he fetters from the hands of Texas.
No further attempt was made to conquer it, and General Houston became
the hero and the first president of the new republic. When Texas was
made a part of the United States, Houston was one of its first senators,
and in later years he served as governor of the State. His splendid
victory had made him its favorite son.

_CAPTAIN ROBERT E. LEE AND THE LAVA-BEDS._

The Mexican War, brief as was its period of operations in the field, was
marked by many deeds of daring, and also was the scene of the first
service in the field of various officers who afterward became prominent
in the Civil War. Chief among these were the two great leaders on the
opposite sides, General Lee and General Grant. Lee's services in the
campaign which Scott conducted against the city of Mexico were
especially brilliant, and are likely to be less familiar to the reader
than any incident drawn from his well-known record in the Civil War. The
most striking among them was his midnight crossing of the lava-fields
before Contreras.

On the 19th of August, 1847, Scott's army lay in and around San
Augustin, a place situated on a branch of the main road running south
from the city of Mexico. This road divided into two at Churubusco, the
other branch running near Contreras. Between these two roads and a ridge
of hills south of San Augustin extended a triangular region known as the
Pedregal, and about as ugly a place to cross as any ground could well
be.

It was made up of a vast spread of volcanic rock and scoriae, rent and
broken into a thousand forms, and with sharp ridges and deep fissures,
making it very difficult for foot-soldiers to get over, and quite
impassable for cavalry or artillery. It was like a sea of hardened lava,
with no signs of vegetation except a few clumps of bushes and dwarf
trees that found footing in the rocks. The only road across it was a
difficult, crooked, and barely passable pathway, little better than a
mule track, leading from San Augustin to the main road from the city of
Mexico.

On the plateau beyond this sterile region the Mexicans had gathered in
force. Just beyond it General Valencia lay intrenched, with his fine
division of about six thousand men and twenty-four guns, commanding the
approach from San Augustin. A mile or more north of Contreras lay
General Santa Anna, his force holding the main city road.

Such was the situation of the respective armies at the date given, w