hopeless, unwilling to fight, and enfeebled by their hardships
and misbehavior at Corpus Christi. According to Mexican
reports our cavalry could neither shoot nor control their hard-
-bitted horses, and our infantry, chiefly composed~except
the officers—of needy foreigners, came short in discipline,
training and every other soldierly qualification save appetite.
"Those adventurers cannot withstand the bayonet charge of our foot," said Mejía, "nor a cavalry charge with the lance." [1]
No very alarming degree of intelligence had appeared to direct the American operations. Our troops were on a point exposed to a convergent fire; Fort Brown enflladed none of the hostile batteries, though it might have been planned to do this; near the cavalry camp stood thick groves offering shelter to assailants; behind our main position was a lagoon forming
- ↑ 5
