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large masses of cavalry and infantry, which | with a twelve pound howitzer. The then poured down from the mountains. Many of these fugitives were not rallied until they arrived at the hacienda of Buena Vista, and a portion took no further part in the action.

The assaulting column on the right was successfully repulsed by Washington's artillery, and Lt. Col. Weatherford's battalion of Illinois volunteers. Horse and foot were mowed down before the destructive fire which was opened upon them; while the battery of sixteen-pounders, which the Mexicans had established to cover the column of attack, and silence the American fire from this quarter, though served with great industry, did no execution.

The Mexicans having turned the American left, myriads of lancers, followed by a large body of infantry, were fast gaining the rear. The Mississippi riflemen, under Colonel Davis, had been posted near the base of the mountain, so as to form a erotchet perpendicular to the main line of battle; and the enemy, animated by the unfortunate retreat which they had just witnessed, pressed forward with a zeal that threatened to bear to the earth the little band that must alone stay their progress. The 3d Indiana regiment, under Colonel Lane, had been ordered forward to its support, but had not yet arrived; Colonel Davis was, therefore, compelled to receive the attack with his single regiment. It was composed of the men of Monterey, ind, unawed by the overwhelming masses which had now reached a critical proximiy, it marched unfalteringly forward. When vithin good range, each rifle sent forth its nessenger of death, with certain execuion. The sight of broken companies and lisordered squadrons which followed, eemed to impart new zeal, and regardess of the odds, the regiment crossed . ravine, by which they were separated rom the enemy, with a shout of defiance .nd of triumph, and again the report of heir unerring rifles proved the death-knell f many an Aztec warrior. The Mexicans vere thrown into disorder, and compelled o retire to the mountains before a re-oranization could be effected.

While the dispersed cavalry of the Mexians were rallying, Col. Davis was joined y the 3d Indiana regiment, and one piece fartillery under Lieut. Kilburn, and a hort time subsequently by Capt. Sherman

action being renewed was maintained with great warmth and obstinacy at this point, the enemy making several efforts to force the line, and being as often repulsed with considerable loss. The confidence of the Mexicans was indeed of short duration. The panic was now re-acting; and their shouts of triumph at the Indiana retreat, were followed by shrieks of terror and dismay. The concentration of a hot fire of artillery, upon their immense masses along the base of the mountain, and the determined resistance offered by the two regiments of foot, had been productive of fearful havoc, and had created such confusion in their ranks, that many of the two corps attempted to retreat upon their main body. To oppose this movement, Lieut. Rucker, with a squadron of the 1st dragoons, was ordered up a deep ravine, across which the retreating troops were endeavoring to make their way. The order was promptly obeyed, but owing to the brokenness of the ground, could not accomplish the object, and a large portion of the enemy secured their retreat. In the mean time several bodies of lancers were concentrating somewhat to the rear of the American left, with the apparent design of making a descent upon the hacienda of Buena Vista, in the vicinity of which the provision and baggage trains were deposited. Two pieces of artillery from Sherman's battery had previously been ordered thither, under Lieut. Reynolds, supported by regular dragoons and a squadron of Arkansas cavalry, under the warrior poet, Captain Pike. The scattered forces about the hacienda, the accumulation of fugitives from different parts of the field, were soon partially organized under the direction of Major Monroe, of the artillery, assisted by Major Morrison of the volunteer staff, and were posted to defend the position. Before the dragoons and artillery reached the hacienda, the columns of lancers, advancing at a gallop, were met near the Saltillo road, by the Kentucky and Arkansas cavalry under Marshall and Yell, who, after discharging their carbines with but little effect, succeeded in dividing the Mexican columns, one portion of which was driven back to its previous position. The advancing squadrons swept through the hacienda, where the fugitive Americans,

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Notwithstanding these repeated repulses, those of the Mexicans who had been driven back from the hacienda, were soon joined by another body of cavalry, and thus reinforced, again advanced, with a view to engage the Indiana and Mississippi troops, which now held a position nearly midway between the base of the mountains and the hacienda. As one regiment was armed with rifles, the formation of a square would have afforded no strength; the two corps were therefore posted so as to form a re-entering angle, the opening towards the enemy, and the vertex resting upond the ege of a deep ravine, and thus awaited the attack. For awhile on came the enemy, with lances in rest, dashing ahead with a haughty confidence and proud contempt for the insignificant numbers opposed to them. But as the distance diminished, their progress gradually became slower and slower, until by a strange fatality, the whole body halted within a hundred yards of the Americans. The movement seemed a mockery, and had they borne charmed lives, they could not have exhibited more indifference to,

human power. But that halt sealed their destiny. Both lines had followed Warren's instructions at Bunker Hill, and "the whites of the eyes" being now "fairly visible," the arms were levelled, and then gleamed forth a sheet of fire that scattered the foe like chaff, felling many a gallant steed to the earth, and sending scores of riders to the sleep that knows no waking.

