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

CHAPTER VII.
TiiE army at San Domingo.-Texan Rangers discharged.-The wounded sent
home.-A new camp established -Discipline of' the 1st Ohio Regiment of Volunteers.-Lilghts and shadows of' camp life.- Our Commissariat and the Meat
Biscuit.-The "spotted tiger" and "striped pig."-Savr ge spirit of the Mexicans.-Assassination of' Father Rey.-The Sierra Silla.-Scenery hunters in a
bad case.-A day in Monterey.-Condition of the battle field -Death of Brigadier General Hamer. —His character and services. —Military events of the autumnn reviewed.-Saltillo and Tampico abandoned by the enemy.-The Mexican forces concentrated under General Santa Anna, at San Louis de Potosi. —
Columns of' Generals Kearney and Wool.-Proposition of the American government referred by Santa Anna to the Mexican Congress.-The armistice terminated.-Worth's division occupy Saltillo. —Twiggs' and Quitman's march to
Victoria.
THERE is no situation that so severely tries the discipline
of the soldier as a life of inaction in the enemy's country.
The stimulus to exertion and the dangers attending the presence of a hostile force being removed, his thoughts begin to
fasten themselves on pleasures and dissipations, to which the
weaknesses and perhaps the manners of the conquered people offer many temptations. Especially is this the case when
cantoned in a city, or in a camp, like that at San Domingo,
within a short league of one. Though, as in our regiment,
every effort be made, by the establishment of a strict system
of police instructions, by the encouragement to manly exercises and diversions, and by the promise of extra pay for
certain important labors not in the line of duty, to employ
the time and attract the attention of troops. yet will the com