Colonel Noah E. Smith (a patriotic American,
long resident in Mexico, whose local and topographical knowledge proved
eminently serviceable) had offered to point out the road, and was sent to
summon General Pierce to the presence of the commander-in-chief. When he
met Pierce, near Coyacan, at the head of his brigade, the heavy fire of
the batteries had commenced. "He was exceedingly thin," writes Colonel
Smith, "worn down by the fatigue and pain of the day and night before,
and then evidently suffering severely. Still there was a glow in his
eye, as the cannon boomed, that showed within him a spirit ready for the
conflict." He rode up to General Scott, who was at this time sitting on
horseback beneath a tree, near the church of Coyacan, issuing orders to
different individuals of his staff. Our account of this interview is
chiefly taken from the narrative of Colonel Smith, corroborated by other
testimony.
The commander-in-chief had already heard of the accident that befell
Pierce the day before; and as the latter approached, General Scott could
not but notice the marks of pain and physical exhaustion against which
only the sturdiest constancy of will could have enabled him to bear up.
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