and the military chest of the army, were captured by the volunteers, who now hurried forward with Riley's brigade, all under the command of General Twiggs, in pursuit of the flying enemy. The cavalry, and the field-batteries of Taylor and Wall, were also pushed on towards Jalapa, as soon as the road was opened, and General Patterson was sent to take command of the advanced columns.
General Scott had not been an inattentive observer of the events of the day, and the result was peculiarly gratifying to his feelings. He arrived on the height of Cerro Gordo shortly after General Worth, and publicly thanked Colonel Harney and his command for the courage and skill displayed in their gallant achievement. Before the sun had reached its meridian, the defile was passed, and the way opened to the table land of Mexico. The network of obstacles which Santa Anna had raised to impede the advance of the American army, proved to be frail as the meshes of the spider's web.[1] The battle was won, too, by a force barely exceeding 8,000 men, and under circumstances which justly entitle it to a prominent place among the other actions of the warn.[2]
The pursuit was continued until late in the afternoon of the 18th, and many of the enemy were captured or cut down, before the American soldiers were obliged to halt, having become nearly exhausted from the heat and the distance. Captain Taylor brought up his bat-
- ↑ In his proclamation to his countrymen announcing the fall of Vera Cruz, Santa Anna said: "If the enemy advance one step more, the national independence will be buried in the abyss of the past." Alluding to this in a postcript. to his official dispatch, General Scott pithily remarked, "We have taken that step."
- ↑ General Quitman did not arrive with the second brigade of volunteers in time to take part in the action.
