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

ADVANCE OF THE FIRST OHIO REGIMENT. 169
mined that not a buckle or strap should be lost upon the
field. For the safety of this battery, the advance of our
regiment was most opportune, as we immediately attracted
the fire to which it had previously been exposed. On entering the suburbs, Lieutenant Colonel Watson, commander
of the Baltimore Battalion, with two or three of his officers
joined our column. That high-spirited and worthy gentleman was killed soon afterward, while bravely fighting in our
midst.
We moved rapidly through a labyrinth of lanes and gardens, without knowing or seeing upon what point of the
enemy's line we were about to strike. At every step the
discharges from the batteries in front became more deadly,
while we had no opportunity for burning a cartridge. Nothing discouraged, the regiment went boldly forward, until it
had reached a point in the suburbs north-west of the "1 Puente
Purisiman, and nearly on a line between it and the citadel.
There we met Major MIansfield, who had conducted the first
assault upon the Teneria, and who had since been closely
examining the defenses in front. I-e informed General
Butler of the failure of that attack, and advised the withdrawal of the Ohio regiment, (' as there could no longer be
any object in advancing further, warning him at the same
time, that if he advanced he must meet a fire that would
sweep all before it."`~ The command was thereupon halted
in a broad street, parallel with, and not more than two
hundred yards from the enemy's works, at the stream heretofore described. Though screened fromn view by a dense
* From General Butler's Report