d, ordered the batteries in the citadel to open fire, planted fresh
guns on the Paseo, and infused such spirit into the Mexicans that
Quitman's advance was stopped at once. A terrific storm of shot, shell,
and grape assailed the _garita_, where Captain Dunn had planted an
8-pounder. Twice the gunners were shot down, and fresh men sent to take
their places. Then Dunn himself fell, and immediately afterward
Lieutenant Benjamin and his first sergeant met the same fate. The
riflemen in the arches repelled sallies; but Quitman's position was
precarious, till night terminated the conflict.

Worth meanwhile had advanced in like manner along the San Cosme
causeway, driving the Mexicans from barricade to barricade, till within
two hundred fifty yards of the _garita_ of San Cosme. There he
encountered as severe a fire as that which stopped Quitman. But Scott
had ordered him to take the _garita_, and take it he would. Throwing
Garland's brigade out to the right and Clarke's to the left, he ordered
them to break into the houses, burst through the walls, and bore their
way to the flanks of the _garita_. The plan had succeeded perfectly at
Monterey, nor did it fail here. Slowly but surely the sappers passed
from house to house, until at sunset they reached the point desired.
Then Worth ordered the attack. Lieutenant Hunt brought up a light gun at
a gallop, and fired it through the embrasure of the enemy's battery,
almost muzzle to muzzle; the infantry at the same moment opened a most
deadly and unexpected fire from the roofs of the houses, and M'Kenzie,
at the head of the stormers, dashed at the battery and carried it almost
without loss. The Mexicans fled precipitately into the city.

At one that night two parties left the citadel and issued forth from the
city. One was the remnant of the Mexican army, which slunk silently and
noiselessly through the northern gate, and fled to Guadalupe-Hidalgo;
the other was a body of officers who came under a white flag, to propose
terms of capitulation.

The sun shone brightly on the morning of September 14th. Scores of
neutral flags float from the windows on the Calle de Plateros, and in
their shade beautiful women gaze curiously on the scene beneath. Gayly
dressed groups throng the balconies, and at the street-corners
dark-faced men scowl, mutter deep curses, and clutch their knives. The
street resounds with the heavy tramp of infantry, the rattle of
gun-carriages, and the clatter of horses'