Then he took up his march on their great town, which had the name of Mon-te-rey. This town had high hills and deep gulfs round it, and strong forts. Its streets were full of men with arms. Gen-er-al Tay-lor made a grand move on the town. To get out of the fire that would seem to pour on them from the roofs, the troops went in and dug their way through stone walls from house to house, or they would pass from roof to roof. Ere they came to the grand place of the town, it was in their hands, the foe gave up the fight.
CAP-TURE OF MON-TE-REY.
At this time San-ta An-na, who was chief of the Mex-i-can troops, heard that most of our men had been drawn off to help Gen-er-al Scott; so he thought it would be a good time to crush us. They laid in wait with all their best troops, and the fight went on from the rise of the sun till dark. It grew hard to hold our ground, and the day would have been lost but for the guns of Cap-tain Bragg, who came to our help. He made a dash up to a few yards from the foe, and let fire. Their ranks were seen to shake. "Some more grape. Cap-tain Bragg," said Gen-er-al Tay-lor. One more round, and then a third came, and the Mex-i-cans broke and fled. In the night San-ta An-na drew all his troops off.
Gen-er-al Scott, at the head of our troops, made a march through the land of Mex-i-co, and took all that came in his way. He drew siege lines round the town of Ve-ra Cruz, and sent bombs in to it, and in four days the town, with its strong hold, gave up the fight. A week from that time our troops took up their march for the chief town. At one pass in the hills, the foe had a strong hold. Gen-er-al Scott had a road cut round the base of those hills and through the woods; and then he was in a place to pour out fire on the rear of the foe, while more troops took him in front. The foe fled in such haste that San-ta An-na, who was lame, left his leg of wood on the ground, and got off on his wheel mule.
The town of Mex-i-co is in the midst of a grand plain, with green fields and cloud capt mounts round it. The foe had made a strong stand here, with forts and men. Our men made a move in the night. It was so dark they had to feel their way; but they took their stand on a height from which they could storm the strong points of the foe. At last they took some of the guns, and the roads were laid bare to the gates of the town.
There was some talk of a peace then, but Gen-er-al Scott found that it was not in good faith. The foe did it to gain time, to make things strong once more. So the next day, he took up his march on the great town of Mex-i-co. A strong fort, on a high rock by the town, was made ours; each out work fell one by one, and at last our troops took the great Ci-ty of Mex-i-co, and the next morn our flag with its stripes and stars was seen to float in the light from those grand old piles, which had been the home of more than one prince of Mex-i-co. So the war came to an end in just two years.
Till this time, Cal-i-for-nia had been known as a far off land, to which men went by sea, round Cape Horn, to buy hides and fur. But in 1848, came news to the East-ern States that there were gold mines in that place. It was said that a Swiss had found, as he dug in the sand, a bright sort of dust, and it was thought to be gold. All at once, on this news, there was a great rush from all parts of the land to the gold mines of Cal-i-for-nia, and there was a great sum won the first year. In two years the town of San Fran-cis-co had grown to quite a large place. The name of Cal-i-for-nia is said to have been found in an old book in Spain, and means an isle full of gold.
SAN FRAN-CIS-CO IN 1849.