was one of these. In the smoke and
confusion I had got too far forward, and was too busy loading and
firing, to perceive that I was in the midst of the Mexicans. As soon as
I discovered my mistake, I hurried back to our own position, in all the
greater haste, because the touchhole of my rifle had got stopped.

But things went badly with us; many of our people were killed, more,
severely wounded; all our artillerymen, with the exception of one Pole,
had fallen, and formed a wall of dead bodies round the guns; the
battlefield was covered with dead and dying men and horses, with rifles
and other weapons. Fanning himself had been thrice wounded. The third
bullet had gone through two coats and through the pocket of his
overalls, in which he had a silk handkerchief, and had entered the
flesh, but, strange to say, without cutting through all the folds of the
silk; so that when he drew out the handkerchief, the ball fell out of
it, and he then for the first time felt the pain of the wound.

It was between five and six o'clock. In vain had the cavalry endeavoured
to bring their horses against our ranks; each attempt had been rendered
fruitless by the steady fire of our artillery and rifles, and at last
they were obliged to retreat. The infantry also retired without waiting
for orders, and our guns, which were now served by the Greys, sent a
last greeting after them. Seven hundred Mexicans lay dead upon the
field; but we also had lost a fifth part of our men, more than had ever
fallen on the side of the Texians in any contest since the war began,
always excepting the massacre at the Alamo. The enemy still kept near
us, apparently disposed to wait till the next day, and then renew their
attacks. Night came on, but brought us no repose; a fine rain began to
fall, and spoiled the few rifles that were still in serviceable order.
Each moment we expected an assault from the Mexicans, who had divided
themselves into three detachments, of which one was posted in the
direction of Goliad, another upon the road to Victoria, which was our
road, and the third upon our left, equidistant from the other two, so as
to form a triangle. Their signals showed us their position through the
darkness. We saw that it was impossible to retreat unperceived and that
our only plan was to spike the guns, abandon the wounded and artillery,
put our rifles in as good order as might be, and cut our way through
that body of Mexicans which held the road to Victori