The Arkansas banner., 1847-11-01
7 From tAs M Q. Pidayuas.
 FHg SPORTING OF f,ElPELTRREC.

sn.A Ia inc Minister of War We us6 the tTansia- so of inc American Star: V rrc,gent Sir-Having to give you and the nation
 .eeount of ihe late occurrences at the fortress of rh.pul,epee, which was under my charge, am T Inc nainfai necessity of doing it in the pres aS1 .o,s which as you wall see is only relative to .o. unfortunate days of the 18th and 18th insts, du u nn. ,.birh time had the exclusive commando as
 .e wsll know all the operations previous to that ". ,rsre directed by hIs Exceeney the President
 chief, Don Antonio Lopez de Santa An- n, fine afternoon of the tlth the enemy took pos ..',;on of the house called Moline del Key. which s.sr, the woods of Chaputepec, on the west side, '.srh movement pIsny indicated their intention of .,,rkioc in that quarter, as 1t was natural to sup-
 '.s ,bey could have no other in Te-taking posses l.u of inc points they abandoned on the afternoon G,hs a,h. This indicated likewise the necessity, ~ oar part of attending to the defence of the wood ss m the preservation Of tt depended that ofthe for ,.... Gor without Il the gaFrison would have been Ssnaysd of all assistance and would even have been <, .ssd of water. which was obtained from there.
 The foeces which had under my command on ,bs erning of the I2th amounted. according to he .n,losed account, to 632 men, distributed in the ,n,rrsf therein stated, and ten pieces of artillery, ,b,o. of heavy calihre, i've smaller and two noun ,,;s kowrtrers, all supplied with fHIi ammunition ,nJ artillery men. Of the said forces there were eT Traen tOWeF pOiUt9 bIl and the rest kept the heights The Notifications of ,be baiIdng had hardly coGlmeheed, and the fort, nrot,ced by wood work was too feeble to resist the
 r,il,ty of the enemy. In this state of affairs the sosmy commenced firing on us at half-past o'clock os ,he morning of the 18th from three batteries sit- ua,ed. one at the hacienda de Ia Condesa, another near he Arzobispado de Tacubaya, and the third on inc hlIs of MolinOdel Key. Their iting continued w,hoat intermisson until half past at night Their r,o.actiies gttnarior in nTFn Aid nof eatsa much damage at first owing to the badness of their um but on rectfying their aim. the edi6ce suffered much, and the garrison considerably lessened in killed, wounded and hurt. Among the latter was
 e esteemed and faithful Gen. Don Nicolas Saldana This ifing was only answered by three of cur large
 eces the carriage for fourth not having been sent rom the citadel as had been requested by me.
 During this day, two aid de-camps from his Fix cIeney the President, and one from your Excellen- e. were sent 10 me 10 know and to ascertain il reded any assistance in defending the fortress. My eay answer 10 his Exeelleney was. that one or two bataions should be sent to me. to oe stationed in he wood to support the small force scattered about in t. The active battalion of San Bias, under con- nand of its Colonel, Xicoteneatl. was sent, but was recalled in the evening by his Excellency the Presi dent without giving ae the chief who had charge of the position, any notice whatever. Between and at night, another message from the President was received, which induced me to go down to the gate of Rastrilo and see him in person He there told me that he had already recalled battalion of San Bias and gave me orders to withdraw fhe small force they had supported as his Exceency was de- termined to abandon that position. and defend the height alone Your Exceilency is aware of the ob- serva.ions made in opposition to that resolution and that the effect they had induced the President 10 concur with me that il was necessary to keep the woods at every risk. He then offered to send me another battalion that very night. in order to main tain the position in the wood and reinforce the gar rson should they need it. insisted on the neces- sy of its being promptly done, stating to his Ex- eellency that with the troops then there, 1t was i'm possible 10 pass 1t. as the battalion from 1oluea had nearly all deserted, and that the small force remain ing had lost all moral courage, fiom the effects of the firing on thatday. But the President concluded by stating that he would not send them immedate- ly as he did not wish to concentrate too large body ot troops the fortress and thas present greater body 10 the power of the enemy's proiectIes-a rns me, however, that We would be saccored in time.
 The battalion offered was not sent, and this obliged me 10 dsmember the force had guarding tae heights, to augment with loo men that which was sustaining the point below. and with l62 the outer works of the fortress with orders to return to the fortiess in case of attack by superior force By this means the force that was stationed in the woods was composed of 2l5 men; 374 kep, the ad. vance or outer works. and 2l3 the fortress
 During the night the desetiion continued, though ' lsss number; the garrison of the outer works like wse diminished and of all the battalion from Tol- hey, which, when l received 1t amounted to 45O men tlere only remained p men and the officers. D LaHro Cardenas. D. JuIina Molina. D. Manuel yinehez, D. Jose Maria Romero, D. Juan Estrada. D Jose Maria Cortes and D. Angel Colina; there. lore, at daylight on the 18th only counted little over 200 men m the principal part of the fortress n fesist the assault of three of the enenys columns d'OO to 1000 strong; and even many of those few were 90 demoralized by the fatal example of their companions and that of some of the officers. that hey attempted flight in such degree as 10 make il necessary 10 fire upon several of them who were seen letting themselves down from the top of the eiadihg
 Ia view ei ths difficult position, and knowing that me enemy would commence the assault immediately llighs by the activity of their fires, which they iseommeGced at half past , in the morning Idirec- rd !oa one hour after my note ofthe 18th, in which slated le direction of the troop and the absolute necessity of my being reinforced with different Ahi oi soldiers. or otherwise it would be impossible To delend the fortress, and that my responsibility Noad cease from that moment. The aid de camp Eao look ms note returned to the fortress and told me nat he had delivered the note into your hands h''ng lo1nd you with his ExcelIency. the Presi- 'en Who also read the note, at the house of AIfaro
 Seeng that the time Was passing of, that the ene- \ ~ NV"t"VHcSu uioNiuS HiS Coiutnns ana The uelp fequned did not arrive-in spite of my fourth noe ot that morning, and the repeated offers of the ftssdeh, to send two thousand men to the fortress a ume of need-and knowing that Gen. Rengel's osade was near the iortI sent two aids to request al' assistance then, which, in short time, would ae ot 10 avail. The Gems. Rangel and pcna Bar assa answered me, by the last ol my aids, that they .Sai not come to my assistance without the orders 0i lhe President.
 a's n the morning the columns of the en my, protected ey an active fire from their artillery com laeneed a, entering the woods on the side of Mono Ty' Tl Key, and advancing by the Tacubaya road ,ne weakness ot the forces that covered the abun- SAn' trenches towards the wood-forces that had k, diminished by assertions the night befcre--let uy ~. enemy advance with slight obstacles and take pssesslon ot inc outer wofks-it being proper 10 Ssee nere lhat the troops who had been beaten at dered ~ '">~ 'F' '"e '"'uess as nr- n, 9s hl'I oeIng completely surrounded by the ene. ., usy charged their greatest force on the west "hich IS the easiest of access, and for which ,ss't We had prepared some mines, the scent of ,i'"a' I'.a was possessed by the Engineer D. Manuel s1s 1a''n' who had been instructed to blow them up olieFeH. hpf