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

194 THE WORK IS CARRIED.
was their confidence in the difficulties of the ground, that it
was supposed no assault could be successful. At dawn the
storming party had reached a point within one hundred
yards of the redoubt, and where among the clefts of the rocks
a body of the enemy had been posted in apparent anticipation of the attack. The flash and roar which announces the
coming of a sumnmer's rain, is not more sudden and terrific
than the explosion which then burst upon our stormers. The
deep-set rocks around them were scarcely more firm and
unyielding than were our stout-hearted men in that crashing
blast. Not a shot was returned —-not a cheer raised At
the thrilling word, I charge," quickly repeated by the officers, the Americans rushed forward and forced the enemy
back toward the redoubt at the point of the bayonet. The
summit of the hill occupied by the Mexicans, blazed like a
beacon, while in the dark cloud around it, the flashes of our
guns soon formed an unbroken ring of fire. Rapidly and
regularly that burning circle contracted, until it mingled
with the fire of the foe. Then came the deadly struggle.
Those red flames were suddenly extinguished, and instead
of the rattle of musketry, the shouts and groans of a fierce
hand to hand encounter, floated out from the peak of that
cloud-capt hill. Our men fought with unwavering courage;
the enemy, for a few minutes, made an obstinate but unavailing defense; but being forced over their walls, finally
fled in wild confusion toward the Bishop's Castle. Among
the few Americans killed in this assault was Captain Gillespie, a popular officer of the Texan Rangers.
The next piece in Worth's brilliant programme was the