y 
SIEGE AND CAPTURE. 101 
off thousands upon thousands, as fast as they 
advanced. The city was therefore deemed 
impregnable, and being supplied with provi- 
sions for a lengthy siege, the patriots were in 
high spirits. A foreign engineer or two had 
been engaged to superintend the fortifications. 
Santa Anna reached Zacatecas a few days 
after my departure. As he had no idea of 
testing the doubtful mettle of his army by an 
attempt to storm the place which presented so 
formidable an appearance, he very quietly 
squatted himself down at the village of Guada- 
lupe, three miles below. From this point he 
commenced his operations by throwing ‘ mis- 
siles’ into the city—not of’ lead, or cast iron, or 
any such cruel agents of warfare, but bombs of 
— which fell among the besieged, and burst 
gentle overtures to their comman 
Silipos This novel ‘artillery’ of the dictator 
produced a perfectly electric effect; for the 
valor of the Commandant of the Civicos rose 
to such a pitch, that he at once marched his 
forces out of the fortifications, to attack the be- 
siegers in the open field—face to face, as true 
bravery required. But on the very first onset, 
this valiant officer, by some mysterious agency 
which could not be accounted for, was sud- 
denly seized with a strange panic, and, with 
all his forees, made a precipitate retreat, flee- 
ing helter-skelter, as if all the engines of de- 
struction that were ever invented, had been 
brought to bear upon them ; when the victori- 
ous army of Santa Anna marched into the 
city without — opposition. 
