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

2'4: WOiRTH9S BIG STAMPIODE.
hand, General Santa Anna was correctly advised of all our
movements by the citizens in our vicinity; and unfortunately
by the sad capture and death of Lieutenant Richey at Villa
Grande, obtained possession of dispatches which revealed to
him Scott's proposed descent upon Vera Cruz, to be preceded
by the withdrawal from our line, of the elite of Taylor's victorious army. Every one remembers how he profited by this
knowledge; how despite the clamors of his own countrymen
concerning his inactivity, he remained at San Luis drilling
his troops and collecting the necessary material for the camipaign, until all our regular and many of our volunteer regiSments had joined General Scott upon the coast; and how,
when the long anticipated moment arrived, his mnighty host
rapidly crossed the desert and rolled, like the swelling tide
of Fundy, up through the valley of Angostura.
It has been stated in the preceding chapter, that General
Taylor marehed for Victoria on the 13th of December, leaving the 1st Ohio and the 1st (entaucky regiments, formerly
Hamer's brigade and which after his death had been broken
up, in camp near Monterey. The departure of so considerable a portion of our force, and especially of the commanderin-chief, whose presence always seemed sufficient to inspire
the weakest corps with confidence, gave room to many vague
surmises concerning the enemy, and which soon attained a
threatening magnitude. The most important of these, generally known as " Worth's big stampede," caused a commotion that was felt from Saltillo to the Brazos, and brought
every battalion several marches up the line. On the night
of the 16th of December, General Butler commanding at