Page:Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant Volume I.pdf/102



THE MEXICAN WAR—THE BATTLE OF PALO ALTO—THE BATTLE OF RESACA DE AL PALMA—ARMY OF INVASION—GENERAL TAYLOR—MOVEMENT ON CAMARGO. HILE General Taylor was away with the bulk of his army, the little garrison up the river was besieged. As we lay in our tents upon the sea-shore, the artillery at the fort on the Rio Grande could be distinctly heard.

The war had begun.

There were no possible means of obtaining news from the garrison, and information from outside could not be otherwise than unfavorable. What General Taylor′s feelings were during this suspense I do not know; but for myself, a young second-lieutenant who had never heard a hostile gun before, I felt sorry that I had enlisted. A great many men, when they smell battle afar off, chafe to get into the fray. When they say so themselves they generally fail to convince their hearers that they are as anxious as they would like to make believe, and as they approach danger they become more subdued. This rule is not universal, for I have