The Battle of Palo Alto.
On the night of the 7th of May, with a force of over two thousand men
and a supply train of two hundred and fifty wagons, General Taylor
bivouacked on the plains about seven miles from Point Isabel. The whole
of the country is extremely flat in the neighborhood of the river and on
the road to Matamoros. In some places, broad thickets cover the levels,
in others, wide prairies spread out dotted, here and there, with bushes
and ponds. Early on the morning of Friday, the 8th, our camp was broken
up and the little army set in motion towards the fort. About noon the
scouts reported that the Mexicans were drawn up in our front, covering
the road with all their forces; and as soon, therefore, as we reached
the broad field of Palo Alto, a halt was ordered to refresh our men, and
form our line of battle with due deliberation. Far across the prairie,
at the distance of three quarters of a mile, were discerned the
glittering masses of the enemy. Infantry and cavalry were ranged,
alternately, on the level field and stretched out for more than a mile
in length, backed by the wiry limbs of the tall trees from which the
battle ground has taken its name. The left wing, composed of heavy
masses of horse, occupied the road, resting on a thicket of chapparal,
and flanked by ponds, while large bodies of infantry were discovered on
the right, greatly outnumbering our own force and standing somewhat in
a curved line, ready, as it were, to embrace our advancing columns.
Orders were directly given on the American side to form the array for
action. On our extreme right were ranged the fifth infantry under
Colonel McIntosh; Major Ringgold's artillery; the third infantry
commanded by Captain L. M. Morris; two eighteen pounders drawn by twenty
yoke of oxen and commanded by Lieutenant Churchill, and lastly, the
fourth infantry under Major Allen. The third and fourth regiments,
formed the third brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Garland, and all these
corps, together with two squadrons of dragoons led by Ker and May,
composed the right wing under the orders of Colonel Twiggs. The left was
composed of a battalion of artillery commanded by Colonel Childs,
Captain Duncan's light artillery, and the eighth infantry under Captain
Montgomery,--all constituting the first brigade under the orders of
Lieutenant Colonel Belknap. The train, meanwhile, was packed near a pond
under the direction of Captains Crossman and Myers, and protected by the
squadron of Ker's dragoons.
It was about two o'clock in the afternoon that our march against the
enemy began by heads of columns, whilst the eighteen-pounder battery
followed slowly along the road. During our advance it was deemed
especially important to ascertain with accuracy the number and calibre
of the enemy's cannon, and for this hazardous reconnoissance on an open
plain, Lieutenant Blake, of the topographical engineers, immediately
volunteered. Passing the advanced guard at full speed, he dashed over
the long grass that concealed the opposing forces, until he approached
within about eighty yards of the line where he had a distinct view of
the enemy. The Mexicans gazed with surprise at this daring act, while
Blake alighted from his horse, surveyed the whole array with his glass,
counting the squadrons and ordnance carefully, and then galloped down
their front to the other wing of their extended line.[107]
Scarcely had this gallant officer reported to our general when two of
the enemy's batteries opened on us vigorously. Taylor immediately
ordered our columns to halt, and deploying into line, our artillery
returned the fire, whilst the eighth infantry, on our extreme left, was
thrown back to secure that flank;--and, thus, with the distance of only
seven hundred yards between the opposing lines, the battle began with
rattling vollies of ball and grape bounding over our heads. The first
fires of the enemy injured us but little, while the heavy metal of our
eighteen-pounders, and the smaller shot of Ringgold's battery, quickly
dispersed the masses of cavalry on the left. Duncan's battery, supported
by May's dragoons, was then thrown forward on that flank, and for more
than an hour the incessant thunder of a cannonade raged along both
fronts, making sad gaps in the battalions, rending the prairie, filling
the air with dust and smoke, killing and wounding a few, yet, producing
no decided effect. The Mexicans, unskilled in gunnery, fired without
precision; but, at almost every discharge of the American ordnance, the
shot told with wonderful precision among the Mexicans. Our artillery was
directed not only to masses and groups of the enemy, but often to
particular men, so that the officers felt as certain of their aim, as if
firing with rifles.
