New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-09-29

| small force OF the enemy, perhaps fly, occu-
| pied o position that enabled them to annoy Us
| very much, and occasionally kill or wound ono
| Of the men stationed at the guns. These men
were undoubtedly sharp-shoeters, and were
stretched along, perhaps for sixty yards, in b
deep ditch. Taking advantage Of every eppor-
tunity that presented itself of making their
| services available to our detriment, they would
partially raise up, discharge their weapons at
US, and then quickly resume their lying position.
These fellows had been harrassing us 30 1ang
and 50 fatally, that General Shields (whe com
manded the brigade to which my regiment was
attacheD deemed it advisable to dislodge them
For that purpose a detachment Of thirty men,
/ under the command of lieutenant was sent
| forward The lieutenant gallantIy and rapidly
advanced with his men, under a sharp FIRE pro-
ceeding from those occupying the ditch Before
be had advanced forward sixty yssss. three Of
his men were shot dead Still this did not in
timidate him OF his men,. Onward he pushed,
rapidly nearing the enemy. Now he was within
thirty yards of them, and still they maintained
their position. Forward the lieutenant pressed,
and just as he was within about ten yards Of
the ditch, a masked battery in its immediate
vicinity opened its murderous FIRE upon the little
party. When the smoke cleared away, but three
| of that gallant band stood upon their feet, the
remainder, with the lieutenant, were stretched
upon the blood damp ground, frightfn1, mangled
| corpses. The three survivors stood bewildered
TOR moment and then recovering themselves,
speedily rejoined u.s. 5Fiss.f
We, too, had our sharp shooters stationed af
advantages positions around the castle ]; and che
many Mexicans that we found the next day.
stiff in death, with their foreheads pierced With
the balls, bore proof of the accuracy Of their
aim. The mounted rif1emen is the regiment that
allude to. This regiment was composed of the
best body Of men-nearly all Americans that
| ever saw. They were all crack shots, each
being sure to ss fetch his man" AT Chapultepee
they were scattered in different directions, as
aear the castle as they possibly could get, and
hundreds Of the enemy that day persisted by their
unerring, deadly aim. An incident that wit
messed on the 18th suggests the mcntioning Of
the regiment, in order to introduce the incident
itself H e4 A M
From the base of the hill on which the castle
of Chepultepec stands, running up to the castle
itself, is 8 broad, paved road. Down this road,
during tbs morning, a horse, mounted by an
officer, was frequently seen to dash furiously.
The rider was doubtless an aid-de-camp, carry
ing orders from General Bravo, stationed at the
foot Of the hill He was a very sho~y chap,
and therefore wondered he escaped our rifles
His horse was richly and showily caparisoned,
and he himself was dressed in a gorgeous uni
form, in short, he was e as gay as peacock
as the eccentric but gallant Captain Fairehild
remarked at the time I had my eyes Fixed in
tently upon him the last time saw him dashing
down the road, expecting every moment 70 see
him fall from his saddle But he escaped.
Then awaited his return. Presently he came
dashing up the road, as he had ropestedly done
He had proceeded about half way, when sud
denly 1 saw his horse stumble and fall. He i'm
mcdiately disengaged himself from the stirrupS
as the horse fell, stood erect over the fallen
animal, and waved his sword over his head as if
in defiance. The sharp crack of rifle suddenly
greeted my ear, and at that moment the teme-
rarious officer fell dead beside his dying horse
Another incident is recalled to my recollec-
tion, which serves to show the effectiveness Of
our artillery, particularly the battery COM
manded by Captain Drum. Late in the after
noon, q party of the enemy were engaged bring
ing heavy piece of artillery from the castle TO-
the support of their troops at the foot of the hill
They had succeeded in getting IL about half way
down, losing, however, SO far, two or three Of
their men in the attempt, BY the deadly aim Of
our rifemen, when Captain Drums attention
was called to the proceeding.
sspll see III Ican't put stop to that was
his cool remark which was presently followed
by the deep-toned thunder of one of his heavy
pieces of artillery. The effect was astonishing
the shot from his gun striking the enemy's
cannon, and killing three or four of the men.
The rest Immediately retreated to the castle.
No similar attempt was made by them that
day.
Hundreds of incidents occurred during the
day; too many to undertake to relate in this
article. ~ p a8fsHT
The firing on both sides continued, as / said
before, all day there was no cessation whatever
until &c night threw her mantle Ger the earth J"
then comparative quiet once more reigned. il
shall not here detail the proceedings of the night
the laborious duties that had to be performed
suffice it to say, that the rising sun never re-
ceived more hearty, cordial greeting than 1
gave it the next morning r..
AT daylight we took the same position that we
had occupied the day previous Whether We
were to remain there during the whole day, we
were at the time perfectly ignorant. 1t was,
however, the general wish that we were not, for
the position-exposed as we were to the seorch-
ing rays of a tropical sun--Was most disagree
able one. We were soon, however, informed
that we were not to remain long in our present
position-that the castle was to be stormed! !!
At this announcement every eye was in q mo-
ment directed towards that formidable, inn
posing structure, and deep murmur through
out the ranks betokened that the news was re-
ceived with the greatest satisfaction We were
now anxiously awaiting the order to move for
ward. / could not help remarking, at this
awful crisis, when so many in our ranks were
on the brink of being dashed into eternity, q
solemnity and silence among the men deeper
than ever witnessed before. With hearts
beating, each was expecting to hear the ex-
peeted order to 6 Forward !" At last it came.
Standing on the right of the regiment, his face
pale from excitement. and his eyes sparkling
like jets, Lieut.. Colonel Baxter exclaimed in o
loud voice .sSsz5s8 s tAzIs2z--ta
/. .Forward!'' s 4if
Instantly the regiment moved forward to the
right of the division, and then led off towards
| the castle in double quick time. A tremend-
| ous cheer at this moment peeled through the
| welkin, and every gun that the castle could
level against US, poured forth their deadly coz
tents in reply. As we moved forward, canister,
/ grape, round shot. and shell, came pouring
among us, with a regular hail-storm of bullets,
making awful slaughter in our ranks. But
without pause, our men dashed gallantly for
ward, and turning to the left into q vast field
directly in front of the castle, with shout that
4 fairly shook the heavens, onward they rushed,
| headed by the gallant Baxter Chapultepec
was enveloped in a sheet of flame, so incessant
and rapid was the discharge Of the enemy's ar
tillery. Discharge after discharge Of grape
was hurled with awful destruction through our
ranks; still our brave boys were not daunted !;
with the flag of the Empire State proudly wav-
ing at the head of our column, onward they
| pushed. Van O'Linda fell dead on the greer
4 sward, gallantly leading his company; then
| Baxter, mortally wounded then Pearson, and
fearful number of our gallant men. Still
our regiment dashed boldly forward until the
4 stone wall surrounding the base of the hill on
which the castle stood, was reached Then a
4 short delay was necessarily made in order to
enable the remaininp reriments comrosing the