Operations of General Worth. which ran down the steep and filled his face with fragments of rock, dust, and gravel. The fire was accompanied by a constant discharge of musketry, the enemy covering the upper part of the hill-side; but the detachment continued to move up, driving the Mexicans back, until they were recalled. Captain Smith's party now arrived and moved up the hill, the rangers in advance, and did not halt for an instant until the Mexicans were driven from the summit. Whilst this was going on, Colonel Persifer F. Smith, who commanded the 5th and 7th infantry-the 5th with Blanchard's Louisiana boys, under Major Martin Scott, had been ordered to support the whole-gave orders for these commands to pass around on each side and storm the fort, which was situated about half a mile back of the summit on the same ridge and commanded the Bishop's Palace. Such a foot-race as now ensued has seldom ever been seen; the Louisiana boys making tremendous strides to be in with the foremost. Captain Smith had the gun which he took upon the height, run towards the breast-works, and fired into it. Then came Colonel P. F. Smith's men, with a perfect rush, firing and cheeringthe 5th and 7th, and Louisianians, reaching the ridge above nearly at the same time. The Mexicans fired at us with grape, but it did not cause an instant's hesitation in our ranks. Our men ran and fired, and cheered until they reached the work, the foremost entering at one end while the Mexicans, about a thousand in number, left the other in retreat. The colours of the 5th infantry were instantly raised, and scarcely were they up before those of the 7th were alongside. The three commands extered the fort together-so close was the race-the 5th Operations of General Worth. a little in advance. J. W. Miller, of Blanchard's company, was among the first four or five who entered. The three commands may be said to have come out even in the race, for the 7th was not five seconds behind. In less than five minutes the gun found in the fort was thundering away at the Bishop's Palace. On the morning of the 21st, Colonel Childs of the artillery battalion, with three of his companies-one commanded by Captain Vinton, another by Captain J. B. Scott, and the third by Lieutenant Ayres-and three companies of the 8th infantry-company A, commanded by Lieutenant Longstreet and Wainright; company B, by Lieutenant Halloway and Merchant; company D, by Captain Schrivner and Lieutenant Montgomery—was ordered to take the summit of Palace Hill. The colonel left the camp at three o'clock A.M., and climbed the mountain through the chaparral, and up the steep rocks, with such secrecy, that at daybreak he was within one hundred yards of the breastwork of sandbags before he was discovered. Three of the artillerymen having rushed ahead too fast, found themselves in the hands of the Mexicans. They surrendered, and were shot down with the very pieces they had given up. I saw the poor fellows lying there. Colonel Staniford went up at daylight with the balance of the 8th, and Major Scott led up the 5th. The Louisiana troops were on the hill, with the 5th, at 8 A.M. One of Duncan's howitzers, in charge of Lieutenant Rowland, was dragged up, or rather lifted up, and opened on the palace, which was filled with troops. The Mexicans charged on the howitzer, but were driven back. A constant firing was kept up for several hours, particu Operations of General Worth. larly by Blanchard's men, who left a dozen Mexicans dead upon the hill-side. At length a charge was ordered, and our men rushed down upon the palace, entered a hole in a door that had been blocked up, but opened by the howitzer, and soon cleared the work of the few Mexicans who remained. Lieutenant Ayres was the lucky one who first reached the halyards and lowered the flag. One eighteen-pound brass piece, a beautiful article, manufactured in Liverpool in 1842, and a short brass twelve-pound howitzer, were captured, with a large quantity of ammunition, and some muskets and lances. The fort adjoining the palace walls is not complete, but is very neatly constructed as far as it is built. The killed on our side, in taking the palace, were seven— wounded, twelve. Lieutenant Wainright was wounded in the side and arm by a musket-ball. Colonel Childs, Captain Vinton, Captain Blanchard, Lieutenant Longstreet, Lieutenant Clark, (adjutant of the 8th,) Lieutenant Ayres, Lieutenant McCown, and the two Nicholls, seem to have been the heroes of the day. The two latter performed prodigies, and not only Judge Nicholls, but old Louisiana may well be proud of such sons. The Mexicans lost at least thirty killed. Yesterday morning the whole division under General Worth entered the town on this side, and have been fighting there ever since. The heart of the city is nothing but one fortification, the thick walls being pierced for muskets and cannon, and placed so as to rake the principal streets. The roofs being flat, and the front walls rising three or four feet above the roof, of course every street has a line of breastworks on each side. A ten-inch mortar came around from General |