A Campaign in New Mexico With Colonel Doniphan, by Frank S. Edwards

Published: Philadelphia, Care and Hart, 1847

Note: Battles of Bracito and Sacramento; includes lots of early-Texas
and area history

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                     A
                           CAMPAIGN IN NEW MEXICO
                                   WITH
                              COLONEL DONIPHAN

                                    BY
                              FRANK S. EDWARDS
                                A VOLUNTEER

                  WITH A MAP OF THE ROUTE, AND A TABLE OF
                                   THE
                            DISTANCES TRAVERSED


                               PHILADELPHIA
                               CARE AND HART
                                   1847




TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PREFACE.

CHAPTER I.
Texas and her boundary. Army of the West and the author's volunteering at 
St. Louis. A coup d'oeuil. The prairies. Indian woman and her child. A 
rainstorm. The son of the murdered Chavis. Swarm of annoying insects. 
Buffaloes and buffalo meat. Fish in the prairies. A volunteer buried. Sand 
hills and their appearance owing to sunlight. Gusts of hot wind. Wolves. A 
volunteer in a fit likely to have been shot. Indian fear of cannon. Dead 
Indian chief in a tree. The dried body of an Indian walking. Prairie-dog 
towns and rattlesnakes, - - - 17

CHAPTER II.
Rendezvous of the army near Bent's Fort. Soldiers put on short allowance. 
Slapjacks. Number of troops. A suspicious Mexican shown the camp and 
dismissed. Hunters. Antonio, his lasso and silver- mounted saddle. The 
Rocky Mountains. A thunder storm. First Mexican settlement. Expected 
fight. Son of General Salazar taken. San Miguel del Vada. Pecos, an Aztec 
town, and its traditions and immense bones. A Catholic mule. Santa Fe, its 
palace and its calaboose. Shops for the traders. Kendall's gun, Burying 
Mexican children. Inhabitants described. Jars. Tortillas and Atole. 
Donkeys. Mules and their title deeds. Mustangs and a particular cream 
colored stallion. Mode of breaking the wild horse, - - - 36

CHAPTER III.
Ugly old women. Cigaritos. Game of monte. Grazing ground. Reconnaissance 
of General Kearney down the Rio Grande and appointment of George Bent, 
Esquire, as Civil Governor. San Domingo and the Puebla Indians. 
Albuquerque. Armijo. The Priests. Valentia and its vineyards, and soldiers 
buying fruit of the Indians. Tomae and a religious celebration A fandango. 
Return, and bilious fever. Bringing in of Apache chiefs. Making sugar from 
cornstalks. Wheat harvest. Houses of Indians entered by a ladder. Priestly 
mummery on the disappearance of the ears of growing corn. Colonel Doniphan 
goes South. A theatre started by the soldiers. Men picked out to join 
Colonel Doniphan. Waking in the snow. Author buying corn of a priest. 
Buying sheep of another who was to catch and deliver them. Lightning rod. 
The Missourian and his "buckram" tents and big wagons. Join Colonel 
Doniphan. A slight sketch of him. The journey of death. Soap weed. The 
traders. A Scotchman taken, supposed to be a spy. Three unburied bodies. 
Sheep, and little flesh upon them, - - - 58

CHAPTER IV.
Christmas day. The enemy and a surprise, and the Battle of Bracito. Women 
in the battle. Alarms. Enter the City of El Paso. The traders do business. 
Senor Ponce and supplies. Mexican wine and brandy, and the effect of the 
latter. The priest Ortiz The Scotch man proves to be a scoundrel. Scene of 
former treachery, and death of a treacherous governor. Apache Indians and 
their forays. James Kirker. Oxen and mule stolen. Lieutenant Hinton 
pursues and brings in a scalp and the stolen animals. Wheat mill made 
entirely of wood. Mexican cattle; and buying some of a prisoner. Baked 
pumpkins. Colonel Doniphan and a stolen pig. Bizarre appearance of the 
troops. Force increased. Presidio del San Elecario, and a church with its 
dressed-up images. A fat priest and his extortions in a case of 
marriage, - - - 82

