r, all our hopes fled, and
our previous doubts as to whether there really were any troops at
Victoria, became confirmed. The Mexican artillery had come up during the
night, and now appeared stationed with the detachment which cut us off
from the wood.

It was seven o'clock; we had given up all hopes of succour, and had
assembled together to deliberate on the best mode of attacking the
Mexicans, when their artillery suddenly bellowed forth a morning
salutation, and the balls came roaring over and around us. These
messengers hastened our decision, and we resolved at once to attack the
troops upon the road with rifle and bowie-knife, and at all hazards and
any loss to gain the wood. All were ready; even the wounded, those at
least who were able to stand, made ready to accompany us, determined to
die fighting, rather than be unresistingly butchered. Suddenly, and at
the very moment that we were about to advance, the white flag, the
symbol of peace, was raised upon the side of the Mexicans. Mistrusting
their intentions, however, we were going to press forward, when
Fanning's command checked us. He had conceived hopes of rescuing himself
and his comrades, by means of an honourable capitulation, from the
perilous position into which he could not but feel that his own
obstinacy had brought them.

Three of the enemy's officers now approached our camp, two of them
Mexican cavalry-men, the third a German who had got into favour with
Santa Anna, and had risen to be colonel of artillery. He was, if I am
not mistaken, a native of Mayence, and originally a carpenter, but
having some talent for mathematics and architecture, he had entered the
service of an English mining company, and been sent to Mexico. There
Santa Anna employed him to build his well-known country-house of Mango
do Clavo, and conceiving, from the manner in which the work was
executed, a high opinion of the talent of the builder, he gave him a
commission in the engineers, and in time made him colonel of artillery.
This man, whose name was Holzinger, was the only one who spoke English
of the three officers who came with the flag of truce; and as he spoke
it very badly, a great deal of our conference took place in German, and
was then retranslated into Spanish. After a long discussion, Fanning
agreed to the following conditions: namely, that we should deliver up
our arms, that our private property should be respected, and we
ourselves sent to Corpano or Matamora, there