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

308 ACTION OF CEIRRALYO.
much confused and disconcerted by their unexpected reception. Before our cannon was re-loaded, we were enabled to
open a lively fire of musketry upon their line; at which they
broke and fled in disorder, many of them throwing themselves upon the necks of their horses the better to avoid our
balls. A rapid glance from the point we occupied had
revealed a heavy force between us and the town; and large
bodies of men, moving rapidly through the chaparral upon
our flanks and rear. There seemed to be quite enough of
them to overwhelm us by the mere weight of numbers. At
the moment of the attack, the rear-guard,-composed of
Howe's and KIeneally's companies with Lieutenant McCarter's gun-guard, was more than two miles behind us; while
the wagons were strung out in the intervening road, which
was for the most part hemmed in by thickets. The sudden
volleys and shouts of the combatants, conveyed to those in
the rear, the first intimation of the affair on hand. Captain
Howe then marched his company to the front, leaving
Keneally's (Company A, 1st Ohio regiment) alone in the
rear; which unaccountable movement,-had the latter company been composed of less resolute material,-might have
seriously endangered the whole command. But the commander of the escort, was not apprehensive that the reargun would be captured so long as one gallant Irish heart was
left to bleed in its defense.* At the sound of the first shot,
the drivers in the center of the train abandoned their teams
* Captain Keneally's company was composed of Irishmen; and was for many
years well known in Cincinnati as-" the Montgomery Guards." The gallant
Captain lost his life on the Vera Cruz line, a few months alter the events here
narrated.