Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-03-22

The BArFLE-FrELDs on THE RIO
GRAxDn-A correspondent Of the N.
o. Picayune, writing from Brownsville
in February last, says:
1 have Just returned from a visit to
. the battle grounds of Palo Alto and
Resaca de la Palma, but scarcely a ves-
tige remains to denote those fields which
rebound so much to the gallantry of
our regular army. On the former field
a cannon ball is occasionally picked up,
which is the only indication that il was
ever used, except for the peaceful pur-
poses of grazing the large herds which
at present roam over it.
At the Resaca de la Palma the faint
outlines of the redoubt which the Aexi-
cans occupied on the west bank of the
Resaca are still visible, but SO over
grown with brush and underground that
they can scarcely be followed. One or
two trees still show marks of the strife;
and few shreds of old shoes and an oe-
casionsl battered canteen are also to be
found in the chaperral; but there is
nought else to show that here was the
scene of one of the most closely con-
tested fights of the war, where bayonets
were often crossed, and where hand to
hand fights were frequent as the scat
tered combatants met beneath the shade
of the sweet-scented mimora or amidst
the tangled brush-wood.
Old Fort Brown, where the first hos
tile cannon was fred, although in ruins,
is an object of much interest. Its
magazines are tumbling in, its bitches
are filing up, and the curtains, tanks
and faces of its bastions are crumbling
away; still it could easily be putin fight
ing order should the conduct of our
Mexican neighbors make it necessary.
This fort, together with new Fort
Brown and Brownsville, takes the name
from the gallant Major Jacob Brown,
who fell mortally wounded in its de-
fense. He was struck by cannon ball
on the 9Th of May, but fingered until
the 9th, when he expired with the dis
tant booming of the guns on the field of
Resaca de le Palma ringing in his ears.
He was most gallant and accomplished
officer, and had he lived would have
played an important part in the war.
His reply, while lying wounded, to the
summons of the Mexican General 10
surrender the fort, is worthy of being
remembered: 81 shall never surrender
it." was his answer, $50 long as there
is man left to work the guns" He
was buried within the work he so gal
lantly defended, but when it was aban-
doned, his remains were removed to the
new fort, some 300 yards above the old
one, and deposited at the foot of the
flagstaff, where each day the same stars
and stripes under which he fell wave
over his humble grave. Alongside his
grave l observed tiny mound, and
upon inquiry found that it contained the
remains of one of his grandchildren
Major Brown has left but two surviving
children, both daughters, and married
to officers of the army. By singular
coincidence, both have been residing at
this port for several years past
Matamoros remains unchanged, evin-
cling the marked want of energy in the
Mexican people as compared witt their
Anglo Saxon neighbors. Scarcely a
single new building has been erected
since the city was evacuated BY the
American army. The blanketed citi-
zens lounge on the corner of the streets,
smoking their cigarettes and speculating
on the next revolution, or 'carramboing'
the barbarisns of the North, as they
have done the last quarter of a centu-
~.