Democratic banner., 1847-09-20

from lie no. lIPpH6t2cHR " me ION.
The fine steamer GAINESVILLE has just ar
rived from New Orleans, bringing us dates
to the morning of the Sth. The news which
we annex, is the most exciting which We
have received since the commencement of
the war. We give all the details in our
possession.
FsnreIrant fro "a Gen. scott's Army.
BATTLES Of Coutreras and C%I.unubvscc.
T"tuI DGEsm If The Mricm$-GcmcruI
Scat Encumpcd miAAin tvo 0nL u hGlT
miAcs IF the city IF Mrrico-.Armisfre
bctwccn the tWo .7,nHes-Nrg ,hiniiOns
wiM Mr.. TriSl far a Peace commenced.
The L. S. steamship Mary Kingsland,
Capt. John Davis, arrived at au early hour
this morning. BY her we have received our
letters from MIR. Kendall from the cd to
the 26th August, all dated from Tacubayn.
4 courier despatched by him en- the Goth,
with the first account of the battle fought
on that day, was GU: off.
! From a map and plan of the bat;lc-liclds
before us, we note that they arc are called
the battles Of Coutrcras and Churubusco-
so called from field works Of tic enemy Of
those names. The victories were decisive,
but so far as we can judge from a TASTY pc
Iusal Of a portion of our ~letters, the p-opo-
sition for an armiSticc was made by Gen.
Scott-probably at the suggestion of the
British embassy. The report VIC have hiti-
crto given, that the city Of Mexico was at
our mercy, appears to have been unfound-
ed. Should peace not follow from the ne
gotiations now pending, another battle must
%cnsuc, the army having a force of from fiji
teen TO twenty thousand men yet left. But
the road appears to be completely open to
us, and the city is only two and d half miles
from our encampmcnt.
Our victories have been purchased at a
vast loss of valuable life. We see the
names of men, at the loss of whom We weep;
but all have their friends, and VIC make 10
I distinction.
Our entire loss in killed and wounded is
short q eleven hundred; that Of the enemy
is not we'll known. His loss in killed alone
is believed TO be fully equal to our entire
loss, and ii is estimated that at least 5000
prisoners were taken. The number of his
wounded was not ascertaincd, but it is sup
posed to be very large. Gen. Scott him
self received a wound in the leg below the
knee, but from the manner in which Mr..
Kendall speaks of it, we are led to hope the
injury is a slight one.
Eiitoriai correspondence II tie Pic0yyHc.
TAcvnAYo, (near Mexico Aug. p, 1917.
The celebrated Archbishop's Palace Of
ITacubayo is now occupied by Gen. Scott;
and a portion of the army, after twice de-
f%eating the enemy i'll two Of the hardest
fought battles Of the war, arc quartcrcd i'm
mcdiatcly around him. have already sent
you off a hurried sketch of the glorious
tevents of the Goth, and even the present
letter must be but a hurried synopsis of
the battles, which have shed such addition
al glory upon the American arms.
On tie l4th inst. a reconnaissance made
by Col. Duncan having proved that a road
for artillery and wagons could be cut from
Chalco to San Augustine, Gen. Worth's di-
vision moved on the afternoon of the 18th
in that direction, Gen. Pillow followed the
next morning; at the same hour Gen. Quit
man broke up his encampment at Bucna
Vista, a small hacienda between vienna dc
Cordova and Ayotla, and Immediately Gen.
jTwiggs was in motion from the latter place.
BY this move anew line of operations was
taken up on the southern and northwestern
side of the city Of Mexico, and the strong
works of the Penon and Mcxicalsingo, up
on which Santa Anna had bestowed such
immense care and labor, were completely
turned.
On the 10th of August General Worth
marched as far as the hacienda of San Gre
gorio, beyond which it was found that the
enemy had cut up and ditclled the miscra-
BILE trail along which the artillery and wag-
ons were obliged to pass. He would have
gone to Santa Cruz, another hacienda, Il
league farther on, had not an order came
up from Gen. Scott for halt. 1t seemed
that Gen. Twigs had met a large force of
the enemy drawn up in front of him. near
Chalco, as if with the intention of dispu-
ting his advance, cutting him off from the
mai in body Of the army, and perhaps bring
ing on a general action. General Twiggs
promptly ordered some of his heavier guns