Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1847-12-02

! was, by Clarke, cut in the centre: one portion
/ the rear. driven upon Dolores, off TO the right
| and ffie other upon Churubusco, in the drec
line of our operations. The first brigade.
Colonel Earland's) same division. CONSISTING
of tile I'd artillery, under Major Gait, the 81
artillery, under Lieut.. Col. Bolton, and the 18th
infantry. commanded by Maj. +. Lee, with
Lieut.. Colonel Duncsn's field battery (tempo-
rsrily) followed in pursuit through tho town,
taking one general prisoner. the abandoned
guns, Give pieces,) much ammunition, and
other public property.
The forcing Of San Antonio was the second
| brilliant event n the day.
Worth's division icing soon reunited in
hot pursuit, he vas joined by Major General
covering that San Antonio had been carried
Immediately tuned to the left, according TO
my instructions, and though much impedsd by
| bitches and swamps, fastened to The stack Of
! Churubusco.
The hamlet ot acattered houses. bearing this
name, presented, besides the fortified convent
strong field work {tste de poat) with regular
bastions and curtains, at the head OF bridge
over which the road passes from San Antonio
to the capital
The whole isnaining forces Of Mexics-
some q 900 men--cavslry, artillery. and in
fantsy, collected from every goar,er-were
now in, on the tanks or within supporting dis
lance Of, those works, and seemed resolved to
! make last and desperate stand; for if beaten
here. the feebler defences At the gates of the
ity-4 miles off-could not. as was well
known to both parties, delay vi tory an hour
The capital Of an ancient empire, now of a
rsnuhlic or an aylv po,ca tho aaSailantS
were resolved to win. Not an American
and we were less than third Of the ene,ny's
numbers-hsd doubt as to .he result.
The fortified church or convent, holly
pressed by rwiggs, had already held out about
an hour, when Worth and Pillow--.he latter
having with him only Cadwalader's brigade
began to maneuvre closely upon she iese dc
pont, with the convent at half gun-shct, to
their left Garland's brigade, (Worth's diyi-
sion } to which had been added the light bat
talon under Lieutenant Colonel Smith, con
,inued to advance IN front and under the FIRE, OF
long line Of infantry, Oft on the left Of the
bridge; and Clarke, Of the same DIVISION, direc-
ted his brigade along the road or close by its
side Two of Pillows and CadwaIader's reg
iments, the 18th and l4,h, supported and par
ticipated in this direct movement: the other
(the vol,geurs) was left in reserve. Most of
these corps-par.iculsrly Clsrk's brigade-sd
vancing perpendcularly, were made to suffer
! much by the fire of the tets de po,4s, and they
| would have suffered greatly more by flank at
| tacks from the convent. but for the pressure of
Twggs on the other side Of that work
| This weIl-combined and daring movement
q, length reached tho principal point of attack,
and the formidable tst< de pons was. At once,
[ led md cd hv tho he eto dam
wet ditch was first calamity crossed by the
| by Major Waite and Lieutenant Colonel Scott
( brigade) which had been so mnch exposed in
! the road-the lth egiment, under Lieuten-
| ant Colonel Graham. and the 18th. eomman-
ded by COL Trousdale. both Of Cadwalader's
brigade, Pillows division. About the same
time, the enemy, in front of Garland. after a
hot conflict Of an hour and half, gave way, in
retreat towards the capital.
| The immediate results of this third signal
triumph Of the day were: field piece~, 1872
| prisoners, much ammunition and two colors,
TAX en- in the tete de pont.
| Ient F Irons, first artillery. aid de camp
| to Brigader General Cadwalader, a Young
officer of great merit and conspicuou, in bat
tie on several previous occasions, received
| in front of the work. mortal wound. (Since
dead.)
| As the concurrent attack upon the conven,
favored, physically and morally, the assault
upon the tese de pont, so, reciprocaliy. no
doubt, the fall of the Ia ter contributed to
the capture of the former. The two works
| are $50 Yards apart; and soon aswe were in
possession Of the sese de po,t, captured four
| FOUNDER was turned and fred-6rst BY Capt
! Larkin Smith and next by I.ient Smelling.
both of the 9th nfantry-several times upon
the convent. In the same brief interval. 1t
Col Duncan (also of Worth's division) gal.
lantly brought two Of his guns to bear. at a
short range, from the San Antonio road, upon
the principal face of To- work, and on the
tower Of the church. VI ech, in the obstinate
contest, had been often filed with some Of the
best sharp shooters of the enemy.
I Finally. twenty minutes after the .ete de
pont had been carried by Worth and Pillow,
and at the end of desperate conflict of two
hours and half, the church or convent. the
citadeLefE the strong line of defence along
the rtsdfesof Churubusco, yielded to Twiggs'
tl;viaOn, and threw out, on all sides. signals
Of suric,tqer. The white fags. however.
VERY not exhibited until the moment when
the thiI4 infantry. under Capt Alexander, had
clearetk:tle way by fire and bayone,. and had
entered ahc work. Capt J NJ Smith and 1t
1 o 1. SlieAhard, both of that regiment. with
their companies. had the glory of leading the
assault The former received the surrender.
and Capt Alexander instantly hung out, from
a balcony, the calors of the gallant Sd. Msj
Dimck, with part Of the first artillery, en-
tered nearly abreast with the leading troops.
Capt TayIor's field battery. attached to
Twigg's division. opened its effective fire, at
an ea,ly moment, upon the outward works
of the convent and the tower Of its church.
Exposed to the severest fire Of the euemy,
the captain, his officers and men. won nnvAr-
sal admiration; bu: at length much disabled,
in men and horses, the battery was, by supe-
rior orders, Withdrawn from the action thirty
minutes bel tore the surrender of the convent,
Those corps. excepting Taylor's battery,
belonged to the brigade Of Brig Gen Smith,
| who closely directed the hole attack in front
with his llabitual GOODNESS aud ability, while
Riley's brigade-the Cd and 9Th infantry. un
! der Caps 7 Morris and 1t Col Plympton. re-
! spectively-vigorously engaged the right of
the work and par. of its rear. Al the mos
ment. the rifles belonging to Smiths were