Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/461

Rh a battery of two guns, and a second one where the aqueduct and causeway lead off to the San Cosmé road.

The castle suffered terribly from the fire of the American batteries on the 12th. The guns were aimed with such precision that the flag-staff was several times carried away; the lofty dome surmounting the magnificent pile was shivered; the light woodwork of the apartments appropriated to the school was torn into splinters; embrasures were shattered; thick stone walls crumbled away; sodded rampe and terrace were furrowed by the ploughing shot; and a wide breach was effected in the southern wall near El Molino del Rey. Howitzer shells fell hissing and sputtering into the pools of water in the wet and springy grove at the western base of Chapultepec, and whirling balls came thundering and crashing down upon the heads of the men in the breastworks. Both the garrison and the supporting force sustained a severe loss; discipline scarcely remained among the terrified soldiers; the confidence based on superior strength, in numbers and position, was nearly gone; they were already cowed and disheartened; and numbers deserted on the night of the 12th, anxious but to escape the horrors of the assault which they anticipated would soon be made.

At dark, the Americans, who had been comparatively unharmed, suspended their fire, and General Pillow drew his whole force down to the mill. The enemy's works were now well crippled, and, at another meeting of his officers. General Scott made his final arrangements for storming the castle on the morning of the 13th. The bombardment was ordered to be continued for two or three hours after sunrise, and the momentary cessation of the fire was to be the signal for the assault. General