dition to the City of Mexico, by way of Vera Cruz. A large levy of new troops were sent out from the United States to meet him, and he was permitted to make a requisition on General Taylor for such of his troops as he required for the success of his enterprise. He had accordingly sent dispatches from New Orleans both to General Taylor and to General Butler, second in command, ordering them to forward immediately to Brazas Santiago, the whole of the regular force at their disposal, except a few companies of dragoons and of artillery. Taylor removed his headquarters to Agua Nueva, and concentrated at that place his depleted army.

The dispatches of General Scott to General Taylor, in which he made his requisition for these troops, fell into the hands of Santa Anna, through the capture and murder of their bearer, Lieutenant Richy, and his escort. It will be seen at once how the wary Santa Anna, who had been cautiously watching for a favorable opportunity to strike a meditated blow, would avail himself of this happy chance. He could have wished for no better opportunity. Scott, with his army scarcely organized, sailing towards the celebrated stronghold, San Juan D'Ulloa, which must hold him in check if it did not paralyze his advance; Taylor, stripped of his regulars, and with but a small force of raw troops. He, on the contrary, with thirty thousand men, veterans or new levies, which had been several months under discipline, and were commanded by many efficient Generals, leading men of military repute in the republic; and all under the constant stimulus of exciting harangues against the invaders of the sacred soil of Mexico; he remembered how a similar piece of strategy had secured him a great triumph in 1829, and actually terminated the war with Spain. Now one decisive blow, and Taylor would be annihilated, when he would have ample time to turn his attention to Scott, and wrest from him any advantage he had gained in his advance on the City of Mexico. Taylor had indeed been victorious on the Rio Grande, but Santa Anna was not there; mistakes had been made; the army had been used in detachments; the feelings of the versatile Mexican had not been sufficiently aroused; the soldiers of such a people, skillfully managed, could perform great deeds; they had proved it in the past. Concentration, rapidity of action, enthusiasm, dicipline! these would be the instruments of his success. Such were the thoughts and plans that filled the mind of Santa Anna, and he had cause for his elation. Carefully and skillfully he drew up his orders for the advance of his whole army from San Luis Potosi, to precipitate it upon the little command of General Taylor.

And what of the American General; with what spirit did Taylor await the wily Mexicans? Did sanguine anticipations of success elate his mind, and stir his suppressed but active sensibilities? Unimpressionable, practical and resolute, he indulged in few sentiments; but now a painful sense of injury, and an unusual anxiety lay behind the invincible determination which, like the armor of the ancient knight, clothed the spirit of this modern Saxon. Why had the government stripped him of so large a portion of his command while the enemy, in force, lay before him? What possible exigency could necessitate the withdrawal of the whole force of veterans who had stood by him at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma and Monterey? The Mexicans, although defeated, had fought obstinately and well at these places; the same veteran troops were now in the enemy's camp, and were reinforced by hosts of others. Were his faithful services not only to be ignored, but their reward to be bestowed on another, while he was left single-handed to contend with his powerful and watchful foe? Yet while pained by such thoughts he declares that, "he will carry out, in good faith, the views of the government, though he be sacrificed in the effort." Still he pondered long and anxiously, if not despondently, on the chances against him; and they were great. Santa Anna, whom he was to meet for the first time, had a world-wide fame for courage and for strategy; he was supported by Ampudia, who had already proved himself determined and crafty, since he had outmatched his victorious and straitforward foe at Monterey, when the terms of capitulation were to be drawn; by Arista, who, with his magnificent physique and strong personal influence, cemented many conflicting elements in the Mexican army; by Lombardini, his second in command, whom he greatly trusted; by Pacheco and Perez; by Mora y Villamil, whose scornful despatch to General Taylor some weeks earlier stung the old soldier into an indignant reply; and Ortega, whose division was to be held like a whip, with which Santa Anna would scourge the defeated Americans from the soil of Mexico, and Miñon, whose cavalry should drive the fugitives back to the lash of Ortega. He had, too, Torrejon, with his brilliant Lancers, the pride of the army. It was, indeed, a fine army officers and men treading their own soil, inspired by sentiments of patriotism and religion, while their confidence in the skill and courage of their leader, Santa Anna, gave stability to their enthusiasm.

