It being
impossible to leap it, General Pierce was lifted from his saddle, and in
some incomprehensible way, hurt as he was, contrived to wade or scramble
across this obstacle, leaving his horse on the hither side. The troops
were now under fire. In the excitement of the battle he forgot his
injury, and hurried forward, leading the brigade, a distance of two or
three hundred yards. But the exhaustion of his frame, and particularly
the anguish of his knee,--made more intolerable by such free use of it,--
was greater than any strength of nerve, or any degree of mental energy,
could struggle against. He fell, faint and almost insensible, within
full range of the enemy's fire. It was proposed to bear him off the
field; but, as some of his soldiers approached to lift him, he became
aware of their purpose, and was partially revived by his determination to
resist it. "No," said he, with all the strength he had left, "don't
carry me off! Let me lie here!" And there he lay, under the tremendous
fire of Churubusco, until the enemy, in total rout, was driven from the
field.
Immediately after the victory, when the city of Mexico lay at the mercy
of the American commander, and might have been entered that very night,
Santa Anna sent a flag of truce, proposing an armistice, with a view to
negotiation for peace.
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