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forced to a general action during which their principal guard was cut to pieces. They moved their encampment in great haste, and came upon us who were awaiting them in the best order at the entrance of the Precidio. In the first encounter we at once had the .advanta<Ye, <'overing the field with their dead bodies and taking a great number of their best troops prisoners. nder thi mortal blow they had to fall back to a single position, and after placing their artillery at the points which seemed most advanta"9ous to them, they opened a terrific fire npon the stronghold. But my-light horsemen guarded the entrench- ment at the entrance of the garrison and killed many of their soldiers and almost all of their artillerymen. The firing having la ted from before daybrealc to four o'clock in the afternoon, the enemy was obliged to make a hasty retreat, and after several days of inactivity, they were shamefully forced to raise the siege and march to the Capital to await results. It may be added that almost every day they received re-enforcements in troops ·from the different provinces. As soon as they left {ne the field free, I began to make arrangements to march upon the capital/ .A. re-enforcement of more than one hun- clred American and Indian men -came to me from the north. As ~oon as they arrived, I started fqr the Capital in the middle of !IIarch with nine hundred men, but ~ong them those who were determined to die or conquer were le s than six hundred. On the ;29th of farch, at nine o'clock in the morning, Governor Herrera was awaiting us 1fivc leagues from Vexar .-·with twelve hundred picked troops and six pieces of cannon. Tney were . ighted by my flanking scouts when we . were about a cannon's shot distance from them. They immediately began to march upGn us in three central columns, led by the artillery · and supported- by/ three hundred cavalrymen on the left and one hundred on the rio-ht. They scarcely gave me room to form in battle array wl1en the)l opened fire upon us with the artillery. I sent my. cavalry to the right and one hundred infantrymen with one piece of cannon to the ieft and manned the center my elf as best I could. At this time my cavalry opened fire upon the enemy who were trying to unound us and who had drawn much attention to the -cavalry by directing half of their artillery upon them. I wished to take ad- vantage of so precious a moment and ordered the one hundred men who were·-.marching upon the enemy's right to fall with the greatest promptness upon their right columns. l\Iy men, having approached very neu the enemy, under ~over of a nearby grove without being een by. them, I ordered m? infantry at the same instant to charge furiou ly upon the cen~r ,.o. f, the enemy's columns, and in this way I succeeded in falling upon their front and flank at the ame time. After fifteen minutes of_..firing the victory wa decfared to be ours. The enemy ·lost all their,..a'rtillery, fifteen hundred shells, ten thousand pounds of powder, ·!i"nd all their other trains and baggage. They lost, Lesides, in dead and prisoners fifteen hundred men. Of my forces they killed :five Americans, one Creole, and two Indians and wounded fourteen. We then marched to within one league of the city, and the next day I sent some cavalry troops to attack the garrisons which guarded the horses. Said garrisons laid down their arms and were brought
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