The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-11-02
LETTERS FROM THE ARMY.

Letter from General Builsr-P9tieulars " has charge
His wOsnd-Brnoy Of his trOoPs--fbandon"sni
his attack, &c. a
The following are extracts from letter OF Gen
Butler TO a near relative in Louisville, Kentucky
The general says in the letter, that Il Is The
opinion Of those Mexican officers, who have beef
taken prisoners by our army, that their government
will at once offer TO ours terms Of peace:
MosrEHEr, Sept. rs, 1886.
Monterey is ours, but not without heavy rose
and my division has probably sustained more than
one-half of il. | am myself wounded, but moi
badly. | was struck by musket ball below the
knee; entered in front, gIazed the bones without
injunng them, ranged round through the flesh, and
came out on the opposite side.
| became faint from the loss Of blood, and was
compelled to leave the field after having been in il
under heavy FIRE Of grape and musketry for three
hours. have been required by my surgeon 10 keep
perfectly still, ever since the battle.
| was in the act Of leading the Ohio regiment to
storm two Of the most formidable batteries in the
town. Aanked by stone wall, ten feet high, with a
deep ditch in 'front.' and covered by strong musket-
ny force in the rear, under complete shelter. There
were two other batteries Of grape-shot discharged,
that swept the ground continually.
Col Mitchell, who commanded the regiment Of
Ohio volunteers, was wounded about the same time
that was, and we then prudently abandoned the
enterprise, as we became convinced that our loss
would have been probably at least one hundred more
men, had We perseyered. |p
| hope you will not think acted rashly. | know
that am ohen rash where involve myself alone;
not so, however, when the fate Of others at
stake.
The condition in which we were placed fully JUS
fed, il it did not positively require US TO make the
attempt The REGULARITY of our situation | cannot
now explain without going into greater detail than
| am able to do.
The battle commenced about o'clock, a. M, and
continued without intermissioD, with various de-
gr, en- Of intensity for eight hours.
had almost 900 men in the battle, (the Louis
vile legion having been left TO guard our mortars)
and Of that number we lost in killed and wound
ed about $50.
We took one battery and house fitted up as a
fertilization, and assisted the regulars in taking
second. Gen. Worth, with great galantry and
equal success, and with far less loss, carried on his
operations on the opposite side Il the town.
The loss Of the regulars, who acted with us, was
nearly proportional TO ours, as | learn, though
have not seen the official returns
Under all the circumstances, the terms Of the ca
pltulauon are favorable TO u.s. There sull seye-
raj strong forts in the hands Of the enemy, which
we would have been compelled to take by regular
or with heavy losses. The plaza is OF
itself enormous fertilization Of cont nuous houses
with thick stone walls, and all the streets leading
into il strongly fortified and filled with guns.
They admit that they will have at least 5000
fighting men, whilst on our part we cannot muster
400 for duty, and have only few heavy guns,
and them we took from them. ".
Never, believe, did troops, both volunteers and
regulars, behave with calmness and intrepid
~, and do not believe that for downright, straight
forward, hard fighting, the battle Of Monterey has
ever been surpassed.