CHAPTER V.
A start for Chihuahua. Mail with letters from Santa Fe. Bent's murder, and 
the true cause of it. Doniphan and the traders. Lake of ducks. A 
seasonable rain. A warm spring. Carrizal. Wind storm. Another warm spring. 
Expectation, and an alarm.. Grass catches fire and runs up the mountain. 
Rumor of Mexicans near. Another fire and danger. Enemy not far off. Major 
Owens takes charge of the wagons. A Mexican spy chased. Picket guard 
drives in advanced guard of the enemy. Army moves out in solid square. A 
reconnoitre. The enemy. Doniphan resolves on an attack. The battle of 
Sacramento; and its results, - - - 102

CHAPTER VI.
Chihuahua. The bull ring. The Plaza. The Congress Hall. Cathedral. Funeral 
rites over Major Owens. Mexican naked pet dogs. Chapel of San Francisco. 
Monument to Hidalgo. Splashes of blood on the pavement. Negro story. 
Bread, cakes and butter. Architectural freak in building an aqueduct. 
Dexterity in spinning. Danger among gun powder. The mint. Mr. Potts and 
his threats. A council called. "Sarah and the children." Start for Parras. 
Orders to join General Taylor. Difference between rich and poor. Lizards, 
Rancho and dead bodies. Santa Cruz. The liquor called Mezcal. Guajaquilla. 
San Berrado. A disappearing spring. Fort Pelayo surprised. Mapimi, and the 
inhabitants' alarm, and Mexican force near. Lights on the mountains. 
Traders alarmed. Rancho of El Poso and fight with the Lipans. Medicine-
man's skull. Parras, and a thief. Brutal attack on a soldier, and Mexican 
wounded, - - - 121

CHAPTER VII.
Orders to proceed south. San Juan. General Wool, and was there such a man? 
Battle field of Buena Vista. Mexican shells. The buried Mexicans. 
Falsehood of Santa Anna. General Wool and a review. Compliments; and plain 
speaking. Saltillo. The prettiest girl. Mexican women. A regular soldier's 
ignorance. Bishop's palace and Monterey. Walnut Springs. General Taylor. 
Doniphan's account to Taylor of the battle of Sacramento. Leave Walnut 
Springs. Horrible sight of the remains of the wagon-train surprised by 
Urrea. A Dead Mexican, and how killed. John Smith, a Texian ranger. 
Brutality of the rangers; and execution of a brave Mexican. Camargo and 
its canvas houses. A man shot; and revenge. Armadillos, and a story. 
Description of the soil and its productions. Steamboat seen once again. 
The Rio Grande and its windings. Burning of saddles, &e. Embarkation and 
home, - - - 144

APPENDIX.
No. I. - Semi-Official Report of the Battle of Bracito, - - - 169
No. II. - Official Report of the Battle of Sacramento, - - - 172
No. III. - Mexican Government Extra, showing the American Force, - - - 178
No. IV. - Table of Distances traversed, - - - 180 [not in online version]



PREFACE.

THE author cannot better introduce his work than by giving a copy of an 
article from the New York Evening Post, which its senior editor, William 
Cullen Bryant, Esquire, kindly allows him thus to use:

XENOPHON AND DONIPHAN.

"THESE are the names of two military commanders who have made the most 
extraordinary marches known in the annals of the warfare of their times. 
Col. Xenophon, as in modern phrase he has justly a right to be called, 
lived about one hundred years earlier than the Christian era. Born in 
Greece, and educated under Socrates as a favorite pupil, he, at the age of 
nearly forty years, joined a regiment of Greeks, who had enlisted under 
Cyrus the younger for a campaign, as it was pretended, against the 
Pisidians, but, in reality, against Persia, as the Greeks soon discovered 
after their march had begun. The object of Cyrus, as our readers well 
know, was to dethrone his brother, the King of Persia. After a long march 
through Asia Minor, Syria, and the sandy tract east of the Euphrates, the 
two brothers met at Cunaxa, not far from Babylon. Cyrus fell in the almost 
bloodless battle that ensued, his barbarian troops were discouraged and 
dispersed, and the Greeks were left alone in the centre of the Persian 
empire. The Greek officers were soon massacred by the treachery of the 
Persians. Xenophon stepped forward, and soon became one of the most active 
leaders; and, under his judicious guidance, the Greeks effected their 
retreat northward across the high lands of Armenia, and arrived at 
Trebisond, on the southeast coast of the Black Sea.

