———
Buena Vista.
We lay at Aqua Nueva, sullenly, in stern repose,
Awaiting, with anxiety, the onset of our foes: —
We were few; but what of that? We were men, not one of whom
But was ready, when his country called, to meet a soldier’s doom,
And, looking toward the approaching fight with something like despair,
We were deadly as the lion when the hunter treads his lair.
Our foes, so said our scouts, when they came, at set of sun,