The discomfited lancers once more sought safety in the mountains, and having regained their position on the American left, there was yet a formidable body of the enemy in that quarter, towards which the dragoons, and a portion of the Arkansas and Indiana troops under Roane and Gorman, were directed to hold them in check. Their masses were crowded in the narrow gorges and ravines, their own weapons were powerless from position; and upon them the infantry re-opened a

brisk fire, while Sherman, Reynolds and Kilburn, from their artillery, beauty served, hailed the case-shot and canster with terrible execution.

At this time the entire Mexican force which had gained the rear of the Amer cans, was in a critical position. The infantry held it on the left, while the arilery in front was making fearful carnage at every discharge. It was impossible to advance, and a junction with the man body seemed hopeless. In this dire d lema, the treacherous cunning of his race came to the rescue of the Mexican com mander. Four officers from a distant point were suddenly observed galloping at full speed towards the American lines. They were met by several officers of the Kentucky and Illinois regiments, which then occupied an advance position on the plateau, and one of them was conducted by Lieut. Col. Clay to the presence of General Taylor. It then appeared that he bore a verbal interrogatory from General | Santa Anna, "to know what General Taylor wanted." This absurd message was at once believed to be a mere ruse, but under the sanctity of a white flag, the American commander was not at liberty to regard it as an act of bad faith, and despatched General Wool to meet the Mexican General-in-Chief, at the same moment transmitting orders to cease firing Before General Wool reached the Mexcan lines, however, they had re-commenced their fire, thereby at once exposing the dishonorable stratagem resorted to and avowing the shameless perfidy which had been thus successfully consummated. The flag of peace, prostituted to the purposes of treachery, had accomplished the ends which its wily originator designed; the cessation of the American fire had enabled the extreme right of the enemy to complete its retreat along the base of the mountain, and effect a re-union with the main body of the Mexican army.

The junction of the enemy's forces was effected near the position which the d Indiana regiment had occupied in the morning, and elated with the achievement, a portion of them made an effort again to advance. They were met by a blazing fire from the sections of artillery under O'Brien and Thomas, from which they recoiled with precipitation, and returned to the shelter of the hills and ravines. En

couraged by this repulse, Colonel Hardin | ry in which the balls flew faster than the determined to charge the Mexican battery | hail-stones were falling around them. near the base of the mountain, which, at The progress of the Mexicans was various intervals during the day, had given like an avalanche, and the Americans serious annoyance to the troops on the plateau. He advanced at the head of his battalion, with spirit and enthusiam, but before attaining his object, was arrested by a force, whose existence seemed a miracle.

The craft of General Santa Anna had restored his courage, and the time gained by his strategic negotiation had enabled him to recover a large body of his troops, and to make his dispositions, for what he calls his "final effort." A battery of twenty-four pounder guns, was mounted and posted so as to command a new advance. The column which had attacked the American right, early in the day, led by General Mora y Villamil of the Engineers, was transferred to the other flank, and these joined the reserves under General Perez, and the first, second and third divisions, under Generals Ortega, Guzman and Pacheco, which were stationed at the head of, and covered by a broad and deep ravine. The whole were commanded by General Perez, General Lombardini having been wounded early in the action. It was the last desperate struggle of a desperate man, and made with corresponding energy. And as if to give a still more imposing effect to the crowning effort of a mighty conflict, the lightnings flashed and quivered from clouds that appeared suddenly in the heavens; and the quick, deep, heavytoned thunders, reverberated with startling distinctness, over valley, plain and mountain, simultaneously with the first volley of heavy artillery, under cover of which the four divisions advanced to the charge. The small band under Hardin was met by a rampart of bayonets, and hurled back as the spray is dashed from the billow. The regiments of Bissell and McKee rushed to the rescue, but could as easily have arrested the lightning flashes about them, as overcome the mighty phalanx which bore down all before it. Manfully they breasted the moving myriads of steel and iron, which were rained upon them from ten thousand sources, but in vain, they only gave themselves up to immolation, victims to the overwhelming legions of the enemy. The carnage on both sides was terrible, wrought by a fire of musket

