Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1846-11-26
now TO caRRY CITES BY STORM

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now TO CARRY CITIES BY STORM.
II The capture of Monterey. after three days
fighting. by Gen TAYLOR and his gallant men,
/, brings to mind parallel instances IN history, 10
none Of which was greater bravery witnessed,
! nor more mastery generalshlp, nor more com
! ple;e success. Two memorable events oil this
kind have been referred to by Journals efrecen'
! iaie--one Signalling the last great struggle
between Rome and Carthage; the other occur
: red in the Peninsular war Of the present cen
fury.
The. following account Of the manner in
which Carthage was taken and destroyed by
the Romans under ScIPIo Africans IS from
RoLLiS:
early in the spring ScrPIo attacked at one
and the same time the harbor called Coihon
and the citadel. Having possessed himself Of
the wall which surrounded this port, he threw
himself into the great square OF the city that
was near il. from whence there was an ascent
10 the citadel up three streets, on each side OF
which were houses, from the tops whereof q
shower Of darts were discharged AT the Ro-
mans. who were obliged, before they could adj
vance further, to force the houses they came
10 first and post themselves IN them, IN order
to dislodge thence the enemy, who fought from
the neighboring houses. The combat which
was carried on from the tops and in every part
OF the the houses, continued six days, during
which dreadful slaughter was made. To
clear the streets, and make way for the troops,
the Romans dragged with hooks the bodies of
such of the inhabitants as had been slain or
precipilated headlong from the houses, threw
them into pits, many Of them while yet alive
and painting. In this toll. which lasted six
DAYS and SIX nights, the soldiers were relieved
from time 10 time by fresh ones, without
which they would have been quite spent
ScIPIo was the only person who did not lake
wink Of sleep during all this time, and scarce
allowed himself leisure TO take the least re-
freShment"
In NapIEa's admirable history of the PENN
sular war a most interesting and graphic des-
eription is found of the siege and capture OF
Saragossa by the French under Marshal Lam
MES. The ramparts having been battered
down the historian says:
1.-The walls of Saragossa thus went 10 the
ground-but Saragossa herself remained erect,
and as The broken girdIe fell from the heroic CT
" the beseigers, startled al the view Of her ma
ked slrength-the regular defences had indeed
crumbled before the skill of the assailants, but
the popular resistance was Immediately called,
with all its terrors, into action, and as II for
, tune had resolved to mark the exact moment
: when all the ordinary calculations Of science
should cease, the chief engineers on both sides
were simultaneously slain. The French Gen
eral, La CosTE, a young man, intrepid, skill
, full and endowed with genius, persisted like
brave soldier. The Spanish Col SAN GEMS
died not only with the honor OF soldier but
the glory Of patriot his blood staining the
ramparts he had himself raised for the protec-
ton OF his native place"
''The combat being now in the streets OF
Saragossa, the sound Of the alarm bell was
heard in every quarer-the people crowded
into the houses nearest the Judgments OF the
enemy-additona barbados were construc-
, ted across the principal thorough fares-mnes
were prepared in the more open spaces and
! the internal communications from house to
house were multiplied until they formed vast
labyrinth, the intricate windings of which
were only to be traced by the weapons and the
dead bodies Of the defenders. From the height
! Of the walls which he had conquered, LAsNEs
contemplated this terrific scene, and Judging
that men so passionate and so prepared, could
not be prudently encountered in open battle,
he resolved TO proceed by the slow, but certain
progress Of the mattock and the mine"
NAPIER proceeds to relate the further oppe-
rations of the sege-how house after house
was blown up, street by street gained, and fl
; nally Saragossa captured, but only after twas
almost reduced to an ndscrimnate mass of
smouldering ruins
/ In both Of the instances here specified the
! slaughter was immense. And it may be infer
red beyond doubt that if our troops at Mon
terey had continued the street fighting as il
: was begun on the first dsy of the assault, the
final capture ofthe place would not have been
t accomplished without fearful loss. The city
was prepared for Just such defence as that
! which Saragossa maintained; 1t was IN fact
prepared with more care than had been bes-
= lowed upon the latter place, which had its
walls to rely upon, and therefore did not ma
ture its interior defences until the walls were
destroyed. The streets of Monterey were not
I only raked and enfladed by artillery planted
, in redoubts and fortified houses, but barricades
Of solid masonry were also erected across the
! streets leading TO the Plaza, by which the add
vance ofthe assailants might be stopped, while,
at every moment, volhes Of musketry could be
poured from the tops of the houses on both
sides by men concealed behind parapets.
The mode adopted of penetrating through
The houses, on both sides of the street. by ma
king holes in the interior partition walls and
thus gaining possession of the adjoining hous-
es successfully, rendered the street defeRces Of
t the Mexicans wholly useless. In addition to
the advantages secured by thus advancing I'M
uti cover, tlt AMERICAN flHe, III lne ndIluS Oh
, such men as the Texan rangers and the Yves
I tern volunteers, was more efficient weapon
I in such a contest as this than any which the
assailants of Saragossa possessed The rifle,
I used as it can be used by Americans only, il
in fact a weapon which must give superiority
to our arms against any foe, in any kind Of
battle in which it can be efficiently employed.
, 1t is usual to read, in the accounts OF battles,
| of troops being under fire for hours with an
/ aggregate loss in the end so small as TO be al
, most incredible. Now 1t is not possible for
, columns Of men 10 be exposed 10 the fire Of
American riflemen, even for a short time,
without great loss--because every riaeman is
marksman. and no marksman shoots with
? out singing his man.--Balt finer
The Union is becoming wofully sick of the
very name Of Wing. In alluson 10 brother
Locoioco 1t says:
"If our cotemporary Of the Charss,own
Journal would discard the terms 'whig and
= whiggery,' and substitute the more appropri-
; ate denomination Of federahst and federalism,
as zee propose to do, it would, perhaps, be
! more truly descriptive Of the character and