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112 came in range of the castle, the firing was very severe. Colonel Ransom, of the Ninth, was killed, and General Pillow was wounded. But the troops advanced steadily till they gained the crest of the hill. At this point there was some delay, as the scaling ladders had not arrived, but during the delay two of Quitman's regiments and Clarke's brigade reinforced the storming party. As soon as the ladders came, the men rushed forward with them, jumped into the ditch, and planted the ladders for the assault on the castle. Lieutenant Selden was the first man to mount. The Mexicans concentrated all their energies to repel this final attack. A furious and well-aimed fire dashed the foremost of the stormers into the ditch, killing Lieutenants Rogers and Smith, and clearing the ladders of the men that were ascending. A new storming-party advanced and mounted the ladders, and, after a short struggle, Captain Howard, of the voltigeurs, gained a footing on the parapet. McKenzie of the forlorn hope followed him, and close behind came a swarm of voltigeurs and infantry, who, with loud shouts and cheers, dashed in upon the garrison with the bayonet. Almost simultaneously with the work just described, Johnstone, of the voltigeurs, who had led a small party round to the gate of the castle, broke it open, and forced an entrance in the face of a furious fire from the southern walls. The two parties united, and then followed a furious conflict inside the building. The stormers were frenzied by the remembrance of the murder of their wounded comrades at Molino del Rey, and at first they showed no quarter. The Mexicans were bayoneted or shot without any heed to their appeals for mercy. Many flung themselves over the parapet and down the hill-side, and were dashed to death against the rocks. Others fought with the fury of desperation, expending their last breath in maledictions, and dying in the act of aiming shots or blows upon their assailants. Streams of blood