Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/166

138 the United States, and assured him and the citizens generally, that their persons, property and religion, would be sacredly respected.

While at the Upper Moro, the scouts sent out by General Kearny reported that the enemy were in force at the Moro Pass, a defile among the mountains about a mile distant from the village. On arriving there his men were drawn up in battle array, and preparations made to dislodge the Mexican forces. Just as the army were advancing, the general was informed that the enemy had retreated to the Pecos Pass, a remarkably strong position still further in the rear. At this place the canon, or valley, is contracted to a narrow gorge not more than twenty yards wide, through which the road passes on a shelf of rock jutting out from the cliffs, which rise almost perpendicular, several hundred feet high, on each side of the pass. Governor Armijo had collected here between three and four thousand men, with an apparent determination to dispute the passage with the American army. At the top of the ascent he planted his artillery, which raked the road, and were protected by a breastwork of felled trees. The mountain barriers securely guarded his flanks, and the position could only have been taken by a coup de main. With resolute defenders it might have been the Thermopylæ of New Mexico; but Armijo and his officers concluded to abandon it without firing a single gun in its defence, and retired in hot haste to Chihuahua. General Kearny passed through the defile, and entered the city of Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, on the 18th of August, without encountering the least resistance. Proceeding to the governor's house he took formal possession of the city and province. The American flag was hoisted in the