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

THIE EINEMY S WORKS ON THE NOITIiiH. 53
city the first shell exploded, gave it a contemptuous kick
which almost sent it from the platform.
The fortifications of the exterior line on the north were,
first, the citacdel. It was a remarkably strong work, occupying an area of two hundred and seventy yards square, and
inclosing an unfinished church, which, in its solidity, like
most others in Mexico, showed a military as well as a religious design. Indeed, the churches have been almost as
conspicuous in the wars of modern AMexico, as were the
G teocalles,"' pyramidal temples of the aborigines, in the
Spanish invasion. This fortress, standing just on the edge
of the plain, commanded every approach to the northern
suburbs, which, thinly covered with humble dwellings,
environed by luxuriant gardens, stretched from east to west
the whole length of the city. Lofty hedges, and rows of
fruit trees divided these suburban squares, whose dense
fbliage served to screen numerous parties of lurking shlarpshooters. A small stream flows between the city and this
suburb. The Mariin road, upon which we advanced, and
which is the principal thoroughfare fromn the north, crosses
this stream, and at once enters the city by the bridge of the
Purlsimua, a substantial stone structure, ciefenlded by artillery
and infantry. All the streets leading in the same direction
were barricaded at the stream, down to the edge of which the
city is compactly built. To turn these works, thereobre,
flanked by massive stone houses, full of troops, was out of
the question. And no prudent officer, advised of their
strength and position, would assault them until he had
probed in vain for a more vulnerable point in the enemy's