USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 2 > Part 26
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and drove them back from the brow of the slope. Then came the deadly struggle. Panting and breathless, men and officers strove to gain the height, contending with the rocky steep as well as the enemy. Peal after peal and shout and cry rang wildly forth for victory ! Onward they rushed, braving the storm of hail until they gained the brow and, with a loud huzza, bore back the foe, while the mist now left the mountain's top for the sun-beams' warmer glow, to shine upon the triumphant colors of our victorious troops.
" The Mexicans fled in confusion, some toward the palace, while others ran headlong down the hill. They, however, suc- ceeded in carrying off a piece of cannon, our men being too much exhausted to pursue them further. The loss of the enemy was considerable, while on our part it was but few in numbers, though some of our noblest spirits fell. Among them was the brave and gallant Captain Richardson Addison Gillespie, an officer well known in Texas and to the army, for his kind and unassuming deportment in social life, and his sagacity, activity, and undaunted courage in the field. He fell, mortally wounded, at the head of his company, while in the act of mounting the enemy's works. As his men came up they offered to assist him but he refused them and cheered them on to the combat. Here, too, the daring and chivalric Herman S. Thomas, of Baltimore, belonging to McCulloch's company, who was among the first to scale the height, received a mortal wound. Lieut. W. E. Reese, of Ballowe's com- pany, with many others, was wounded; Daniel McCarthy of the same company was killed.
The next point of attack was, necessarily, the Bishop's palace. Many hours passed in various movements and attacks, from the remainder of our forces on Federation Hill and elsewhere until large re-inforcements of cavalry and infantry were seen ascending the road from the city to the Bishop's Palace. The commander, General Fran- cisco Berra, determined to save the palace by making a
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desperate effort to drive the Americans from Independence Hill. Orders were then given for Blanchard's company to fall back on the alignment, while the Texas Rangers kept their covered positions, on each side of the mountain slope. This movement, apparently retrograde, was soon after followed by one from the enemy, which realized the very hopes that Capt. Vinton had so warmly cherished. Battalions of Mexican infantry formed in front of the palace, their crowded ranks and glistening bayonets presenting a bold and fearless front, while squadrons of light horsemen, with lances, bright and fluttering flags, and heavy cavalry with escopetas ( Spanish for carbines) and broad swords gleaming in the sun, richly contrasting with the gaudy Mexican uniforms, made a most imposing sight. Their bugle-notes sounded a charge. Onward they came, in proud array, - nearer and nearer they ap- proached, their troopers dashing up the slope with a fierce and savage air, until the clang of their arms rang wildly on the ear. Then, when within twenty yards of our position, on the appointed signal being given, out rushed our gallant troops and formed a serried line of bayonets which, like an appari- tion, suddenly rose before the enemy to oppose their progress. Bravely were they met. One volley from that long line, with a deadly fire from the Texian rifles, made them reel and stagger back aghast, while above the battle cry was heard the stentorian command, " Charge !" On, on rushed our men, with shouts of triumph, driving the retreating enemy, horse and foot, down the ridge, past the palace, and even to the bottom of the hill, to the streets of the city. The victory was won! The palace ours ! A short struggle ensued with those inside the palace, but they soon sur- rendered, thus opening our access to Monterey from the west. Our loss was six killed and fifteen wounded -that of the enemy one hundred and eighty killed and wounded. Worth's division then moved down the streets into the city seeking a junction with General Taylor; many bloody contests took
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place, continuing till the morning of the 24th, when the forces had captured all the defensive works of the enemy ex- cepting the cathedral, and the almost impregnable fort, known as the citadel, when Gen. Ampudia sent in a flag proposing a capitulation. After some delay, Gen. Taylor appointed as commissioners on the part of the United States, Gen. Worth, Gen. Henderson of Texas, and Col. Jefferson Davis of the Mississippi Rifles. Gen. Ampudia appointed Gen. J. M. Ortega, Gen. T. Requena and Don Manuel M. Llano, the Governor of Nueva Leon. After considerable delay the articles of capitulation were agreed upon and signed late in the day, dated September 24, 1846. Ampudia was allowed to retire from Monterey, with his army and their small arms, with one small battery. An enormous amount of military stores and supplies, all their forts and appurtenances, remained in the hands of the victorious Americans. The actual and final surrender took place on the 25th - the understanding being that the American forces would not advance for a period of eight weeks, beyond the line formed by the pass of the Rinconada - the city of Linares and San Fernando de Pusos, in Tamaulipas."
