Company 'A', corps of engineers, U.S.A., 1846-'48, in the Mexican warSmith, Gustavus Woodson
History
Company 'A', corps of engineers, U.S.A., 1846-'48, in the Mexican war
Smith, Gustavus Woodson
Mexican War, 1846-1848 -- Regimental histories -- United States -- Engineers; United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Company A
General Worth, in his official report, says: "At 5 A. M., on the 14th,
my troops and heavy guns advanced into the city, and occupied the
Alameda to the point where it fronts the palace, and there halted at 6
o'clock, the general-in-chief having instructed me to take a position
and await his further orders. Shortly afterwards a straggling
assassin-like fire commenced from the house-tops, which continued, in
various parts of the city through the day, causing us some loss. The
first shot, fired at a group of officers at the head of my column,
struck down Colonel Garland, badly wounded. About the time of our
entrance into the city, the convicts in the different prisons, to the
number of some thirty thousand men, were liberated by order of the
flying government, armed and distributed in the most advantageous
houses, including the churches, convents, and even the hospitals, for
the purpose of exciting, if possible, the city to revolt".
In speaking of the general operations of his forces in the capture of
the city, General Worth adds:
"Officers and men of every corps carried themselves with wonted
gallantry and conduct. Of the staff; Lieutenants Stevens, Smith, and
McClellan, engineers, displayed the gallantry, skill and conduct, which
so eminently distinguished their corps". (Ex. Doc. No. 1, pp. 393-4.)
General Scott adds: "Captain Lee, engineer, so constantly distinguished,
also bore important orders from me [September 13] until he fainted from
a wound and the loss of two nights' sleep at the batteries. Lieutenants
Beauregard, Stevens, and Tower, all wounded, were employed with the
divisions, and Lieutenants G. W. Smith and G. B. McClellan with the
company of sappers and miners. Those five lieutenants of engineers, like
their captain, won the admiration of all about them". (Ex. Doc. No. 1,
p. 385.)
Major John L. Smith, senior engineer, says: "Lieutenant Smith reports
all the sappers who were engaged on the 13th and 14th, to have conducted
themselves with intelligence and intrepidity altogether satisfactory;
but, he mentions the orderly sergeant, Hastings, who was wounded, as
being eminently distinguished, and he mentions also artificer Gerber, as
having been particularly distinguished". (Ex. Doc. No. 1, p. 430.)
Without dwelling upon details of the fighting in the streets and houses
on the 14th, it may be stated that, a short time before the recall was
sounded, when Orderly Sergeant Hastings fell, Lieutenant McClellan
seized the Sergeant's musket, fired at, and killed the man who shot
Hastings. In a few moments thereafter the company passed the dead body
of that "liberated", _convict_ Mexican.
The unoccupied private house in which we were quartered that night was
near the place at which the man, who shot Colonel Garland, had been left
tied to a lantern iron with a rope around his neck. When we returned the
man was gone. Nothing further was said or done upon our side, in his
_case_.
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