toward them, and his deep regret that he could not participate with those who were making their first campaign in its eventful scenes. To all, both officers and men, he extended "his heartfelt wishes for their continued success and happiness, confident that their achievements on another theatre would redound to the credit of their country and its arms."

In January, 1847, General Taylor left Victoria, and established his headquarters at Monterey, where, early in February, his force, including recent reinforcements of volunteers, amounted to between 6,000 and 7,000 men. Soon after reaching Monterey he received information that a party of dragoons had been surprised at Encarnacion, also that another party, with Captain Cassius M. Clay and Majors Borland and Gaines were taken prisoners.

While the United States were preparing to attack Vera Cruz, and endeavoring to maintain the positions gained by the northern divisions of the army, under Generals Taylor, Wool, and Kearny, Mexico was also preparing for a decisive blow. In December, the Mexican Congress assembled at the capital. Santa Anna was elected provisional president, and Gomez Farias vice president, of the republic. The command of the army was undertaken by Santa Anna personally, he having recently returned to Mexico from exile at Havana, and devoted himself with zeal to restore domestic order, to unite parties, to devise measures of finance, and to raise and equip troops. Notwithstanding every embarrassment, Santa Anna had concentrated at San Luis Potosi, before the end of January, 1847, an ariny of more than 21,000 men, prepared to march thence against the divisions of General Taylor's force between Saltillo and the Rio Grande. On the first of February the Mexican army was moving rapidly upon that town, upward of three hundred miles distant from San Luis. The march was arduous, from the great distance over a desert, want of water and provisions, and from the severity of the weather. On the 20th of February they reached Encarnacion, and the next day advanced on Saltillo.*

The army of Santa Anna was admirably equipped. It was composed of the flower of the Mexican nation, and numbered more than four to one of the army which it came to conquer. Hope and dire necessity both urged them to victory. The commander, Santa Anna, had well considered the advantages he would derive from this movement, if successful, and all the chances were in his favor. Could he have driven General Taylor from his position at Buena Vista, he would have swept down to. Camargo, and over the whole valley of the Rio Grande. All the munitions of war of the Americans would have fallen into his hands. If defeated, Santa Anna well knew that his moral power over his army would be broken. The fate of his country seemed suspended on the issue of a single battle. His own fame, his place in history, were both to be decided in the coming conflict.†

* Fry's Life of Taylor.

† Mansfield.

General Wool had continued in command of the division of the American army at Saltillo. Near the end of January, he advised General Taylor of the rumored advance of Santa Anna, then organizing his forces at San Luis, as has been mentioned. In consequence of this information, although at that time indefinite, General Taylor determined at once. to meet the enemy, if opportunity should be offered; and leaving a garrison of fifteen hundred men at Monterey, he took up his line of march on the 31st with a reinforcement for the column of General Wool. On the 2d of February, he reached Saltillo, and on the 4th he advanced to Agua Nueva, a strong position on the San Luis road, twenty miles south of Saltillo. Here he encamped until the 21st, when he received intelligence that Santa Anna was advancing with his whole army. Having carefully examined the various positions and defiles of the mountains, Taylor decided that Buena Vista, a strong mountain pass, eleven miles nearer Saltillo, was the most favorable point to make a stand against a force so overwhelming. He therefore fell back to that place, and at noon of the 21st, encamped to await the approach of Santa Anna, then within one day's march of this position.

The position of the American army at this moment was most critical. The regular troops had been withdrawn, with the exception of a few companies of artillery and dragoons. The volunteers, of which the army was mainly composed, had received some instruction in the regular duties of the camp, but had not attained that perfection in discipline which gives confidence in military operations.*

The position selected by General Taylor to receive with his small army, the forces of the Mexican chief — five times the number of the Americans was one of remarkable natural strength. It was at a point where the main road from San Luis to Saltillo, passes between closely-approximating chains of mountains. The bases of these mountains are cut, by the occasional torrents of rain, into numerous deep gullies, almost impassable, owing to the rugged and steep banks leaving between them elevated table-lands or plateaus, of various extent. On the west of the road, and nearly parallel to it, between Agua Nueva and Buena Vista, is also a ditch, forming one of the mountain drains on that side. The American army was drawn up at nearly right angles to the road, its chief force being on the east of it, occupying a large plateau commanding the mountain side. Facing the south, this force constituted the left wing. A battery of light artillery occupied the road, and the right wing rested on the opposite hill. In this attitude, the Americans awaited the advance of the Mexicans, on the morning of the 22d of February, the birthday of Washington.

