The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1847-04-17
Rattle of Buena vista.

Rattle OF Buena NlstNs
Al Numerous sketches of the occurrences !
Ethis desperately fought and thrice glorious bal
. tie have been furnished TO the press by IN
! participators in its dangers and honors, bu
most of them dess rbe the action o. thos
, detachments only in which the writers wer
engaged. The official account OF the 9bal
lie will soon come to hand and straightwa
, it will be laid before our readers. IN "a
meantime there is general and strong desl:
, to have a faithful brief summary OF the lead
n inc events Of the a. ton and the CONDITION 3
!, both armies when it was over. The best ac
n cont Of this kind has been found by the ed
\ tors Of the New Orleans Delta in Capt. TO
bins Knapsack. Although quantity framed
4 il is graphic and free from all semblance 0
4 exaggeration--C Con latelhgencer
From Tobin's Knapsack.
Classic Gro,,,ad-Sanfa .4nna's polite message
n 10 Gen. s1aQlor--.4ction commences Bragg
j and Saernan's batteries Capts May ana
\ Pike - .NcCulloclt's company The polun
i teers-fhe .M,ssissiMians- The gallamt'y o
Major Dig Our Killed and Founded Gen
4 Taylor, Opercoat.
1. BuKNA VISTA, Feb. &c, l847.
Old Fellow-W ashington's birthday, the
22d inst, brought us skirmish-the overture
ITO another victory. ssOld Rough and Readyn
moved MS, on the 2lst, from camp called
Aqua Nueva, twenty miles to the southwark
OF Saltillo, to a position twelve miles nearer
the city called buena Vista. The ground is
half classic-l2,OO0 Spanish regulars were cut
to pieces here by $4,000 rancheros in the War
of Independence, think in A. D 1918.
! On the morning of the 23d the Mexican ar
my appeared in view commanded by Santa
Anna himself, assisted by his best officers, the
army being composed of the elite. Santa An
ma had the polteness to send in a proposal,
through Dr. Vanderlinden, the chief Of his med
cal department., almost verbatim to this effect,
s'that whereas he was at the head Of upward Of
twenty thousand men whilst he knew well
that General Taylor had but six thousand, he,
(Santa Anna) being averse to the useless she'd
ding of blood, from motives of humanity SUM
army as prisoners Of war, guafantyng all the
privileges, &c, usual in such cases.n The
answer was short and pithy-ssLet him come
and tax eaus.''
You may think this joke, but it's a true
one. Some slight skirmishlng then took place
of which we were idle spectators, sitting on
the ground with our brides in our hands,
1t was pretty sight; but both parties fred
at ga foolish distance.s The Mexicans far
outnumbcred US. Night stopped it, Next
morning, the 23d, the action commenced in
earnest. The Mexicans fought well, but
wherever their superior numbers drove back
our infantry we were suresto see the artillery
galloping through the ravines and checking
them instantly indeed, the artillery well de-
serve tile name Of ssfying''--they appear to
me to be4gifted with ubiquity--they we're
here, there and everywhere, at the same time.
Capt, Washington acted and looked as we
gg'aD~sunposes his great namssake did before
hmf Capts Bragg, Sherman, and the other
'ficers and men Of the different batteries, did
heir duty nobly. Each arm assisted the
'ther. Col. May, Of the ed dragoon and Capt.
ike Of the ls, were flying everywhere, as
hey were wanted. Capt. McCulloch's COM
any were with them; his horse was shot UNI
Ter him; ! was riding next to him and offered
i'm mine but he soon had another. All the in
antry was composed Of volunteers-M MISSISSIPPI
/, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, and
'exas were represented.
The loss on our side was very severe the
sturns are not yet in. You may form an o.
inion from the following rough calcuiation:-
he Mississippians went into the thickest Of
lie action late (ihey had been previously em-
Ioyed in another part Of the feld) about 2000
rong; there is about 80 killed, wounded
nd missing; Colonel Davis was shot in the
ncle. Illinois lost about 100; their Colonel
Harding was killed. The KentBckians suf-
red very severely; Col. Mckee and Lieut..
81. Clay Henry Clay's SOM were both kill
d. Col. Yell of Arkansas was shot, but liv-
song enough tosencourage his men to fight
] saw some of the 1ndianians mixed up
18th the Mssissippians fighting like the de-
i; byt Providence .'tempers the wind to the
Iorn lamb" (Texas)-we had but few touch
amongst our men and horses. Ii
regretted much, as I dashed along with
e Rangers, that was not at the head of my
d company of "Mount Zionites;' we could
1t have done better than the Volunteers pres
IT, but Louisiana would have been represent
d.
Major Dix, of Pay Department, captured
'ir Of colors, but they Belonged am sorry 4
say, to one of our own regiments, which l
as afflicted with sudden panic; or, as we {
IL it here, stampede, and pdnsosed too quick
out Of the fire. Major Dix observed the
ovement, seized the flag, rallied-most Of the
en-, led them back and then handed the col
) over to an officer of the regiment. l saw
myself, for was all around like bad luck
!. mebby it was the fault Of my horse; the II
Liz. +