Soon after the battle of Monterey, the Texian troops, being sixth months' men, were discharged and returned home. Here it seems appropriate to condense a statement in regard to the Texians more or less distinguished, who participated in the war with Mexico from May, 1846, to February, 1848.
First, it is proper to state that, on the declaration of war, President Polk tendered the appointment of major-general in the United States Army to both Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk, the new senators from Texas. The brows of each were already encircled with the halo of military glory. The people of Texas felt honored by these tributes to two of their most distinguished heroes and patriots; but the desire was almost universal that these eminent men should remain in the Congress of the United States. They yielded to that
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expression of the popular will and declined the tendered appointments.
Beyond this marked evidence of regard for the leaders of Texas it is but justice to state other facts. These are, that among the distinguished volunteer officers at Monterey, who won plaudits from the official reports of the generals com- manding, were ex-President Mirabeau B. Lamar, ex-Vice- President Gen. Edward Burleson, ex-General (of the Texian Army, in 1836), Albert Sidney Johnston ; George T. Wood, Peter H. Bell and Edward Clark, afterwards governors of the State ; Major W. R. Scurry (of Wood's regiment), Captains Ben McCulloch, Tom Green, Walter P. Lane and Lieut. Ham P. Bee, afterwards generals in the Confederate army; Col. John C. Hays, afterwards surveyor-general of California, and Major Richard Roman, afterwards treasurer of California.
In his report, September 28th, 1846, of the battle of Monterey, Gen. Worth said :
" The General feels assured that every individual in the command unites with him in admiration of the distinguished gallantry and conduct of Col. Hays and his noble band of volunteers. Hereafter they and we are brothers, and we can desire no better guarantee of success than by their association." The Texas troops had scarcely reached home, when General Taylor called for a small force of mounted Texians. A company of one hundred and ten was organized at San Antonio, with ex-Lieut. Walter P. Lane as captain, and Gouvenier Nelson as first lieutenant. This company (in which James W. Throckmorton, just entering man's estate, was a physician) was united with those of Capt. Robert H. Taylor, of Fannin, Capt. G. W. Adams of Victoria, and Capt. Gideon K. Lewis, of Corpus Christi, an ex-Mier prisoner known as Legs Lewis. These companies constituted a bat- talion of which Michael Chevallie was major. Afterwards, at Saltillo, Chevallie resigned and Capt. Lane became major, in which capacity he performed much valuable service, including
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a victorious battle with three hundred Comanches, in which he had four men killed and fourteen wounded. He killed nearly fifty of the Indians, captured three hundred horses and mules, six little Mexican girls and eight Mexican boys, who had been carried into captivity by the Comanches, all of whom were restored to their parents, sixty and eighty miles away. In one of his scouts (in which he was accompanied by Lieut. John Pope of the Topographical Engineers, afterwards a com- manding general of the Union forces in the civil war, ) he recovered and brought to General Woll's headquarters the remains of the " black bean " Texian martyrs, from the haci- enda of Salado, where they were murdered as Mier prisoners, March 25th, 1843. These remains, in charge of Capt. John Dunsenbury, were escorted nearly five hundred miles and interred on Monument Hill at La Grange, Texas, as has been previously related.
Having completed their term of service of a few months, Major Lane and his battalion were discharged at Camargo. On the discharge of Hays' regiment Capt. Ben McCulloch was appointed quartermaster with the rank of major of the United States Army, but returned to Texas with the promise to Gen. Taylor that, on the resumption of hostilities, he would return to him with a company of Texian scouts. The United States terminated the armistice agreed upon and pre- parations were at once made for a renewal of hostilities. Mc- Culloch at once raised the promised company and, on the 31st of January, 1847, he arrived at Monterey and, finding the army already on the march to Saltillo, continued on to that city, where he arrived on the 4th of February and reported to Gen. Taylor. His company was mustered into service for six months with orders to remain and recruit his horses until called upon. Gen. Taylor moved on to Agua Nueva, eighteen miles distant, where he established his head- quarters. Under his orders McCulloch repaired to his head quarters on the 15th of February, and was ordered to make a
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reconnoissance as far as Encarnacion, a large rancho thirty miles distant, for the purpose of obtaining information in regard to the advance of Santa Anna's army.
