The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 357: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

{ sees ’ THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI’S YOUNG CAPTAIN. 351 aan RS eee oe north bank of the river, and that the enemy’s supply of water depended ‘entirely upon the river. “ Assaults could be of little use, as all advance upon the place was by an up grade, and that the public buildings and other strong edifices had been converted into forts, strongly fortified, and mounted, sweeping every approach, ' “His men knew, however, that there were im- mense supplies of all kinds in the place, together with cannon, horses, waggons, ambulances, thou- sands of small arms, important state documents, and much specie, which had been robbed from various places throughout the country. “ As all were in the highest spirits, and held the enemy remarkably ‘cheap,’ dispositions were im- mediately made for commencing the siege. “ Many thought that officers were too slow and careful in approaching through the outskirts, and resolved to charge the enemy’s line of intrench- ments placed higher up in town, “They made the trial, and suffered considerably: so that it was evident cautious measures were the best. “One part of our force moved forward, and, without much opposition, occupied a good position north-north-east of the breastworks, and with two batteries maintained an effective and destructive fire upon them from which there was no escape. ‘Another command, also, moved up south-sonth- west, and was also favourably posted. ** Hach of these brigades had supports within call should the enemy sally down from the hill, and attempt to dislodge them from hastily-constructed field-works. “While a heavy; body of sharp-shooters were thrown out in front, harassing and cutting off their gunners, and such as dare appear in sight, carrying water from the river, wells, &c.,a gradual approach was made upon the foe, who lost every hour from the deadly accuracy of our skirmishers, and made several faint attempts to dislodge them. * But the enemy would scarcely appear ere rapid volleys were fired into them, completely smashing up all such bold intentions, and they would wildly rush back to houses, breastworks, &c,, to get out of the way of further loss, “While all this was progressing in and around town, Juarez received word that Colonel Saunders, a Mexican renegade, was coming down the north bank of the river to oppose him. “ When this force reached a point twenty-five miles above the city, Saunders crossed 2,000 of them, leaving an officer in charge of the remainder. “Our men, however, knew these renegades of old, in many a fight, and, taking to the woods, maintained such a murderous fire that they were soon routed, with a loss of more than 200, while we lost but 10, ‘‘We formed a junction witb Juarez, and in- stilled new ardour into the whole army. “But, although Saunders was badly whipped, it was known that others were approaching, also, on the north bank, thinking to cross over and assist Burgos with over t,500 cavalry, depending upon the ferry-boats for transportation, “But these boats, lying snugly under the bluff, Juarez determined to capture at all cost, particularly as a large steamboat, also lying there, was reported to contain considerable quantities of stores, &c, “ Directing an officer to this point, he carefully approached from the west, along the river’s edge, within part view of the fortifications, and effected the important capture in gallant style, removing the vessels beyond reach of destruction. “ Mejia saw the manceuvre when too late, but opened a vigorous fire upon the party, and as many men fell, on account of the enemy’s possession of a house on top of the bluff, several companies were detailed to attack it. “Although advancing under a deadly fire from musketry and artillery, our men took it in gallant style, but with loss. “As this house was within 150 yards of his main works, and could be made to command them, Mejia collected a strong force, sallied forth, and retook it, slaughtering every one without mercy. “The enemy were not long in possession of the strong dwelling, ere our forces attacked and carried the high grounds north of it, and pounded the house so much that the enemy vacated it as untenable, “ Thus we were gaining ground on all sides, and the enemy’s position becoming more and more cir- cumscribed every hour, “ Our artillery, moving upon conquered positions, blazed away right and left, sweeping everything before them. . “Mejia’s position, however, was still a strong one, and he could have held out for ajlong time ; but being completely cut off from water, his men were failing in strength every hour. “ Hearing that Bazaine was fast approaching the north ferry landing, Juarez got up steam on his captured boats, and transported a strong force on that side, and managed the enterprise so warily, that Bazaine barely escaped capture, his whole com- mand retreating in the wildest disorder, leaving hundreds of tents, camp equipage, and Jarge stores behind untouched, “Since the first opening skirmishes on the 13th, we had gradually worked our way through town. ‘ But ‘ real’ business, as I have said, commenced on the 18th, with great success on every hand, “ And it now being the 20th, over fifty hours of incessant fire had been maintained on both sides, thew loss being very considerable. “ When Mejia found that his boats were captured, and that, instead of fighting their way to him, had ‘skedaddled’ in all directions, he gave evident signs of giving up all hope of resisting the gradual approach of Juarez around him, since it was im- possible to obtain water for his men on constant duty night and day. ** Still fearful of some other’s arrival to raise the siege or reinforce, our men redoubled their efforts in every way, and maintained a heavy fire from all points. “So that, being perpetually powerless, Mejia hoisted a white flag on his works towards 4 P.M. on the 20th ; firing ceased in all directions, and loud, deafening yells from all points of the compass informed us that Mejia had unconditionally sur- rendered ! Seeing the hopelessness of the defence, Mejia fled from the town himself, leaving Colonel Burgos a prisoner in our hands, 05 “When the enemy stacked arms, and- marched out, we found that we had captured 4,000 effectives, rank and file, 120 commissioned ers, several stands of colours, brass bands, &c,, two mortars, Ccomicbooks Conn