Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1847-12-15
CAPITOl:.

below will be found some extracts from lct'
,ers written by Orderly Sergeant Layiaye"e
3. Viewer, of the "95 Boys 10 his brother
Capt. J. r. Viewer, of this District. Sergeant
Viewer gives pretty full account Of his udven-
,u,cs and certain battles in which he took an
active bar, in Mexico. Several things Which
lie relates are we'll known to our readers on
we believe that they will no: find his sketches
tedious. We think proper here to state, tha'
we have learned from trustworthy sources thai
this voung soldier bore himself most gallanily
II i;lc various battles in which he was engaged,
and that he was surpassed by none in valoi' in
the battles before the City of Mexico.
NATIONAL PALACE, CITY OF MEXICO, !
October 9th, l347. !
Bear Brother Il will give you small
sketch ofmy travels in Mexico, since we
left Jalapa. We left Jalapa, on the 7th
Of MAY, at II O'Clock, fot Poro'e' ana
arrived al that place al 2 O'Clock on the
S;h. The distance is lhirty.hve miles.
During our stay in this village, took a
good view of The Castle, which General
Worth had taken few days preyionsly&to
our departure from Jalapa. It contained
rorty.two pieces of cannon, together with
Two large mcr,ars. The castle has one
hundred aud forty port holes, fnrty rooms
bomb proof, and is situated on level ol
five miles from the nearest height. ST..
Juan de Uiloa, at Vera Cruz, cannot be
compared to il. On Monday the ten'h.
we left for Puebla, leaving apart OF the
Pennsylvania regiment, 10 garrison PeroIe.
Alter five days hard marching, we arrived
a, puebla. The road was ,oterably level.
bul rough, The scenery was Beautiful,
especially lhc heights of The Oriziba, or
snow mountain. The reflection oi the sun
upon it,presenled mos, ENCHANTING scene.
We arrived al Puebla,3;o the sixteeniiJ-
distance eighty: five. miles. During my
STAY. in the city, mNhealtlie was very bad :,
,phis eisysis nagni6cell 0f1e,sa abounis
!, in fruits aud vcgelablcs,of:. every kind, in
'SdactI every Thing that naa can desire
Whilst almost every man ofoDr company,
was enjoying all The uxuries o[life, poor.
unfortunate soldier, could scarcely rise
without assistance. assure you that l
suffered much. We lost three as noble,
aud generous hearted young men as ever
,rod upon the soil of Mexico their names
are Bolivar Jones; William Cobb, and
Nathan DeLoach, all of them my mess
mates. have. no doubt bulthat you have
heard of their. dea,hs before this time.
Weleft Pueba on the eighth of August,
FOR The city of Mexico. The country from
Pucbla 10 this city, is fine. A great many
large plautationso corn, were TO be seen
.aInneithe road: Tue only difficulty which
the people have, in making good crops, is,
that tiey5do not understand farming,
.3IsnWesersw Jared sumrtuousl@eyery day..
I on: "a youn corn. 81 roads were very fine,
hui til;notS enjoy The march, or scarce
ming !,ooI dieIs THAI we were,
satid neS ffs bao oken1 down, for twas forced:
sssI afch every day, until we arrived al San,
I Euo uslin, eight miles from the capital.
When We left Puebla, the rainy season
had commenced, and we were compelled
10 march in the rain. nearly every day,
especially The third day, after we had de.
Parted. shall never forget it, We had
twenty.one miles 10 march, in a heavy
shower ofrain. 1t was nearly dark, before
we struck camp, aud it was raining so
hard, that we could scarcely raise FIRE.
Our wood was green aud very scarce. We
were all as we, as wafer could make Us,
our blankets were wet, and we had no
clothes to change. We all hovered round
small fires, with nothing 10 cat, bu, few
roasting ears of corn which we had gather
cd that day, on the road. and small pieces
cr poor beef, broled about half done and no
salt I assure you, that we suffered very
much that night, still | ought not to COM
plain about it. for we had soldiers fare.
The rain continued the whole night.
hovered over small fire until was almost
frozen. and was so sleepy, that | could
scarcely ST, up. We had eighteen miles
TO march the next day-so came 10 The
conclusion that it was best 10 lose no
sleep. took my blanket, which was still
very wei. and lay down upon the ground.
1t had rained so hard, that the wafer was
neatly half an iuch deep, whero lay.
However, l slept Iolerably well. The
name Of the canf ground was Rio Fro,
the srea, forlifcation as it was called.
The Mexicans had been at work upon il,
and hearing of our departure from Pueha,
thew pamoscd aud left 1t unfinished. II
would have been rather fearful looking
place, if they had been allowed sufficient
time 10 complete it. But we were rather
100 fast for The yellow boys: We arrived
at San Augustin. on The 18th of August,
al 10 O'Clock. Immediately after we ar
rived, Generals Twisgs and Pillow who
were in The advance, left for the city by
way of Contreras. There they met with
hornets nesi. The way lhey found II,
was in the attack o. the enemy upon them,
who commenced firing upon Them, belole
they came within two miles of them. In
a shori lime, General Twiggs formed The
line OF battle and charged upon their bat,
terics. lhroc or four times. but did not
succeed in entering their forllications.-
Finally, the Mexicans mustered courage
aud charged upon him, but did not succeed
in breaking his lines. A more surprising
thing was never heard of before, such rs