At one point in the engagement, an Indiana regiment, through a mistaken order, gave way, thereby placing the American army in peril. But the Mississippians and the Kentuckians threw themselves forward; the Indiana troops rallied, and the Mexicans were repulsed. General Taylor, standing near Captain Bragg's battery, saw signs of wavering in the enemy's line. "Give them a little more grape, Captain Bragg," he exclaimed--a command which was repeated all over the United States during the political campaign two years later. The Mexican column broke, and Taylor drove it up the slope of the eastern mountain. By means of a false flag of truce the endangered wing, however, escaped. Santa Anna, forming his whole force into one column, advanced. The Americans fell back, holding only the northwest corner of the plateau. When morning broke, the enemy had disappeared. The Mexican loss was 2,000, that of the Americans 746. Henry Clay, a son of the Kentucky statesman, as he lay wounded, was despatched by a Mexican vacquero. Colonel Jefferson Davis commanded with distinction a regiment of Mississippi riflemen. Buena Vista was Taylor's last battle. Its fame was heralded throughout America. Both sides claimed the victory. The Mexicans chanted Te Deums. In the United States the poet Kifer sang: From the Rio Grande's waters to the icy lakes of Maine, Let us all exult! for we have met the enemy again. Beneath their stern old mountains we have met them in their pride, And rolled from Buena Vista back the battle's bloody tide; Where the enemy came surging swift, like the Mississippi's flood, And the reaper, Death, with strong arms swung his sickle red with blood. After the battle of Buena Vista, General Taylor returned to the United States, his task finished. The exploit shed such lustre on his name that he was soon regarded as the fittest candidate for the Presidency. [Sidenote: San Juan d'Ulloa captured] [Sidenote: Battle of Cerro Gordo] [Sidenote: American advance into Mexico]