The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1847-04-16


OF 600 h't were on the height at an,
III the cnrampmCnt Of the 1t Iii
nois regiment could he prevailed upon IL
so back to take position So as In meet
me enemy il tLey should advance. and
me held must have been l,ft completely
clear at Infantry, except l.aI IS regiment,
which sui remaincd with Bragc's bate.
~, had not Col. v ea,hrrCor! taken the
three companies Of our regiment that had
renamed all day to guard Washington :
battery with about a hundred other, from
all regiments, and moved un To the field
Ihese Col. W. strung out as FAR AZ he
could, and had Lane draw up his req.
mehl ~ a. imposing a manner as DoSsl-
bic, and This displsy had the desired IF.
iec'' 1t kept The MeNicans from following
/ up their success and was all that saved
us. But they were doubtless ired as we
were, and as willing step fnr the day
and although they did make feint To.
wards another attack, few volleys from
a company Of Lane. men put them out
of the notion.
Thus ended the fight for the day, at,
about O'Clock in the evening, and both
sides lay down 10 pant. The Mrxirans
had been Kept on the run nearly all day.
and mus, have been very tired. Oar
own men, though they had not moved
about 50 much, were So much exhausted
that If ever they once lay down, il was
impossible to get them up again So ap.
parent was Ihi,, that Gen. Taylor sent to
town and had the four companies brought
out that were stationed there, who, with
the two fresh companies from our regl-
ment here, were the only movable force
tina, could be relied upon until the men
could have some rest. And thus we went
TO rest for the night, expecting to have
another heavy days work of i, on tie
morrow.
Ftb. 24.-As the grey streaks OF MON
ing appeared all were up, anxiou,ly look
ing Tor the Mexican army, to see what
new movement had been made during the
night. But they were nowhere in siglt.
The batteries were removed, their earn
was clegrcd-i, was evi6er, ,bev L,I
cleared out run. ro,ouSyc5 And yo
were glad Of 1t, for the men had had lust
a. much fighting as they wanted, and
,hcv raised a tremendous Shan, ,,Lo,
they learned that Santa Anna had ,;ve,
nm whipoed Bu,itwo,l1 have h,on =,
unfortunate s,rnke Cor him n have ,o,rr,.
ed in the morning. for nv thu, fine orr
men were again refreshed and an olI,.
ton to our force had been brouch, nm ln.
rinO the ni,ht from Monterey hv Go,
Marshall, Of a battery Of 4 lsonpnl how.
tiers, each one worth thousand mo, "a
igLt hlr.icans. and A company Of REGULAR
infantry.
Whi.her they arc going We know not,
They took the road back upon which .hsy
came. ard last evening" were eucannod -,
Nyra Nv,ya Is mile. from h,re Vts,c.
lAe r.nar, j.. the cav.lry tool, tie Z,,,,c.
ca-ro,o. ho.i,,, believed Sort. Arnaw,,l
'Ft 'F..'t.' 90 ..Ht UHitt'ltH rom 'r1T Ul
.hc iad,sos. There "a not sufficient cav
airy aers to vauan' TAYLOR IN following
bun. much inclined as he feel. 10 do il.
lie saws. however. that if Santa Anna
takes the road To Parras, Of which there
is some fear, he will try and turn him.
for TIA, is too rich region to fiji into
his hands.
In reference to Santa Anna. force, of
course there can onlv be guess made /
at the number. In hi. note 10 Gen. Tav. !
lor at the opening Of the battle. he stated |
it to be 30 600 but ihi, is not to be r lied |
on. The more inreligpn, Of the prison.
ers give it a, from ) to 10000 of whom |
5000 we're mourted, with 81 pieces of |
artillery. which, comparing the ground |
the occupied upon the field with that oc. |
cupicd by ours, appear. to be fair esli-
mate. Our force on the ground was liz. |
tie over 1000 men, Of whom 1000 we're |
with 10 cannon. OF this force, !
after the retreat Of the % Indiana regi.
ment and the Arkansas cavalry, at leas,
500 never again entered Tie field. So
that our actual strength was little over
3, 500 men.