The command of our column of attack on the enemy’s left was the post of honor, for it was the strongest point of his position, as it covered his only line of retreat. That command was assigned to Brigadier General James Shields, one of that warlike Irish race who have ever keenly felt the rapture of the fight wherever battle was to be done for a noble cause--a most knightly and heroic soldier, who would have worn with stainless honor the white plume of Henry of Navarre on the field of Ivry, and have worthily led the immortal Irish Brigade along the path of glory that it trod at Fontenoy. Our troops dashed up the mountain side with unquailing intrepidity, the First Regiment of New York, volunteers of Shield’s brigade under the command of that most gallant soldier Colonel Ward B. Burnett, bravely leading on our extreme right. The rocky ridge was soon ablaze with the fire of musketry and artillery. In three hours the Mexican Army was routed. The battle was done, and far up on the crest of the mountain range where the eagle dwells alone, the white stars of our country’s banner shone serenely on their blue field. Our loss was 97 killed and 408 wounded, and that of the enemy about 1,400 in killed and wounded, and 2,750 prisoners, among whom were officers and men of the recently surrendered garrison of Vera Cruz, who were serving against us in violation of their paroles. Harney’s Dragoons pursued the enemy hotly, and sabred their scattered columns for fifteen miles along the road to Jalapa. At that city the army of Scott was reduced to about 6,500 by the muster out of the greater part of his volunteer forces, as they had enlisted for only one year; and their term of service had expired. Leaving Jalapa on the 22nd of April we entered Peroté and its strong castle, a full bastion work of 80 guns, on the evening of the 23rd, the enemy having evacuated it on approach. Halting here to rest for about two weeks we marched for Puebla, 70 miles distant, the chief manufacturing city in Mexico with a population of 65,000. We occupied Puebla on May 15th, after a desultory fire from the enemy in its streets. Here General Scott was obliged to await, for nearly three months, the arrival of reinforcements. Every day’s delay increased our hazard, as the enemy was fortifying, along all the approaches to the capital. The time was not wholly lost, however, for General Scott there brought the drill of his volunteer regiments to the highest state of perfection, so that they marched and manœuvred with all the precision of trained regulars. At length the long-expected reinforcements arrived, and on the morning of August 7th, 1847, our Army moved out of Puebla on its march for the city of Mexico, all our bands playing the Star Spangled Banner. It numbered then about 10,000 men, consisting of four divisions.