The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-16 00:00:00

THE SIEGE OF PUEBLA.

The Moniteur publishes the following report o
General Forey to the Minister of War :
" Cerro San Juan, April 2, 1863.
"Monsieur le Marechal,—My general report o:

the 2d ipst. will have informed your Excellency of
the progress of the works of the siege of Puebla up
to the 29th of March.
"I had fixed upon that day for the attack upon
Fort San Xavier, and I have now the honour to
send to your Excellency the details of that opera-
tion.

"Fort San Xavier is defended on its western side
by a bastion, on the north by a curtain, on the east
by a half-moon covering the entrance to the town
side, and on the south by an irregular bastion.
These works, forming a continuous enceinte, sur-
round a vast construction which comprises a Peni-
tentiary connected with the Convent of San Xavier.
The whole of this solid structure has a length of 180
metres, and a width of 80 metres. It contains three
inner courts and various outhouses. The approaches
were covered by accessory defensive works, and
flanked by numerous works still intact. The defence
therefore was easy, and the internal arrangements
allowed it to be made to the last extremity. It
was indispensable to get possession of this great
obstacle. Our engineering works had brought
us up quite close to it. The fire of our artil-
lery had destroyed its batteries. It remained for
the infantry to do the rest.
" Confident in the vigour and energy of my
troops, I did not hesitate to order the assault. The
Ist battalion of Foot Cbasseurs and a battalion of
the 2d Zouaves formed the attacking columns, in-
dependently of two battalions from the trenches. I
entrusted the execution of this important operation
to General Bazaine, who, accompanied by his Staff,
took the command of the trenches at 1 p.m. At
4 p.m. all our batteries opened a heavy fire on the
Penitentiary, which destroyed its outworks. At
5 p.m., at a given order, our fire ceased. General
Bazaine, placed in-the fourth parallel, gave the sig-
nal. Repeated shouts of Vivo l'Empereur' re-
sponded to it, and the first column, issuing forth
from the trenches, advanced at a charge against
Fort Xavier, scaled the parapet, and forced an en-
trance. The enemy was for a moment disconcerted,
but in a few minutes a hail of bullets was sent from
the crenellated walls, terraces, and windows upon
our men. The Mexicans at the same time opened
some masked guns from behind the barricades; a
field battery placed in front of Fort Carmen also
opened fire against us, as did also all the other forts,
but this deluge of grape did not stop the advance
of our troops. The second column soon followed
the first, and forced an entrance into the Peniten
fiery,. The garrison, which consisted of about 700
men, made a show of resistance. For the first time,
the Mexicans felt the points of our bayonets.; they
gave way before the impetuosity of our attack.
Driven from story to story, from room to room,
some succeeded in escaping, many fell, the rest were
captured. Trains had been laid in various parts of
the building, but owing to the energy of Captain
Barillon, of the Engineers, they were not fired, and
no damage was done.

"The enemy, finding that we had got possession
of the Penitentiary, attempted to retake it. A re-
serve of 2,000 Mexicans advanced to the east front,
but the Chasseurs and Zouaves who had taken
possession of the first storey of the building received
them with so well sustained a fire that they were
compelled to fall back behind the barricades in
the town. The enemy still kept up a heavy fusil-
lade, which lasted till half. past 7 o'clock.
" The loss of the enemy was serious, as the interior
of the building was full of dead bodies. We cap-
tured three mortars, one field piece, and a quantity
of ammunition, with 200 prisoners, including two
colonels and eight other officers.

" Our officers and men deserve the highest praise
for their courage and discipline during the fight.
" FOREY, Commander-in-Chief."

La Patrie publishes the following :
". The official reports of the recent military events
in Mexico reached Paris yesterday. They confirm
the information already received from various sources
of the attack and capture of the city of Puebla. Ac •
cording to our private advices, our troops, at the
latest date, were in possession of the town, with the
exception of two forts, against which the attack was
not to be directed, as the occupation of all the other
positions of the enemy rendered thesurrender of those
forts inevitable. Despite the supplications of the
inhabitants, the Mexican garrison, commanded by
General Ortega, had resolved to withstand the
siege, and the resistance it made, according to the
reports of those who took part in that desperate
struggle, was as energetic as it was courageous.
Street by street, house by house, our soldiers, inspired
by that heroic ardour which is common to them, had
to fight their way. The streets were barricaded, the
houses, coated with earth, formed so many forts,
against which our artillery was obliged successively
to direct its fire. Thanks to the skilful plans of
General Forey, and to the maintenance of order
daring the advance of the besiegers, whose zeal it was
at times necessary to restrain, our losses have not
been, happily, in proportion to the difficulties which
arose at every step. The artillery, under the able
direction of its brave Colonel, recently promoted to
the rank of General, spared its fire as much as
possible, as wcll to prevent the destruction of the