The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1847-12-30
Thisx tAs hissoay u u. stIssss7 q ria la.,

We arrived at San Augustin on the sysning CT tia
MO az miles on in advance Gen Worth sent an sngi.
neer officer the next morning TO reconnotre Captain
Thorn,on Of the Dragons escorting him He went 60
company some hundred yards In the rear When the
engineer officer began to examine the battery with his
spy glass gun fred at him The ball passing over
hu struck Captain Thornton from bis horse, tearing
away his whole breast and ribs. Poor fellow he had
scarcely In his saddle Physicians and friends had
demonstrated against his going out, but he had doubt
should take him from his saddle He had been troubled
aud pestered in many ways, but he was as pure and
suited ia the Intelligence that the position Of San Anto
MO could be turned by Its right eft Another recon-
noissancs was directed by Gen Scott to ascertain whe
thor, by branching Of at San Antonio and taking
wider circuit to left could not gain the Tncubsya
road and turn all the enemys works The engineer Of
fcer went about lsague this road where he came
upon rsvins occupied ty the enemy In force on the
opposite side The ground found to be rough and
and with labor doubtless could be made 80 cavalry
and artillery Accordingly, this was decided upon as
the route on which the army was to move. On the
morning Of the 18th working parties pushed for
ward to repair, or rather make the road Pillows d
my Of the rsvns Before mentioned Upon trial it wa,
found that the enemy could not be brushed away He
nscs, Of arsry had therefore, to
be fought before the road could be cleared. As our
troops approached the posi- ion the enemy openeda dis
tant oannonade which he kept up from one or two
O'Clock until dark, The mountain howitzers and Ma
grudsrs battery posted counter batteries; but
|
such like behind psrspsts at any rate In command
Ing positions you readily imagine who got the worst
Of 1t. When will such follies cease
Our troops took positions during the night for the
attack Of the enemys lines next morning. which they
ing hundreds, taking many prisoners upwards of
| twenty pieces OF cannon (amongst which were those
taken from General Taylor at Buena Vsta, small arms
without number, and great abundance OF cannon am
munition which We We're In much need OF Among tne
prisoners several officers of rank the late
acting Prssd MT General Sslas, the author OF that In
famous paper. exhortng the gut rilas to wage war
without pity !" In the meantime, Worth's division
| began operations on the goth, around San Antonio
the route that had twice been reconnoitred by
the engineer oc who led Smiths light bait Aon and
Clarks brigade around this position AS soon the
enemy discovered our troops In motion he began to
abandon his works. and to retreat the main road to
the city, our troops pushing on with rspidty reached
the road in time to pierce the retreang column about
Its centre killing and capturing some, and dispensing
the rest in all directions The remainder of the division
hurried through the village and Joined Clarks bri-
gads The whole division pressed along the highway,
IN hot pursuit. of the retratng enemy to the vsgs
strongly intrenched position These defsnces consisted
of regular bastion feldwork with wet bitches. II
to Its right and somewhat in advance of it, strong
stone church with fed work in front The TANKS OF
sd work connected WITH high wa
and bridge head there deep wet ditch running per-
pendiculAry to the road and extending far OIL to the
tbs ditch was infantry line stretching right to
left, quite mile long. When Worth's division came
within reach the bridge head, 1t formed on the
right (cur right Of the road, and moved forward
through the dense oornelds in front of the enemy's
lines The infantry troops behind the ditch before
ioned soon gave way, and fed to their entertainments
As our troops approached the enemy's entrench-
the most terrific ss that you s
bridge head toroed and tho eneuy left completely
routed. Twisgs and shieds troops aud some Of Pill
lows approached the right Of the enemys llues whee
brought up counter batter the asld work. and most
metal was cut to pieces Dunoans battery va. estab
lshed in position which eufsdsd or took the eaemys
no, being exposed to the eDemys heavy guns suffered
but little Our loss was severeprobaby 1t wiz s1oeea
in killed and wounded Is much greater than ours but
cannot be accurately estimated. We have 1900 pr.
sonsrs several hundred Of whom are officers Of all
grades from generals 10 lieutenants There Is no obsa
Gle to our entering the CITY, at any time We choose
What a sad falling off is there in General
SCOTS orders from the productions Of the
ommander-in-Chief while on his way from
Vera Cruz TO Mexico! 1t is to be lamented
in every point Of view. The position and
high reputation of General Scott will be In
ured among men OF sense, and the authority of
the army will be weakened in Mexico by 1t. If
the subordinate generals failed in showing
proper respect towards the Commander-ln-C hief'
or violated the army orders or the rules Of war,
| it would have been better to keep the matter
quiet and private, and referred them to the pro-
per authorities at home, than to burst forth with
such an explosion of i'll humor and hasty tenn
per. General Scott is probably one OF the
most unrlvalled military commanders OF the
| present day. He has exhibited, throughout
| his whole life, brilliant with deeds, genius
| for military affairs equal TO any the world
has ever seen; but when we have said that, we
have said everything. In political affairs he
seems to lose all that genius, all that modera-
| nd n IN q n a "A
way of creating series of courts MARTIAL whic h
may do anything but honor to his reputation
or the discipline of the army. Look at the court
martial we have already had at Washington
moe-hill worked up into mountain the
little trihing ebullitions of temper, caused by
bad cookery in distant fields, bottled up for a
violent eflervesclng before a court-martial at
Washington, and to be laughed at by the whole
country
1t is with feelings of great regret that the
American people will be compelled to listen,
and hear those unfortunate disputes and
quarrels among the officers Of the army.
We had expected better of those brave and
chvalric men, who have performed deeds
in the recent campaign equal to any that
history records, and very superior to any thing
that has occurred during the last half dozen cen.
turtles, with the exception of some of the cam
pligns of Napoleon. Our military men, from the
General-in Chief down to the private, have ere
ated a name Tor the United States higher, and
greater aud wider, than ever il possessed, and
placed it in the first rank of powerful and ener.
gelc nations. We had expected that the dis
honor and dsrepute brought on the country by
the corruption and petty arts Of politicians
would have been etiaced by the chivalry, cou.
rage, msgnanimity and high character of our mill
tary men. This expectation was beginning "a
he realized during the whole of the great cam
paign on the Rio Grandc, by General Taylor;
for his great simple, and noble character, shed a