American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1846-10-31

VIC 'uliNhttS ut llt lGiu Vi lllt Stlttl9 uE
which we advanced, and at every cross street
and you may firm some idea Of the deuge oil
balls poured upon us. (Bear in mind, tina. the
our companies Of regulars were now with us,
the one intermmgIgd with the other.) Onward
we went, men and horses falling at every stop.
Cheers, shrieks, groans and words Of command
added to the DIN, whilst the roar Of the guns
was absolutely dcafenng.
We had advanced up the street under this
awful aud fatal fire nearly two hundred yards,
when we reached n cross street, at the corner
OF which, all who had succeeded in getting this
far alive halted as if by mutual consent. was
shaking Col. Watson by the hand, whilst he
was compllmcnting me, when a shower of
grape, round aud canister shot came from the
corner above, and fire officers fell, and do not
know how many privates. Each man sought
some place Of apparent shelter.
| sat down Oh the ground with my back to
the wall of house On my left were two men
torn nearly to pieces. One OF them was lying
fiat on his back, with his legs extending farth-
or in the street than mine Crash came anosh-
or shower of grape, which tore one of his
wounded legs nearly off. He reared up an
| shueked, aud fell back corpse. | never NOV
ed, for | was satisfied that one place was as
safe as another. Directly opposite TO me was
my Brevet 2nd Lieut.. AisquIth; on the right
hand corner was Lieut.. Bowie, also of my com
pany; aud close to me sat Colonel Watson, and
AdJ't. Schaeh,r. In few minutes saw our
color Sergeant, old Hart, come past with his
right arm shattered, Ut has since been ampu-
tated) and in few minutes there came our bat
TALON flag, borne by one of the color guards,
our glorious stars and stripes; and note Lhls,
that IL was the first American flag in the city
Of Monterey-an honor which we know belongs
to our battalisn.
When | saw The flag, notwith outstanding the
novelty Of the scene around me, thrill of
pleasure shot through me, and felt as If could
die, for had made up my mind to die, and no
man there ever thought tor moment, that no
would get out alive, and most Of them dld not.
| The firing still continued without the slightest
iutermissiOr, whilst we remained at this me-
morabe corner, which was perhaps for fifteen
minutes, When we we're ordered to charge up
the street slight hesitation was manifested by
both regulars and volunteers, but the officers
sprang to the front in double file, | being a.
longsde Of Col. Watson.
We advanced, | suppose, about fifty yards,
when Col. Garland, Of the army, ordered us TO
retire. We stIll advanced, and he again order
ed us to retire, adding this time, in good order
now became separ ated from Col. Watson, and
never saw hun again. He took the left hand
eide Of the street and 1.-the right hand, and
when reached tho open field where he had
first ordered US to he down, | was joined by
| Lieut. ANq1ith, who, to my inquiry, answered
! that he hat just left the Colonel, and supposed
that he would soon be with us. Seeing no 9TH
er officer around me, | rallied The battalion
(remember that the firing was just as hot and
as incessant now as it had been at the first
! l,It
the fort, having made up my mind to take it or
dei in the attempt.
Imagine my surprse-a most agreeable one,
coniess-to find the Fort in our possession, it
having been captured by the Mississippi and
! Tennessee regiments when 1t turned It's fire on
us as we charged into the town. | have not
the slightest doubt that it was the charge made
! by the LIST Infantry and our Battalion into tho
city which made the Mexicans retreat from
! the Fort.
was ordered to shelter my men from the
| fire, aud await further orders. ! took them in
the ditch, and then clambered over the ramp
arts to take look al what was going on. My
appea ance was greeted with dozen or so Of
musket balls, winch accelerated greatly ret
rogade movement, and | sat down quietly with
ten feet of dit between me and the ememy's
shot. This was the first spot that | had been
in III which | was out Of fire for more than two
hours, aud was nearly exhausted One Of
my men now came up and reported TO me the
death of poor Col. Watson, whom he had seen
fall from a musket shot through the neck.
AS well as can learn, the Colone., in retir
ing from the city, inclined a good deal to the
left, and became separated from the main body
OF the battalion; that, in company W ithLieut.
Bowie, who remained with him, he met an
other column advancing to the attack, Joined
them with the few men no had with him, and
fell few moments afterwards. He met with
gallant soldiers death--his face to the foe
II loss is depIored by all who knew his gen.
eraslty of heart and chivalry of charIcter.-
HIS loss TO me, individually, is great, but to the
battalion it 10 irreparable. know not how we
will get along without him. We have much,
very much to contend against, and have had
ever since we left home. But of all this more
anon.
We had been in the ditch for about quarter
of an hour when Capt. RIdgely's battery came
up, also for shelter; but his appearance was the
signal for the castle TO open upon US, which
killed ode OF his horses the very first shot, and
wounded one OF my men. We were now or
dered TO support Captain Bragg's battery,
| which had taken position to cut off the Lln-
GERS who had sailed out TO intercept what they
thought was our retreat. We killed 5 OF o!
them, and the rest fed back to the city.
We were again ordered to the Fort, to be
ready for another attack on the city. Again
the Castle opened on US and every shot told,
and never was so glad in my life as when
got INTO The old ditch. But it was a short lived
qualification, for n regiment of Mexican In
fantry were firing on Captain Webster's bat
,ery and their balls raked the whole Fort,
dtch aud all. We were then ordered to Join
the ONO, Kentucky and Tennessee troops
winch we've forming on the plain for another
attack OH The city.
The attack was not made, although was
burning 10 have revenge, and from the time