Page:Notes of the Mexican war 1846-47-48.djvu/329

Rh He was was not a regular soldier, he merely volunteered during the siege of Puebla. He was well-dressed, and had a brand-new escopet, no doubt fitted out by his parents and friends. He is very intelligent, and says that there has been a great many killed and wounded since the siege commenced. The poor fellow censured our soldier for shooting him in cold blood. He not knowing that our men had captured the building. He only lived three hours, when he died. He was soon buried, near where he fell, without seeing his parents or priest, as there being no way to send for his parents or priest, on account of them living outside of our picket-line.

This evening Col. Childs sent Lieut. Laidly, of the United States Ordnance Corps, to blow up the building, as he could not spare the men to guard it.

So at 6 o'clock,, Lieut. Laidly blew it up, by placing a keg of powder under each corner of the building, and in a short time the whole building was in ruins. The shock and thundering reached the plaza, which caused considerable excitement among the citizens, they not knowing what to make of it. The bells of nearly all the churches rang. They expecting the d—— Yankees were going to blow up the whole city of Puebla, as the explosion made a most fearful noise.

After the explosion and the destruction of the building, Capt. Small and his party were withdrawn and returned to their quarters much exhausted and fatigued. They were received with applause and congratulation among their fellow soldiers. They were declared off duty for the night, and, of course, they all went to bed and had a sleep. They all spoke highly of Capt. Small as a bold and fearless leader who worked as hard to get through the walls as any of the men, and remarked, that if they succeeded in accomplishing their work in breaking through the whole row of houses, it would be recorded as one of the most daring deeds of the whole war.

They all say that the breaking through all these houses was no easy job, not knowing, when they got through one house,