When this was told to
Pierce, upon his sick-bed, he rose, and attempted to dress himself; but
Captain Hardcastle, who had brought the intelligence from Worth,
prevailed upon him to remain in bed, and not to exhaust his scanty
strength until the imminence of the occasion should require his presence.
Pierce acquiesced for the time, but again arose, in the course of the
night, and made his way to the trenches, where he reported himself to
General Quitman, with whose division was a part of his brigade.
Quitman's share in the anticipated assault, it was supposed, owing to the
position which his troops occupied, would be more perilous than that of
Worth.
But the last great battle had been fought. In the morning, it was
discovered that the citadel had been abandoned, and that Santa Anna had
withdrawn his army from the city.
There never was a more gallant body of officers than those who came from
civil life into the army on occasion of the Mexican War. All of them,
from the rank of general downward, appear to have been animated by the
spirit of young knights, in times of chivalry, when fighting for their
spurs. Hitherto known only as peaceful citizens, they felt it incumbent
on them, by daring and desperate valor, to prove their fitness to be
intrusted with the guardianship of their country's honor.
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