As expected, the enemy came up a little before daybreak of the 11th, and made their first dash at a house on the south side of the Plaza, occupied by a couple of American ladies. The latter had been frequently warned of the danger of their position, but they persisted in remaining where they were against the remonstrances of several officers. This attempt of the enemy to gain a foothold on the Plaza was made by a body of Costa Ricans, and guided by a Legitimist, Bonilla, familiar with the ground, they got close to the house and were within it before the alarm was given. But as they opened the door fronting on the Plaza, with a view of getting to the house next on their right, and held by some of the quartermaster’s men, Sevier, of the Artillery, ran out a twelve-pound howitzer, not thirty yards from the Costa Ricans, and one round of canister drove the enemy behind the adobes. Thus the advance of the Allies was checked on the south side, and the company in the house, fronting the Plaza, was completely cut off by the quartermaster’s men on one flank, Williamson with his company on the other, and by Pineda with Buchanan’s Rangers in the rear. In a few moments Henningsen began to riddle the house with six-pound shot, and the Costa Ricans, crouching on the ground, knew not how to escape the danger which surrounded them. Finally Pineda, addressing them in Spanish, called on them to surrender, and those who escaped death were taken prisoners. But while the round shot were riddling the house held by the Costa Ricans, the fresh Guatemalan troops, half drunk with aguardiente, were driven up by their officers close to the American lines. These soldiers, probably never before in action, and not aware of the danger from rifles, exposed themselves without reason, at a distance of sixty or seventy-five yards from the positions held by McEachin and McMichael. The men under these two officers poured a deadly fire into the foolish and ignorant Indians Carrera had sent to Nicaragua; and it was with a feeling almost of pity for these forced levies that the Americans were obliged to shoot them down like so many cattle. The Guatemalan officers cared no more for their men than if they were sheep; and when they finally drew off their troops the ground was thickly strewn with the dead and the wounded.