On the 16th McCulloch, with sixteen picked men, proceeded on this dangerous mission. At 11 o'clock at night he en- countered the enemy's pickets one mile from his destination. They were fired upon by about twenty of the enemy's cavalry drawn up in the road. McCulloch charged them and so hotly continued the pursuit that he was enabled to estimate the strength of the enemy at Encarnacion. His charge would seem to have been reckless but his position was as critical as perilous and in order to save his men and prevent the enemy from charging him, he was forced to pursue the course he did. It was quick work and there was no time for thought. The maneuver succeeded and they came off without pursuit and without loss. Having obtained the desired information the detachment fell back and next day safely reached Agua Nueva. On the 20th of February Major McCulloch, under orders, left on another reconnoissance for Encarnacion, taking with him but four men besides his second lieutenant, Fielding Alston, and Lieut. Clark of the Kentucky infantry. Some miles on the way they met a Mexican deserter, who stated that Santa Anna had arrived at Encarnacion with 20,000 troops. McCulloch sent the deserter back to Gen. Taylor and proceeded on his way. Moving through the chaparral and crossing the road twice, at about midnight they arrived in sight of Encarnacion, and found a very large Mexi- can force encamped there. Knowing the hazards before him he sent back Lieut. Alston and all of the party, excepting his trusted friend, Wm. Phillips, to report immediately to Gen. Taylor, the probable strength of the enemy, and to state that he would remain behind until daylight for the purpose of obtaining a fuller view of the enemy's camp and strength. In approaching the camp by another route they suddenly came in contact with the enemy's pickets, who immediately pursued
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them. To be caught in the enemy's lines was certain death. To avoid this, McCulloch and Phillips galloped down towards the enemy's camp. This ruse misled the pickets into the belief that they were pursuing their own friends, trying to pass out. Falling back to a hill about a mile distant, they concealed themselves until daylight. At sunrise a heavy smoke settled down upon them, caused by the green wood of the Mexican fires, and prevented McCulloch from making further discoveries. He then started on his return. They had gone but a short distance, when they discovered two picket guards of twenty men each. They were stationed about a quarter of a mile apart on the forks of the road which separated, for about eight miles, and again met at the Rancho. McCulloch and Phillips were between the two roads and were compelled to pass between the two lines of pickets. The pickets, having been on guard all night without any fire, and it being very cold, had kindled large fires after daylight and, having tied their horses, were warming themselves, when the two scouts, holding down their guns and moving in a walk, passed out between them, the enemy taking them to be Mexicans hunting stray horses. At about eight miles they ascended a high hill at a watering place on the road, called Tanque La Vaca, to take a look. Here McCulloch expected to find and did find another picket of the enemy. He remained, making obser- vations, until nine o'clock, hoping the picket would be called in and, in the meantime, through his field glass, made observa- tions of the movements of the main army. He then avoided the pickets by keeping around the foot of the mountains ; passed them unobserved, and hastened towards Agua Nueva, in sight of which he arrived on the afternoon of the twenty-first. Not a tent was seen standing, but instead a long column of dust was visible on the route to Buena Vista, the army having been ordered to fall back immediately on the reception of the news sent by McCulloch through Lieut. Alston, and thus
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was General Taylor's army saved from destruction on the plain of Agua Nueva. At the camp McCulloch found Gen. Taylor awaiting him, who, on receiving McCulloch's final re- port, observed, " Very well, Major, that is all I wanted to know. I am glad they did not catch you," and mounting his horse they rode off for Buena Vista.
A little prior to this, under orders from the government at Washington, Gen. Winfield Scott, the commander of the army of the United States, was ordered to take the field as commander-in-chief of the army of invasion to land at Vera Cruz and thence march to the city of Mexico. To further this move a large part of the forces under Gen. Taylor had been withdrawn from him and sent by water from Matamoros to join General Scott at Vera Cruz. Thus depleted in strength, Taylor was left to command in the north and defend that already conquered region against the Mexican forces des- tined under Santa Anna in person for its reconquest and the destruction of Taylor's army.