"From thence they proceeded to Chrysopolis, opposite Constantinople. Both 
Colonel Xenophon and the regiment, consisting of about five hundred men, 
were greatly distressed, having lost almost everything excepting their 
lives and their arms. The length of the entire march of the Greek force, 
as nearly as we can now estimate it, was three thousand four hundred and 
sixty-five English miles. It was accomplished in fifteen months, and a 
large part of it through an unknown, mountainous and hostile country and 
in an inclement season. The history of this march has survived the ravages 
of two thousand years; and, as one of the best productions of a Greek 
scholar, is now used as a text-book in our schools.

"Turning now to the wonderful march of Colonel Doniphan, we find the first 
regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers mustered into the service of the 
United States at Fort Leavenworth, on the sixth of June last year, and, on 
the 22d of the same month, they commenced their march across the plains 
for Mexico. After a march of fifty-seven days' duration they entered Santa 
Fe. On the 16th of the present month," (June, 1847,) "we find this 
regiment at New Orleans, about to be discharged, as their enlistment for a 
year was nearly expired. In the meantime this body of men has fought three 
battles, viz., Bracito, Sacramento and El Poso. That of Bracito was on 
Christmas day, and opened an entrance into El Paso del Norte. The Mexicans 
had twelve hundred and fifty men and one piece of artillery; the Americans 
four hundred and twenty-five infantry -- the piece of cannon was captured, 
and the Mexican army entirely destroyed. That of Sacramento was fought on 
the 28th of February. This battle -- one of the most remarkable in the 
war -- is familiar through the reports of Col. Doniphan and other field 
officers. The battle of El Poso was fought about the 13th May, by the 
advanced guard under Capt Reid -- the Americans had twenty-five men and 
the Camanches sixty-five. The Indians were routed, and left seventeen 
bodies on the field. Three hundred and fifty head of cattle, twenty-five 
Mexican prisoners, and a great deal of Mexican plunder were captured.

"The battle of Sacramento lasted three hours and a half; and the slaughter 
of the Mexican army continued until night put an end to the chase. The men 
returned to the battle-field after dark, completely worn out and exhausted 
with fatigue. The Mexicans lost 300 men killed on the field, and a large 
number of wounded, perhaps 400 or 500, and 60 or 70 prisoners, together 
with a vast quantity of provisions, several thousand dollars in money, 50,
000 head of sheep, 1,500 head of cattle, 100 mules, 20 wagons, 25 or 30 
carts, 25,000 lbs. ammunition, 11 pieces of cannon, mostly brass six 
pounders, 6 wall pieces, 100 stand of arms, 100 stand of colors, and many 
other things of less note.

"This body of men conquered the states of New Mexico and Chihuahua, and 
traversed Durango and New Leon. In this march, they travelled more than 
six thousand miles, consuming twelve months. During all this time not one 
word of information reached them from the government, nor any order 
whatsoever; they neither received any supplies of any kind nor one cent of 
pay. They lived exclusively on the country through which they passed; and 
supplied themselves with powder and balls by capturing them from the 
enemy. From Chihuahua to Matamoras, a distance of nine hundred miles, they 
marched in forty-five days, bringing with them seventeen pieces of heavy 
artillery as trophies.

"It must be confessed, that in many very important particulars, these two 
expeditions differ from each other. One was the march of a conqueror, the 
other was the retreat of an inferior force. One was made on horseback, and 
the other on foot and at an inclement season of the year. One was made at 
an early age of the world, when military science was undeveloped, the 
other was made with all the advantages of modern improvements. But our 
object is not so much to draw a comparison between these two expeditions 
as to notice the circumstances that these two men, whose names are in 
sound so similar have each performed the most wonderful march in the 
annals of warfare. If Col. Doniphan will now imitate the example of Col. 
Xenophon, and give to the world as charming and as perfect a history of 
his expedition as the latter has done, mankind, two thousand years hence, 
will admire and honor him."

In the absence of such a charming and perfect work from Colonel Doniphan, 
a young volunteer lays this imperfect account of the expedition before the 
public.