1846, being then twenty-two years old, and, as was usual, received the brevet rank of second Lieutenant of Artillery. He was ordered to report himself into the First Regiment, and proceeded through Pennsylvania, and down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, at that time the rendezvous of the Mexican army. The Mexican war was then in progress, and General Wingfield Scott was on the eve of assuming supreme command.

CHAPTER III.

MEXICO.

THE war of the United States against Mexico, beginning with the battles of Palo Alto, and Resaca de la Palma in Western Texas, had now reached the province of New Leon. Foreseeing, however, the evil of a too discursive campaign, the general in command directed his operations against Vera Cruz with a direct design upon the capital and the heart of the enemy's country. Most of the regular regiments had been withdrawn from the command of General Taylor, and concentrated at Tampico, a seaport about two hundred and thirty miles north of Vera Cruz, where Scott was also assembling his reinforcements. Of these latter, our hero's artillery company formed a part. Collecting his army at Lobos Island, a convenient intermediate point, offering a safe roadstead for his numerous ships, the general succeeded in disembarking his forces to the amount of 13,500 men in one day, and marching them upon the city, took it, after a heavy bombardment, on the 29th of March. Jackson was concerned in this operation, but had no special opportunity of distinguishing himself.

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Meanwhile the President, Santa Anna, was not inactive; but having collected his troops, about 20,000 in strength, in the province of San Luis Potosi, between the three points of Saltillo, Vera Cruz, and the capital, proposed from this central position to attack his assailants in succession. His first encounter was with General Taylor, and resulted in the battle of Buena Vista, its issue being a bloody repulse for the Mexican army.

His next point was to cut off the victorious troops from reaching the capital. A skilful manœuvre, however, adopted by General Scott at the suggestion of Captain Robert Lee of the Engineers, resulted in further success to the Union, and the almost entire extinction of the opposing force. "This plan was to threaten the whole front of the enemy, but to direct the main attack against a hill at the western extremity of his position, because this post, if once seized by the Americans, commanded the only line of retreat for the discomfited Mexicans as completely as, they supposed, their position commanded the great road." The attack was made on the 18th of April, and the result was that the Mexican army almost ceased to exist.

It was in this assault that Captain John Bankhead Magruder, commanding a light field-artillery battery, won brilliant distinction. In such operations, however, it was evident that heavy ordnance could play only a very inferior part. Just at this juncture it happened that the post of second lieutenant

in Magruder's battery was vacant, and while others. shunned it from a dislike to the commander as an exacting disciplinarian, as well as from an unwillingness to encounter the hardships and peril it involved, these were the very considerations which recommended it to Jackson. As may be expected, he had little difficulty in effecting a transfer, which was readily arranged for him. From the date of this change his true military career began. Seeing that the arm of the service to which he had hitherto belonged could only render occasional and comparatively unimportant aid, while the other by the rapidity of its movements would inevitably occupy the post of danger, his spirit thirsting for excitement and distinction at once decided the point. Magruder's strictness proved no impediment in the way of a thorough soldier, and Jackson soon became one of his favourite officers.

On the 7th August 1847, General Scott marched upon Mexico with 11,000 men. In the subsequent attack, Magruder's battery occupied an important post in front of the enemy's works. The first lieutenant having fallen, Jackson succeeded to his place, and so conducted himself as to win from his commander the generous commendation-" In a few moments Lieutenant Jackson, commanding the second battery, advanced in handsome style, and kept up the fire with great briskness and effect. His conduct was equally conspicuous throughout the whole day, and I cannot

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too highly commend him to the Major-General's favourable consideration."

In acknowledgment of his gallantry, he was made brevet-captain, with the actual rank of first lieutenant. Between the invaders and their great prize, one formidable obstacle now remained. This was the castle of Chapultepec, which, from its elevated position, commanded both the causeways by which the Americans attempted to approach. The following description has been given of Jackson's share in storming the garrison :

"He had been pushed forward by Colonel Tronsdale, under whose immediate orders the plan of the battle placed him, until he found himself unexpectedly in the presence of a strong battery of the enemy, at so short a range that in a few moments the larger portion of his horses was killed, and his men either struck down or driven from their guns by a storm of grape shot, while about seventy of the infantry were holding a precarious tenure of their ground in his rear. One of Scott's lieutenants, named Worth, perceiving the desperate position of Jackson's guns, sent him word to retire. He replied that it was now more dangerous to withdraw his pieces than to hold his position; and that if they would send him fifty veterans, he would rather attempt the capture of the battery which had so crippled him. Magruder then dashed forward, losing his horse by a fatal shot as he approached him, and found that he had lifted a single