The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1883-01-12
STORMING CHAPULTEPEC.
A THRILLING STORY OF DARING ACT IN
THE MEXICAN WAR.


resident in England, has been compelled to
correct certain Misrepresentation INDUCED
in by ambitious correspondents. relative to
the part he took in the Mexican War. espe-
cially at the storming of Chapultepec Castle,
which commanded the capital, on the morn
ing of September Is, I847 In letter to a
newspaper recently published, the gallant
Irish soldier gives the following strsightfor-
ward and stirring account of the famous and
/ decisive assault:
On the day when Cbapultepec was storm
ed tSeptember 13. 1s47) was in command
Of the grenadier company of the second
New York Volunteers-my own-and a de-
tachment of United States marines acting
with us as tight 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 900 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, storming
party of 500 men, or "fororn hope" as it
was called, having volunt eeTed for this dan
gerous duty. They were not exclusively
regulars, 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 Qutlnans) closed in upon
/ Chaputepec, our skirmishers driving the
( enemy's outposts before them. some of those
retreatin6 up the hill and into the castle,
others passing around it and on iowa rds the
city. 1t was now expected that our storm
/ ing party would do the work assigned to it,
and for which it had volunteered Standing
/ by our battery, at this time necessarily 81
lent with the artillery and engineer officers
/ who had charge of it-Lieuts. Huger and
/ Hagner-we watched the advance of the at
/ tacking line, the puffs of smoke from mus
/ kerry and rifles indicating the exact point to
/ which it had reached. Anxiously we watch
! ed it. l need not say or add that our ankle.
/ ty became apprehension when we saw that
/ about half way up the slope there was
/ halt-somethnc impeding it's forward move
ment. Now, sir, for the motive that led me
/ to act as 1 did, and which the newspaper
/ correspondent has so much msconstrued
knew that if Chapultepec were not taken
/ neither would the city be, and failing in
! this, not a man of US might ever leave the
J Valley of Mexico alive. Worth's njudcious
attempt upon the intrsnchments of Molino
/ del Rey-to give it no harsher name-our
first retreat during the campaign-had great
/ ly demoralized, while reversely affecting the
Mexicans. inspiring the latter with courage
/ they had never felt before. And there were
/ 1000 soldiers of them to our 1O,OO0-three
to one-to say nothing of host of rancheros
{ in the country around and leperos in the
/ city, all exasperated against U.S. the inva-
ders. We had become aware, moreover,
/ that Alvarez, with his spotted Indians CPin-
/ tOs), had swung around in our rear and held
/ the mountain passes behind US, so that re-
| treat upon Pueblo would have been impossi.
bic. This was not my belief alone, but that
( of every intelligent officer in the army. the
/ two who stood beside me feeling sure OF II as
/ myself. And this certainly it was, combined
! with the slow progress of the attacking
! force, which determined me 20 take part in
/ the assault-that and nothing else. As the
1 senior engineer officer outTanked me, it was
/ necessary L should have his leave to forsake
/ the batteTy-now needing no further de
/ fense. Leave was freely and instantly Civ
! en-, with the words, go, and God be with
/ you r'
/ The Mexican flag was still; waving tri.
umphantiy 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 interven-
ing ground with my following of volunteers
and marines, we came up with the storming
party at halt aud irregularly aligned along
the base of the hill. For what reason they
were staying there we knew not-though 1
afterward heard that it was some trouble
about scaling Ladders. l did not pause to
inquire. but breaking through their line,
with my brave followers, pushed on up the
slope. Near it's summit we found a scatter
ing OF solders-some of them in the gray
uniform OF the Voitigeur regiment, others
Ninth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Infantry
men. They were the skrmshers who had
thus far cleared the way for us, and far
ahead of the "forlorn hope" But beyond
lay the real of danger-a sloping
ground, some forty yards in width, between
US and the castles outward wall-in short
the glacis. 1t was commanded by three pie
ces of cannon on the parapet, which swept
it with grape aud canister as fast as they
could be loaded and fired. There seemed
no chance fer US to advance farther without
meeting certain death; but it would be
death all the same if we did not-sueh was
my thought and conviction at that moment.
just as l reached this point there was a mo-
mentaIy lulI which made it possible to be
heard, and the words Ithen spoke, or rather
shouted, are remembered by me as though it
were but yesterday: "Men if we don't
take Chapultepee the American army is lost.
Let us charge up to the wall! %
A voice answered 1--WE will charge IL any
one leads US J" another adding Eyes, we
are ready !"
At that instant the three guns on the par
apet belched forth their deadly showers al
most simultaneously. My heart bounded
with JOY at hearing them go off thus togeth-
er. 1t was our opportunity, and, quickly
comprehending it, l leaped over the scrap
which had sheltered US, calling out Come
on ] will lead your
1t did not need looking back, to know that
l was followed. The men L had appealed to
were not the sort to stay behind, else they
would not have been there, and all came af
ter. When about half way across the open
ground l saw the parapet crowded with
Mexican aItilleTists, in uniform of dark blue
with crimson faeings each muskst in hand,
and all aiming, as l believed, at my own
person, There was a reason for their so
concentrating their fires which l need not
here enter inte. The volley was almost as