Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-01-18
sToRmlHG cHAPuLTEPEc.
A Thrilling Story ofthe Mexican War--Cap-
tain HIayne Reid's Account of How He

Inc famous novelist, captain Mdyne
Reid, native of Ireland, now resident
in England, has been compelled to cor
rect certain misrepresentation in
dulged in by ambitious correspondents,
relative tothe part he took in the Mexi-
can war, especially at the storming of
Chapultepec castle, which commanded
the capital, on the morning of Septem-
Der 13, 1847. In a letter to news
paper rec sntly published the gallant
soldier gives the following straight
forward and stirring account of the
famous and decisive assault:
On the day when Chapultepec was
stormed (September 13, 1847) was
in command of the grenadier company
Of the Second New York volunteers
my own-and a detachment of United
States marines acting with us as light
infantry; my orders being to stay by
and guard a battery we built on the
southern side of the castle during the
night Of the 11th, and which did good
work on the 18th. 1t was about 1000
yards from and directly in front of the
castles main gate, through which our
shots went crashing all that day. The
final assault had been fixed for the morn
ing Of the 18th, storming party of 500
men, of ''forlorn hope," as it was called,
having volunteered for this dangerous
duty. They were not exclusively regu-
lars, as the letter-writer asserts, but Of
all arms Of the service, captain Of
regular infantry having charge of
them, with a lieutenant of Pennsylva-
mia volunteers as his second in com
mand. At an early hour the three
divisions of our army (Worth's, Pill
lows and Quitman's) closed in upon
Chapultepec, our skirmishers driving
the enemy's outposts before them,
some of these retreating up the hill and
into the castle, others passing around
it and on toward the city. 1t was now
expected that our storming party
would do the work assigned to it, and
for which it had volunteered. Stand
ing by our battery, at this time neces-
sarily silent, with the artillery and en-
gineeF officers who had charge of it
Lieutenants Huger and Hagner-we
three watched the advance of the at
tacking line, the puffs of smoke
from musketry and rifles indicating
the exact point to which it had reached.
Anxiously we watched it, l need not
say, nor add that our anxiety became
apprehension when we saw that about
halfway up the slope there was halt
something impeding its forward
movement. Now, sir, for the motive
that led me to act as / did, and which
the newspaper correspondent has
so much misconstrued: / knew
that if Chapultepec were not taken
neither would the city be, and, falling
in this, not man Of us might ever
leave the Valley of Mexico alive.
Worth's lnjpdicious attempt upon the
intrenchments of Molino del Rey--to
give it no harsher name-our first re-
treat during the campaign-had
greatly demoralized our men, while
reversely affecting the Mexicans, in
spring the latter with courage they
had never felt before. And there were
$4,000 soldiers Of them to our 10000
three to one-to say nothing Of a host
Of rancheros in the country around
and leperos in the city, all exasperated
against US, the invaders. We had be-
come aware, moreover, that Alvarez,
with his spotted Indians (Pintos), had
swung around in our rear and held the
mountain passes behind us, so that res
treat upon Pueblo would have been
impossible. This was not my belief
alone, but that Of every intelligent Of
ficer in the army, the two who stood
beside me feeling as sure Of it as myself
And this certainly it was, combined
with the slow progress of the attack
ing force, which determined me to
take part in the assault-that and
nothing else. AS the senior enginee
officer outranked me, it was necessary
l should have his leave to forsake the
battery-now needing no further de-
Tense. Leave was freely and instantly
given, with the words, "Go, and God
be with your r
The Mexican flag was still waving
triumphantly over the castle, and the
line of smoke puffs had not got an
inch nearer it. Nor was there much
change in the situation when, after
quick run across the intervening
ground with my following of volun-
teers and marines, we came up with
the storming party at halt and irregli-
larly alighted along the base Of the
hill. For what reason they were stay
ing there we knew not-thongh |
afterward heard it was some trouble
about scaling-ladders. / did not pause
to inquire, but breaking through their
line, with my brave followers, pushed
on up the slope Near its summit we
found scattering Of soldiers some
of them in the gray uniform Of the
Voltigeur regiment, Others Ninth,
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Infantry
men. They were the skirmisheIs who
had thus far cleared the way for US,