"But we lost a lot of men," Jerry panted.
"Fall in! Fall in! Form companies. Beat the rally, drummers." Those were the orders. Hannibal scooted. General Worth was waiting no longer. There was heavy firing in the north, where Santa Anna was standing off the left of General Scott's line.
"Who's yonder?"
"Shields and his Mohawks, and the Pierce Brigade. They're hard pushed."
"Forward—double time—march!"
The Cadwalader men had joined again. They had entered the bridgehead closely behind the Second Brigade. In column of platoons all doubled up the road, which was strewn with bodies and plunder. The rout was on before and extended as far as eye might see; but a desperate battle was raging only a mile distant.
The column was in time; in fact, may not have been needed. The flight from the bridgehead and the church proved too much for the Santa Anna soldiers. General Pierce's Ninth, Twelfth and Fifteenth Regulars, and General Shields' New Yorkers and South Carolinans, two thousand men, were having a give-and-take with General Santa Anna's reserve of four thousand infantry and three thousand lancers. But before the General Worth and General Pillow column arrived, the Mohawks were seen to charge—the Mexicans did not stand—their line wavered, the Pierce Regulars struck it on right and left—the center burst apart, all the line broke into fragments, fleeing for the road; and when the First Brigade, led by General Worth and Colonel Garland, panted in the Santa Anna troops had mingled
