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

224 PA'lADEiGRJOUD LAID OUT.
above the line; and the hardy men grasped the good oldfashioned weapons with many a laugh and lively sally of wit.
Every officer was in his place, and throughout the day
labored cheerfully with his command.
The chaparral falling rapidly beneath the heavy blows of
an hundred axmen, was immediately drawn off and thrown
in lofty ridges around the camp, forming thus a dense barrier that would have proved a very serious obstruction to the
progress of the enemny, and which, certainly no cavalry could
have crossed. The spade and pickax-men followed the
choppers, leveling the surface and removing the stumps and
stones from the parade-ground. Before night, the entire
space was cleared and a wonderful transformation accomplished. The roving herdsman who had passed the spot in
the morning, returned at evening to gaze with astonishment
on the smooth and charming lawn, that but a few hours before had been a tangled thicket, through which he could
scarcely force his leather-clad body. Even the gay colored
birds that had reveled among the perfumnied bowers just destroyed, seemed surprised and bewildered by the magical
metamorphosis, and flew noisily about in quest of their
favorite retreats. After subdividing the ground and assigning to each company its position, we returned to our old
quarters, quite satisfied with the victory of the day; and
numbering among our prisoners, sundry tarantulas and scorpions, a brace of armadillos, and a fine specimen of the genus
Lacerta, which was supposed to be a genuine chameleon.
On the following morning we moved to our new position,
and the tents were pitched in the beautifill and compact