the ten-hour's conflict began. We shall not attempt to rehearse the
history of that fearful battle: it is written forever on the memory of
the nation. The advance of the hostile host with muskets and swords, and
bayonets gleaming in the morning sun; the shouts of the marshaled
foemen; the opening roar of the artillery; the sheeted fire of the
musketry; the unchecked approach of the enemy; the outflanking by their
cavalry and its concentration in our rear; the immovable fortitude of
the Illinoians; the flight of the panic-stricken Indianians; the fall of
Lincoln; the wild shouts of Mexican triumph; the deadly and successful
charge upon the battery of O'Brien; the timely arrival of General Taylor
from Saltillo, and his composed survey, amid the iron hail, of the scene
of battle; the terrible onset of the Kentuckians and Illinoians; the
simultaneous opening of the batteries upon the Mexican masses in the
front and the rear; the impetuous but ill-fated charge of their cavalry
upon the rifles of Mississippi; the hemming-in of that cavalry, and the
errand of Lieutenant Crittenden to demand of Santa Anna its surrender;
the response of the confident chieftain by a similar demand; the
immortal rejoinder, "General Taylor never surrenders!" the escape of the
cavalry to a less exposed position; its baffled charge upon the Saltillo
train; its attack upon the hacienda, and its repulse by the horse of
Kentucky and Arkansas; the fall of Yell and Vaughan, the insolent
mission, under a white flag, to inquire what General Taylor was waiting
for; the curt reply "for General Santa Anna to surrender;" the junction,
by this ruse, of the Mexican cavalry in our rear with their main army;
the concentrated charge upon the American line; the overpowering of the
battery of O'Brien; the fearful crisis; the reinforcement of Captain
Bragg "by Major Bliss and I;" the "little more grape, Captain Bragg;"
the terrific carnage; the pause, the advance, the disorder, and the
retreat; the too eager pursuit of the Kentuckians and Illinoians down
the ravines; the sudden wheeling around of the retiring mass; the
desperate struggle, and the fall of Harden, McKee, and Clay; the
imminent destruction, and the rescuing artillery; the last breaking and
scattering of the Mexican squadrons and battalions; the joyous embrace
of Taylor and Wool; and Old Rough and Ready's "'Tis impossible to whip
us when we all pull together;" the arrival of cold nightfall; the
fireless, an