Meanwhile our infantry had been hitherto rather spectators of the
artillery's prowess, than active combatants; but as the battle thickened
the manoeuvring of the enemy to outflank us commenced. With infinitely
smaller forces than the Mexicans, our policy had been to act on the
defensive as much as possible, and to _feel_ the enemy before we engaged
at closer quarters. Hence we awaited their first assault, made by a
regiment of Mexican lancers led by Torrejon and supported by two pieces
of artillery, which threatened our right flank by moving through the
chapparal in the direction of our train. The fifth infantry was
immediately detached together with a section of Ringgold's battery and
Walker's Texans, to check this dangerous movement. The gallant regiment
was thrown into a square with the Ranger and twenty of his troopers on
its right, and thus stood ready to repulse the charge. On came the
advancing squadrons in splendid array, moving in solid masses of men and
horse, each lance tipped with its gay and fluttering pennon. Ringgold,
from his advanced position, galled them as they trotted onward; Ridgely,
from his closer ground, poured into them rapid vollies of grape and
canister; still they surged onward in spite of all resistance. At
length, when within shot of the impervious square, suddenly, a sheet of
deadly flame burst from the regiment, and breaking their array, forced
them to recoil in confusion. Nevertheless the daring troop was not
dismayed by the carnage. Forming rapidly from its ruins an imposing
mass, again it dashed towards the train, until the third infantry on our
extreme right, under the orders of Colonel Twiggs, crippled its advance
so completely, that it was impossible to rally. This was the last effort
of the brave lancers. Repulsed in every effort, they began to retreat
rapidly but in order; yet Ringgold, Ridgely, and the regiments of
infantry, still hung upon their flank, and with their terrible
discharges of grape and bullets, mowed wide openings in the flying ranks
until they reached their line. Meantime the incessant blaze of our
artillery had set fire to the withered prairie, whose tall grasses
touched the very muzzles of our guns, and for a while the armies were
concealed from each other in the mingled smoke of the recent battle and
of the burning field.
* * * * *
There was a pause in the conflict, as if the two combatants, like
gallant boxers, stopped a moment to take breath and survey each other
with looks of defiance. The enemy's left had been driven back in
confusion; and, as their cannonade ceased, the road remained free for
the advance of our eighteen-pounders close to the first position that
had been occupied by the Mexican cavalry. This was promptly ordered by
General Taylor who caused the first brigade to take a new post on the
left of that formidable battery. The fifth was also advanced to the
extreme right of our new line, while the train was moved accordingly to
suit the altered front. As the battalion of artillery advanced slowly
over the field it came up to a private of the fifth, a gallant veteran
of the old world who had escaped the fires of Austerlitz and Waterloo to
die at Palo Alto. He was one of the first who fell in the action, and as
his fellow soldiers paused a moment to compassionate his sufferings,
when they saw the blood gushing with each pulsation from his shattered
limbs--he waved them onward--"Go on companions, regardless of
me,"--shouted he,--"I've got but what a soldier enlists for,--strike the
enemy;--let _me_ die!" Such were the exclamations of Napoleon's
soldiers, at Marengo, when the advancing squadrons of cavalry hesitated
to leap over the heaps of wounded Frenchmen: "Tread on _me_ comrades;
make a bridge of my body! Long live France! Vive la liberte!" The
romantic fervor of warlike enthusiasm deprives battle of half its
horrors, and makes death on the field a glorious exit from the
sufferings of humanity.
* * * * *
The movements we made in changing our line were answered by
corresponding alterations of the Mexican front, and, after a suspension
of action for nearly an hour the battle was resumed. The effect of these
changes was to edge our right flank somewhat nearer Matamoros, and to
enable our forces to hold the road against the Mexicans who rested their
lines on the thickets in their rear.
The attack was recommenced by a destructive fire of artillery. Wide
openings were continually torn in the enemy's ranks by our marksmen, and
the constancy with which the Mexican infantry endured the incessant
hurricane of shot was the theme of universal admiration. Captain May,
detached with his squadron to make a demonstration on the left of the
enemy, suffered severely from the copper grape of the Mexican artillery.
Whilst passing the general and his staff with his troopers, the enemy
concentrated the fire of their batteries upon him, killing six of his
horses and wounding five dragoons. Nevertheless he succeeded in gaining
his desired position in order to charge the cavalry, but found the foe
in such overwhelming numbers as to render utterly ineffectual any
assault by his small command. The fourth infantry, which had been
commanded to support the eighteen-pounders, was also exposed to a
galling fire by which several men were killed and Captain Page mortally
wounded. The great effort of the Mexicans was to silence that powerful
battery, whose patient oxen had dragged it into the midst of the fight.
Hence they directed their aim almost exclusively upon these tremendous
pieces and upon the light artillery of Major Ringgold, who was fatally
struck by a cannon ball at this period of the conflict.[108]
Meanwhile the battalion of artillery under Colonel Childs had been
brought up to support the artillery on our right, and a strong
demonstration of cavalry was now made by the enemy against this part of
our line, while the column continued to advance under a severe fire from
the eighteen-pounders. The battalion was instantly formed into square
and held ready to receive the charge; but when the advancing squadrons
were within close range, a storm of canister from the eighteen-pounders
dispersed them. A rattling discharge of small arms was then opened upon
the square, but well aimed vollies from its front soon silenced all
further efforts of the Mexicans in that quarter. It was now nearly dark,
and the action terminated on our right, as the enemy were completely
driven back from their position and foiled in every attempt either to
break or outflank our gallant lines.
