Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1846-05-22

hearts that have been wfung win an lne o'"e'-
ness OF grief, and make The nation s'au'
SURPRISE AND SURRENDER OF CAPl. lhonH-
TONS COMMAND.
On The evening oil the I'D UT, och' ~!
spies brought in intelligence ~ Iile ene1' ,"",
about two lhousan five hundred Nie3icahs uau
cross ed the Rio Grande 10 The lexas see doo'I
The Amer can Fort, and about hEren huhu'ea "
same had crossed below. Gen L. Immediately
dispatched SQUADRON Of Dragons TO each pace
Of crossing for the purpose OF accommodating mem
and asceriaining their position. The squadron
ordeIed below was in command "f Capt her,
The one above was commanded ~ Capt. morn
ton, and composed OF Capt. llartee Lieuls. Name
and Mason. with sixty-one privaies and non
commissioned officers The former commander
Capt ker, ON arriving al The poinl where II was
supposed they had crossed lOund mat Inc report
was false, that they had not crossed thefe out
had all crossed above, winch was afterwards
nroyed by CAPT. rs command being surprised
in which lent Geo. Mason with nine men were
killed and two wounded. The wounded were
semi 10 Gen. Taylor's camp; the army having
no bospa in The field. Capts Thornton, Har-
dee and Lieut.. Kane miraculously escaped, To-
oether with the balance of The non-colnmlssIoned
officers and men, bur were captured, ana are now
prisoners of wal in Mexico.
The circumstances which led 10 the surprise
are these: Alter Cant. rs command had pro-
ceeded M the Rio Grande about lweHty-ionr
miles and as was supposed, 10 within abont three
miles oflhe Mexican camp me suide refused 10
go any farther, and stated ms reason that lhs
whole country was infested with Mexcans.
Cant r. however proceeded on with his com
mapd aboul two miles when he came to a farm
house. which was enclosed entirely by chapar-
raj fence with the exception OF that portion OF il
which bordered on The river, and this was 50 bog
gy as 10 be impossible. Capt. /. entered this
enclosure through pair oftafs and approached
the house tor the purpose Of making some enqu-
~ his command following him. So soon as his
command had all entered he enclosure, the enc.
nv, having been concealed in the chapaHal
about two thousand i've hundred in number,
completely surrounded him and commenced
firing upon his command. lie then wheeled his
command hinkin. that be could charge through
The enemy and pass nut where BE- had entered,
not however without cons .derahle loss / his
he attempted but did not succeed, the enemy be-
ing too strong.
Al this instant, Capt. Hardee approached him
for the purpose OF advising him how TO exiricate
themselves. The firing Of The enemy still conlinu
ing, Capt. Thornlon's horse having doubtless re-
ceved a shot, ran away with him and leaped The
chaparral fence and plunged over precipicr,
where he FELL with Capt. T. under him, where The
latter remained insensible for FIVE or six hours
This casually placed Cap. Hardee in command,
who attempted with The residue 10 make his es-
cape by The river, intending on arriving al its
margin 10 swim il. In this he failed finding il 20
bo2ay thai he could mol get 10 ii. He then return
ed taking lhe precauIion 10 get out OF distance OF
musk.try, dismonned and examined The arms CT
his men, determining 10 sell their lives as dearly
as possible. Before he had succeeded, however,
in The inspection OF his arms, d Mexican officer
rode up and asked him TO surrender Capt Il.
replied that he would surrender on one condition,
which was, that if the Mexican General would
receive them as pr.son OF war; and treat them
as the most civilized nations do, he would surren-
der, but on no other conditions. The Mexican
officer bore this message 10 The General command
ing, and returned with the assurance that be
would Capt. Fl. then surrendered Caps.
Thornton and Hardee, with Lieut.. Kane and
The residue 81 The pon-cOmmiSsioned officers md
privales oil Capt. t. command, are now prison.
ers OF war in Mexico. The enemy treat them
remarkably well.
Lieut.. George Mason was fine young officer,
anl his death is much regretted His sabre belt
Was recognized among some articles that were
subsequently, captured from The enemy.
SollveIy is the curiosity 10 learn every partcu-
lar OF The actions OF the 81 and 4lh inst hal we
annex hereto letter from an officer al Point Isa-
bel written more for our private eye than Tor the
public, but which cannot but Interest all our read
ers:
Correspondence OF the Picayune]
PoINT ISABEL, May 5, 1916.
Gentlemen-W When the express came in this
morning, hurfiedly penclled down The crafty
inc intelligence which il brought US, expecting
the boat would leave in few minutes. IL now
only waits for Gen. Taylor's official despatch,
which is being prepared Tor Washington. Hay-
ing heard The official report from Major Brown
read, and having a letter before me from there,
| will give Won further pa rriculafs accordingly
On tho morning vi The 81, al rrveIIe, The Mex.
leans opened their batteries upon the work, throw
ing balls and shells wtthDul i: PERMISSION until
sun>e finishing with halt dozen extra ones al
tattoo for a lullaby.
Atreveie, on the 4lh, they opened again, send
ing few shots and shells, which compliment
was repeated al noon Our artillery siIenced the
fofl opposite ours in half an hour after The firing
commenced on The 9TH, and knocked three em.
brasures into one. This caused them 10 stop
firing there Tor considerable lime, TO repair da-
images. Our artillery also dismounled several OF
their guns and from appearances must have
Killed many men. On our part, bu, one sergeant,
Of The 1th Infantry, was kiled-beine shot in the
read with three pound ball He was carried
10 the hospital, wien. strange 10 say, shell fell
and blew The remainder OF his head of. Some
twenty men were standing around the hospital
when The shell burst; several were knocked down,
but none injured. One artillery soldier was
slightly wounded by piece OF sLell, and many
have made narrow escapes. we only kept up
our fire for about TWO hours-savins our ammu-
milton whilst theirs was being MrOwn onap.-
From their having thrown from $500 10 1000
shots and shells, and killing but one of our men,
and wounding another, you may Judge they are
none of The best arlleIists, and that we had good
deiences. Their shot rendered a good man. Of
orr tents unser. iceab!e but I'll our men are in
good spirits, ard anxious 10 come 10 close quar-
ters
oar p;auel guard is now firing al party OF
Mexican soldiers. about mile below The ior-
The Chaparral between This and The tort is like
bee hive, so ;ull is il with Mexitans. 1t is
thought they will make an assault on the rear OF
the tort, and Try and rcpe the march OF The troops
from This place returning. Gen. T. leaves as soon
as reinforcement arrives here, which will ena-
bic the work 10 be defended without the force
which he brought down from above.
In has'", yours, D. .. r.