on the second lunette failed with heavy loss to the Americans. The next
morning Worth endeavored to capture the fortified eminence south of the
river. The Americans advanced in the face of a plunging artillery fire. A
host of skirmishers clambered over the parapet and turned its guns on the
fleeing Mexicans, and, with two supporting regiments moving along the
slope, drove the Mexicans out of Fort Saldado. At daybreak the hill on the
north side of the river was carried. These positions commanded the western
half of the city. On the morning of the 23d, the American troops fought
their way in, but were driven out again. Worth's men then pushed into the
town from the west, and finding the streets swept by artillery, broke into
the houses. On the next morning, September 24, Ampudia capitulated. The
capture of Monterey inspired the American poet, Charles F. Hoffman, to a
song modelled after the famous St. Crispin's Day speech in Shakespeare's
"King Henry V.":

We were not many--we who stood
Before the iron sleet that day;
Yet many a gallant spirit would
Give half his years if he but could
Have been with us at Monterey.

Our banners on those turrets wave,
And there our evening bugles play;
Where orange-boughs above their grave
Keep green the memory of the brave
Who fought and fell at Monterey.

An armistice of eight weeks was agreed upon. The armistice was disapproved
by the American Secretary of War, and, in November, General Scott was
ordered to take command and conduct the war on his own plans.

[Sidenote: Revolution in Mexico]

In Mexico, General Paredes, who favored the restoration of monarchical
rule, was opposed by General Alvarez in the south. When Paredes left the
capital to go to the front, revolution broke out behind him. Don Mariano
Solas, the commandant of the City of Mexico, summoned to his aid General
Santa Anna. On his arrival this popular general, but recently banished from
the capital, was hailed as the saviour of his country and was invested with
the supreme military command. Paredes went into exile. Santa Anna, after
inexplicable delay, raised war funds to the amount of six million dollars,
and advanced toward San Luis Potosi. There the "Napoleon of the West," as
they called him in Mexico, wasted more precious months.

[Sidenote: Howe's sewing machine]

[Sidenote: Iowa becomes a State]

On the American side, too, little was done. On August 8, the Wilmot Proviso
was