About twelve thousand Americans had marched under Scott against Vera Cruz; about five thousand mustered under the flag of Taylor, when the news came that Santa Anna, with an army of twenty thousand strong, was marching upon the scattered and weakened forces of the smallest of the two American armies. Scott was too far on his way towards the sea coast to march to the rescue of Taylor, and the latter was left to do his best alone. On the morning of the 23rd of February, 1847, the unequal battle began. General Taylor had secured for his five thousand men a strong position at Buena Vista, in which the artillery of his antagonist could not readily be brought into play. When Santa Anna approached with twenty thousand men, he sent a message to Taylor to surrender at discretion; a request which the American chieftain abruptly declined, and the fight began. The contest was long and doubtful. The disparity of numbers was soon felt, and the feeling that all depended on their valour nerved the attacked party to greater desperation in their defence. Less than five hundred of Taylor’s men were regular troops; more than four thousand of them, but a few months before, were at work in the fields, and on wharfs, and in warehouses in the States. But volunteers though they were, no veterans could have done more. About seven hundred of them fell, killed and wounded, but night, which stayed the battle, saw the Mexicans in retreat before a force over which, in the morning, they expected a rapid and easy victory. The gallantry of the Anglo-Saxons prevailed over the numbers of their semi-Spanish antagonists, and Santa Anna retreated with an army weakened by the loss of nearly two thousand killed and wounded. “Along the road leading from Buena Vista to Agua Nueva (says Mr. Chase), a scene of horror was presented on the night of the 23rd of February. The means of transporting the wounded being extremely limited, they were left to struggle with suffering and with death, and the sighing of the wind and the cry of the wolf were their only requiem. Abandoned to their fate, without food, parched with thirst, without medical aid, and with no shelter to protect them from the piercing night air, they awaited the moment when death should release them from their suffering. The main body of the army reached Agua Nueva at midnight, and, dying with thirst, many of the soldiers plunged into a stagnant sheet of water which, in many cases, produced instant death. Suffering from the want of food and water, dispirited and disheartened by the result of the battle, they presented a striking contrast to that splendid array which, buoyant with hope and confident of victory, had attacked the American army.” Many anecdotes of this period of Taylor’s career are told with pride by his countrymen. Here are some of them which amusingly illustrate the character of the man. First we have one descriptive of his personal appearance.