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

'OSITION OF' AFFAIRS AT NOON. i77
less for the eporlts of fire-arms than of the newspapers, less
for the balls of the Devil than for the disciples of Dr.
Faustus, might have ventured to express his opinions boldly
and candidly on the subject of " River and HIarbor Improvenments," or upon any of the so-called delicate questions of
thile day. The loudest voice was lost in the wild uproar, and
officers were often compelled to comnmunicate orders pantoinimically, even to those who were standing beside them.
About noon the storm of battle was at its hight, and the
sceneo as describ'ed by the reserve corps at the mortar battery,
was intensely exciting and grand. The devoted city seemed
to blaze at every portal. General Worth's division was just
then storming the'Federacion and Soldada on the right;
the troops of Twiggs and Quitman in the Teneria, reinforced
by the howitzer battery of Captain Webster, was thundering
on the left, and dashing their blows indiscriminately. upon
the Diabolo and the cathedral, while our little regiment
combated with the more central defenses of the'town. Volnines of sulphurous smoke settled darkly and heavily over
the streets, in which blazed flaslhes of musketry, and the
ruddy flames of deep-toned artillery.
" The swift and deafening peals
In countless echoes through the mountains ring;
Now swells the intermingling din, the jar,
Frequent and fearful, of the bursting bomb,
The falling beam, the shriek, the groan, the shout,
The ceaseless clangor, and the rush of menc
Inebriate with rage!'
* In the cathedral, a large and massive stone edifice, occupying one side of the
plaiea;laytr, (principal square,) General Pedro de Amlppudia had established this
head-quarters, and there remained during the battle. An immense quantity of amamlunition was also deposited in the building. The Mexicans had, therefore, di-vested