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

CHAPTER XI.
CONDITIOaN f General Taylor's army after the battle of Buena Vista.-Tranquility
restored.-Courts established.-Glance at General Scott's campaign. —The homeward march.
WtITH the battle of Buena Yista, and the guerilla affairs
already described, the campaign in Nlorthern Mexico may be
said to have closed. The attention and power of the enemy
were concentrated on General Scott's armv, and the defense
of their now seriously threatened capital. Active operations
were necessarily suspended by General Taylor, in consequence of the nearly approaching expiration of the term of
service for which the old volunteers had been enrolled. The
new levies, destined for the northern line were late to arrive;
and neither their numbers nor discipline would justify the
immediate execution of any hazardous forward movements.
A march to San Luis de Potosi, it was thought, too, would
be attended with peculiar difficulties, chiefly from the absence
of water. In that barren region which intervened, Santa
Anna had lost the greater part of his army, made up of men
accustomed to all the fatigues and privations of the country.
Many of our new troops were already suffeiring much from
disease, and the unusual hardships they had been compelled
to endure. The Virginia regiment appeared sadly worn and
reduced in health on reaching Monterey. The new Mississippi (2d) regiment, was almost immediately wasted to two