were driven down the ravines, along which there was a destructive fire of infantry, while the lancers were galloping towards the lower end, to close the only avenue of escape. Their position was that of a scorpion girt with fire; yet as they reached the end of the ravine, the charge of the cavalry was arrested by Washington's artillery, a few rapid and well directed volleys from which, saved from entire destruction the remnants of those brave regiments, which had so long borne the hottest of the fight. But in the mean time the columns were advancing on the plateau, with the majestic march of triumph. The American infantry had gone down before them; nearly every horse with O'Brien's pieces, was killed; he had maintained his position with unrivalled heroism, and abandoned his guns only when the Mexicans had gained the muzzles. Victory, which but a few moments before had seemed within the grasp of the Americans, was torn as if by magic from their standard, The enemy had gained almost the extreme point of the plateau, the last citadel of hope, for there the American General yet held his position, not less a "tower of strength to his friends, than of terror to his enemies." His eagle eye saw the extremity of the crisis, and his mighty will determined to avert it.

"High and inscrutable the old man stood, Calm in his voice, and calm within his eye,,' though at that moment the result of the battle, the fate of the campaign, the life of every American from Buena Vista to the Rio Grande, depended on Zachary Taylor. How his lofty spirit amid the awful peril of the occasion bore it all nobly up, has already passed into history. The artillery under Thomas was already in position; that of Bragg arrived on the instant, yet both were without support, and the fate of O'Brien's guns seemed inevitably to be theirs. We have said both were without support, but we were in error. It is true there was then neither cavalry nor infantry on which to rely, but there was that which was superior to both; it was the moral power of the presence of the Commanding General, and thus panoplied, those heroes

of Monterey rose with the occasion, and eclipsed even the fame they had previously rendered immortal. They opened at once a fire of canister upon the advancing hosts, while the remainder of Sherman's battery, just arrived, came immediately into action. The ponderous and triumphant columns reeled and quivered like a reed shaken with the wind, and before the showers of iron hail which now assailed them, squadrons and battalions fell like leaves in the storms of autumn. The cannonade on both sides was terrific, while the fire of the infantry seemed to be one continuous discharge. But the Mexicans in vain rushed on to fill the places of their fallen comrades. Their ranks became broken, order could not be restored, and they slowly and sullenly retired, pursued by the fire of the artillery and of the Mississippi and Indiana regiments, which arrived in time to participate in the glory of the last desperate repulse.

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day, wherever he moved, doubt and dismay gave way before him. By a sort of magnetic influence, he seemed to impart to every one to whom he was visible the same indomitable spirit and determined energy which animated his own breast. His name was the watchword, his voice the signal note, and his presence the certainty of triumph. When for a moment he left the plateau to appeal to those who were flying or had fled from the field, to return to their colors and to duty, we are credibly informed that he was followed by General Wool to hasten his return, that he might be seen by those who were then contending against the unequal odds opposed to them. And in the darkest hour of that sanguinary day, when the star of hope had almost set in a sea of blood, General Taylor was alone the rallying point of a handful, and in his trumpet tones to Bragg almost giving to the result

"The stamp of fate, the sanction of a god."

Thus at two distinct periods, the American General alone turned the fate of the day, and saved our forces from total destruction. But when the last gun had been fired, and the shadows of night had fallen alike upon the living and the dead, the battle had not yet been won. There is little doubt, and with some there is none at all, that if General Taylor had fallen by that last gun, the sun would have risen upon the two armies flying from each other as fast as their disabled condition would

The battle had now raged, with the exception of a few brief intervals, for nearly ten hours, and by a sort of mutual consent, both parties appeared willing to pause upon the result. Night fell, and the American General having brought up his fresh troops from Saltillo, slept with his men upon the battle ground, prepared, if necessary, to renew the conflict on the morrow. But ere the sun, which on this continent has shone on few so ghastly, rose again upon the field, the Mexican army had disappaared, leaving behind them hundreds of dead anddying whose bones. are to whiten their native hills, and thou-have permitted them. Where then would sands of the wounded, whose moans of anguish were to excite in the bosoms of their enemies that sympathy and compassion which seem to have no place in the heart of the Mexican commander.

