The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969 Page: 438
498 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Late February, 1847, found that army encamped deep in Mexican
territory at the Hacienda San Juan de la Buena Vista, a cluster of
adobe buildings five miles below the city of Saltillo." The hacienda
commanded a mountain pass on the main road between Saltillo and
San Luis Potosi, a town two hundred miles to the South. Taylor's
army controlled the narrowest part of the pass, la angostura. At that
point a network of eroded gullies protected the west side of the road,
while a mountain loomed to the east of it. The road itself skirted a
bluff some four hundred yards wide and twelve to twenty-five high.
The bluff held the key to the American defenses. From the roadway
three ravines sliced into it and permitted a somewhat covered access
to the plateau at the top. The American line was anchored at the
southernmost defile. Here Taylor had stationed the Second Indiana,
minus two rifle companies on detached duty, and Lieutenant John
Paul Jones O'Brien's battery of three light field pieces. Joe Lane was
in immediate command. The Third Indiana was being held in reserve
behind the main battle line.
The rest of Taylor's army, numbering about forty-seven hundred
men, were dug in from the plateau and mountains on the extreme
left to the "narrows" on the right. For the most part this was an
untried force, only some o percent were regulars, the rest volunteers.
No matter, Taylor was confident; he had a strong defensive position.
It had to be strong, for coming up to do battle as rapidly as he could
push his tired troops was General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
Twenty-eight battalions of infantry and thirty-nine squadrons of cav-
alry-upwards of eighteen thousand Mexicans-were about to test those
defenses."
Santa Anna had rushed up from San Luis Potosi confident that he
would catch the Americans on the run. He was surprised to see them
halted and ready to fight. Moreover, the ruggedness of the terrain
nullified his numerical superiority. Since the broken ground and deep
gorges to the right of the American line were practically impenetrable,
the Mexican commander's only choices were either storming the
"narrows" or scaling the bluff.
The Mexicans attacked late on the afternoon of February 22. The
fighting, which ended with darkness, was indecisive. Santa Anna had
"Unless otherwise noted all descriptions of terrain, troop dispositions, and the battle
are taken from Nichols, Zach Taylor's Little Army, 203-240, passim.
'2Buley, "Indiana in the Mexican War," XV (December, 1919), 297.338
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969, periodical, 1969; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117146/m1/392/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.