DESCRIPTION OF IT. 



355 



On the 21st of February, the positive advance of that chief was 

 announced. The camp was immediately broken up, and all our 

 forces rapidly concentrated in the gorge of Angostura. Our troops 

 did not amount to more than four thousand six hundred and ninety 

 efficient men, while we had reason to believe that Santa Anna 

 commanded nearly five times that number and was greatly superior 

 to us in cavalry, a part of which, had been sent by secret paths 

 through the mountains, to the rear of our position, so as to cut off 

 our retreat, in the event of our failure in the battle. 



The great object of Taylor in selecting his ground and forming 

 his plan of battle, was to make his small army equal, as near as 

 possible, to that of Santa Anna, by narrowing the front of attack, 

 and thus concentrating his force upon any point through which the 

 Mexicans might seek to break. In other words, it was his design 

 to dam up the strait of Angostura with a living mass, and to leave 

 no portion of the unbroken ground on the narrow table-land unde- 

 fended by infantry and artillery. The battle ground that had been 

 selected was admirably calculated for this purpose ; and his fore- 

 sight was justified by the result. It was not necessary for Taylor 

 to capture, or annihilate his enemy, for he was victor, if with, but 

 a single regiment, he kept the valley closed against the Mexicans. 

 The centre of the American line was the main road, in which was 

 placed a battery of eight pieces, reduced, during the action to five, 

 supported by bodies of infantry. On the right of the stream, which 

 swept along the edge of the western mountains, was a single regi- 

 ment and some cavalry, with two guns, which it was supposed, 

 would be sufficient, with the aid of the tangled gulleys to arrest the 

 Mexicans in that quarter. On the left of the stream, where the 

 ravines were fewer, and the plain between them wider, stood two 

 regiments of infantry, suitably furnished with artillery, and extend- 

 ing from the central battery on the road, to the base of the eastern 

 mountains, on whose skirts an adequate force of cavalry and rifle- 

 men was posted. 



In order to break this array, Santa Anna divided his army into 

 three attacking columns, each of which nearly doubled the whole of 

 Taylor's force. One of these, was opposed to the battery of eight 

 guns in order to force the road, and the other two were designed to 

 outflank our position by penetrating or turning the squadrons 

 stationed at the base of the mountains. 



On the afternoon of the 22d of February, the attack began by a 

 skirmishing attempt to pass to the rear of our left wing ; but as the 

 Mexicans climbed the mountain, in their endeavor to outflank us 