As we have seen, Santa Anna's army had already advanced to within a few miles of Taylor's final position at the pass of Buena Vista, or, as Santa Anna called it, La Angostura, meaning a narrow pass. Buena Vista, the name of an hacienda, was a broken valley, checked with gulches and deep ravines, only about three-fourths of a mile wide and flanked on either side by mountain ridges. Here on the 22d and the morning of the 23d, Gen. Taylor skillfully planted his re- duced force of about five thousand men, embracing, besides the regulars, volunteers from Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, and Texas, with individual volunteers from other States. Santa Anna arrived in front of this position with fully twenty-five thousand men, on the afternoon of February 22d, 1847, and opened the battle. Thence until twilight on the 23rd, was fought one of the most unequal, stubborn and bloody battles before or since known on the American conti- nent. The details cannot be given in this work, but it can
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be said that the troops from every State represented, and the regulars, covered themselves with glory. Colonel Lincoln, of the regulars, and Colonels McKee and Henry Clay, Jr., of Kentucky, John J. Hardin, of Illinois, Archibald Yell, of Arkansas, and a host of the gallant sons of each State died as only the brave and true can die. Col. Jefferson Davis and the Mississippi Rifles shed imperishable renown on their country. Bissell and Richardson, of Illinois, equally honored their State, as did the sons of Indiana. Gen. Wool of the regulars and the old North Carolina hoosier, of Indiana, Joseph Lane, general of volunteers, won the admiration of the heroes they commanded. In the artillery, Captains Braxton Bragg, John P. J. O'Brien, Vinton and others, were equally distinguished, while Gen. Taylor won the admirable and applicable appel- lation of " Old Rough and Ready." The enemy displayed a valor worthy of praise. Many of their noblest leaders sur- rendered their lives in the struggle for victory, the most lamented and promising of whom was the young General Lombardino, whose fearless bearing won the spontaneous admiration of the American army. The sun of the 23d went down leaving the two armies in deadly array. The rising sun of the 24th revealed the fact that Santa Anna, despairing of success, had abandoned the field and retired towards the south. Our victory was thus rendered complete, but it was dearly bought. Thousands of hearts in the United States were yet to bleed on receipt of the tidings.
This was the last serious conflict in Northern Mexico during the war. But blood was yet to mark the route 279 miles from Vera Cruz to the city and valley of Mexico.
It thus happened that Texas was not represented at Buena Vista as she had been at Monterey ; but Gen. Taylor bestowed unstinted praise on Major Ben. McCulloch and his men, and on the noble and chivalric German, Captain August Buchel, of Indianola, Texas, who went through the sanguinary scene as an aid on his staff. Capt. O'Brien, who stood
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by his battery till every man fell and then, severely wounded, left it to the enemy, in 1849, died in Indianola as quarter- master of the United States army.
HAYS' SECOND REGIMENT.
In April and May, 1847, Col. John C. Hays, at San Antonio, was elected colonel of his second regiment of Texas Rangers, mustered in for twelve months, or during the war.
The companies of Capt. Middleton T. Johnson, Shaply P. Ross, Samuel Highsmith, James S. Gillett and Henry W. Baylor, were formed into a battalion and stationed separately along the Rio Grande and Indian frontiers, commanded by Lieut .- Col. (afterwards Governor ) Peter H. Bell. Some of them, at least the company of Baylor, rendered some service on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande ..
The other five companies commanded by Captains Jacob Roberts, Gabriel M. Armstrong, who was succeeded by Alfred Evans ; Isaac Ferguson, who died and was succeeded by Ephraim M. Daggett; Stephen Kinsey, who resigned and was succeeded by Preston Witt, and Alfred M. Truitt, who became major and was succeeded by Chaucer Ashton, who died and was succeeded by Alexander E. Handley. Of these companies Hays in person was colonel, Samuel H. Walker, lieutenant- colonel, Michel Chevallie and Alfred M. Truitt, successively, majors, and John S. Ford, adjutant. They marched to Laredo, thence down the west side of the Rio Grande to its mouth and thence by water to Vera Cruz, where their brill- iant career began on the route to the city of Mexico, a career signalized by a series of daring events that rendered famous the achievements of " Hays' Texas Rangers " wherever the English language is spoken. They were here, there and everywhere on the great interior table lands of Mexico,
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largely operating as a part of that wing of the army under command of Gen. Joseph Lane of Indiana, who had already won his spurs at Buena Vista. No body of mounted troops ever won greater fame in the same length of time. It is not admissible, in this work, to follow their movements and brill- iant achievements. They became a terror to the hitherto audacious bands of Mexican guerrillas and freed the highways of those pestiferous troopers. Gen. Scott and the chiefs of the army, were lavish in praise of their almost daily achievements and so it continued till peace was made. In one of their assaults in the ancient town of Huamantla, on the plains of Puebla (the ancient Tlascala ), while in the dis- charge of a hazardous duty, Lieut .- Col. Samuel H. Walker fell, pierced in the brain by a ball fired from the steeple of a church. All Texas - all the army, his native State, Mary- land, and Georgia and Florida, where he had won honor in their Indian wars-mourned his loss and honored his memory.
