. Young folks' history of Mexico. pital. Then he sent answer that the voice ofhis people was for war, — war to the knife ! Scott was prepared for this, and resolved upon instantaction. Three important points of defence yet remainedto guard the city; the strongly-fortified castle and hill ofChapultepec ; the Molino del Rey, or Kings Mill — a mass-ive stone building filled with troops, and defended byheavy cannon ; and the Casa Mata — another building ofgreat strength filled with supplies of war. These pointswere promptly reconnoitred, and an aggressive movementmade on the morning of the 8th. It
. Young folks' history of Mexico. pital. Then he sent answer that the voice ofhis people was for war, — war to the knife ! Scott was prepared for this, and resolved upon instantaction. Three important points of defence yet remainedto guard the city; the strongly-fortified castle and hill ofChapultepec ; the Molino del Rey, or Kings Mill — a mass-ive stone building filled with troops, and defended byheavy cannon ; and the Casa Mata — another building ofgreat strength filled with supplies of war. These pointswere promptly reconnoitred, and an aggressive movementmade on the morning of the 8th. It was a glorious affair,that capture of Molino dd Rey, and, though many a gal-lant soldier fell before the cannon of the foe, the massivestructure was at length shattered, and the forces within itdriven, flying like sheep, before the bayonets of the Amer-icans. The Casa Mata was fbolishly stormed, when itshould have been battered to pieces by the artillery; anddreadful carnage was made amongst our troops as they ad- ill mim;. The Storming of Chaptdtepec. 459 vanced, time after time, to the assault. But this strongwork was finally blown up and destroyed, the Molino de-molished, and the foe flying, panic-stricken and demoralized,towards Chapultepec and the city. Eight hundred pris-oners were ours, besides cannon, ammunition, and smallarms in such quantities as to be superfluous. Again hadthe Americans gained a victory against superior numbers;for on this day, in this short fight, — which was over bynine oclock in the morning, — they had whipped anddriven in terror before them four times their number ofMexican soldiers. A little over three thousand had de-feated twelve thousand in their own chosen places ofdefence ! The American loss was one hundred and six-teen killed and six hundred and sixty-five wounded. After rendering the spots so recently bristling with can-non unavailable by the enemy as places for defence, theAmericans retired. Eager, and borne onward by the im-p
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