The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1846-11-05


Armstrong ,c;th his leg amputated- Hi
brspery and standing as an o6icer--Gen
Hamsr in dciion--,son the soubriques d
Sledge Hammer - Old Medicine" and
his sap-- Killed and ,Uoundsd-- Interesting
detail, &C., &c.
The Cincinnati Adveftiseh Of "Wednesday
Contains the following letter from the Army
Il Monterey, which, says the editor, we place
before an anxious public, that the loud ap.
probation Of the friends Of the gallant sol.
dief IN the bloody strife may no longer be
resirained, Ohio is yinaicaied;by her own
brave msn. The slanderer cannot rob her
brave volunteers Of the green laurels they
won by their own arms--dearly they earned
thcm--long may they wear them!
September 25, lS46
HEAD QuARTERs, ARMY OF
OCCUPATION, BEroRR MoNTEREY.
Dear Brough My last advices 10 you
were dated Ssralyo, l4th inst What then
told you has proved true. The len days
hsvo passed, a dreadful battle has been
fought aud Monterey Is onrs. We arrived at
our present encampment from three TO four
miles froH. town, about mon The 10Th inst
That day and tbc night ofthe 10Th were oc-
cupied accommodating perhaps one Of the
strongest possible natural positions; made
apparently impregnable, by batteries, bas-
tions, barricades, and casllcss; absolutely
covered with keavy artillery, and defended
bv at least ten thousand men. The town is
situated at the foot of the chain of hills cal
led the Sierra Madre," or The mother cbain,
and commands the press upon the Siliille
road, and is, in fact, the key of the whole
plain from here 10 the Gulf; and if defence
had bsen successful, no further inroad could
have been made by the army Of" occupation"
into the interior of Mexico from this direc-
ton. The west end Of the town is defended
by what is called the Bishops Palace, on a
hill Of several hundred feet in height, and
mountcd with l6 psunders, commanding the
town, and the entire PLAN in front within
reach of its metal. This castle was in turn
defended by three batteries, in its rear, on
successive elevations, sweeping the hill side
inih only direction whore approach was pos
sible, and commanding tho Salillo road.
Fhs town itself was ferti6caion, or de-
fsnded by succession tf forts, running
through the whole town, from east TO wesi,
and so arranged that all could range upon
each one lost, as they by change should fall
ino cur hands, while each of them could
command The plain in frent. The whole Of
these defended by the Bishops Castle"
Batteries were literally placed at every
street corner, sweeping the streets in every
direction by cross fires. Yon discover, there
fore, the inpossibility Of knowing the resis-
tance your infantry would meet with in the
town, after having passed two miles under
torrent Of grape, and l6, pound shot, raking
you in every direction, until you found your
SELF sGyroundcd by stone walls--lnd your
men falling in whole ranks around you. The
6rst step, therefore, was to take Inc G Bis
hops Castle" That once in our possession
would enable us, efsctually, 10 attack each
fort in succession, upon The most vulnerable
and least protected front--as the enemy no
doub, had regarded that as Totally impossible,
fully believing the only attack, with the re-
moiest hope Of success, would be from east
TO west---1nd not from west 10 east. To
accomplish this task Gen. Worth was as
signed, with about Two thousand infantry and
a couple Of pieces If Duncan's six pound
artillery. IIs commenced his march from
camp about IL e'clock at noon of the Goth,
10 as to offsciuuly obtain the point in the
rear Of the hill bofore dark, and in the night
10 take up, bis position on the bill side. On
tho morning OF the 20lh, the remaining re-
gulsr infantry and all the volunteers of Gen.
Buffers division, we're led 10 the attack on
the east end, thus to divert the forces of the
enemy, for the relief Of Gen. Worth. Both
attacks were made about tho same time in
the day, say about O'Clock A. M. Of the
2Oih. The conflict was awful beyond con.
cspiion. Our whole force vf infsn,ry were
contending with mlskets only against stone
walls, batteries and forts, from morning till
night! Dreadful was the havock. The Of
fcers in the engagement OF The 9Th and 9th,
pronounce il itnoihing compared with the hor
rors Of this dreadful day lido not yetknow
the loss, but it was at least six or eight hun
drsd, in my opinion. The lSt Ohio regi-
ment was in ne hottest Of The fight all day,
but did not suffer as much as the Tennessee
and Mississippi regiments Col, Mitchell
is wounded severely in the leg, BY a two
ounce ball passfng through il below the knee.
Adj't Armstrong, Of the Cadets, noble and
gallant fellow, has had his leg amputated
Capt. George, Of the Butler boys, was slight
ly wounded -and about thirty or forty of the
regiment killed and missing; the names oil
whom Icannot give you, but some officer of
the regiment will Of course give you them
all. In my hurry, however, to inform you of
cur Immediate friends, Idigressed from the
6anarnl q n "a enAnf ..s.l 80 -.