The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1847-09-29
The Late Battles.


We are favored with the following account of the bat
ties at Mexico in the form of from the Pttsburg
Post OF Saturday last. We understand is compiled
from letters written by two of the talented and dis
tinguished officers in the army We give place it at
in the Union, with great pleasure Every account
continue to receive of these achievements, whether
from officers or the Mexican writers, adds new
strength TO the column of fame which our gallant coun
trymen have erected
Extracts from private letters, dated
! TAcUBAYA, Mexico. August 81, ls47
| The whole force which moved from Pueba amounted
to ten thousand men, more lessmarchng in four col
umns on successive days. In the following ORDER viz
Twggs, Quitman, Worth, and Pillow. In approaching
the CITY S Of &C X the hgaTsy
and excessively fortified Before leaving Pueba it had
been considered whether the main road could not be
avoided and Ell Penon turned by passing round TO the
south and left of lakes Chalco and Jochimco The
gineer officer, serving Immediately at general headquar
ters had questioned large number OF persons, Gncu-
route) and the of testimony entire to the bog
gy, mucky, and perfectly mpracticabe character for
wagons and artillery of the road leading in that direction
It was therefore in contemplation to turn FL Penon by
forcing the enemys lines at Mexicalzngo. although the
ground difficult and the batteries known to be
rous This route you will observe, is to the north and
right OF those lakes The "Reminiscences of the engl
neers consequently directed to this end In the
mean tme General Worth, whose division had been left
at Chaco (while General Scott with Twiggs's division,
had gone on to Ayotla sent Colonel Duncan, with a
strong party, to examine the denounced route Colonel
Duncan found just the reverse OF what it had been pro-
nounced to be- it was firm, rocky and quite practicable,
requiring, to be little labor here and there Gen.
Worth instantly sent Colonel Duncan with this informa-
Gn to General Scott and urged the movement Of the
alton instantly prevailed. The direct attack aban-
doned, and the next morning the whole army was in
notion Worhs division in the rear (now by the change
of the line OF operations become the front? took the
lead, and the whole filed the left of the lakes
San Augustn. which is on the great Acapulco highway
to the city OF Mexico and about nine miles from it, This
is the history OF the strategy OF the business.
We arrived at San Augustin on the evening OF the 18th
The first position Of the enemy was at San Antonio, %
officer the next morning to reconnoe, Capt Thornton,
of the Dragons. escorng him. He went to about 1000
hundred Yards SHINY the rear When the Yy oce
began to examine the battery with his ygass gun
was fired at him. The ball, passing over him. struck
breast and ribs Poor fellow he had not ten days to
live; he feeble that he could scarcely sit in his
saddle Physicians and friends had demonstrated against
his going out but he had doubt not made up his mind
that nothing but death itself should take him from his
saddle He had been troubled and pesered many ways
but he was pure and honorable lived.
This reconnaissance resulted in the intelligence that the
position OF San Antonio could be turned by its ghour
Left Another reconnaissance directed by Gen Scott
to ascertain WHETHER by branching of at San Augusn,
and taking wider circuit to our left could gain
the Tacubaya road, and turn all the enemys works The
engineer officer went about league this road,
where he Jeanne upon a ravlne occupied by the
enemy in force upon the opposite side. The ground
was found to be rough and broken beyond description,
could be made SO for cavalry and artillery Accordingly
this was decided upon as the route which the
army was to move. On the morning of the 10Th.
working parties pushedhorwad to repair rather
make, the road Pillows division supported by Twiggss
were to dspossess the enemy of the avne before
toned Upon trial, found that the enemy could
be brushed away He was strongly fortified in great
force with upwards Of 90 pieces of artillery. battle
had therefore to be fought before the road could be clear
ed AS our troops approached the position, the enemy
opened distant cannonade which he kept up from one
or two O'Clock until dark. The mountain howzers and
the enemys guns Is Founders, "a pounders and
such like, behind parapes at any rate in commanding
positions, you can readily imagine who got the Of
lit When will such follies cease?
Our troops took up positions during the night for the
attack of the enemys lines next morning, which they
did in handsome style and with complete success, killing
twenty pieces of cannon, amongst which were those
taken from Gen. Taylor at Buena Vista, small arms
munition, which we were much in need of. Among the
prisoners were several officers of rank. including the
late acting president, Gen Saas the author of that
famous paper exhortng the gueri!as to" war with
out pity" In the meantime, Worh's division began
operations, on the Goth, around San Antonio, over the
route that had twice been reconnoed by the engineer
officer who led Smiths light battalion and Clarks br
gade around this position. AS the enemy dis
covered our troops in motion, he began to abandon his
Our troops. pushing on with ramdty, reached the
road in time to pierce the retreating column about
its centre killing and capturing and dispensing the
rest in all directions. The remainder of the division hur
red up through the village, and joined Claks brigade
The whole division pressed along the highway in hot
pursuit OF the rereang enemy, up to the village of Chu
rubusco, where our troops came another strongly
entrenched position These defences consisted of regu
lar baston field -work, with wet bitches 1t served
brdge-head and was thrown the road TO its right
and somewhat in advance of it, strong stone church
with feld-work in front The TANKS OF the field work
were connected with high stone wall, which en-
closed the church To the of the church and bridge
head there is deep, wet ditch running perpendicularly
to the road and extending far of to the enemys left and
therefore parallel to front; behind this ditch was an
infantry line, stretching from right to left quite mile
long, When Worths division within reach of the
head, formed the right (our ght of the
road and moved forward through the dense corn-feds
in front of the enemy's lines The infantry troops
behind the ditch before mentioned soon gave wav and
fled to their entertainments AS our troops approached
the enemys entertainments the most terrific fire that Won
can possibly imagine opened upon them Suffice il
to say that the bridge head forced and the enemvs
left completely routed Twiggs and Sheldss troops and
some OF Pillows approached the right of the enemys
lines, where they suffered severely Frank Taylors bat
terry was brought up to counter batter the field work
and most gaanty served but, being directly opposed to
heavier metal was cut to pieces Duncans battery was
established IN position which en6lated, took the
enemys works in reverse il therefore did great execu
uon and not being exposed to the enemys heavy guns
suffered but little Our loss severe-probably II WI
exceed Thousand killed and wounded The loss OF the
enemy in killed and wounded is much greater than OURS
but cannot be accurately estimated. we nave l,fVV
prisoners, several hundred OF whom are ofhcers OF all
grades from generals to leutenans There Is no OBJ
stacle to our entering the city at any time we choose