pressed by the other detachments, and entered the fort at one end, as the Mexicans retired at the other. The works of the enemy on the southern bank of the river were carried, and their guns turned upon Independence hill and the Bishop's palace.
Previous to the reception of General Worth's note, General Taylor had determined to make a diversion against the lower part of the town. The first division of regulars, and the division of volunteers, moved towards the city in the morning, having left one company of each regiment as a camp guard. The dragoons under Lieutenant Colonel May, and Colonel Wood's regiment of Texan mounted volunteers, under the immediate command of General Henderson, were directed to the right to support General Worth. Lieutenant Colonel Garland advanced with Bragg's battery, the 1st and 3rd infantry, and the Baltimore and Washington battalion, piloted by Major Mansfield, against the defences at the north-eastern angle of the city, while the mortar served by Captain Ramsay, and the howitzer battery under Captain Webster, opened their fire. General Butler remained with his division in rear of the battery. The remaining regiment of General Twiggs' division, the 4th infantry, was also held in reserve; the general himself, though suffering severely ​from sickness, being present, and directing the movements of his command.
The column under Lieutenant Colonel Garland was soon exposed to the converging fire of the citadel and the redoubts, and annoyed by the galling discharges of musketry from the adjacent houses and stone walls. Moving rapidly to the light of the fort at the northeastern angle, an attempt was made to carry it by gaining a position in the rear. Shower upon shower of balls fell upon and around them; yet they pressed nobly on. Again and again that "iron sleet" poured down,
"In deadly drifts of fiery spray."
The stoutest hearted of them all began to quail. The best and bravest, of both officers and men, had fallen, and the whole column seemed devoted to immediate destruction. Still those men were ready for the advance; their bosoms throbbed with anxiety, but they sheltered no coward hearts. It was madness, however, for the officers further to expose their commands, while the enemy were protected by their breastworks and barricades; and most of them were temporarily withdrawn to places of comparative.security. The battery under Captain Bragg was terribly cut up, and compelled to retire out of range. Captain Backus, of the 1st infantry, with portions of the different companies, gained the roof of a tannery looking directly into the gorge of the fort; and had just commenced pouring his destructive volleys into the work, when General Quitman arrived upon the ground with his brigade of volunteers, and three companies of the 4th infantry under Major Allen. They, too, encountered a most withering fire. The Tennessee regiment sustained a severe ​loss, and the companies of the regular infantry, in the advance, were deprived of one third of their officers and men, who were struck down in an instant. For a moment they staggered and fell back; but the officers, both of the regulars and volunteers, as if animated by one sentiment, sprang into the front line, and encouraged the men by their words and their example. Being joined by the remaining companies of the 4th infantry, they again moved forward, no longer to be repulsed. The breastworks were surmounted, and the battery won.
Meanwhile General Butler had entered the edge of the town with the 1st Ohio regiment, the remaining regiment of General Hamer's brigade, the 1st Kentucky, being left to support the mortar and howitzer battery. Discovering that nothing could be gained in his front, and being advised by Major Mansfield to withdraw his command, he was about retiring, when he learned that the first fort had been taken. The direction of his column was promptly changed, and he advanced under a severe fire to within one hundred yards of the second fort, called El Diablo. He here found that the intervening space was completely swept by the fire of three distinct batteries, but being anxious to capture the work, if within his power, he was preparing to storm it, when he received a severe wound which compelled him to halt. He afterwards surrendered the command to General Hamer, who moved the regiment to a new position, and within sustaining distance of the batteries under Captains Ridgely and Webster, which had already occupied the first fort, and were vigorously playing upon the second. General Taylor now came up, and ordered Lieutenant Colonel Garland, with such men as could be collected of the ​1st, 3rd, and 4th infantry, and Baltimore and Washington battalion, with a section of Ridgely's battery, to enter the town, penetrate to the right, and carry the second battery, if possible. The command advanced beyond the bridge, Purissima, exposed to an incessant fire from the forts and the citadel, where they sustained themselves for some time, but finding it impracticable to gain the rear of the battery, they withdrew to the captured fort.
While these efforts were being made to carry the advanced works, several demonstrations were made by the enemy's cavalry; one of which, on the opposite side of the river, was dispersed by Captain Ridgely's battery; another was repulsed, with considerable loss, by the Ohio regiment and a part of the Mississippi regiment; and a third, by Captain Bragg's battery, supported by Captain Miller of the 1st infantry, with a mixed command. On the approach of evening, the troops were ordered back to camp, with the exception of Captain Ridgely's company, and the regular infantry of the 1st division, reinforced by one battalion of the Kentucky regiment, who remained on guard during the night in the captured fort. Intrenching tools were procured, and the works materially strengthened before morning.
