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

C APTE R X.
BEARERS of dispatches from head-quarters arrive.-We prepare to escort them to
Camargo.-A train tacked on.-Description of the convoy.-Appearance of the
country and villages. —The Massacre near Ramas.-The affair with the Mexican cavalry at Cerralvo.-General Urrea retreats to Tamaulipas.-Friendly
reception by the citizens of Cerralvo.-Pronunciamiento of the teamsters.-Arrival of Colonel Curtis' command.-We resume our march to Camargo.-Fortifications of that town.-Another march to Monterey.-Mustang Gray.-Wholesale slaughter of rancheros near Marin.
THE long suspension of communication between HeadQuarters and the coast, caused much apprehension in the
United States for the safety of General Taylor's army. Reports of the capture of the Arkansas and Kentucky scouting
parties in the vicinity of Encarnacion, the advance of Santa
Anna's host, and the assembling of the rancheros with
Urrea's corps in the lower country, had spread through the
Union and awakened the most painful solicitude, which in
those days of mail-coaches and ponzy-expresses, was not dispelled for many weeks. Colonel Curtis of the 3d Ohio regiment, being the senior officer on the Rio Grande, considering the perilous position of our troops, thought it advisable
in the emergency to call upon the adjacent states for volunteers. Each anxious day deepened the gloom what rested
upon the public mind. But thanks to an all-wise Providence
who guided and guarded our arms, the sun of victory arose
at last, and with a radiance the more brilliant and dazzling
from the preceding darkness.