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 XXIII

FORCING THE CITY GATES

General Bravo, commanding the castle, had surrendered his sword. A young New Yorker, Lieutenant Charles Brower, was conducting him to General Quitman, who had just arrived. General Pillow was here, pale and breathing hard and unable to stand. He had been carried right along with the column.

All was confusion, of shouting soldiers, waving their caps and capering and shaking hands; of wounded, both Americans and Mexicans—the bravest among them being the little Mexican cadets; of officers trying to rally their companies, and so forth and so forth. Eight hundred prisoners were assembled under guard.

Jerry heard excited talk. The Voltigeurs of Lieutenant-Colonel Joe Johnston claimed to have been the first to plant a flag; the New York company, of Lieutenant Mayne Reid, disputed. The Volunteers were singing their "Green grow the rushes, O!" The Palmettos had charged up the hill without firing a shot; the bayonet was their weapon. News flashed thick and fast. Colonel Ransom, of the Ninth Infantry, had been killed. So had Major Twiggs, of the Marines—brother to Old Davy—while leading a detachment of Volunteers in the Quitman two storming columns. The Quitman stormers had lost both their commanding officers, for Captain Casey, of the Second Infantry, had fallen also.