The Battle of Churubusco [pp. 78-116]

I~52.J Ba'.ttle of C1~rubusco. 85
can road, and about as far south of the river, the last two
running parallel,-stood the convent called San Pablo.
This was built of stone, and formed the citadel, against
the assault of Twiggs's division. The pile and its defensive works consisted* of a large main building, with a
belfry, facing the Coyacan road, a smaller edifice in
front, both enclosed by a wall, that was scaffolded
for infantry. Twenty paces or more, in advance, was
traced a field-work, having a curtain uniting two angles
or bastions~ with a ditch in front; the exterior side of the
left basti~n continued back to the wall of the convent;
that of the right was incomplete, and did not extend quite
so far. The curtain mounted four guns, which commanded our approach, traced perpendicularly, from the Coyacan
route; the left bastion had one gun, bearing on the San
Antonio causeway, which had shown its sting upon the
gallant advance of Worth's division; the right had two
piecesf in barbette,which enfiladed another road branching
three hundred yards distant from the Coyacan road, and
coming directly to the convent. The rear, and partly the
right flank, were not protected by entrenchments, and
were guarded by a body of lancers. The walls of the
yard and buildings, (the latter pierced for musketry)-the
flat and parapeted roofs,-the windows and the belfry,were crowded with infantry soldiers-so, also, the lines
of the field-work. Three thousand men under Gen.
Rincon, acting President Anaya, and others, garrisoned
the place. The ammunition proved to be abundant, as
some was captured with the work. The "San Patricio"
companies, or battalion, deserters from our army, and
numbering nearly a hundred, were in large proportion
stationed here, and, it is said, efficiently manned three
*These particulars are from the report of (len. Smith, and from "The
Other Side." The latter speaks of the ditch, which is omitted elsewhere.
The latter says of the convent (p. 292,) that "a better (place) could not be
required," to "resist or check" an enemy. It was their strong point, and
not the tete-Je-pont, which the editor of the work says, in a note (p. 284)
was "never reckoned among the fortifications." What will Semmes say to
this, who terms it the "key point," &c., &c., and upon this ground bases the
assertion that Worth won the battle with the trifling "subordinate" aid of
- the other divisions.
t Report of Capt. Dimmick, commandh~g 1st artillery. Dec. No. I, Appendix, p. ~8.