BATTLES OF PALO ALTO AND RESACA. 



339 



aloes, and undergrowth, matted into impenetrable thickets, known 

 in Mexico as chapparal. The action was begun by the infantry in 

 skirmishes with the foe, and after the centre of the position on the 

 road had been severely harassed and damaged by our flying artil- 

 lery, a gallant charge of the dragoons broke the Mexican lines and 

 opened a pathway to Matamoros. The engagement lasted a short 

 time after this combined movement of artillery and cavalry, but, 

 before night fall the enemy was in full flight to the river and our 

 garrison at the fort joyously relieved. In the interval, this position 

 had been bombarded and cannonaded by the Mexicans from the 

 opposite side of the river, and its commanding officer slain. In 

 memory of his valiant defence, the place has been honored with the 

 name of Fort Brown. 



After General Taylor had occupied Matamoros on the 18th of 

 May, — and he was only prevented from capturing it and all the 

 Mexican forces and ammunition on the night of the 9th by the 

 want of a ponton train, which he had vainly demanded, — he es- 

 tablished his base line for future operations in the interior, along 

 the Rio Grande, extending several hundred miles near that stream. 

 His task of organizing, accepting, or rejecting the multitudes of 

 recruits who flocked to his standard, was not only oppressive but 

 difficult, for he found it hard to disappoint the patriotic fervor of 

 hundreds who were anxious to engage in the war. The Quater- 

 master's department, too, was one of incessant toil and anxiety; 

 because, called unexpectedly and for the first time into active ser- 

 vice in the field, it was comparatively unprepared to answer the 

 multitude of requisitions that were daily made upon it by the 

 government, the general officers, and the recruits. The whole 

 material of a campaign was to be rapidly created. Money was to 

 be raised ; steamers bought ; ships chartered ; wagons built and 

 transported ; levies brought to the field of action ; munitions of war 

 and provisions distributed over the whole vast territory which it 

 was designed to occupy ! Whilst these things were going on, the 

 country, at home, was ripe, and most eager for action. 



Nor was our government inattentive to the internal politics of 

 Mexico. It perceived at once that there was no hope of effecting 

 a peace with the administration of Paredes, whose bitter hostility 

 was of course, not mitigated by the first successes of our arms. 

 Santa Anna, it will be recollected had left Mexico after the amnes- 

 ty in 1845, and it was known there was open hostility between 

 him and Paredes who had contributed so greatly to his downfall. 

 Information was, moreover, received from reliable sources in Wash- 