For six long hours had this contest continued in the lower part of the town. The streets were slippery with the blood of the assailants. They had lost three hundred and ninety-four men, in killed and wounded, during the operations of the day, among whom were some of the ablest and most accomplished officers in the service. The line of the enemy's defences had been penetrated and a foothold gained, but at a great sacrifice; It was truly a scene of havoc and slaughter. In ​the midst of the horrors of that terrible conflict, a Mexican woman was seen going about among the dead, regardless of her own danger, and making no distinction between friend and foe, as she proceeded on her errand of love, binding up the broken limbs, moistening the parched lips of the dying, and ministering to the comforts of the wounded. While thus engaged, while thus displaying the gentle virtues, the tenderness, and the unwavering fortitude of her sex, she was struck by a chance ball, and fell to the earth among the armed men who lay in heaps around her. The American soldiers knew how to appreciate such nobleness of heart, the magnanimity of such a sacrifice. They nursed her tenderly until she died, and on the following day they buried her, amid the constant ﬁre from the Mexican batteries. It was all they could do to testify their sympathy, but it will be long ere they forget the kind and tender-hearted being,
"who found a martyr's grave, On that red field of Monterey."
The capture of Federacion hill and the Soldada, only rendered it more necessary that the possession of the hill of Independence and the Bishop's palace should also be secured. The party who stormed the former, had been nearly thirty-six hours without food, and to add to their hardships, a violent storm came up towards evening on the 215t. Without any covering to protect them from the pelting rain, they lay down with their arms upon the ground, to snatch a few hours sleep. At three o'clock in the morning of the 22nd, they were aroused to storm the hill Independencia. The execution of this enterprise was intrusted to Lieutenant ​Colonel Childs, with three companies of his artillery battalion, three companies of the 8th infantry under Captain Scriven, and two hundred Texan riflemen, under Colonel Hays and Lieutenant Colonel Walker There were faint gleams of morning light dancing on the summits of the hills, but the sky was curtained by a thick veil of clouds, and the valley still in deep shade. Proceeding cautiously along, the party picked their way up the steep hill, among the rocks and thorny bushes of Chaparral, and at daybreak were within one hundred yards of the breastwork on the summit. Here they encountered a body of Mexicans who had been stationed in a cleft of rocks on the night previous, in anticipation of an attack. Three men of the artillery battalion, having advanced with too much haste, came unexpectedly upon the enemy. They instantly yielded, but were shot down with the very pieces which they had surrendered. It did not require this act of cruelty and outrage to kindle the zeal and fire the ambition of their comrades. With aloud fierce shout for vengeance they sprang up the height. A deadly volley from their guns, and a charge with the bayonet, placed them in posse of the work; the enemy delivering an ineffectual file s they retreated. The next object of attack was the Bishop's palace, about four hundred yards distant. The Mexicans had withdrawn their guns from the battery, and the detachment were obliged to wait for their own cannon. Lieutenant Rowland, of Duncan's battery, was ordered from the main rank with a twelve-pounder howitzer, and in two hours his men had dragged and ​lifted their piece up the hill, by main strength, and were showering their missiles upon the enemy.
The detachment on the height was also reinforced by the 5th infantry and the Louisiana volunteers. The enemy saw the advantage which had been gained, and manifested a determination to recover the heights. Several feints were made, and then a heavy sortie supported by a strong body of cavalry. The Americans were prepared for the movement. Captain Vinton advanced under cover of the rocks, with two companies of light troops, to draw the enemy forward, followed by the main column under Lieutenant Colonel Childs, with the Texans on either flank. The Mexicans advanced boldly, but were scattered in confusion by one general discharge from all arms. Before they could regain their works, the American soldiers rushed down upon them, shouting as they ran. Entering the palace by a door which had been barricaded, but opened by the fire of the howitzer, they completed the victory. Lieutenant Ayres was the first to reach the halyards and haul down the flag, which was soon replaced by the American standard, waving proudly in the breeze. The captured guns, together with Duncan's and Mackall's batteries, which came up at a full gallop, were effectively served upon the Mexican soldiers, who fled towards the city, pouring in confused masses down the street leading to the Plaza de la Capella, the prolongation of which was now held by the Americans. With the loss of but seventy men in killed and wounded, General Worth had accomplished the purpose for which his division was detached. The enterprise was executed promptly and skilfully, and with entire success. His whole force was soon after concentrated in ​the vicinity of the palace, in readiness to co-operate with General Taylor in an assault upon the town. The main body of the army spent the 22nd in burying their dead, and caring for the wounded; although the enemy did not remit their fire from the citadel and the works on the east side of the town. Many an anxious eye was turned from General Taylor's camp towards the scene of General Worth's operations, and when the American flag was unfurled on the Bishop's palace, the welkin rang with glad hurrahs. General Quitman's brigade relieved Lieutenant Colonel Garland's command, with the exception of Ridgely's battery, in the occupation of the captured fort, and an assault on the remaining works was now contemplated to be made on the following day: but at early dawn on the 23rd, it was discovered that the enemy had abandoned their defences in the lower part of the town, and were concentrating their forces near the main plaza, for a last desperate struggle. The brigade of General Quitman, the 2nd regiment of Texan volunteers under General Henderson, who had returned from General Worth's position, and Captain Bragg's battery, supported by the 3rd infantry, immediately entered the city. Detachments of the troops proceeded gradually, breaking through the stone walls, springing from one house to another, mounting to the flat roofs, and driving the enemy before them, until they had advanced within two squares of the main plaza. About noon a communication was received from the governor of the State of New Leon, requesting permission for the inhabitants who were non-combatants, to leave the city. This application was made too late, and General Taylor refused to grant the request. At three in the afternoon he directed the troops on the east side of the town to ​retire from their advanced position. They had been constantly engaged for eight hours, and needed both rest and food to enable them to continue the attack.
