The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-11-11
THE DAILY UNION
From the N. Y. Courier and Enquirer
Extracts from, letter from officer Of The army 10
gtniisHan "a this eiiy.


once thst we had no ordinary task to accomplish
We had some 1000 troops with which we were TO
attack 10 900 regulars and 900 raneheros, strongly
entrenched. Strongly entreHched, do | sayl Never
surely was there city fortified like this For the sake
of GOODNESS, every Mexican house here is built cf
stone three feet thick. Every door and window is
fastened by strong wooden shutters four inches in
thickness. The top OF almost every house contains
regular system of loopholes which command the
street in every drecIion and as the roofs all fat
these loopholes can be used To the greatest advan
tage Spanish jealousy always surrounds every
yard with very high and thick wall Imagine a
city IN which every house is a fort and every wall
loophoed; then imagine In front of this an immense
fort Of great strength, and system Of small forts in
the open fields; and in addition a series Of heights
upon every one Of which battery was placed. The
city was literally girded with wall of fire. No eC-
tort, no labor, no expense had been spared Such
were the circumstances under which we were TO
contend without battering trains and against supe-
nor force.
at is true knew nothing ofthe plan ofoperatons
but was conscious those batteries must be stormed
AT length Major Mansfield with great personal dan
ger, had finished his Reconnaissance his maps were
laid before the different generals and the plan of ope-
ratons was settled at headquarters. Gen. Worth's
division started about noon for the rear to cut off the
enemys retreat by the Saldllo road. As the division
moved around IL became more and more evident that
an engagement must soon take place. Still the enc
my batteries remained silent; but the endless gm-
mering of bayonets at the castle and the ranid
movements oflarge bodies Of horse told US that thew
were on the alert A short distance from the point
! have marked A, in the accompanying plan, the
Texan rangers, thrown out as skrmishers in our
front, met regiment Of the enemy's lancers in open
order The colonel Of this regiment seized lance
and rushed upon the Texans, the buger at the same
time sounding charge. Three rangers wheeled
aulH FHH NJ he
the remainder Of the laneers disprted by the loss
OF their commander fell back and allowed US to oc-
eupy the position. This colonel was named Nara
ia. A Drawer man never led Mexeans to battle.
"fhe morning Of the 2lst at length dawned, and
our whole division advanced in order Of battle driy.
ing the lanoers before them, and leaving their dead
and dying scattered along our path. On we went
Duncans artillery laundering on their shattered
ranks and our men yelling like mad devils up the
mountain ard over the mountain, until at last the
enemy were driven out Of sight and utterly exhaust
ed, we stopped and formed in order for battle Al
though we sent out afterwards TO bury our own
dead and bring in the wounded, as we'll as those Of
the Mexeans, | do not think it was possible to
Ind ALL scattered they were in dense thickets over
a large space Of ground. | have often thought sin
ola lancer whom passed while we were charging
up the mountain. He was large handsome man
and so white that should hardly have taken him
for Mexican. When | saw him the blood was
slowly trickling down from wound in his breast,
few inches above the heart. He said to me, 'Essoi
mortendO, SENIOR ! simply replied pObrseiiO,' and
passed on, for had no time TO spare. Should his
wound not have proved fatal, he must have long
since have persisted from hunger and thirst.
"At this juacture, the company to which belong
was detached from the main body, and sent up a
mountain to observe and report the enemys move
ments. The view from this point was splendid be-
yond conception. The scenery around Monterey
can hardly be surpassed by that Of any other place
ana on the present occasion It enliyened by the
presence Of two hostile armies maneuvring out of
sight OF each other. Everything was spread out like
map. II was Notifying thing for the pride of
human Intellect to see these large bodies of men ap-
pearlng like plgmes amid the vast mountain scenery
OF nature, and the movements upon which so much
depended seeming like the commotion of an nnt-hil.
We soon had occasion to report large body of cav
airy passing into Monterey by the Satio road. We
al hrst thought they were the advance guard of a
new army under Santa Anna, but we learned after
wards that they were the same men we had driven
before us a short time before. This movement was
promptly reported to Gen. Worth, as well as the
appearance of several bodies of lancers who had is
sued from the castle. The number Of these last be-
gan to increase in such proportion that we supposed
the whole of the enemy's forces in this part of the
town were advancing to give US battle. Gen Worth
Immediately took up new and very strong position
on our right.
"Our situation was now becoming critical, the divis-
ion being some distance from us on the right. while
the lancers were coming down at full speed on the
lett, thus rendering 1t possible that we would be cut
OH and taken prisoners. In the mean time detach-
ment of ancers having observed US, had dismounted
and crept up to hedge within range from whence
they opened fire. Their bullets ratified on the rocks
like hail and sang around our ears in stvle that WAS
somewhat novel. Being in uniform they seemed to
favor me with large share of the fire. The men
Immediately sprang forward and begged permission
to return the fire. "Give il to them boysn and nj
II they went IN earnest. Our firing Immediately
drew upon us new enemy, that Of the battery
which was on height directly opposite our sta
lon' ms battery had been playing upon the main
body OF our troops, and one of its balls had mo-
ment before killed Captain McKavett, of the 9Th
infantry. 1t was fired into us without doing anv
injury, although some had narrow escapes Our
fire soon dispersed the ancers, who had been firing
into US. We found two dead bodies in the hedge
and have no doubt some Of them must have been
wounded. If so, they were of course carried off by
their comrades.
CATER this affair we returned to the battalion at
the moment they were burying Captain McKavett.
His body was so mutated that had no desire to
see it.
"We learned that while we were absent, four
companies of artillery and some Texan rangers,
with part OF the infantry, had been sent to storm
annoyed us so much. | have seldom felt more
painful sensations than at this time. To climb the
height alone, independent of fighting, is extremely
difficult, rendering the strongest man poweress as
an infant from the exertion Add to this, attacking
a superior force and the whole affair might well
seem desperate. How eagerly we watched the
flashes of musketry, now advancing and now re-
ceding, until at last the distant cheers and the
waving of caps on the height told that it was ours.
Our troops in reality had taken the place without
much diffculty-the Mexicans running away as
soon as they reached the summit. Two I2-pound-
ers were found in the breastwork, but as the Next
cans had carried off the rsmmer il was some time
before they could be used. After this capture our
troops did not delay moment, but rushed
forward and attacked another battery, also of two
guns, which was taken in the same manner as
the first. Our dead and wounded in these affairs
could not have amounted to over eight or ten. At
night we succeeded in having little fried pork and
some coffee for supper, being first meal for two
days. We also had put up kind of tent, but a
torrent of rain came down, puddle of water was
rapidly formed around US, and to add to our dis
comfort, the wind blew our tent, and all this
without our having had any sleep for two nights
81.