Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/359

Rh aloes, and undergrowth, matted into impenetrable thickets, known in Mexico as chapparal. The action was begun by the infantry in skirmishes with the foe, and after the centre of the position on the road had been severely harassed and damaged by our flying artillery, a gallant charge of the dragoons broke the Mexican lines and opened a pathway to Matamoros. The engagement lasted a short time after this combined movement of artillery and cavalry, but, before night fall the enemy was in full flight to the river and our garrison at the fort joyously relieved. In the interval, this position had been bombarded and cannonaded by the Mexicans from the opposite side of the river, and its commanding officer slain. In memory of his valiant defence, the place has been honored with the name of Fort Brown.

After General Taylor had occupied Matamoros on the 18th of May,—and he was only prevented from capturing it and all the Mexican forces and ammunition on the night of the 9th by the want of a pontonpontoon [sic] train, which he had vainly demanded,—he established his base line for future operations in the interior, along the Rio Grande, extending several hundred miles near that stream. His task of organizing, accepting, or rejecting the multitudes of recruits who flocked to his standard, was not only oppressive but difficult, for he found it hard to disappoint the patriotic fervor of hundreds who were anxious to engage in the war. The Quatermaster's department, too, was one of incessant toil and anxiety; because, called unexpectedly and for the first time into active service in the field, it was comparatively unprepared to answer the multitude of requisitions that were daily made upon it by the government, the general officers, and the recruits. The whole material of a campaign was to be rapidly created. Money was to be raised; steamers bought; ships chartered; wagons built and transported; levies brought to the field of action; munitions of war and provisions distributed over the whole vast territory which it was designed to occupy! Whilst these things were going on, the country, at home, was ripe, and most eager for action.

Nor was our government inattentive to the internal politics of Mexico. It perceived at once that there was no hope of effecting a peace with the administration of Paredes, whose bitter hostility was of course, not mitigated by the first successes of our arms. Santa Anna, it will be recollected had left Mexico niter the amnesty in 1845, and it was known there was open hostility between him and Paredes who had contributed so greatly to his downfall. Information was, moreover, received from reliable sources in