That castle was a strong fortress of rock and masonry, mounting 26 guns, and garrisoned by 2,500 regular troops and 300 cadets under the command of General Bravo. It was the National Military Academy of Mexico. It was situated about one mile and a half from the capital, on the crest of a steep rocky height, which rose 189 feet above the road which entered the city at the Belén gate. About midway up the ascent was a strong redoubt on the south front, and just below that, a heavy stone wall, with a banquette, which ran along nearly the entire front, and was well manned with Mexican regulars. Our batteries opened fire on the castle at the distance of about 700 yards, on the morning of September 12th, and at night fall had made several breaches in its walls. Soon after midnight our forces silently occupied the ditch that nearly encircled the foot of the hill, and which was bordered with a profuse growth of the Maguay plant or American aloe, which served to screen us from the view of the enemy. At day-dawn on the 13th our men stepped from the ditch, and being quickly aligned under the fire of the enemy, advanced to the assault. The entire army was brought into action, except three regiments of Worth’s division held in reserve at Molino del Rey. In a whirlwind of fire from cannon and musketry, that swept down the hill, which was everywhere ablaze with the flashing guns, our men pressed upward, and onward, our artillery, in the road below, firing shot and shell over their heads as they advanced. Another desperate rush, and their bayonets sparkled at every breach, and soon the flag of the First New York volunteers, the first to crown the castle, floated out above the battlements with its inspiring motto “Excelsior,” and proclaimed that Chapultepec was ours! The presence here to-night of one of the gallant survivors of that heroic regiment, Colonel Daniel E. Hungerford who is on my left, and Colonel Charles J. Murphy who is on my right, a soldier of another regiment, leads me to recall two incidents of that battle, one of which moves me deeply with a sense of personal gratitude and bereavement. The Colonel of that Regiment, Ward B. Burnett, who proved himself worthy to lead it, was severely wounded at Cherutusco, and the command devolved upon its Lieutenant-Colonel Baxter, who was killed while most gallantly leading it at Chapultepec. Its brave Major Burnham then assumed command, but was soon temporarily disabled by a glancing shot or a flying fragment of rock. At that critical moment, when the Regiment was nearing the breaches under a galling fire, Captain Daniel E. Hungerford, then but in his twenty-fifth year, though not entitled to command it, sprang to the front and cheered the regiment forward with his voice and waving sword.