At the appointed signal the troops were in motion. The right column proceeded down the line of street it was directed to take, until it nearly reached the river; when, turning to the left, with the view of making for the Franciscan Convent and taking possession of it, it was assailed from the parapets and windows of every house along the whole street in so vigorous a manner as to render it impossible to penetrate further without the probable loss of every officer and man. Orders were at this moment given to retire; and General Craufurd took post in the great Convent of St. Domingo, occupying as many houses as his means enabled him to break into, on the flat parapetted tops of which the troops formed. Every possible effort was made to assail the enemy from all parts of the Convent, but without success; for those points which the men were enabled to reach were mostly commanded by the neighbouring houses on one side, which the Riflemen had not been able to force open, and from which fire they suffered dreadfully. With the exception of the operations of the force under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, and of the 45th Regiment, every point of attack failed. The capture of the 88th Regiment, together with the Light Brigade under Lieutenant-Colonels Packe and Cadogan, and the immense loss of killed and wounded, furnished the enemy with such powerful means of attack that at three o’clock he had dislodged our force from every house they occupied, and confined our operations entirely to one or two points of the Convent. The loss of officers and men at this time increased most considerably. Every effort was made to preserve the posts; but, finding his troops deprived of all means of succour, or prospect of success in holding out, having ascertained the fate of the neighbouring columns, and further resistance proving quite useless, the Brigadier surrendered with his column at four o’clock in the afternoon, and the officers and men were immediately marched as prisoners to the citadel and other buildings. Major M’Leod, of the 95th, however, on Craufurd consulting the field-officers in the Convent, was the only one who demurred to the necessity of surrendering. But when Craufurd offered, if M’Leod was decidedly of opinion that they could force their way out, to head the column with him, he declined the responsibility.[32]