146 ALAMO MUCHO TO 
Colonel Craig was an officer of whom the army and 
the nation had just cause to feel proud. He entered the 
army from the love he felt for a soldier’s life, and with- 
out the advantages which a military education at West 
Point is supposed to confer. Yet such was his devo- 
tion to his profession, such the skill he acquired in it, 
and such the bravery shown by him when called to 
serve his country, that he soon attained the rank of 
captain, and was breveted Lieutenant Colonel for gal- 
lant service rendered at the battles of Cherubusco and 
Molino Del Rey. His whole soul was absorbed in his 
profession, and he spared no pains to render his com- 
mand skilful in the use of their arms. He was always 
most punctilions in the discharge of duty; and how- 
ever much his command was reduced by sickness or 
absence, he kept up his daily drills and parades with 
as much rigor and discipline as though an entire regi- 
ment were under his charge. Towards his men he 
manifested the interest of a father as well as that of a 
commander, and was greatly beloved by them in return. 
During the stay of the Commission at San Diego, 
when nearly all the officers attached to it took advan- 
tage of the necessary detention to visit other parts of 
California, he remained in camp with his men, nor did 
he leave them for a single day, even when desertion 
had reduced their number to five. It was a source of 
deep mortification to him, that men who had followed 
him through the severe campaigns of the Mexican war 
should desert him here, for the sake of pecuniary ad- 
vantage. His genuine kindness of heart, honesty of 
purpose, and rigid adherence to duty, had won for him 