Meanwhile General Worth had not been idle. In the morning of the 23rd, he sent a detachment to take possession of the gorge near Santa Catarina, and had designed to move forward into the city under favor of the ensuing night; but on hearing the heavy firing upon the opposite side of the town, he organized two columns of attack, who were ordered to press on to the first plaza, keeping under cover as much as possible, to get hold of the ends of the streets beyond it, and then, entering the houses, to break through the longitudinal sections of the walls with picks and bars, and work their way from house to house. The light artillery followed the columns in sections and pieces to support the movement.
All day long the work proceeded. Step by step, slowly, but surely, the Americans won their way into the city. The solid masonry yielded before their ponderous blows. The inhabitants were stricken as with a panic. For years Monterey had defied the arms of Spain; but here were soldiers who mocked at every obstacle, and overcame every difficulty. Begrimed with dust and smoke, imagination pictured them as beings from another world. As they sprang, like magic, through the firm walls of the apartments where pale-faced women had retired for shelter, shriek upon shriek rent the air, and only ceased when those who uttered them were assured, in friendly tones, that there were wives and daughters by the firesides of those dark warriors, who waited for their coming, and whose purity and innocence were not forgotten even in the wild excitement of that hour, by those who esteemed and ​loved them. Galleries and corridors, chambers and balconies, which had oft resounded with the notes of merriment and joy, or listened to the endearments of affection and the soft accents of love, now echoed with the rattle of musketry, the sharp crack of the rifle, the clash of steel against steel, the exulting shout and the dying groan; and, high above all the din, rose the unceasing thunder of artillery.
At sunset General Worth's division had reached a street but one square in rear of the great plaza, leaving a covered way behind them, and had carried a large building overlooking the principal defences of the enemy. The mortar had been sent round by General Taylor, and this was placed in position in the Plaza de la Capella, masked by the church wall, and opened on the main plaza and the cathedral, where the enemy were principally collected, and whither the aged and helpless had retired as to their only remaining place of refuge. Two howitzers and a six-pounder were also mounted on the captured building, and every preparation made during the night to renew the assault at dawn of day. But this was rendered unnecessary. Monterey was already lost and won!
Early in the morning of the 24th a flag was sent out by General Ampudia, accompanied by Colonel Moreno as the bearer of a communication to General Taylor, proposing to evacuate the city with the personnel and matériel of war. This was positively refused, and a surrender of the town demanded. Soon after a conference took place between General Taylor and General Ampudia, at the quarters of General Worth, which resulted in the appointment of commissioners and the capitulation of the city. ​sittings of the commissioners, and hostilities were several times upon the point of being renewed. At the request of General Ampudia, the word "surrender" in the articles was changed to "capitulation," and he afterwards desired to have this softened down into "stipulation." Several hours were spent in disputes upon immaterial points, until General Taylor peremptorily announced that he would be trifled with no longer. On one occasion, he is reported to have said to General Ampudia — "Sir, I hold you and your army in the hollow of my hand; the conference is closed, — in thirty minutes you shall hear from my batteries!" The Mexican general hesitated no longer, the terms were agreed upon, and the capitulation signed.
* ↑ The general officers appointed to the command of the volunteers were William O. Butler of Kentucky, and Robert Patterson of Pennsylvania, Major Generals; and Gideon J. Pillow of Tennessee, Thomas L. Hamer of Ohio, John A. Quitman of Mississippi, Thomas Marshall of Kentucky, Joseph Lane of Indiana, and James Shields of Illinois, Brigadier Generals. Generals Butler and Patterson were officers in the army during the last war With Great Britain, and the former, then a member of General Jackson's staff, was highly commended for his gallantry at the battle of New Orleans. Governor J. Pinckney Henderson of Texas, acted as Major General of the volunteers from that state.
