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

256 WE LEAVE SAN DOMINGO.
comfort, that had been collected during our long stay at San
Domingo, were therefore necessarily abandoned. Yet when
the battalion was formed, I was surprised to observe heavy
and rudely-constructed bird-cages hanging upon the backs of
a few men. These contained birds of the parrot tribe,
caught in the grove, and which their owners preferred to carry rather than more useful articles. Though somewhat enervated from long inaction, the troops shrank not from the
fatigues in prospect. More tranquil than before the battle
of Monterey, they were yet as ready for the encounter, and
animated by as good a spirit as could be wished. The reflection too, that the regiment had now attained a degree of discipline which rendered it doubly as formidable as it had previously been, was a source of no little satisfaction to its commanding officer.
Leaving a small guard to attend the sick, and follow with
the tents as soon as the means of transportation were supplied, the column cheerfully set forward. Long, and tedious
to many, as was our sojourn at San Domingo, yet will its
grateful shades resting now upon the graves of many brave
comrades, ever be remembered with associations of mingled
pleasure and sorrow. It was quite dark when we moved
from the grove, but before we reached the city, the sun
emerged from the golden portals of the East, shedding a glorious effulgence over the mountain-tops, and which gradually descended upon the trembling shadows of the valley,
until the whole scene at length rejoiced in the perfect day.
We entered the town without beat of drum, and stacked
arms in the plaza, just as a group of priests were hastening