While these actions were occurring on our right under the eye of General
Taylor, the Mexicans had made a serious attempt against our left. The
smoke hung densely over the field and bushes so as almost to obscure the
armies from each other, and under cover of this misty veil and of
approaching night, the enemy suddenly rushed towards that wing and the
train with an immense body of cavalry and infantry under the command of
Colonel Montero. The movement was rapid and daring, but it did not
escape the quick eye of Duncan, who dashed back with his battery to the
left flank in full view of the enemy and engaged them within point blank
range of his deadly guns. So sudden and unexpected was this gallant
manoeuvre to the enemy, who, a moment before, saw this battery
disappear in the opposite direction behind the smoke of the burning
prairie,--that their whole column halted in amazement before a shot had
been fired or a gun unlimbered. But they were neither repulsed nor
dismayed. A strong body of infantry, supported by two squadrons of
cavalry, debouched from the extreme right of the chapparal, and moved
steadily forward to attack us. One section of Duncan's battery began to
play upon them with round shot, shells, and spherical case, so well
directed that the whole advance, both horse and foot, fell back in
disorder to the bushes. Meantime the other section opened upon the
masses of cavalry that halted at the first sight of our approaching
guns, and although these shots were well delivered and each tore a vista
through an entire squadron, the enemy remained unshaken. At every
discharge the havoc was frightfully destructive, but the gaps in the
Mexican ranks were immediately closed with fresh horsemen as they
pressed on to assail us.
The column of cavalry and infantry, driven back into the chapparal by
the other section, re-formed in the thicket, and, a second time,
dauntlessly advanced in order. After it approached about a hundred yards
from the screen of bushes, the section that was previously ordered to
repel it, re-opened a deadly fire and drove the foe head long into the
forest. The supporting cavalry rushed back upon the ranks that hitherto
withstood our shot, and the hurried retreat became a perfect rout.
Squadron after squadron joined tumultuously in the race, and the whole
right wing of the Mexicans was soon in rapid flight, while our
relentless sections continued to send their vollies into the broken and
scampering columns until they disappeared in the chapparal or were lost
in the darkness of night. Thus ended the brilliant affair of Palo Alto.
The enemy retired behind a protecting wood, and our army bivouacked on
the ground it had won and occupied during the protracted fight.
* * * * *
Both parties slept on the battle field. It had been a fierce and
dreadful passage of arms, yet it was not a decided victory. We had
repulsed the Mexicans, fatally, in every attempt; we had gained a better
position, enabling us to press onward towards Matamoros, and had
inflicted serious injury on the foe; but the enemy still rested on their
arms and seemed disposed to dispute the field with us again on the
morrow. They were sadly crippled though not defeated, and had exhibited
a degree of nerve, mettle, and firmness that was entirely unexpected
from the vanquished soldiery of San Jacinto.
Wearied by the excessive labor of nearly six hours fighting, our
infantry and artillery sank on the ground wherever they found a resting
place, whilst the alert dragoons circled the sleeping camp and rode on
their outposts, among heaps of the enemy whose dying groans were heard
on all sides from the thickets to which they had crept. All night long
the medical staff was busy in its work of mercy, while the officers who
felt the dangerous responsibility of their situation collected in groups
to discuss their prospects. Some were doubtful of success, some anxious
to obtain reinforcements, some full of hope and animation, but all were
satisfied that it was prudent to hold a council on the impending
fortunes of the army. After a full examination of the difficulties and a
proper display of their resources, the enthusiasm of the young and the
experience of the old, alike, sanctioned the heroic determination of
Taylor to advance without succor. This brave resolve reassured the army,
and all prepared with alacrity and confidence for the dangers of the
9th.
FOOTNOTES:
[107] Lieutenant Blake died about the time our fight commenced at Resaca
de la Palma, on the 9th, from a wound inflicted by one of his own
pistols. He had thrown his sword, to which his pistols were attached, on
the ground on entering his tent. One pistol was discharged accidentally
in the fall, and the ball entered his thigh, but was cut out of his
breast. He died three hours afterwards.
[108] Ringgold died the day after the battle, but Page survived some
time though he was shockingly mangled by the ball which shot off the
lower part of his face.