On the 21st, General Taylor had proceeded with a small force to Saltillo (nine miles from Buena Vista), to make some arrangements for the defence of the town, leaving General Wool in command of the troops.

* Mansfield.

Before those arrangements at Saltillo were completed, on the morning of the 22d, Taylor was advised that the enemy was in sight, advancing. Hastening to the battle-field, he found that the Mexican cavalry advance was in front, having marched from Encarnacion, over forty miles distant, at eleven o'clock on the day previous, and driving in an American mounted force left at Agua Nueva, to cover the removal of public stores.

The features of the ground occupied by the American troops were such as nearly to paralyze the artillery and cavalry of the Mexicans, while their infantry could not derive all the advantages of its numerical superiority. At eleven o'clock, General Taylor received from General Santa Anna, a summons to surrender at discretion, to which the American commander immediately replied, "declining to accede to the request." The enemy still forbore his attack, evidently waiting for the arrival of his rear columns. The Mexican light troops commenced the action by engaging the Americans on the extreme left, and kept up a sharp fire, climbing the mountain-side, and apparently endeavoring to gain the flank of the Americans. The skirmishing of the light troops was kept up until dark; when General Taylor became convinced that no serious attack would be made before morning, and returned, with a regiment and squadron of dragoons, to Saltillo. The troops bivouacked without fires, and laid upon their arms. A body of fifteen hundred Mexican cavalry under General Minon, had entered the valley through a narrow pass east of Saltillo, and had evidently been thrown in the rear of the Americans, to break up and harass the retreat which was so confidently expected by Santa Anna.

Having made the necessary dispositions for the protection of the rear, General Taylor returned to Buena Vista, on the morning of the 23d, ordering forward all the available troops from Saltillo. The action had commenced before his arrival on the field.

During the night of the 22d, the Mexicans had thrown a body of light troops on the mountain-side, with the purpose of outflanking the left of the Americans; and it was here that the action of the 23d, commenced at an early hour. The American riflemen in this position maintained their ground handsomely against a greatly superior force. About eight o'clock, a strong demonstration was made against the American centre, a heavy Mexican column moving along the road; which was soon dispersed by the fire from Captain Washington's battery. In the meantime, a large force of Mexican infantry and cavalry was concentrated under cover of the ridges, with the obvious intention of forcing the left of the Americans. It was found impossible to check the advance of the Mexican infantry, although the American artillery was served against it with great effect, under the orders of Captain O'Brien. When General Taylor arrived upon the field, the left wing of his army had become completely outflanked, and the enemy was pouring masses of infantry and cavalry along the base of the mountain; thus gaining the rear of the Americans in great force. Taylor immediately

directed the left to be strengthened by detachments of Captains Bragg and Sherman's artillery, also by bodies of cavalry. The action was for a long time warmly sustained at that point, the enemy making efforts both with infantry and cavalry, against the American line, and being always repulsed with heavy loss.

At one period, the position of that portion of the Mexican army which had gained the rear of the Americans was very critical, and it seemned doubtful whether it could regain the main body. At that moment, General Taylor received from General Santa Anna a message by a staff-officer, desiring to know what he wanted. Taylor despatched General Wool to the Mexican commander, and ordered his own troops to cease firing. General Wool could not, however, cause the Mexicans to cease their fire, and returned, without having an interview with Santa Anna. The extreme right of the Mexicans retreated along the base of the mountain, and finally, in spite of the efforts of the Americans, effected a junction with the remainder of the army.

