History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties : containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families Page: 80
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80 HISTORY OP TEXAS.
Mays, the celebrated ranger, was detached
and sent with General Worth to make a
demonstration on the western side of the
town, while Taylor assaulted the east side.
The city, which was strongly fortified and
garrisoned, was assailed by Taylor September
21, and the attack lasted three days, on the
last of which Henderson led in person the
second regiment of Texans, who, dismounting,
acted as infantry. Being cut off from
his command by a murderous fire, he narrowly
In the meantime Worth, making a detour,
had gained the other side -of the town. On
the 21st he engaged a body of Mexicans 1,500
strong; and it was mainly owing to the
strategy of Hays and the deadly fire of the
Texan rangers, who were in advance, that a
furions cavalry charge was repulsed and a
To the west of Monterey were two fortified
heights, one on each side of the river, known
by the names of La Federacion and Cerro del
Obispado, and commanding the approach to
the place. On the afternoon of the 21st a
force of 300 men, half of them Texans,
stormed and occupied La Federacion on the
south side, and before daylight on the following
morning 200 Texans, led by Hays and
Walker, with three companies of the artillery
battalion and three companies of the Eighth
Infantry, scaled in two columns, under cover
of a mist, the almost perpendicular height of
El Obispado, and nearly reached the summit
before the alarm was given. Then a volley
was poured down upon them; but the work
was soon taken, and as fresh troops arrived
in support, the strong fort of El Obispado
was assaulted and taken. The Texans,
however, had to mourn the death of Captain
Thus the investment of the city on the
west side was complete; and during the next
two days the Americans so successfully pushed
their way into the city that on the 24-th Ampudia
capitulated. The Texans bore a prominent
part in the above engagement.
Indeed, all through the war the Texans
characteristically exhibited their valor, mail;taining
the extraordinarily high reputation
they had gained in former years. Hays'
regiment, for example, of which the rangers
formed the nucleus, was transferred to Scott's
command, after serving in Taylor's campaign
on the Rio Grande, and the efficiency of these
men was marked wherever the army went.
Serving equally well on foot or on horseback,
they would storm a height or charge the
enemy's cavalry with the same indifference,
intrepidity and success. On the road they
were the terror of the guerrilla bands, and in
the town they were objects of dread to antagonists
and of awe to non-combatants. As
Bancroft says, " their uncouth, wild, and fierce
appearance, their strange garb and their
reputation for contempt of every form of
danger, gained for them in Mexico the belief
that they were more than human,-that they
were beings intermediate between man and
devil In the city of Mexico, some of these
brave, single-hearted and patriotic men fell
beneath the knives of assassins, and the remains
of many others lie buried in Mexican
soil all the way from Vera Cruz to the city of
Mexico was forced to the terms dictated
by the United States, and in the treaty of
peace, signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo,. February
22, 1848, not only Texas was given up,
but also what is now New Metico, Utah,
Nevada, Arizona and California. were ceded
to the United States.
I-T-1-TORPr OPi TEXAQS.
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Lewis Publishing Company, publisher. History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson counties : containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families, book, 1893; Chicago. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29785/m1/85/?q=edwin%20antony: accessed May 25, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; .