Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/165

Rh by a short halt, and supplied himself with mules to draw the artillery, instead of the horses which were completely worn down in the march, General Kearny proceeded on his route. After leaving the valley of the Arkansas the country became more mountainous. The road lay over the spurs of the Cordilleras, between the head waters of the Cimmaron and Canadian rivers, and those of the Rio Grande. The first range which they crossed was the Raton. The scene presented from its summit is described as being of great sublimity. To the northwest was Pike's Peak, the highest point of the Rocky Mountains north of the city of Chihuahua; while to the south and west were tall mountain ridges, some covered with evergreens, but most of them mere masses of rock, entirely destitute of wood, here glistening like silver in the sunlight, and there "grim, old, and gray," as the ruins of antiquity. To those who gazed upon them, it was easy to fancy they often saw in the distance the turrets and donjon keep of a feudal castle, with the banners of its lord streaming proudly in the wind from the time-worn battlements; and further on, the tottering spire, the crumbling arch, and broken nave, of some old cathedral fallen to decay.

General Kearny arrived at the Lower Moro, the first Mexican town upon the road to Santa Fé, on the 13th of August, and at the Upper Moro, on the following day. At the latter point there was a fort which had been occupied by a small party of soldiers, who had retired on the approach of the American army. At each village through which he passed, General Kearny directed the alcalde to take the oath of allegiance to