The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1883-08-04

HHN - HNNAL
taking the town Of San Miguel as
we marched on, conquering and to
conquer, we camped on the 10th on
the banks of the Pecos river, its
red waters and flooded condition
tellingof rain in the mountains to
the west. On the evening of the
18th we made our camp at the vii.
lage of Pecos, near the ruins of Az
tee structures and editices Of Span
ish origin /; but no archaeological
temptation could lure us from the
important duty of eating and sleep
ing. Fortunately, the village was
too small for even a speech from
the genera lor even the swearing
in process (both required at Tuca-
late and San Miguel, and it was
conquered without gunpow-
der, but also without promises OF
pledges. faded animals, with
scant forage, and hungry men,
fuller of vim than r%ations, made up
the Army of the West, but we
might 90 to sleep with the con-
seriousness of duty performed. We
had made the longest march in
American history, and we had
been victorious over all obstacles.
Three Of us having called at the
alcalde's mansion Of one story and
two rooms, had a supper Of green
peas in mutton broth, relished as
heartily as if the native earthern
pot in which they were served had
been secured within the half year
preceding. We had long before
ceased to be fastidious in littlemat-
tiers Of pots, pans or cooking, and
we rather astonished our host and
his sonora by the manner in which
the broth was dipped up by all
from the same reservoir and swal-
lowed, spoons and all Pieces OF
tortilla "a thin cake) made the
spoons, folded to contain some of
the broth and peae, and the spoons
and their contents went down to-
gether. 1t was a novel banquet,
for which our host would only &C
cept payment after one OF us who
could ''habla' Spanish a little
managed to make him understand
that if he wished to be regarded as
good "Americano" he must take
everything he could get his hands
on, honestly of course.
In the early hours Of August Is,
1916, a day that ought to be memo
rable as tae first in which an army
under the high bird Of liberty cap
tured the chief Of an enemy's prov
ince Of twenty-nine miles. BY 10
o'clock the rangers and Dragons
had reached the eastern entrance
Of Apache canon, and there waited
in a park Of fair grazing for the ar
tillery and Doniphan's regiment to
come up. The native potato was
in bloom, and there were tubers
about the size Of hickory nuts.
The potatoe had never been cult
waited in New Mexico, butfor what
reason / have forgotten, if ever
knew. A detail Of twenty men I'M
der Lieut.. Hammond, United
States army, sent forward at 3
o'clock a. m, had gone through
the canon and found the remains Of
Gov. Armiio's Notifications at its
western end. They also found a
spiked piece Of ordnance which
had been abandoned, and saw the
tracks where others had been taken
otf-atterwards captured aud un
guarded, in the forest by some of
the St. Louis artillerists. With
but a small force Gov. Armiio
could have checked our easy pro
gross, and perhaps stopped us alto
gether ; but if his men had not run
away twenty-four hours before oar
arrival, we should have turned his
position by going over the MESA
from Pecos, and on to Santa Fe by
way of Galisteo.
The truth is, Gov. ArmlJO, II IN
earnest, was too late in trying to
get ready for us. If he had met
MS at the pass of the Raton-a mar
row valley with a railroad in it now
and kept meeting us at other
close passages, as well as annoying
us and picking off our beef cattle
and stragglers, for which the adj
vantages were all on the side of
men knowing the country well, and
accustomed as the Mexicans to
scant rations, our march, If we
could have got along at all, would
have been a succession of bloodicr
battles than that of FL Puetro del
Padre. The population of the ter
ritory was about 100, 600, and its
fighting material had been well or
ganized and under good leaders,
the army of the west would have