Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/195

166 bayonet; but he now halted. All his infantry except the Eighth regiment deployed into line. At strange words of command — "Haw, Brindle!" "Whoa, Brandy! — ten yoke of oxen wheeled each ammunition wagon into its place; and the cannon advanced. At this juncture Ampudia's column approached the field. Canales led his men a considerable distance forward into the scattered Chaparral on the Mexican left, probably with a view to cutting off Taylor's retreat, and thus put himself entirely out of the battlefield; but the rest of the command proceeded toward their appointed place between Torrejón and the infantry, and as this movement appeared to mean a charge, the American fire. was turned in that direction Without faltering, however, they moved up to the line and deployed, but their route was marked with the fallen.

Now ensued about an hour of cannonading, supported by our troops with shouts that often drowned the roar of the guns, and endured by the Mexicans with unfailing constancy. Arista's pieces, though bravely and skilfully served, were mostly too light. The halls generally fell short, and as they ricocheted, our men stepped aside. But the American practice met every hope. Sometimes a single shot appeared to mow down a whole platoon of mounted men; and here, there, everywhere gaps opened in the infantry. With vivas the gaps instantly closed. but they would not stay closed.

Arista, a bold and experienced officer, expecting Taylor to act on such a plan as Taylor seems actually to have formed, intended to charge both flanks of the advancing Americans with cavalry supported by infantry; but the American artillery surprised him almost as much as if Taylor had used shooting stars. Probably the right course for him would have been to attack anyhow, for his men were still eager to fight, a cannon could be discharged only about once a minute, and our batteries would not have done much more harm at 70 than at 700 yards But apparently it seemed impracticable to wallow slowly for such a distance through the grass, the sharp edges of which would have cut the legs of his poorly dressed soldiers badly, under so withering a ﬁre. Something had to be done, however, for the troops grew impatient. He therefore directed his right wing to prepare for a charge, and ordered Torrejón