Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06

came forward with q white nag, requesting par
ley A quick mind would have OWNED tho
panic behind the offer, but Old Rough and
Ready not only permitted Ampudia to with
draw, exacting no paroles but agreed to an
eight weeks armiStice
This was not the end of Taylor'S antics for
in November he announced his theory of O
purely defensive war. He would run line
from ParraS to Tampco-80O miles-hoId
Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon to pay
indemnitieS, and put the burden of offense
upon the MexicanS. Naturally enough Polk
and his advisers went sick with rage
BY now Old Rough and Ready was openly in
the race for the Wing nomination, and with
natural kindness thoroughly curdled, fought the
administration by every means in his power
When men were sent him, he sneered that there
was nothing for them to do; if they were not
sent, he cried that Polk, Marcy and Company
were betraying him; every member of the
cabinet was "meddler," rascal" and daily
he moaned about the conspiracy of "evil men"
FOR months Gen. Winfield Scott had been
urging the capture of Vera Cruz as the
first movement in a march on the CITY of
Mexico, and Polk, at hts wits end, now gave
consent AS the approach of the yellow fever
season forced speed, it was decided to take
5000 of Taylors veterans, a necessity that
Scott explained fully in a friendly letter
being allowed to wage defensive campaign.
and the 5000 men left him were ample for his
gArrtsonS, but when this news came he shook
the heavens with his screams Announcing his
presidential candidacy, he called Scott a "hum-
bug" berated Polk, and, in nat violation Of
MS orders not to risk advance marched
of into the interior, angrily hunting the enc
my. If he won, it would prove him a Napoleon
able to conquer in spite of betrayal; if he
lost, blame would fall on the "evil men" who
had stripped him Of his troops Taking ouly
5000 of his 5000 men, he reached the Valley
OF Aqua Nueva by February f. 1847 and sat
down until such time as an idea came to him
When Santa Anna learned that Taylor had
left the Notifications of Saltillo and Monterey
with only 5000 men, he burned candles on
every altar in San Luis Potos At last the gods
OF chance smiled on him, and at the head Of
$4,000 men the Great Gambler set forth to
win the victory that his tottering fortunes de-
manded. AS he had failed to provide tents and
supplies death and desertion reduced the army
TO 1900 by the time Aqua Nueva was reached
and the survivors were weak from cold and
hunger. Even so, he would have won had he
charged at once, for Taylor was caught BY
surprise, but he wasted a day in fiourishes and
bombast.
At dawn on February 20 the two armies
grappled in a struggle to the death For thu
most part it was battle of blunders-Santa
Anna doing nothing that he should have done
and Taylor doing everything that he should
not have done. But the courage of Old Rough
and Ready turned the balance in favor of thO
Americans. Lolling on his horse as in q rock
ing chair, careless of the bullets that pierceN
his very clothes, his laconic "Give 'em helI!~
fired every soldier with q conviction of invin-
cibility
Both sides were defeated when night fell
but while Old Rough and Ready still roared
an undated challenge, Santa Annals spirit
was broken. Carrying some captured banners
In order to claim victory, the hySterical drug
fiend slipped away under cover Of darkness.
I'm the great gamble of the two generals
Continued on TsOentv- first Page