Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/255

Rh the Sierra Madre. About five miles south of Saltillo is the hacienda of and a short distance beyond this the flanking mountains incline nearer to each other, and form the pass of Angostura. The attention of General Taylor was called to this position by General Wool, as being one which a small army could easily maintain against a larger force. Notwithstanding its advantages, the former decided to proceed to Agua Nueva, as he had at first intended, and if Santa Anna approached with his army, to fall back to the ground which he saw at a glance was well adapted to the limited numbers of his command. By this means he would be enabled to practise a ruse upon the enemy, and lead them to attack him in a position of his own selection, and which he felt fully competent to hold. This determination was strengthened on his arrival at Agua Nueva, which he found to be a more exposed position, and one that could be readily turned on either flank. Information having been received that the Mexican forces were concentrating in his front, General Taylor ordered Major McCulloch, with a party of Texan spies, to reconnoitre the San Luis road. The detachment left Agua Nueva on the 16th of February, and about midnight encountered a small body of the enemy's cavalry, whom they drove towards Encarnacion, and then returned to camp. On the 20th instant a strong reconnaissance was dispatched to the hacienda of Heclionda, under Lieutenant Colonel May, and Major McCulloch made another examination of Encarnacion. The reports of these officers rendered it certain that Santa Anna, instead of marching with the forces which he had concentrated at San Luis Potosi, to meet General Scott at Vera Cruz, had