CHAPTER IV. Battle of Palo Alto. PON the reception of Captain Wal- Lowd, he left the camp on the 1st of May, and without any inter ruption reached Point Isabel next day. He found the place completely invested, and the utmost anxiety and excitement prevailing among the troops. No sooner had General Taylor marched from the fort on the Rio Grande, than it became the theatre of most important operations. Matamoras hailed his departure by the ringing of bells, and loud shouts from the deceived populace, who fondly dreamed of a "retreat" by the American army. The El Monitor Republicano of May 4th, after expatiating on the admirable arrangements of Arista, thus notices the removal of the American forces: "General Taylor dared not resist the valor and enthusiasm of the sons of Mexico. Well did he foresee the intrepidity with which our soldiers would rush against the usurpers of the national territory. Well did he know the many injuries which were to be avenged by those who had taken up arms, not to aggrandize themselves with the spoils of the property of others, but to maintain the independence of their country. Well did he know, we repeat it, that the Mexicans would be stopped neither by trenches, nor fortresses, nor large artillery. Thus it was that the chief of the American forces, frightened as soon as he perceived from the situation and proximity of his camp that our army were preparing to cross the river, left with precipitation for Point Isabel with almost all his troops, eight pieces of artillery, and a few wagons. Their march was observed from our position and.... . here let me pay to our brave men the tribute which they deserve. The express verbally informed some of the troops which had not yet arrived at the ford, of the escape of the Americans; in one instant all the soldiers spontaneously crossed the river, almost racing one with another.. ... The terror and haste with which the latter fled to the fort, to shut themselves up in it and avoid a conflict, frustrated the active measures of the most excellent Senor General Arista, which were to order the cavalry to appear in the plain, and to cut off the flight of the fugitives. But it was not possible to do so, notwithstanding their forced march during the night. General Taylor left his camp at two o'clock in the afternoon, and as fear has wings, he succeeded in shutting himself up in the fort. When our cavalry reached the point where they were to detain him, he had already passed and was several leagues ahead. Great was the sorrow of our brave men not to have been able to meet the enemy face to face; their defeat was certain, and the main body of that invading army who thought that they inspired the Mexicans with so much respect, would have disappeared in the first important battle. But there was some fighting to be done, and the Americans do not know how to use other arms than those of duplicity and treachery. Why did they not remain with firmness under their colors? Why did they abandon the ground which they pretend to usurp with such iniquity? Thus has an honorable general kept his word. Had not General Taylor said in all his communications, that he was prepared to repel all hostilities? Why then does he fly in so cowardly a manner to shut himself up at the Point? The commander-in-chief of the American army has covered himself with opprobrium and ignominy, in sacrificing a part of his forces whom he left in the fortifications, to save himself; for it is certain that he will not return to their assistance-not that he is ignorant of their peril, but he calculates that his would be greater, if he had the temerity of attempting to resist the Mexican lances and bayonets in the open plain." Early on the morning of the 3d, the Mexican army in Matamoras opened upon the fort with a battery of seven guns. The fire was steadily returned by the Americans, who in about twenty minutes silenced that of the enemy. A heavy cannonade was then commenced by the Mexican lower fort and a mortar battery, which was kept up without intermission until midnight. In this bombardment the enemy expended about fifteen hundred shells and shot, but although these were directed principally at the workmen, who labored at the unfinished fortifications during the whole attack, yet they did very little execution. Victory in this first day's attack declared for neither party; the Mexicans however, as will be perceived by the following extract from the El Republicano, May 4th, appropriated with their usual liberality all the glory to themselves, denouncing the conduct of the Americans as brutal, impotent, and cowardly, and arrogating complete success for the future: "But let us relate the glorious events of yesterday. As Aurora dawned we began to fire from our ramparts on the fortifications of |