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 MEXICAN PRISONERS IN CAMP. 197
That night I was again on duty. A great number of prisoners, chiefly soldiers, but among them some of the vile
scum of the chaparral, were in the camp, and had hitherto
been under a special guard in the center of the grove. In
consequence of the paucity of our troops, and the number of
our wounded, it was determined to dispense with this detail,
and to place the prisoners in charge of the main-guard. It
was after dark when the order for their removal reached me,
and it was found necessary to exercise great vigilance to
frustrate attempts at escape, during their progress through
the intricate paths and gloomy shades of the wood. On
arriving at tile guard station, and observing a large force
drawn up under arms, the Mexicans gazed at each other
with anxiety and alarm; and some of them, supposing they
were about to suffer the cruel fate so often inflicted upon
Texan prisoners by their own troops, broke forth in prayers
and lamentations.~ Our assurances that no harm was
intended, uttered, it is true, not in the best Castilian, and
interlarded with a little dog-latin, that seemed quite as comprehensible, allayed their fears, and they all quietly obeyed
the order to sit down. The jeers of some of their own number contributed to the pacification of the most timid. An
old man, clad in the garb of a citizen, was greatly alarmed,
* The Mexicans-naturally sanguiniary, and debased by merciless civil warsin their fitful efforts to subdue the revolted province of Texas, were strangely,
madly, blind to the policy of humanity. They commenced the campaign of 1836,
under a special act of' the Mexican Congress, which provided that no prisoners
should be taken. Yet they did accept prisoners of war, but only to violate the
express terms of capitulation, and every sentiment of honor and justice, by murdering them in cold blood. The slaughter of Alamo, the massacre of Colonel
Fanning's command at Goliad, and the decimation of the Mier captives, were act
wholly unjustifiable, and which deserve to be held up to eternal execration.
9.#,