The Minnesotian. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1851-1852, 1851-10-08

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gether in one spot for safety, that class
not being usually included in the massa-
ere on such occasions; but, during the
night, fortunately issued forth with his
two servants in the hope of being able to
do something for his father, or to hear
something Of him.
In this hope, indeed, he was mistaken,
(though his father, as he afterwards learn
ed, did succeed in effecting his own es-
cape, but the next morning, on returning
to the place which they had left for that
purpose, they found the ghastly spectacle
of eighty-seven bodies with their throats
cut like sheep. After hiding about for
some time, feeling himself constantly LA
bic to the same fate, and reduced to con-
dition of entire desperation, he determin-
ed to seek safety in the only situation in
which it was to be found, by enlistment
as soldier in the army; and selected an
opportunity of offering himself to a sergeant
OF more encouraging countenance than
the others, by whom, not without some
entreaty, he was accepted as recruit
the sergeant little suspecting that the boy
of fifteen, and small in stature at that.
whom he at first told to be off and play,
was hereafter to become one of the most
distinguished officers in the service. The
former did not indeed live TO see it, for
this good-natured sergeant fell shortly af-
forwards, it having been Lopez's lot to
convey TO him, amongst others, the order
for the service which was his last. This
was on the occasion of the first battle of
Maturin, when the Spanish General Mo-
rillo, who was defeated, made good his
retreat, only by sacrificing column
which he ordered to defend certain po-
sition, service which was certain death,
in war in which prisoners expected no
quarter, and were not disappointed. Ex-
actly three months afterwards second
battle was fought near the same spot, in
which Morales, was victorious, and they
found bodies of the column in question:
that is to say, their bleached Skeletons
to the number of six hundred, laid out on
the ground in regular array, by the patri-
OTIS, in rank and file, as though by mock
cry of discipline in death.
Such was the circumstances which
threw Lopez into the military career, and
which threw him into it on the Spanish
side Of the civil war of that wretched pc
riod. He was mere boy, and it was the
only chance of life-while, at the same
time there was probably then no inhabi-
tant of Valencia who would have hesita-
ted to shoot Bolivar, the chief of the pat
riot side, as the bitterest of enemies, had
they had the opportunity. Spain was
then, moreover, under the republican con-
stitution of lSl2-so that, in the civil
war at that period, the cause of liberty
did not appear to be solely on the patriot
side. The battle of La Puerta was deem
ed then to have completely crushed the
rebellion in that region, though in fact the
struggle was renewed and protracted,
with various success, till the final evacua-
ton of Caracas by the Spanish army, in
1928.
AT the end of the war, Lopez, who had
thus entered in the ranks, found himself
colonel, having attained that rank at the
age Of twenty-three, through the brillian-
cy and daring of his services. The first
occasion that attracted attention to him,
was shortly after his enlistment, during
an attack upon certain place, which was
defended by feld-works, there being two
bastions connected together by a curtain
of about fifty yards in length. The Span
ish forces being divided into two portions
engaged in attacking the two bastions, the
ammunition of the one portion gave out,
and signal being made to the other to that
| effect. the commander called for volun-
teers to lead three mules, loaded with am
munition, from one end to the other, a
service requiring passage along the line
of fire Of the enemy, stationed behind the
curtain connecting the two. Lopez was
the only one who volunteered, and he set
out with the three mules in a string, ac-
cording to the custom of the country, the
head Of each fastened bya cord to the tail
of the one before it. At about half the
distance across, one of the mules fell dead
The mule killed being unluckily the mid
die one, it was necessary to unite the
cord, and re-fasten the first and third to-
gether, all under a severe fire, which was
anxiously watched by both parties. He
succeeded, however, in reaching his des-
tination, unwounded, though his gun was
broken by one ball, his pantaloons cut by
another, and his cap pierced by third,
| with the other mules wounded, but not to
death; and the place was taken.
The next day the inquiry was made, in
general order, for the volunteer who
had offered for this decisive service, with
view to his receiving an officers COM
mission. The commission, however, he
declined, considering himself not entitled
to be thus raised over the heads of many
men, both grown and better qualified, for
an act, which had proceeded more from
the despair and reckiessness Of his situa-
ton, than from any other spirit, and in
truth, still hoping for escape from serv-
ice, to which he was still strongly averse
and the only reward he accepted was that
of exemption from the drudgeries Of a
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