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

288 SANTA ANNA MARCHES FROM SAN LUIS DE POTOSI.
proclamation to his soldiers, and on the 28th of January
marched from San Luis de Potosi toward Saltillo.~ About
the same time, the Mexican corps of observation was ordered
to debouch from the pass of Tula, and at the proper moment
fall upon our flanks, prevent the passage of supplies and
reinforcements to the front, and be in position to cut off Taylor's beaten and retreating battalions. This division, as we
have already shown from a field report, consisted of about
* I append the document, as a fair sample of the military papers of " the Napoleon" of Mexico. It is translated from a copy found in Monterey.
"Companions in Arms: The operations of the enemy require us to move precipitately on their principal line, and we are about to do it. The independence, the
honor and the destinies of the nation depend on this movement and your decision.
Soldiers! the entire world is observing us, and it is obligatory on you that your
deeds should be as heroic as they are necessary. From the neglect with which
you have been treated by those whose duty it is to aid you, privations of all kinds
await you; but when has want weakened your spirits or debilitated your enthusiasm i! The Mexican soldier is well known for his frugality and capability of sufferance. Never does he need magazines or provisions, when about to pass the
deserts; but he has always an eye to the resources of his enemy to supply his
wants. To-morrow you commence your march through a thinly settled country,
without provisions; but you may be assured that very quickly you will be in possession of those of your enemy, and his riches; and with them all your wants will
be superabundantly gratified. Liyfriends! we are about to open the campaign, and
who can tell how many days of glory await us! What a perspective, so 11ll of
hope for our country! What satisfaction you will feel whern you have saved our
independence; when you shall be the objects of admiration for the whole world,
and our own country shall shower blessings on your heads! When again in the
bosoms of your families, you shall relate your dangers, your combats, and your
triumphs over your daring presumptuous foe; when you tell your children that you
have given them their country a second time, your jubilee will be complete. Soldiers! the cause we sustain is holy; our honor, our religion, our wives, our children! What sacrifices are too great for objects so dear? Let us conquer or die!
Let us swear before the Eternal, that we will not rest one instant until we completely wipe away from our soil the vainglorious foreigner who has dared to pollute
it with his presence. No terms with him. Nothing for us but heroism and grandeur!"
ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA,
General-in-chief of the "Army of the North."
Head-Quarters, San Luis de Potosi,
January 27, 1847.