Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/200

168 from sickness, being present, and directing the movements of his command.

The column under Lieutenant Colonel Garland was soon exposed to the converging fire of the citadel and the redoubts, and annoyed by the galling discharges of musketry from the adjacent houses and stone walls. Moving rapidly to the light of the fort at the northeastern angle, an attempt was made to carry it by gaining a position in the rear. Shower upon shower of balls fell upon and around them; yet they pressed nobly on. Again and again that "iron sleet" poured down,

The stoutest hearted of them all began to quail. The best and bravest, of both officers and men, had fallen, and the whole column seemed devoted to immediate destruction. Still those men were ready for the advance; their bosoms throbbed with anxiety, but they sheltered no coward hearts. It was madness, however, for the officers further to expose their commands, while the enemy were protected by their breastworks and barricades; and most of them were temporarily withdrawn to places of comparative.security. The battery under Captain Bragg was terribly cut up, and compelled to retire out of range. Captain Backus, of the 1st infantry, with portions of the different companies, gained the roof of a tannery looking directly into the gorge of the fort; and had just commenced pouring his destructive volleys into the work, when General Quitman arrived upon the ground with his brigade of volunteers, and three companies of the 4th infantry under Major Allen. They, too, encountered a most withering fire. The Tennessee regiment sustained a severe