In numerous cases, immediately following the close of the Mexican war, volunteer companies of Texas rangers were called into the service of the United States and placed along the Indian and Mexican frontiers. Among those who, in 1848, 1849 and 1850, for longer or shorter periods, com- manded these companies, were Captains Samuel Highsmith, - Sutton, John J. Grumbles, Wm. A. A. Wallace, Henry E. McCulloch, Jerome B. McCown and John S. Ford.
GENERAL TAYLOR ON THE TEXIANS, AND SENATOR SAM HOUSTON'S REPLY.
On the 3d of July, 1850, while General Taylor was Presi- of the United States, and Gen. Sam Houston a senator from Texas, the boundary of Texas being under consideration, and the United States military authorities exercising jurisdiction
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over that portion of the territory of Texas which embraced all of the former New Mexico, Senator Houston delivered an elaborate and powerful speech vindicating the right of Texas to that territory and denouncing in bitter terms the preju- dice of President Taylor against Texas and her volunteers in the Mexican war, and charging that, not only as a general of the United States army, Gen. Taylor had slandered and mis- represented the character of the Texians, but that now, as President of the United States, he was manifesting the same unfounded prejudice. He quoted from repeated communi- cations of Gen. Taylor, while commanding in Mexico, to the Secretary of War, abounding in these ill-timed and unjustifi- able allegations against the soldiers of Texas. He sustained his position, beyond question, by repeated quotations from the official reports. Gen. Houston referred most eloquently to the gallantry of the Texians, both mounted and infantry, on the march from Matamoros to Monterey, including the daring achievements of Hays and McCulloch; to the almost reckless heroism of Hays' regiment in storming and captur- ing both Independence Hill and Bishop's Palace; and paid special tributes to Lieut-Col. Walker and to Captain R. A. Gillespie, who fell in the assault on the Hill. He showed that at the same time, in the three days' assault upon the main city, the Texian infantry (under Col. George T. Wood and General James P. Henderson ), had performed prodigies of valor and also that to Major Ben McCulloch and his scouts, Gen. Taylor was indebted for information of the approach of Santa Anna and thereby had time to abandon his defenseless position at Agua Nueva, and fall back to his Gibraltar of defense at Buena Vista. He also succinctly narrated the gallant deeds and invaluable services of Hays' regiment from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, and referred to the death of Lieut .- Col. Walker and other brave Texians, the command throughout receiving the highest commendations of Gen. Scott, Gen. Jo Lane and the most distinguished officers of the
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army from other States. It is sufficient to say that Gen. Houston's vindication of the Texian troops in the Mexican war against the unseemly prejudice of Gen. Taylor, was just, bold, triumphant ! Gen. Houston also asserted that if at the time when Gen. Taylor reached the Rio Grande in the spring of 1846, five hundred Texas rangers, properly armed, had been employed, they could have prevented Gen. Arista and the Mexican army from crossing to the east side of the Rio Grande and thereby virtually prevented the war. Indeed, he bestowed the highest praise, and no living man knew them better, upon the Texian troops engaged in the Mexican war from the first voluntary rally of Capt. Samuel H. Walker and his handful of men at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma to their last achievements around the city of Mexico.
The treaty of peace was signed on the 2d of February, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, four miles from the city of Mexico; but Hays' regiment remained in the service until the withdrawal of the last of the army in June, when it embarked at Vera Cruz and returned home. It was the most popular body of troops that ever represented the United States on foreign soil. Wherever any of his prominent men appeared in the next two years, from Boston to New York, Philadel- phia, Baltimore and Washington to St. Louis, Nashville and Charleston, they were honored as the bravest of the brave, and never did one of them cast a stain upon the escutcheon of the command. No Texian of that day, or this, withheld, or ever will withhold admiration for the distinguished charac- ter and achievements of Gen. Zachary Taylor, and it is a sad reflection that almost at the moment Gen. Houston felt called upon to make these utterances in defense of his people, the commander at Monterey and Buena Vista and president of the United States, was suddenly called to pass from earth.
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