provided a savory soup which she distributed to the men without charge.

Thus did she continue to fulfil her duties during the seven days that
the enemy kept up an incessant cannonade and bombardment. She was ever
to be found at her post; her meals were always ready at the proper hour,
and always of the best that the camp afforded. When the despatches, sent
by Walker, were made up for General Taylor on the evening of the 4th, a
number of officers and men wrote to their friends at Point Isabel; and
among them this courageous woman found time to communicate with her
husband who had not been despatched from the depot to Fort Brown. In
this document she expressed her full confidence in the ability of the
garrison to sustain itself, and only regretted the absence of her
spouse. To supply his place, however, she applied, early in the action,
for a musket and ammunition which she placed in security, expressing her
determination to have full satisfaction whenever the enemy dared to
approach within range of her piece. This they never did, and our
indomitable heroine must rest contented with the reflection that she
nobly performed her duty, and will long be remembered by the besieged
garrison of Fort Brown.

NOTE.--The reader who desires to verify the accounts of
the actions narrated in the two last chapters, will find
all the authentic papers upon which they are founded, in
the national documents relative to the war published
during the two sessions of the twenty-ninth congress.

* * * * *

It will be observed that the name of General Worth does not
occur in the account of these recent transactions on the Rio
Grande. This excellent soldier had left Florida in
September, 1845, and was early on the ground at Corpus
Christi in command of the first brigade consisting of one
artillery battalion and the eighth regiment of infantry. His
march and acts on the Rio Grande have been recounted in the
preceding chapters; but soon after his arrival he received
the mortifying intelligence that he had been superseded in
rank by an arrangement announced from the war department.
He, therefore, deemed it due to himself as an officer to
demonstrate his sensibility by resigning at once, especially
as he was convinced that there would be no engagement
between the armies, and that the war would be concl