Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/172

 134 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS Mexicans evacuated Matamoras, and Gen. Taylor took possession, May 18. The Rio Grande, except at time of flood, offered little obstacle to predatory incursions, and it was obviously sound policy to press the enemy back from the border. Gen. Taylor, therefore, moved forward to Camargo, on the San Juan, a tributary of the Rio Grande. This last-named river rose so as to enable steamboats to transport troops and supplies, and by September a sufficiently large force of volunteers had reported at Gen. Taylor s headquarters to justify a further march into the interior, but the move must be by land, and for that there was far from adequate transportation. Hiring Mexican packers to supplement the little transportation on hand, he was able to add one division of volunteers to the regulars of his com mand, and with a force of 6,625 men of all arms he marched against Monterey, a fortified town of great natural strength, garrisoned by 10,000 men under Gen. Ampudia. On September 19 he en camped before the town, and on the 21st began the attack. On the third day Gen. Ampudia pro posed to surrender, commissioners were appointed, and terms of capitulation agreed upon, by which the enemy were to retire beyond a specified line, and the United States forces were not to advance beyond that line during the next eight weeks or until the pleasure of the respective governments