On the same evening a flag of truce arrived from Santa Anna who proposed an armistice of twenty days, stating that he desired to negociate terms of peace. General Scott assented, and having but three days’ rations in his commissariat, imposed as one of the conditions, that he should be allowed to send a train with a proper escort into the city, and there purchase supplies for his army. This was accordingly done. On Sept. 6th, Gen. Scott declared the armistice at an end, having discovered that the wily Santa Anna, in violation of its solemn terms, was engaged in fortifying his position and reinforcing his army.
At dawn on Sept. 8th we again advanced. Santa Anna with his army occupied Molino del Rey or the King’s Mill, a series of massive stone buildings surrounded by high walls, about one mile and a half west of the castle of Chapultepec and three miles from the city of Mexico. His force consisted of ten thousand men and twenty four pieces of artillery.
Our attacking columns numbered 3,600 with Drum’s, Huger’s, and Duncan’s batteries, and a company of Voltigeurs, under the immediate command of General Worth, all regulars.
We attacked in three columns, and our first attack being repulsed, the Mexicans sallied from their works, and lanced our wounded officers and men, and cut their throats within full view of our army.
Worth rapidly reinforcing with Cadwallader’s Brigade, and Stewart’s rifles, that had been left to support Huger’s Battery, and Duncan’s heavy Battery of 24-pounders, attacked the enemy’s right and centre, and having taken the Casa Mata, a strong stone citadel, the enemy abandoned all his other positions, and the day was won. In proportion to the force engaged, this was, for us, the most bloody battle of the war. We had 953 killed and wounded, among them seventy five officers. The loss of the enemy was 1200 killed and wounded, and 850 prisoners.
The desperate nature of the conflict may be indicated by the fact that towards its close, the guns of Drum’s and Huger’s batteries were served almost entirely by officers—graduates of West Point, nearly every enlisted artillery man having fallen at his post.
The victory was important as Molino del Rey was the chief cannon foundry of Mexico and its guns commanded some of the approaches to the Castle of Chapultepec.
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!