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medical officers, the wounded and disabled, who will be brought back to this place for treatment in general hospital.

"The Surgeon-General will organize this important service and designate that hospital, as well as the medical officers to be left at it.

"Every man who marches out to attack or pursue the enemy, will take the usual allowance of ammunition, and subsistence for at least two days.

By command of Major-General Scott,

H. L. SCOTT, A. A. A. General."

The morning of the 18th rose bright and beautiful. The sun rode up the clear, deep, cloudless blue, ascending through an atmosphere of such transparent purity, as rendered remote objects sharply distinct, and confounded to unaccustomed eyes the idea of distance.

A gentle, cooling breeze swept over the hill-tops, and fanned the parched lips of the fevered watchers of both armies, whose eyes were now bent eagerly upon each other, waiting the signal which should impel them from the opposing heights, to meet in close and deadly conflict.

The division of Twiggs, whose gallantry on the preceding day had elicited that old veteran's unqualified admiration, was now to go forth again into the hottest of the battle.

To the brave regulars of the First Brigade was committed the perilous duty of storming the tower of Cerro Gordo, the success or failure of which enterprise would stamp the orders of the General-in-chief with the spirit of prophecy, or cause them to appear in the annals of history as the vainglorious production of an over-confident man.

During this attack upon the key position, the Second Brigade under Riley, and the volunteers under Shields, were to press forward in the direction of the enemy's left, over rough and rugged

ways, and through the thorny chaparral which intervened between the newly cut road, and the plain in the rear of the mountain.The object of this movement was to seize the Jalapa road, and prevent the escape of the fugitives.

The division of Worth was ordered to support the storming party, while that of Pillow operated upon the strong river batteries upon the right. Upon the columns of Twiggs and Pillow, therefore, the fiercest brunt of the battle would necessarily fall; but, upon the results achieved by the former mainly depended the fortune of the day. Cerro Gordo was the key position, overtopping and commanding all others, and, that once taken, the river batteries to be assaulted by Pillow, though almost impracticable when attacked in front, were comparatively valueless as means of defence, whenever the position should be effectually turned, and Cerro Gordo in possession of its conquerors.

But the effect of the capture of Cerro Gordo did not end here. Not only would the river batteries be rendered ineffective, but also the ascending series of forts and breastworks, all of which were commanded by the tower.

The movement of Pillow was more for the purpose of diverting the attention of the enemy from the storm of Cerro Gordo, than from any great result which was likely to ensue otherwise; and, if this succeeded, the object of the General-in-chief would be gained, even though Pillow should be beaten back with severe loss, as happened to be subsequently the case.

Through the desertion of a German soldier from our ranks, on the evening of the 17th, General Santa Anna obtained early information of the plan of attack as arranged for the morrow, and strengthened his left accordingly. In order to protect his front and right, General La Vega, previously known as a most gallant and efficient officer, supposing Cerro Gordo secure from assault, exchanged command of the latter with General Vasquez, and

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sought, by his presence in the river batteries, to animate the defenders to a successful resistance.

Throughout the night of the 17th, there were eight thousand Mexicans lying upon and around the different heights, protected by breastworks and fortifications, and further secured from direct assault, by deep ravines, and almost precipitous rocks, up whose steep sides they imagined a man would scarcely dare to climb.

In addition to the force thus formidably posted, there was a reserve of six thousand men encamped upon the plain in the rear of Cerro Gordo, and close to the Jalapa road.

These troops, under the immediate command of General Santa Anna, were posted so as to be within supporting distance of any point upon or among the heights, that might be most exposed to danger from a vigorous assault.

The American force did not exceed eight thousand men.

At break of day, the second division was ordered to prepare for battle, and the command was obeyed with a quiet fearlessness that augured well for the success of their heroic efforts.

The battery planted with so much difficulty upon the crest of the captured hill now opened its fire upon Cerro Gordo, which was returned by a plunging fire of grape and canister.

Meanwhile, Harney was organizing his storming party. This consisted of the 7th infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Plympton, the Rifles under Major Loring, four companies of the 1st artillery under Colonel Childs, and six companies of the 3d infantry under Captain Alexander.

All of these, composing the forlorn hope, were regulars; picked men, daring and resolute. Many of them were veterans who had passed not unscathed through the desperate battles of Palo Alto and the Palm Ravine, and the still more deadly storm of Monterey. Now they were about to wrestle with a danger, perhaps more imminent than any they had hitherto encountered.

They were to advance in the face of an enemy confident in the

strength of his defences—in the face of a plunging fire from the Tower of Cerro Gordo-in defiance of the enemy's reserve thrown forward as a succouring force-over barricades bristling with musketry, up steep rocks, several hundred feet in height, and over and into the Tower of Cerro Gordo, itself filled with armed men outnumbering their assailants, and protected by a well directed fire from guns served by the ablest artillerists of the nation, yet not a man faltered.

Forming the 7th Infantry on the right, the 3d on the left, and the Artillery in the rear, Harney detached the Rifles to check a large force of the enemy hastening to the support of Cerro Gordo, and, without waiting for the fire of his skirmishers, ordered the charge to sound.

And now, down rushed those daring men through a storm of grape and canister, and musketry.

They descended the hill-they crossed the ravine; and, with a shout, commenced clambering the terrible height. Looking back from its base, they recognise on the crest of the hill they have so lately quitted, the tall form of the General-in-chief. He has come to witness the exploit which is to determine the fate of the day, and, as he beholds the men clinging to, and surmounting the rocks, in every direction-each eager to be first, regardless of his exposure to the fierce fire continually poured upon them; as he sees a part of them form a little distance from the base of the hill; and, led by the intrepid Harney, carry the interposing breastwork at the point of the bayonet, in defiance of its resolute defenders; and as he hears, in the ravine below, the brave Rifles, already baptized in blood, sustaining, with a courage never surpassed, a galling fire in front and upon both flanks from entrenchments and batteries, and yet keeping the succouring force at bay, while their comrades ascend the height, he feels that the agonizing suspense which intervenes between the projecting of a perilous exploit and its successful execution, is gradually sub