Page:Complete history of the late Mexican war.djvu/37

Rh were directed to retire in order and make an attack from some other point. Capt. Backus of the 1st Infantry, succeeded, with fifty men, in stationing himself in a tan yard about a hundred and thirty yards in the rear of the battery No. 1, and nearer the town. There was a shed with a wall which served as a breast work for our men. Twenty yards southwest of the battery was a distillery with thick walls, on the top of which were sand bag embrasures. Capt. Backus drove the enemy from this. Two companies of the 4th Infantry (90 strong) moved forward under a terrible fire, and determined to storm a work defended by five hundred men.

Now the Mississippi and Tennessee regiments, under General Quitman, advanced and finally took possession of the battery, after great loss. This was severe fighting. Major Lear was severely wounded, Lieut. D. S. Irwin killed, Capt. G. P. Field killed by lancers. Lieutenants Hoskins and Woods were killed and Lieutenant Graham mortally wounded. Major Abercrombie and Capt. La Motte were slightly wounded. Lieut. Dillworth lost a leg and Lieut. Ferret was taken prisoner.

The division was ordered to the captured battery to support Ridgely's battery, about to advance into the city. Our men had the mortar and three twenty-four-pound howitzers playing upon the city and one of them having been taken to the captured work was firing upon Fort Diablo. A body of men, from the 3rd and 4th Infantry, of one hundred and fifty, were now ordered to enter the city and take possession of a work of the enemy, apparently a few streets distant. They were exposed to a most destructive fire; but moved on, taking advantage of every shelter in their way. Capt. L. N. Morris, 3rd Infantry was commander. Our men crossed one street and were fully exposed to the guns