The age-herald., 1897-09-26
HEROES OF BuENA VISTA.
Their Sadly Neglected Burial Ground Near Sal-
 tiIlo, Mexico.

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
 Saltillo. Mexico, Sept. 22.-The hardy young Americans who left their com foI'table homes in the United States more than half a century ago and came to Mexico with Gen. Taylor to fight against the people of this country prob- ably did not think that should they fall in battle their bones would be left to erumble to dust dn an unmarked spot in this distant land But today the dead heroes of the Buena Vista battle field die under but few feet of earth in a neglected place just outside this city. At the time of their nasty burial their devoted comrades evidently sought to make the spot somewhat sacred by constructing an adobe wall around it. This wall is fast succumbing to the rayages of time, and in places it is com pleteiy gone. visited the burial ground Of the dead heroes today. A tramear LOOK me as far as the pretty San Fran cisco plaza and from there I walked Vhrough a dirty, marrow street until I came to an arroyo, on the other slde of which the faint marks indicating the cemetery may be seen. Had I not re- ceiyed careful directions I would have passed the place unfoticsd. On the side toward the city the wall Is entirely gone for the most part and much NdSOl IOdQ passes the place and over the sacred dead. The place which had once been enclosed by the adobe wall embraces probably two acres, but investigation shows that many were buried west of the wall and up close to ths arroyo.
 Some time ago the report was pub lished in the press of the United States that the bones of the buried soldiers were protruding from the ground, and that the placa presented a sickening spectacle. This report was not strictly true, but it is undoubtedly a fact that parts of many of the skeletons have come to the surface. The ground is strewn with fragments of bones, and 1t Is evident that they coms from the men who were buried there. None of these bones are large, as the heavy traffic through the place has broken them up into small pieces. If any skulls came to the surface they were no doubt quick ly taken by the Mexican children who were about. and made innocent play things of. Had they eVsr appeared they certainly would not have remained in- tact on the surface long. In the arroyo, through which floods of water pass at times and wash one side Of the burial ground, there are also many pieces or bones among the rocks, and among them I saw an unbroken rib bone which looked like' that of a human.
 dE There is not "a spear Of grass nor a sign of vegetable life within the inclos- ure. It is perfectly barren. The place should certainly receive attention at the hands of the United States congress, even if nothing more is done than to take such steps as will stay the raya- ges of time and weather on the treachsr- ous soil, and permit the bodies lying there to rest undislturbed. It could easi- ly be made an attractive and even beau- tiful placa by laying it out in walks and planting trees and plants. The ravages of F'the floods in the arroyo on the soil of the cemetery could be checked by the building of a substantial wall along that side. In addition to the several hundred who were killed in battle, all of the soldiers who died in the hospital here were also buried there.