The banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1844-1847, 1846-09-30

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a;,ack Gen Worth before rcniorccmcnts
could arrive, and Capt Murray thinks
that battle is being fought at C"rralvo
today, the 9Th. Capt. Murray met Gen.
Taylor with par, Of his force, some dis
tancc in advance Of the man body, and
within 80 miles OF Cerralvo, on forced
march to his relief.
We have letters from Cerralvo quite
as late as Capt. Murray would appear TO
have brought. The first which we
subjoin, from Mr. Kendall, gives all the
details Of the expedition of the Rangers,
and the second, dated the 7th inst, indi-
Gates that Gen Worth was meditating
an attack upon the enemy, rather than
expecting one.
CERRALvo, Sept 6, 1916.
Thetwo companies ofTexan Rangers,
under Capts. McCulloch and Gillespie,
returned last evening from scouting
tour in the direction OF Monterey, and
brought back more full information of
the enemy than has been heretofore re-
celvcd. Capt Meade, of the Topograph-
lcal Engineers, accompanied the Ran
gers, having been sent ont by General
Worth to examine the roads.
The party started from here on Friday
afternoon, without pack mules or bag
gage of any kind; and with only three
days provisions. Before sundown, and
at the foot OF the mountains. u suspicious
looking Mexican was caught He en-
deavorcd to escape by running, but on
finding that his horse was unable to car
ry him off safely he turned at some cat
tie he saw by the roadside and pretcn-
ded that he was a,0car0, or cow driver,
and hunting an cstray This rusp, how
ever; did not get him of, and great
deal Conformation was finally extorted
from him by threats. He stated that
CanaIes was near Passa Gallos in con-
siderable force, and there was also a
body ofrcgularcavalry under COL Car
rasco in the neighborheod AS Passa
Gallos was place they had been order
ed to examine, the party hurried onward
The road was exceedingly rough, full
of loose rocks, and extremely hard upon
the horses; yet this did not in the least
check the advance.
The small rancho of Passa GalIos,
about thirty miles from this, was passed
without an accident, but an old fellow
at one Of the 3acalcs stated that two cou.
riers or express riders, carrying news Of
the advance Of the Texans undoubtedly,
had passed a short time previous. gong
ahead in hot haste A little farther on,
about o'clock in the morning, the ad-
vanced guard of the Rangers came sud-
denly upon the pickets of the enemy.
and although they gave them hard
chase, the fellows succeeded in getting
of by taking TO the chaparrel. In the
pursuit, however, one of >thcm dropped
his lance-a regular cavalry-which
was picked up and brought in.
1t was now ascertained that the Ran
gers were within but short distance of
the camp of the Mexicans, and that the
after had chosen a strong position-in
an orrayo or dry gully-from which to
defend themselves. They outnumber-
ed the Texans, too, in the ratio Of nearly
eight to one, having 500 rancheros at
least under Canales, and from 2 10 800
regular cavalry under COL Carrasco :;
and under these circumstances there
was no other alternative left than to re-
tire. The Texans went about two or
three miles on the back track, where on
finding strong natural position they
cncamped for few hours to rest their
jaded horses. An attack was certainly
anticipated, for the Mexican leaders
must have known the force of the Ran
gers; yet the morning hours wore away
and the sun rose without an alarm.
On first ascertaining the force Of the
Mexlcans, from the prisoner who had
been taken, McColluch sent back note
to Gen. Worth. This officer immedi-
ately despatched six companies of regu-
lar artillery and infantry on the road, to
sustain the Rangers in case they were
beaten back. They were met on the
return, three or four leagues from here,
i IL.