* ↑ "We come to obtain reparation for repeated wrongs and injuries; we come to obtain indemnity for the past, and security for the future; we come to overthrow the tyrants who have destroyed your liberties; but we come to make no war upon the people of Mexico, nor upon any form of free government they may choose to select for themselves. It is our wish to see you liberated from despots, to drive back the savage Camanches, to prevent the renewal of their assaults, and to compel them to restore to you from captivity your long lost wives and children. Your religion, your altars, your churches, the property of your churches and citizens, the emblems of your faith and.ts ministers, shall be protected, and remain inviolable. Hundreds of our army, and hundreds of thousands of our citizens, are members of the Catholic Church. In every state, and in nearly every city and village of our Union, Catholic churches exist, and the priests perform their holy functions in peace and
* ↑ The King of the Mountain.
* ↑ Camargo is situated at the mouth of the San Juan, on its southern shore, and on the right bank of the Rio Grande. It is 48 miles above Reinosa, and 93 from Matamoras.
* ↑ In September, 1846, General Jesup asked, and obtained leave to join the army on the Rio Grande, and remained there and at New Orleans for several months, constantly employed in the duties of his office. After this time, there was less complaint in regard to the want of transportation and supplies — See Correspondence of Quartermaster's Department, House of Rep. Exec. Doc. 119, (pp. 950, et. seq.) 2nd session, 29th Congress.
* ↑ General Worth was in Washington when the intelligence was received that hostilities had commenced on the Rio Grande, and had already handed in his resignation. He promptly withdrew it and returned to the seat of war, resuming the command of his division on the 28th of May.
* ↑ The main army was organized by General Taylor into three divisions: — the first, under General Twiggs, consisting of four companies of the 2nd dragoons, Lieutenant Colonel May, and Captain Ridgely's battery; Captain Bragg's battery, 3rd infantry, Major Lear, and 4th infantry, Major Allen, forming the third brigade of regulars, and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Garland; and the 1st infantry, Major Abercrombie, and the Baltimore and Washington battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Watson, forming the fourth brigade, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Wilson; the second division, under General Worth, consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Duncan's battery, the artillery battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Childs, and 8th infantry, Captain Scrivner, forming the first brigade, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Staniford; and Lieutenant Mackall's battery, 5th infantry, Major M. Scott, 7th infantry, Captain Miles, and Captain Blanchard's company of Louisiana volunteers, forming the second brigade, commanded by Colonel P. F. Smith, of the mounted riflemen; and the third, or volunteer division, under General Butler, consisting of the 1st Kentucky regiment, Colonel Ormsby, and 1st Ohio regiment, Colonel Mitchell, forming the first brigade, commanded by General Hamer; and the 1st Tennessee regiment, Colonel Campbell, and Mississippi regiment, Colonel Davis, forming the second brigade, commanded by General Quitman. The Texas division, consisting of the 1st and 2nd regiments of mounted volunteers, under Colonels Hays and Wood, was commanded by General Henderson, and detached, as occasion required, to co-operate with the other divisions. The artillery consisted of one ten-inch mortar, two twenty-four pounder howitzers, in charge of Captain Webster, with a company of artillery, detached, and four light field batteries of four guns each.
* ↑ Besides performing other important services, the Texan volunteers, or rangers, were found by General Taylor to be of great assistance as scouts and vedettes. They were skilful horsemen, and had learned many of the arts of the Indian warriors. It was said of the regiment of Colonel Hays, that there were few of its members who could not pick a silver dollar from the ground, when at full speed, or shelter themselves from the fire of an enemy, without dismounting, by wheeling their horses to either flank, and throwing their bodies behind them. They were armed with short rifles, revolving pistols, and sabres; and in making a charge, were instructed to fire first with the rifle, then to discharge their pistols while advancing on a gallop, and to complete the work with the sabre. A body of men, thus equipped and drilled, would be formidable enough on an open plain.
* ↑ See Correspondence, House of Rep. Exec. Doc. 119, (pp. 130, 139,) 2nd session, 29th Congress.
* ↑ This term is of frequent occurrence in the geography of Mexico. It is the Mexican word used to designate a small stream from a larger one of the same name
* ↑ This is the cemetery referred to in some of the dispatches.
* ↑ General Worth rode up as the command moved off, and pointing to the height, said, 'Men, you are to take that hill, and I know you will do it.' With one response they replied, 'We will.'" — Reid's Scouting Expeditions of the Texas Rangers.
* ↑ Colonel Smith held the rank of Brigadier General of the Louisiana Volunteers first mustered into service, but who were discharged before the army marched to Monterey. He was appointed colonel of the regiment of mounted riflemen of the regular army, in May, 1816, and afterwards brevetted a brigadier general.
* ↑ The rank of this officer in the Texan Volunteers was that of Lieutenant Colonel; but he is better known as "Captain Walker." He received a captain's commission in General Smith's regiment of mounted riflemen.
* ↑ Considerable parleying took place at the conference, and at the