St. Mary's beacon., 1861-02-07

and the Americans were from 800 I.
2,000. So ths British were less than shre,
times more nsmeFeus than the American,
at Bunker Elill while they were clever
times more numerous At Fort Bowyer
Furthermore. 4he redoubt on Breeds Hill
was substantially constructed and va,
breast high. NJ Il was captured notwith
standing II strength Fort Bowyer va.
. mere spanlm<nt, not two feet high. bu
il repulScd a enemy. notwithstanding Il,
lwcakneSsn - she Notta sould rightful.
fly boss, Of her defeat near Boston. sure.
! ly the South may glory in her victory nca,
Mobile. All, she may legitimately exul,
in this triumph; for. it We take into con.
sideration the superiority Of the British
iu discipline. ordnance, numbers and
equipments. the disparity was not greater
at Thermopyle itself. There. the Spar.
tans had the advantage in superior wea.
pons, superior kill in their use. superior
discipline, superior physical strength and d
superior position Of defence The Spar.
tans acted nobly. they died like heroes on
the field Of battle. The Southc'aers did
better. they beat the enemy and drove
him of. Cr@ney Island. near Norfolk
was defended By $50 Virginians, who re-
pulsed the attack from =, 500 British. kill.
ing and wounling 800 Of them. Ginger.
soll) What wonderful hourish of trun,-
pets there would have been if this great
victory had taken place at the North But,
with the molesty Of true courage. the
South makes 10 fanfaronade over her mil
isary exploits. She does not GEEK to i'm
press the world with the belief of the Prov
ess Of her sous by Dragging monuments,
nursery tales and picture books.
The few instances, taken almost at ran
dom from the records Of the two wars v ith
Great Britain. prove the heroism Of South
ern troops. II we come down to the Mex
lean war we will find abundant evidence
Of the same thing. The capture of the
mud fort at Monterey, by the Mississippi
Volunteers was most wonderful achieve
mcnt for raw troop :ievcr before under FIRE
1t bad no parallel in gallaAtry during
The whole war, except the feat Of the
same Regiment. at Buena Vista. There,
when the whole American Army WAS IL
retreat. this gallant band met and drove
back the conquering masses Of the enc.
my 'Dasis deployed ont o: range. and
advanced in double quick time, until his
troops had gained their distance, when
they opened ere advancing The Mexi-
cans halted AMI replied with heavy rol-
ling volleys of musketry but the ratio
of loss was fearfully against them. In
4 few moments the Regiment, with a
shout which rang high aud loud above
the roar Of battle, plunged into the raw
inc, and in an instant rcappeared iu front
Of the enemy on his own side and con-
tinued to advance. A closer distance
brought greater destruction. but the ra-
ito was yet against the Mexicans. The
MississippiaDs could not yield or hat,
and still advancing, poured in their
shot with additional rapidi.y, until the
Mexican advance. cut up and disorgan-
ICED, lost its formation and rolled back
a disor1ered multitude upon the sup
porting forces" (Ripley.) Once more,
ON that glorious day, was this Regimeat
most conspicuous. Every one knowns
that the final attack Of the enemy was
met by the Battery of Capt. Bragg. Of
North Carolina. Every one knows that
the Mexicans were repnlsed with dread
ful destruction, and that (in the lan-
guage Of Gen. Taylor) 1.-The day was
saved" By the awful fire Of this Battery
But few have realised the grand heroian,
Of Bragg and his handful Of men. There
stand three pieces of Artillery and forty
Artilleri<ts, without support of Infantry or
Dragons; yonder came ten thousand yell
liug and shouting troops. confident Of VIC
tory and jeering with dsrision at the only
opposing force on the whole field Of battle.
On they come! but now there is q wide
lane of dead. and the huge mass surges to
aud fro: another mighty chasm is made
and yet another. more grape Capt
Bragg" but still they come. and the
formoss companies are just reaching out
ther hands to seize the cannon, when
they are est down by the deadly kissis-
sippi rifles. "Gloriously done. Col. Da-
Wis. but load fast. the chaem 10 filing
up rapidly Ola the Mexicans are con-
ing with vivas aud car.jos. That Was .
terrible dischargs-grape and canister
from the Battery, and Rife balls from the
Regiment--dowa they 90. rider and
horse. foot and dragons, in one con-
fused pile of dead and dying. Their
columns falter. they turn. they run .
Victory. victory The bsssle Of Bueu.
Vista is won! All honor to Davis and
Bragg. Mississippi aud North Carolina.
the irst with 500 men attacked aud beat
5 900. the secosd With three pieces Of
Artillery defended bilnself against TO-
600. But let us no, forget. in our
gratitude 81 tbese gallant leaders. to give
thanks slse to the noble school in which
they we're trained. Both arc graduates
Of West Pnint. And here . common
error stands corrected. The battle o.
Busns Vista IL cousidersd 40 q tri.
u'nphsat proof that . Military Educa.
ton is not needed. II proves just ,bs
reverse. The railisia troops tough we'll
because they wera vel. Offered. and
Ss~Sslly by West Poip: iesu. Tbs tbs,'