Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/410

360 instructions, in consequence of the officers being without their horses, prevented their completion till long after sunset, and his orders were then countermanded. The night set in dark and lowering, gloomy and inauspicious. The cold rain began to pour down in torrents. The American soldiers were posted in the lanes and orchards, in the gardens and groves of San Geronimo. Feeble in numbers, ignorant of the country around, with no fires to cheer them, cold,wet, and hungry, — they were still sustained by the ambition and emulation that had achieved so much, and the soldierly pride and daring ready for any enterprise of danger or peril. Some few were sheltered in the church, and other buildings of the hamlet; others sought the friendly cover of a shrub or tree; but many lay down on the damp ground, wholly unprotected from the pelting storm. To all it was a lonely bivouac. Those who watched were well nigh overpowered with fatigue, and those who slumbered, awoke unrefreshed, to listen to the wild howlings of the blast!

On the other side of the pedregal, all was anxiety and suspense. General Pierce marched the remainder of his brigade to the left of the batteries, which ceased firing after nightfall. Generals Pillow and Twiggs made ineffectual efforts to cross over to the San Angel road, and seven different officers, dispatched by General Scott to communicate instructions to the troops at San Geronimo, lost their way in the darkness and were compelled to return.

In the meantime General Smith and his officers had assembled in consultation. They were obviously in a critical position, and liable at any moment to be surrounded by an overwhelming force. Had they been opposed by an active enemy, they would not have