Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

THE FIItST GUN FROM MONTERtEY. 139
of ox, mule, and horse flesh, but many a human corse found
its way into his rapacious maw.
At sunrise on the 19th of September, General Taylor with
the mounted troops marched froim San Francisco, followed,
at intervals of an hour, by the three infantry divisions. The
order of march being the same as that of the previous day,
we were again in the rear. We had scarcely left the village,
when a cannon-shot was heard in the direction of Montereyr.
Every man instantly, and almost involuntarily, stopped to
catch the sound. It was the first hostile gun many of us had
ever heard, and for thile moment arrested every word and
thought.
" But hark! that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat,
And nearer, clearer, deadlier, than before!
On! on! it is-it is the cannon's opening roar!"
The first solitary and rather indistinct report was soon followed by the unmistakable booming of distant artillery,
which rolled, on the morning breeze, far over the widespreading plain. "Column, forward! Quick —march I'
shouted the chiefs of battalions, and away the men went at a
stride which kept the mounted officers in a trot. Every heart
beat high with new and strong emotions, and the most desirable enthusiasm pervaded the various companies and regiments, as they dashed, with their rattling accouterments,
through the chaparral, like a swollen and angry torrent
through some mountain glen. All supposed that the
advance guard had encountered the enemy in force outside
the city walls, and, knowing the value of minutes on such'
occasions, we pressed forward for some miles at the greatest
speed compatible with order. The heat and extraordinary