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PAPERS OF :MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
gained in so doing we all, with the exception of some one or two con- cluded that it was best. But when fortune rather frowned upon us, having been shipwrecked under the guns of the fort of Tampico they were inclined to murmer a little knowing that matters & things must be decided in a short time. In the wreck we lost all of our amu- nition, provisions &c, but no lives. On the 16th day of the month we got all of our arms in order made other cartriges & about sunset marched for the Town of Tampico with empty stomacks, but with the expectation supping [sic] in Tampico, but like Genral Ross when he had sworn to sup in Baltimore we were mistaken. We marched a circuitous rout through the wood & got into the town about the middle of the night hungry, thirsty and tired having marched 15 miles with- out water. The companies• were now arranged; the Grenadiers first next the French &c then the sharp shooters most of whom I am sorry to say shot themselves behind the market house & other places, which was the cause of their death & capture, but there are some exceptions in the. company, The company of Grenadiers so soon as the cannon was fired upon them made the charge & were supported by the French, or rather the greater part of that company the cannon being taken & wheeled upon the :Mexicans, they retreated to the stone buildings where they had prepared themselves to take a stand & gave it to us warmly their cannon was of but little use to us as we shot it but once before a ball was rammed down without powder, by one J'llr Davis a loafer from N Orleans By this time some few of our men were killed & wounded: Having fought for something like four hours and daybreak being near, Our General thought it advisable to retreat & ordered it, but when they mustered the men, many more were missen than could be found dead, here I must make mention of one J'llr Bromley from England who bragged much of his having served in the Brittish Navy, soon after the commencement of the battle he was heard to make a noise worse than that of a dying hog he was then crawling, being asked what was the matter he said he was mortally wounded in the breast & nothing could be done for him but he would endeavour to crawl to the water where he could die easy, but just before we retreated we look for him at the water's edge & not finding him supposed him to have slipped in the river, & so he did, but first pulled off his clothes and tied them round his head, this none of us at the time knew except Comodore Hawkins, who was getting a drink of water at the time, Bromley see- ing him and taking him to be a :Mexican asked his assistance, telling him at the same time, that he was an English sailor, & had been taking a spree that night & had some how gotten into a fuss that he could not tell the meaning of. We all much lamented the death of Poor Old Bromley until the second day after the battle when we beheld him comeing to the fort to which we had retreated many of us run to meet him and see his wound in the breast, but like a Ghost it was not for all to see no one could see it but Bromley Before we landed at the fort of Tampico we wer informed that a Steamboat would be out for us and agreable to expectation the boat came & took us in tow & in less than half an hour our vessel struck on the bar the S. boat striking at the same time, & it seems to be the opinion of many that the cap-
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