We have thus briefly, and we believe faithfully, sketched the leading incidents of the battle of Buena Vista, and the prominent position of the Commanding General has been at all times obvious. We have seen that the battle was in effect lost under General Wool-though that gallant officer rivalled in his efforts the youthful valor that shone at Queenston and Plattsburg-when General Taylor arrived upon the field. His presence at once restored the confidence which had been lost, and by his rapid dispositions he was enabled to recover the advantages which he enemy had gained. Throughout the

have been the victory? How soon would the Mexican General have been advised of the fact, retraced his steps, recruited his starving legions with our abundant supplies at Saltillo, and falling upon the retreating Americans with the fury and malignity of a vindictive foe, strong in numbers and smarting under repeated defeats, given up the whole to indiscriminate slaughter! From this frightful catastrophe, General Taylor, under Providence, was the instrument of saving thousands of our countrymen; and by his conduct on the 22d and 23d of February, he has not only associated his name forever with him. who was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of the people," but has acquired for himself the second place on the records of immortality, of that country which Washington saved.

WARS BETWEEN THE DANES AND GERMANS,

FOR THE POSSESSION OF SCHLESWIG.

PART FIRST.

On feint d'ignorer que le Slesvig est une ancienne partie intégrante de la Monarchie Danoise dont l'union indissoluble avec la couronne de Danemarc est consacrée par les garanties solennelles des grandes Puissances de l'Europe, et où la langue et la nationalité Danoises existent depuis les temps les plus reculés. On voudrait se cacher à soi-même et au monde entier, qu'une grande partie de la population du Slesvig reste attachée, avec une fidélité inébranlable, aux liens fondamentaux unissant le pays avec le Danemarc, et que cette population a constamment protesté de la manière la plus énergique contre une incorporation dans la confédération Germanique, incorporation qu'on prétend médier moyennant une armée de cinquante mille hommes !—Semi-official article.

THE political question with regard to the | relations of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein to the kingdom of Denmark, which at the present time has excited so great a movement in the North, and called the Scandinavian nations to arms in self-defence against Germanic aggression, is not one of a recent date. This dispute has for centuries been the cause of destructive feuds, and during later years the subject of public discussions and violent debates, not only among the parties more immediately interested, but in the public and private assemblies in Germany, and in a flood of publications, all breathing hostility against Denmark, and showing both a want of knowledge as to the points in dispute, and a scornful disregard of the just rights of that injured country. This old quarrel has now, by the general agitation in Europe, suddenly taken its ancient form of a casus belli, by the open rebellion of Holstein, and the invasion of Denmark by the army of the Germanic Confederation. The illegality, injustice, and violence of these proceedings are obvious to every observer who, without prejudice, has followed the course of events. And yet have the ambitious authors of the sedition and the attack, attempted to envelope themselves in an outward show of right; the secret springs which moved the whole machinery were left in the back-ground, but still made their appearance now and then amidst the presumptuous confessions and boastful prognostications which, all at once, have intoxicated the forty millions of Germans with hopes of conquest on land and sea, and thus made that pensive and philosoph

VOL. II. NO. V. NEW SERIES.

30

ic nation blind to the evidences of history, faith, and justice.

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The Dano-Germanic contest is still going on : Denmark cannot yield; she has already lost so much that she cannot submit to any more losses for the future. The issue of this contest is of vital importance to her; she is already fighting for her existence. Nor will her Northern brethren let her sink, nor Russia, who has pledged her guaranty for the integrity of the Danish monarchy, permit its further dismemberment. the final settlement of this war may perhaps depend the peace of Europe. And yet it has excited but very little attention. and sympathy in this country. The duchy of Schleswig has generally been supposed to stand in the same relation to Denmark as that of Holstein, and its inhabitants to be true-born Germans, who were impatiently waiting for the moment when they might break loose from the small peaceful kingdom in the North, and join the " glorious destinies of the great united German Fatherland." It has been said and repeated that, since the late revolution in France, the voice of the people has become the voice of God,-that it has torn to shreds the worm-eaten scrolls of feudal rights and treaties, and freely permitted the different tribes, German, Slavonic, and Italian, to group, form, and constitute themselves without any regard to kings and cabinets. Let this principle be carried out where foreign governments have imposed oppressive laws upon conquered nations, whose history, development, and prosperity they have disregarded, and whose nationalities they have crushed. Such may,

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