Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/188

Rh hopeless, unwilling to ﬁght, and enfeebled by their hardships and misbehavior at Corpus Christi. According to Mexican reports our cavalry could neither shoot nor control their hard- -bitted horses, and our infantry, chieﬂy composed~except the ofﬁcers—of needy foreigners, came short in discipline, training and every other soldierly qualiﬁcation save appetite.

"Those adventurers cannot withstand the bayonet charge of our foot," said Mejía, "nor a cavalry charge with the lance."

No very alarming degree of intelligence had appeared to direct the American operations. Our troops were on a point exposed to a convergent ﬁre; Fort Brown enﬂladed none of the hostile batteries, though it might have been planned to do this; near the cavalry camp stood thick groves offering shelter to assailants; behind our main position was a lagoon forming