interval between Molino del Rey and the hill of Chapultepec, they placed their scaling-ladders against the walls, and poured over the fortifications like a resistless inundation. It was a heroic charge, for they had to clamber up the precipitous hill in the face of a galling fire, unsupported by artillery or friendly guns; and it was heroically resisted by the gallant old revolutionary general, Bravo, and his band of cadets from the military academy. A monument at the base of the steep cliffs of Chapultepec records their deeds and laments their early fall; while another, back of Molino del Rey, commemorates the bloody action there. Still desperately fighting, the routed garrison fled along the causeways of Belen and San Cosme, hotly pursued by the eager Americans.
The castle was ours. From its tower our flap; soon floated, above our victorious general and over the defeated Bravo and a thousand prisoners. General Worth led his troops at once down the road of San Cosme, while Quitman charged upon the gate of Belen. Two great aqueducts diverge from Chapultepec, the one going direct to the gate of Belen, about two miles away; the other entering the city at San Cosme, by an indirect course, both bounding two sides of a triangle. Worth wisely halted at the gate of San Cosme, and, planting a mortar and cannon, held the position during the night until the morning of the 14th, when he marched into the city as far as the Alameda. Quitman penetrated the city walls under the very guns of the formidable citadel, and gained and held a position there all night. General Twiggs, at the southern gate, had performed his part with equal gallantry and forbearance, and had so diverted Santa Anna by his annoying fire and feints of assault that he had completely disconcerted that puzzled commander, and made it possible for Worth and Quitman to capture the western gates before the
