d about this time
we began to meet them moving along the trail, one or two companies at
a time. No men ever embarked upon a military expedition with a greater
love for the work before them than the Missourians; but if discipline
and subordination be the criterion of merit, these soldiers were
worthless indeed. Yet when their exploits have rung through all America,
it would be absurd to deny that they were excellent irregular troops.
Their victories were gained in the teeth of every established precedent
of warfare; they were owing to a singular combination of military
qualities in the men themselves. Without discipline or a spirit of
subordination, they knew how to keep their ranks and act as one man.
Doniphan's regiment marched through New Mexico more like a band of free
companions than like the paid soldiers of a modern government. When
General Taylor complimented Doniphan on his success at Sacramento and
elsewhere, the colonel's reply very well illustrates the relations which
subsisted between the officers and men of his command:

"I don't know anything of the maneuvers. The boys kept coming to me,
to let them charge; and when I saw a good opportunity, I told them they
might go. They were off like a shot, and that's all I know about it."

The backwoods lawyer was better fitted to conciliate the good-will than
to command the obedience of his men. There were many serving under him,
who both from character and education could better have held command
than he.

At the battle of Sacramento his frontiersmen fought under every possible
disadvantage. The Mexicans had chosen their own position; they were
drawn up across the valley that led to their native city of Chihuahua;
their whole front was covered by intrenchments and defended by batteries
of heavy cannon; they outnumbered the invaders five to one. An eagle
flew over the Americans, and a deep murmur rose along their lines. The
enemy's batteries opened; long they remained under fire, but when at
length the word was given, they shouted and ran forward. In one of the
divisions, when midway to the enemy, a drunken officer ordered a halt;
the exasperated men hesitated to obey.

"Forward, boys!" cried a private from the ranks; and the Americans,
rushing like tigers upon the enemy, bounded over the breastwork. Four
hundred Mexicans were slain upon the spot and the rest fled, scattering
over the plain like sheep. The standards, cannon, and baggage were
taken, and among the