During the day, the Mexican cavalry under General Minon, had ascended the elevated plain above Saltillo, and occupied the road from that city to the field of battle. Several skirmishes took place between them and the small bodies of troops left by General Taylor to protect his rear. General Minon made one or two efforts with his cavalry to charge the artillery, but this body of Mexicans were finally driven back in a confused mass, and did not again appear upon the plain.

In the meantime the firing had partially ceased upon the principal field, at Buena Vista. The enemy seemed to confine his efforts to the protection of his artillery, and General Taylor had left the plateau for a moment, when he was recalled thither by a heavy musketry fire. He then discovered that a portion of his infantry, the Illinois and Kentucky volunteers, had engaged a greatly superior force of the enemy - evidently his reserve and that they had been overwhelmed by numbers. The moment was most critical. Captain O'Brien had lost his two pieces of artillery, which had been taken by the Mexicans - his infantry support being entirely routed. Captain Bragg, who had just arrived from the lest, was ordered at once into battery, without any infantry to support him, and at the imminent risk of losing his guns, this officer came rapidly into action, the Mexican line being but a few yards from the muzzle of his pieces. The first discharge of canister caused the enemy to hesitate, the second and third drove him back in disorder, and saved the day. The second Kentucky regiment, which had advanced beyond supporting distance in this affair, was driven back and closely pressed by the enemy's cavalry. Taking a ravine which led in the direction of Captain Washington's battery, their pursuers became exposed to his fire, which soon checked and drove them back with loss. In the meantime, the rest of the American artillery had taken position on the plateau, covered by the Mississippi and third Indi

ana regiments, the former of which had reached the ground in time to pour a fire into the right flank of the enemy, and thus contribute to his repulse. In this last conflict the Americans sustained a very heavy loss. Colonel Hardin of Illinois, and Colonels M'Kee and Clay of Kentucky, fell at this time, while gallantly leading their commands. Colonel Yell of Arkansas, and Adjutant Vaughan of Kentucky, had previously fallen.

No further attempt was made by the Mexicans to force the position of the Americans, and the approach of night gave an opportunity to pay proper attention to the wounded, and also to refresh the soldiers, who had been exhausted by incessant watchfulness and combat. Though the night was severely cold, the troops were compelled for the most part, to bivouack without fires, expecting that morning would renew the conflict. During the night the wounded were removed to Saltillo, and every preparation made to receive the enemy, should he again attack the American position. Seven fresh companies were drawn from the town, and Brigadier-General Marshall, with a reinforcement of Kentucky cavalry, and four pieces of artillery, was near at hand, when it was discovered that the enemy had abandoned his position during the night. Scouts soon ascertained that the Mexican army had fallen back upon Agua Nueva. The great disparity of numbers, and the exhaustion of Taylor's troops, rendered it inexpedient and hazardous to attempt pursuit. A staff officer was despatched to General Santa Anna to negotiate an exchange of prisoners, which was satisfactorily completed on the following day. The Americans collected and buried their own dead, and the Mexican wounded, of which a large number had been left upon the field, were removed to Saltillo, and rendered as comfortable as circumstances would permit.*

On the evening of the 26th it was ascertained that, excepting a small body of cavalry left at Agua Nueva, the Mexican army had retreated in the direction of San Luis Potosi. On the 27th, General Taylor advanced with his troops and resumed his former camp at Agua Nueva, the Mexican rear guard evacuating the place as the Americans approached, leaving a considerable number of wounded behind. It was Taylor's purpose to beat up the enemy's quarters at Encarnacion early the next morning, but upon examination, the weak condition of the cavalry horses rendered it unadvisable to attempt so long a march without water. Colonel Belknap, with a detachment of troops, was despatched to Encarnacion on the 1st of March. Some two hundred wounded and about sixty Mexican soldiers were found there, the army of Santa Anna, having passed on in the direction of Matehula, with greatly reduced numbers, and suffering much from hunger. The dead and dying were strewed upon the road, and crowded the buildings of the hacienda.

The American loss at the battle of Buena Vista, was 267 killed, 456 wounded, and 23 missing; that of the Mexicans in killed and wounded

* General Taylor's official despatch,