ent escort he
succeeded in conveying a load of ammunition to the point where it was
needed.

Soon after the battle of Monterey, Grant's regiment was sent to Vera
Cruz to reinforce the larger army that was to march under General
Scott to the "Halls of the Montezumas." Lieutenant Grant, as a
careful, substantial, and energetic officer, was selected for the
important position of quartermaster of the Fourth Regiment. The army
proceeded on its uninterrupted career of victory till the capital of
Mexico was in its possession. The heights of Cerro Gordo were stormed
and carried, and Grant, as usual, was in the thickest of the fight.

The first considerable obstacle after the capture of Vera Cruz having
been removed, the army proceeded on its march to the City of Mexico,
occupying Jalapa and Castle Perote on the way; but at Puebla the
forces were so reduced by sickness, death, and the expiration of
enlistments as to compel a halt. For three months General Scott was
compelled to wait for reinforcements; but when he could muster 11,000
effective men, a very small number for the conquest of a country, he
resumed his march, and in August arrived in the vicinity of the
capital. Outside of the causeways leading to the city were the
strongholds of Chapultepec and Cherubusco, and batteries mounting a
hundred guns.

Chapultepec was a fortification one hundred and fifty feet above the
average level of the ground. A front of nine hundred feet bristled
with cannon. Behind it was a mill called El Molino del Rey, fortified
and garrisoned, which defended the approach to the castle. The capture
of this work was assigned to General Worth, to whose command the
Fourth Regiment belonged. The assault was a desperate one, for it was
"the last ditch" of the Mexicans; but it was carried, though the
assailing force lost one-fourth of its number in the assault. "Second
Lieutenant Grant behaved with distinguished gallantry," is the
official report of his conduct. Though custom and the precedents of
the service permitted the quartermaster to remain at a safe distance
from actual fighting in charge of the baggage trains, Grant never
availed himself of this immunity from personal peril, but retained his
place with the regiment.

When the strong places which defended the city fell, Scott and his
army marched into the capital. The Mexican forces fled, and the United
States flag floated over the "Halls of the Montezumas." The country
was conquered, and th