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

262 THE PASS OF LOS MUERTOS.
weak, it was late in the afternoon Defore the last feeble and
foot-sore soldier limped down to the stream at La Rinconada.
Some of the foremost troops had already kindled fires, expecting to pass the night there; but when the rear-guard came
in, General Butler determined to push across the next sierra
by the famous pass of Los Muertos, and encamp at Agua
Caliente. The men were cramped and stiffened by the toilsome march they had already performed; but they at once
shouldered their arms and fell into ranks. A few, utterly
exhausted, were unable to proceed, and did not overtake the
column until the next day.
The road at the Rinconada turns abruptly to the left, and
winds for a league up through a narrow gorge, at the head
of which the enemy had erected a strong field-work. About
half way up, it turns a bold shoulder of the mountain; and
for the rest of the distance sweeps round a deep hollow in
its bare sides, every foot of which might be commanded by a
battery on the summit. The sun had left the valley before
lus, and the mountains, obscured by the gathering shades of
night, loomed up in black and shapeless masses against the
sky. The faint light which remained, revealed to us a
number of rude crosses that studded the steep ascent.~
cooked, was converted into a palatable and nutritious food. The agave, in short,
was meat, drink, clothing and writing-materials for the Aztec! Surely, never did
nature inclose in so compact a form so many of the elements of human comfort and
civilization."
* Los Muertos or " the dead men's " pass, obtains its name friom the number of
murders committed in that wild and dismal spot. It is customary to mark those
scenes of violence with the symbol of the Christian faith. In consequence, as I
suppose, of' the difficulty of planting crosses in the hard mountain road, those in
the pass of Los Muertos were supported by large piles of stones, beneath which,
many of cur people believed, were the bones of the dead.