Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/505

Rh been directing their attention mainly to the river dikes with their tête de pont, soon recognized as the key to the position. The sixth regiment tried at the outset to follow Santa Anna's retreating men into this stronghold; and it might have succeeded but for a well-directed cannonade from the convent side, which made it recoil in confusion. Support was near, however; and now began more cautious operations; for the batteries of the tête de pont stood prepared to hold their own, under the management too of the San Patricios, composed of Irish deserters, who sought in religious sympathy an excuse for turning traitors. The stalled trains afforded a protection against their raking volleys, however, and enabled Cadwalader to penetrate to a point between the bridge and the convent, and cut a valuable connection, while the other brigades deployed to the right and along the dikes. After nearly two hours of ineffectual firing and charging, a part of Clarke's force managed to cross the river some distance east of the tête de pont and fall upon its rear. At the same time another section made a dash across the ditch in front, and climbing over the wall pell-mell, without ladders, carried the works at the point of the bayonet. A stream of men now poured over the bridge, driving the foremost lines in disorder upon the main columns of Santa Anna. Without an attempt to press the advantage gained on the right, and without an effort at a rally, the latter abandoned resistance and turned in flight toward the city walls, with the Americans in close pursuit, among them the lately almost overwhelmed brigades of Shields and Pierce.

But there are stancher officers than Santa Anna, who know how to join patriotic soldiers in redeeming the national honor. The convent still holds forth in stern defiance, its stout handful at bay, single-handed against superior numbers, and even venturing on futile sallies. But the flight of the reserve precipitates its