Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/235

Rh The story of the siege of Queretaro and the deeds of daring on both sides is now tolerably familiar to the reading public. Maximilian sent out Miramon with the flower of his army to attack, and if possible, capture Juarez at Zacatecas. He captured the city, Juarez barely escaping, but next day was attacked and routed by Escobedo, and on the following day, having retreated thirty miles and united his forces to those of Castillo, was again overtaken and routed completely, by Escobedo, his whole army being killed or dispersed, and himself escaping wounded, and with but a handful of men remaining.

On the fourteenth of April, Corona made a daring and desperate attack upon the strong-hold of Las Cruces, and scaling the high walls of the cemetery on the north-east side, occupied a position under the very walls of the Convent for an hour, but was driven out at last by the besieged, after a hand-to-hand conflict. Later in the siege, Corona, while resting his forces in the plain, in the rear of the Casa Blanca, was surprised in the early morning by the forces under Miramon, who marched under the cover of the night from the Casa Blanca to the Alameda, and suddenly flanking his position, routed him, and compelled him to retreat to the hills, a few hundred yards in the rear. This, however, gained him no permanent advantage, and he was in turn flanked by Escobedo, and compelled to retire within the intrenchments.

The sortie made with a view of escaping to Morelia, had been made by Maximilian's forces previous to this surprise of Corona, and had failed. Now for the final catastrophe. The story, I heard from one of the officers of the court-martial which condemned Maximilian,