Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/254

216 idle, and they surrendered themselves prisoners of war Captain Henrie of the Texan Rangers was with the detachment, but gallantly made his escape on the second day after their capture. On the 27th of January, a picket guard of seventeen men of the Kentucky volunteers, under Captain Heady, were also captured by the enemy. The advanced pickets were repeatedly driven in, and it was confidently rumored, that the main body of the Mexican forces under Santa. Anna were marching to attack the American army.

Leaving a force of fifteen hundred men to garrison the city of Monterey, General Taylor proceeded to Saltillo, early in February. While General Worth was in command at this point, a strong redoubt commanding the town and the plain in which it is situated, had been constructed by General Lane's Indiana brigade, under the direction of Lieutenant Kingsbury of the ordnance corps. Captain Webster occupied the redoubt with two twenty-four pounder howitzers, and several pieces of smaller calibre; and Major Warren, of the 1st Illinois foot, was directed to guard the town with four companies of the Illinois volunteers, two of each regiment. On the 8th of February the remainder of the army, about 5,000 strong, moved forward under General Taylor to Agua Nueva, where he could have the advantage of a large plain to drill his troops, and hold in observation the road from San Luis Potosi, and the different passes leading to Parras, Monclova, and Saltillo.

The road from Saltillo to Agua Nueva pursues a south-westerly course, through an irregular and broken valley, varying from two to three miles in width, and bounded on either side by the tall mountain ridges of