SANTA ANNA'S RETREAT. 729 LII. having been supplied with their rations, remained on the CHAP. field for the night. Fresh companies were brought from the rear to supply the place of those who took charge of 1847. the wounded, who were carried in wagons to Saltillo. The loss of the day had been two hundred and sixty-seven killed, and four hundred and fifty-six wounded. seen. The morning dawned, but not a Mexican could be Santa Anna had retreated, leaving his wounded to their fate, and his dead unburied. More than two thousand of his men, including many officers of high rank, lay scattered over the field. Scouts hurried on to reconnoitre; in an hour or two they returned with information that he was far on his way toward Agua Nueva. General Taylor and his staff immediately moved on in the same direction, but sent in advance Major Bliss, with a proposition to Santa Anna for an exchange of prisoners, and a request that he would send for his wounded, as well as another assurance that the American government was desirous of peace. An exchange of prisoners took place, but as Santa Anna professed to have no means to remove his wounded, he left them to be cared for by the Americans; as to the proposition for peace he replied, in his usual style of bravado, that he should prosecute the war until the invaders had left his country. The Mexican soldiers were in a truly deplorable condition; they were without hospital supplies, and almost literally without food, and no means to obtain it—a desert before them, and a victorious enemy in their rear. Santa Anna urged on his retreat toward San Luis Potosi, whence one month before he had set out sure of victory; desertions had now reduced his great army to a mere remnant, and that discouraged by defeat, while confidence in his generalship was gone. In addition, signs of another revolution were appearing in the city of Mexico, by which his enemies might triumph. Feb. 24. CHAP. Feb. 27. General Taylor advanced to Agua Nueva; thence twc days later he detached Colonel Belknap, with the dra1847. goons and a regiment of infantry-transported in wagons across the desert--to surprise the rear guard of the Mexican army at Encarnacion. The feat was successfully accomplished. All along the way from the battle-field were found multitudes of poor Mexican soldiers, left by their heartless companions to die of their wounds, hunger, and fatigue. As soon as possible the humane Taylor sent them provisions, and had those that could be removed conveyed to Saltillo and placed under the care of the American surgeons. While these operations were in progress, the two Mexican generals, Urrea and Romero, with their corps of cavalry, had appeared on the line of communication between Saltillo and the Rio Grande. They had captured some wagons, taken some prisoners, and spread alarm all along the line. A sufficient force was now sent to chastise them, but they rapidly retreated out of danger by the pass of Tula, leaving the valley of the Rio Grande to the Americans. General Taylor, by easy stages, retraced his steps, and encamped once more at the Walnut Springs, near 30. Monterey. Mar. Whilst the line of communication was broken, vague rumors reached the United States, first, that Santa Anna was approaching Monterey with a large army, then, that the American army had been overpowered. These apprehensions were greatly increased by a volunteer Colonel at Camargo, who, in his alarm, sent an urgent appeal for fifty thousand men to be sent immediately to the seat of war. Presently came intelligence of the battle of Buena Vista; and the intense anxiety of the people was changed to admiration for the men who, under such trying circumstances, had maintained the honor of their GENERAL TAYLOR'S RECEPTION. 731 LII. country. Gen. Taylor, of whom so little had been known CHAP before the commencement of this war, rose higher and higher in public estimation. Some months later, when 1847 he returned to the United States, he was received with demonstrations of the highest respect. LIII. CHAPTER LIII, POLK'S ADMINISTRATION-CONTINUED. Emigration to Oregon.-John C. Fremont; his Explorations; his diffi- CHAP. THE importance of securing Oregon by settlement had especially attracted the attention of the people of the 1842. Western States. The stories of hunters, and the glowing descriptions given in the newspapers of that distant region, imbued the minds of the adventurous with an enthusiasm as ardent as that which glowed in the breasts of the earlier explorers and settlers of this country two and a half centuries before. A thousand emigrants, consisting of men, their wives and children, driving before them their flocks and herds, their only weapon the trusty rifle-alike to protect from savage violence and to procure sustenance from the wandering droves of buffalo and deer-set out from the confines of Missouri. They passed up the long eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, over them through the South Pass, thence to Lewis' River and down it to the Columbia, on whose shores they found a resting place, after a toilsome journey of six months, through an untrodden mountainous region. These emigrants were followed the next year by COLONY ON THE COLUMBIA-FREMONT, 733 another company, consisting of two thousand, who passed CHAP. over the same route. LIII. These enterprising settlers, with the few who had pre- 1843. ceded them, labored under many difficulties, as the United States government did not exercise the jurisdiction which it claimed over the territory. A bill introduced into the Senate, granted lands to actual settlers, and made provision to maintain their rights as citizens by extending over them the laws of the territory of Iowa. Though this bill passed only the Senate, it gave encouragement to those persons who desired to emigrate to the banks of the Columbia. A colony thus planted by private enterprise, and thus slightly encouraged by the government, became the germ of another State, (Oregon) now added to the 1859. Union. It was in connection with this awakened spirit of emigration that Colonel John C. Fremont, then a lieutenant, made his first exploring expedition. He was a young man, once friendless and unknown, but had risen by his own talents and industry, and on the recommendation of Poinsett, then Secretary of War, had been appointed in the Topographical Engineers by President JackFremont solicited and obtained permission from the government to explore the Rocky Mountains and their passes, but at this time with special reference to the South Pass and its vicinity. In six months he returned; he had accurately determined the location of that Pass, which now became a fixed point in the path of emigration to Oregon. son. Soon after his return, Fremont again asked for orders to prosecute still further explorations in that distant region. They were given; but after his preparations were made, and he and his party had reached the frontiers of Missouri, the government countermanded his orders, on |