Battle of Churubusco. Next (but all in ten minutes) I sent Pierce (just able to keep the saddle) with his brigade (Pillow's division) conducted by Captain Lee, engineer, by a third road, a little farther to our left, to attack the enemy's right and rear, in order to favour the movement upon the convent and cut off the retreat towards the capital. And finally, Shields, senior brigadier to Pierce, with the New York and South Carolina volunteers, (Quitman's division,) was ordered to follow Pierce, closely, and to take the command of our left wing. All these movements were made with the utmost alacrity by our gallant troops and commanders. Finding myself at Coyoacan, from which so many roads conveniently branched, without escort or reserve, I had to advance, for safety, close upon Twiggs's rear. The battle now raged from the right to the left of our whole line. Learning, on the return of Captain Lee, that Shields, in the rear of Churubusco, was hard pressed, and in danger of being outflanked, if not overwhelmed, by greatly superior numbers, I immediately sent, under Major Sumner, 2d dragoons, the rifles, (Twiggs's reserve,) and Captain Sibley's troop, 2d dragoons, then at hand, to support our left, guided by the same engineer. About an hour earlier, Worth had, by skilful and daring movements upon the front and right, turned and forced San Antonio-its garrison, no doubt, much shaken by our decisive victory at Contreras. His second brigade, (Colonel Clarke's,) conducted by Captain Mason, engineer, assisted by Lieutenant Hardcastle, topographical engineer, turned the right, and by Battle of Churubusco. a wide sweep, came out upon the high road to the capital. At this point, the heavy garrison (three thousand men) in retreat, was, by Clarke cut in the centre: one portion, the rear driven upon Dolores, off to the right; and the other upon Churubusco, in the direct line of our operations. The first brigade, (Colonel Garland's,) same division, consisting of the second artillery, under Major Galt, the 3d artillery, under Lieutenant-Colonel Belton, and the 4th infantry, commanded by Major F. Lee, with Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan's field battery (temporarily) followed in pursuit through the town, taking one general prisoner, the abandoned guns, (five pieces,) much ammunition and other public property. The forcing of San Antonio was the second brilliant event of the day. Worth's division being soon reunited in hot pursuit, he was joined by Major-General Pillow, who, marching from Coyoacan and discovering that San Antonio had been carried, immediately turned to the left, according to my instruction, and though much impeded by ditches and swamps, hastened to the attack of Churubusco. The hamlet or scattered houses, bearing this name, presented, besides the fortified convent, a strong fieldwork, (tete de pont) with regular bastions and curtains, at the head of a bridge, over which the road passes from San Antonio to the capital. The whole remaining forces of Mexico-some twentyseven thousand men-cavalry, artillery, and infantry, collected from every quarter-were now in, on the flanks or within supporting distance of those works, and seemed resolved to make a last and desperate stand; for if beaten here, the feebler defenses at the gates of the Battle of Churubusco. city-four miles off-could not, as was well known to both parties, delay the victors an hour. The capital of an ancient empire, now of a great republic; or an early peace, the assailants were resolved to win. Not an American-and we were less than a third of the enemy's numbers had a doubt as to the result. The fortified church or convent, hotly pressed by Twiggs, had already held out about an hour, when Worth and Pillow-the latter having with him only Cadwalader's brigade-began to maneuver upon the tete de pont, with the convent at half gun-shot, to their left. Garland's brigade, (Worth's division,) to which had been added the light battalion under Lieutenant- ⚫ Colonel Smith, continued to advance in front, and under the fire of a long line of infantry, off on the left of the brigade; and Clarke, of the same division, directed his brigade along the road or close by its side. Two of Pillow's and Cadwalader's regiments, the 11th and 14th, supported and participated in this direct movement: the other (the voltigeurs) was left in reserve. Most of these corps-particularly Clarke's brigade, advancing perpendicularly were made to suffer much by the fire of the tete de pont, and they would have suffered greatly more by flank attacks from the convent, but for the pressure of Twiggs on the other side of that work. This well-combined and daring movement, at length reached the principal point of attack, and the formidable tete de pont, was, at once, assaulted and carried by the bayonet. Its deep wet ditch was first gallantly crossed by the 8th and 5th infantry, commanded respectively by Major Waite and Lieutenant-Colonel Scott-followed closely, by the 6th infantry, (same brigade) which had Battle of Churubusco. been so much exposed in the road-the 11th regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Graham, and the 14th, commanded by Colonel Trousdale, both of Cadwalader's brigade, Pillow's division. About the same time, the enemy, in front of Garland, after a hot conflict of an hour and a half, gave way, in a retreat towards the capital. The immediate result of this third signal triumph of the day were three field-pieces, one hundred and ninetytwo prisoners, much ammunition and two colours, taken in the tete de pont. As the concurrent attack upon the convent favoured physically and morally, the assault upon the tete de pont, so, reciprocally, no doubt, the fall of the latter, contributed to the capture of the former. The two works only some four hundred and fifty yards apart; and as soon as we were in possession of the tete de pont, a captured four-pounder was turned and fired-first by Captain Larkin Smith, and next by Lieutenant Snelling, both of the 8th infantry-several times upon the convent. In the same brief interval, Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan, (also of Worth's division,) gallantly brought two of his guns to bear, at a short range, from the San Antonio road, upon the principal face of the work, and on the tower of the church, which, in the obstinate contest had been often refilled with some of the best sharp-shooters of the enemy. Finally, twenty minutes after the tete de pont had been carried by Worth and Pillow, and at the end of a desperate conflict of two hours and a half, the church or convent-the citadel of the strong line of defense along the rivulet of Churubusco-yielded to Twiggs's division, |