Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-03-01

4
be ~ compelled TO correct certain
misrepresentation INDUCED in by
ambitious correspondents, relative
TO the part he took in the Mexican
war, especially at the storIning Of
Cllapnltepec castle, which COM
manded the caE;tal, on the morn
ing of September 70, 1S47. In q
letter to q newspaper recently
published. the gallant soldier gives
the following straightforward and
stirring account Of the famous and
decisive assault:
On the day when Chapultepec
was stoFmed September Is, 1910
was in command of the grena-
dier company Of the Second New
York vOlunteers-my Own-and q
detachment Of United States ma
rines acting with Us as light in
fantry, my orders being to stay by
and guard q battery we b Iilt on
the Southern side OF the castle du.
ring the night OF the 11tl, 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 morning of the 18th, a
storming party of 500 men, of for
lorn hope" as it was called, hav-
ing volunteered for this dangerous
duty.
They were not exclusively reg
ulars, as the letter-writer asserts.
but of all arms of the service, a
captain of regular infantry having
charge of them, with a lieutenant
Of Pennsylvania volunteers as his
second in command. At an early
hour the three divisions of our
army (Worth's, Pillows and QUIT
man's) closed in upon Chapulte.
pee, our skirmishers driving the
enemy's oulposts 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. Standing by our bat
terry, at this time necessarily si-
lent, with the artillery and enci
neer officers who had charge Of it
-Lieutenants Huger and Hagner
we three watched the advance
of the attacking line, the puffs of
smoke from musketry and rifles
indicating the exac. point to which
it had reached. Anxiously we
watched it, | need not say, nor add
that our anxiety became appre-
lension when we saw that about
halfway up the slope there was a
halt-sometiIing impeding its for
ward movement.
Now, sir, for the motive that led
me to act as | did, aud which the
newspaper correspondent has SD
much misconstrued: | knew that
if Chapultepec was not taken
neither would the city be, and.
failing in this, not man ofus
might ever leave the Valley of
Mexico alive. Worth's iniudicious
attempt upon the intrenchments
of Melino del Rey-to give it no
harsher name first retreat
during the campaign -had greatly
demOraliZed our men, while re-
versely affecting the Mexicans. in
spring the latter with courage
they had never felt before. And
they were 10000 soldiers of them
TO our 10000 three to One-tO saw
nothing of a host of rancheros in
the country around and leperOs i'm
the city, all exaspeTated against us.
the invaders. 2
We had become aware. more
over. that Alvarez, with his spot
ted Indians (PiRtosl, had swung
around in our rear and held the
mountain passes behind us, so that
retreat upon Pueblo would have
been impossible. This was not
my belief alone, but that of every
intelligent officer i'm the army. the
two who stood beside me feeling
as sure of il az myself. And this
certainly it WAS. combined with
the slow progress OF the attacking
force. which determined me to take
part in the lssault-that and moth
ing else. As the senior engineer
officer outranked me, it was neces-
sary ! should have his leave TO for
sake the battery--nOw needing no
further defense. Leave was free
ly and instantly given, with the
words, 500, and God be with you!''
/ The Mexican flag was still wav-
ing triumphantly over the castle.
and the line of smoke puifs had
not got an inch nearer it. Nor
was there much change in the sit
uatiOn when, after quick run
across the intervening ground with
my following of volunteers and
marines. we came mp with the
stOrming party at halt and irregu-
llrly alighted along the base Of
the hill.
For what reason they were stay
ing there we knew not-thOurh /
afterward heard it was some trou-
bic about scaling-ladder | did
not pause to inquire, but breaking
through their line, with my brave
followers. pushed on up the slope.
Near its summit we found a scat
tering of soldiers some of them
in the gray uniform of the Volti-
geur regiment, Others Ninth. Four
teentha and Fifteenth Infantry men.
They were the skirmishers who