29 



[7] 



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ii 



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Jlxtgust 16. — We marched to San Miguel, where General Kearny 

 assembled the people and harangued them much in the same man- 

 ner as at the Vegas. 



Reports now reached us at every step that the people were rising, 

 and that Armijo was collecting a formidable force to oppose our 

 march at the celebrated pass of the Canonj 15 miles from Sanfa Fe. 

 About the middle of the day's march the two Pueblo Indians, pre- 

 yiously sent in to sound the'chief men of that formidable tribe, 

 were seen in the distance, at full speed, with arms and legs both 

 thumping into the sides of their mules at every stride. Something 

 was now surely in the wind. The smaller and foremost of the two 

 dashed up to the general, his face radiant with joy, and exclaimed, 

 '^. they are in the Canon, my brave, pluck up your courage and push 

 them out.'' As soon as his extravagant delight at the prospect of 

 a fight, and the pleasure of communicating the news, had subsided, 

 he gave a pretty accurate idea of Armijo's force and position. 



The road passed over to-day was good, but the face of the coun- 

 try exceedingly rugged, broken, and covered with pinon and cedar. 

 To the left, one or two miles distant, towers a wall, nearly per- 

 pendicular, 2,000 feel high, apparently level on the top, and siiow- 

 ing, as near as I could judge from the road, an immense stratum of 

 r^d sand-stone. • ' "* 



We turned from the road to *he creek, where there were a few 

 rancherlas, to encamp; at which place we passed an uncomfortable " 

 "night, the water being hard to reach, and the grass very bad. 

 Barometric heig-ht 6,346 feet. 



August 17.- — The picket guard, stationed on the road, captured 

 the son of Saliza, who, it is said, is to play an important part in 

 the defence of this country, and the same who behaved so brutally 

 to 'the Texan prisoners. The son was at San Miguel yesterday, 

 and heard from a concealed place all that passed. It is supposed, 

 at this time, he was examining the position, strength, &c., of our 

 army, to report to his father. 



A rumor has reached camp that the 2,000 Mexicans assembled in 

 the Canon to Oppose us, have quarrelled among themselves^ that 

 Armijo, taking advantage of the dissensions, fled with his dragoons 

 and artillery to the south. He has long been suspected of wishing 

 an excuse to fly. It is well known he has been averse to a battle, 

 but some of his people threatened his life if he refused to fight. 

 He has been, for some days, more in fear of his own people than 

 of the American army. He has seen what they are blind to: the 

 hopelessness of resistance. 



As we approached the ruins of the ancient town of Pecos, a large 

 fat fellow, mounted on a mule, came towards us at full sp< 



ed 



th 



^ .. ,„ -V- o" ^. — *j j_ 



of himself and army. He said, with a roar of laughter, Armijo 



- and his troops have gone to hell, ^^ and the Caiion is all clear.'"' 



This was the alcalde of the settlement, two miles up the Pecos 



from fhe ruins, where we encamped, 15| miles from our last camp, 



and two miles from the road, „ . . • 



