accident, and the temple and
village were abandoned. The walls of the temple still stood, six feet
thick, and covering with their rooms and passages a considerable space.
The Pueblo Indians of the region had refused to fight for the Mexicans,
for tradition told them that a people would come from the East to free
them from Spanish rule, and the prophecy now seemed about to be fulfilled.

The next hostile news that reached the small army was to the effect that
seven thousand Mexicans awaited them in Gallisteo Canon, fifteen miles
from Santa Fe. This was far from agreeable tidings, since the Mexicans far
outnumbered the Americans, while the pass was so narrow that a much
smaller force might have easily defended it against a numerous foe. The
pass had been fortified and the works there mounted with six pieces of
cannon, placed to make havoc in the invaders' ranks.

Fortunately, once more the advancing troops found a strong pass
undefended. The Mexican officers had quarrelled, and the privates, who
felt no enmity towards the Americans, had left them to fight it out
between themselves. Deserted by his soldiers, Governor Armijo escaped with
a few dragoons, and the Americans marched unmolested through the pass. On
the same day they reached Santa Fe, taking peaceful possession of the
capital of New Mexico and the whole surrounding country in the name of the
United States.

Not for an hour had the men halted that day, the last of their wearisome
march of nine hundred miles, which had been completed in about fifty days.
So exhausting had this final day's march proved that many of the animals
sank down to die, and the men flung themselves on the bare hill-side,
without food or drink, glad to snatch a few hours of sleep. As the flag of
the United States was hoisted in the public square, a national salute of
twenty-eight guns was fired from a near-by hill, and the cavalry rode with
waving banners and loud cheers through the streets. They had cause for
great gratulation, for they had achieved a remarkable feat and had won a
great province without the loss of a single man in battle.

By the orders of General Kearney a flag-staff one hundred feet high was
raised in the plaza for the American flag, and the oath of allegiance was
taken by the officials of the town. They were willing enough to take it,
since their new masters left them in office, while the people, who had
been told that they would be robbed and mercilessly treated, haile