Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/451

Rh of inferior rank. While this was occurring, O'Brien and Thomas made a desperate stand with their guns. But though their discharges of grape and canister tore through the opposing ranks, they could not arrest the advance of the Mexicans. There was no faltering on the part of these; the shock on the column at each discharge was terrible, but the gaps were instantly filled up, and the masses surged ever forward. O'Brien, a hundred yards in advance of Thomas, worked his pieces till their flash scorched the nearest files as they were swept down. He and his few remaining men were wounded, and delivering his last fire in the very faces of their foes, they escaped to the rear, leaving the guns in the hands of the Mexicans. Victory seemed certain. But Taylor, after the successes on the left, had at once ordered the Mississippi and Indiana regiments, and Bragg's and Sherman's batteries, up to the plateau, and these forces are now hastening thither at full speed. Bragg first arrives — at the critical moment when O'Brien's guns are taken — and though there is no infantry to support him, opens fire at once. The hostile columns are almost at the muzzles of his pieces, but the first discharge causes them to hesitate; a second and a third quickly follow and throw them into disorder. Sherman arrives, and the havoc spreads. The Mississippi and Indiana regiments, which have hastened across the gullies and ridges, mount the northern edge of the plateau, and pour their fire into the right flank of the Mexicans, who can no longer stand their ground. At all points they are repulsed and retreat into the depths of the ravine.

It was now late in the afternoon. A violent storm fell on the fiercely contending armies, the lightning and thunder quelling the cannon's flash and roar; the operations on both sides nearly ceased. When night fell the