The little army awaiting them may be viewed at a glance. The Commander-in-Chief, resolute to obstinacy, careless of life in the heat of action, both for himself and his soldiers, yet tender hearted and self,

sacrificing; liable to make mistakes, yet cool, ready and invincible in his ability to escape from their effects. Wool, his second in command. an experienced soldier, brave, ambitious and sanguine; Lane, an untried Brigadier-General of volunteers; besides these, a few Colonels, Captains and Lieutenants. As events proved, each of these minor officers became in turn a commander, and few Generals of the line could have excelled them in bravery, skill and discretion. Captains Bragg and Sherman and Lieutenant O'Brien, with their batteries, seemed ubiquitous during the whole contest, while Washington, with his few guns, held the left wing of the Mexican army in check from the beginning to the end of the battle. Colonel May's name became a synonym for dashing bravery; General Lane, wounded, but still fighting, led his heroic Indiana men on in a way that redeemed the ignominy their State suffered in one part of the field; Colonel Davis displayed ability that was considered an evidence of military genius; McKee and Clay, in one regiment, were graduates of West Point, and fulfilled the expectations that their training inspired; Colonels Marshall and Yell led their mounted men with great gallantry. Yell had left his seat in Congress for the dangers of the field. Bissell, a former member of Congress, was a man of fine attainments and excellent judgment; he had seconded with alacrity the system of discipline to which Colonel Churchill subjected the Illinois regiments during their long march from San Antonio. Hardin had stimulated the pride and interest with which Churchill regarded these regiments. Hardin's name had been urged at Washington for Brigadier-General of the Illinois volunteers, but his political antecedents prevented such an appointment. He had seen service in the Black Hawk war, and had been General-in-Chief of the Illinois militia for some years, at a time when it was not merely a nominal position. He had made a careful study of the science of military tactics, and the effect of the care bestowed upon the Illinois battalions will be scen when we witness the changing fortunes of this long battle. From nine o'clock on the morning of the 23d, these two Illinois regiments, or rather parts of them, assisted by the Second Kentucky Regiment, received and repelled the masses of the centre column of Santa Anna's army, commanded by himself in person; for seven long hours the contest unceasingly beat, like the waves of the ocean, on the rocky shore of these stout Western hearts, and not a soldier flinched or faltered. When the unfortunate Indiana battalions gave way, Illinois was there to cover the flying columns of her sister State; when the heavy infantry of Lombardini and Pacheco followed

the fugitives with the lusty insolence of victory, Illinois was there, and stood firm until surrounded by the overwhelming numbers of these united divisions. Then she calmly turned her back on the enemy, marched steadily onward, changed front in his very teeth, and received him as firmly as before. Then Kentucky came to the front, and assisted in that long continued struggle on the plateau, while Mississippi and Indiana were performing their brilliant achievements on the left. But we anticipate.

Agua Nueva, the most advanced post of General Taylor's line, where his army was now concentrated, lay on the border of a great desert, destitute of water, which the Mexican army must traverse on its way from San Luis Potosi; for this reason it was considered a desirable point at which to meet its advance, suffering as it must then be from fatigue and want of water.

On the 20th of February General Taylor sent Colonel May with a strong reconnoitring force to ascertain whether the enemy was approaching on his left by way of Hedionda, from which place he might pass on to Encantada in his rear. He also sent Captain McCulloch with a small party of Texan Rangers on the Road to Encarnacion, on the highway from San Luis Potosi, to seek the enemy in that direction. Through these reconnoitering parties, General Taylor learned that Santa Anna was at Encarnacion en route for Agua Nueva, and fearing a flank movement on the part of the enemy that would intercept his base of supplies at Saltillo, he decided to withdraw his army to Buena Vista. On the morning of the 21st, orders were accordingly issued for the evacuation of Agua Nueva and a retreat to Buena Vista. During the day this was accomplished. Colonel Yell, with his mounted men, was left to guard the stores until the last wagon train should leave. There was hurry and confusion among the teamsters in their eagerness to follow the retiring army. All night the work of loading and starting went on. Before daylight the American pickets were driven in by the Mexicans. Then the hacienda and the few remaining stores were fired, and lighted by the brilliant flames of the burning buildings the long train of wagons, loaded and empty, dashed off with furious speed toward Buena Vista. The Arkansas regiment remained until the stores were burned, and then they too galloped hastily after the flying teamsters. This confusion and hurry doubtless impressed the advancing columns of the Mexicans with the belief, upon which Santa Anna acted on the following day, that General Taylor's army was flying before his superior numbers. They were, on the contrary, quietly encamped at Buena Vista,