ndred and seventy-seven officers, two thousand
one hundred and eleven men, or an aggregate of two thousand two hundred
and eighty-eight;--in the action of Resaca de la Palma we brought into
the field one hundred and seventy-three officers and two thousand and
forty nine men, or, an aggregate of two thousand two hundred and
twenty-two, while the actual number _engaged_ with the enemy did not
exceed seventeen hundred. In the first affair we had nine killed,
forty-four wounded[111] and two missing; but in the second, our loss was
three officers and thirty-six men killed, and seventy-one wounded.
Lieutenant Inge fell at the head of his platoon while charging with May;
Lieutenants Cochrane and Chadburne likewise met their death in the
thickest of the fight; while Lieutenant Colonels Payne and McIntosh;
Captains Montgomery and Hooe; and Lieutenants Fowler, Dobbins, Gates,
Jordan, Selden, Maclay, Burbank and Morris, were wounded on the field of
Resaca de la Palma.

The Mexican army, under Arista and Ampudia, amounted to at least six
thousand men, having been strongly reinforced with cavalry and infantry
after the battle of the 8th; and it is highly probable that the whole of
this force was opposed to us in their choice position. In one of his
despatches, after the battles, Arista confesses that he still had under
arms four thousand troops exclusive of numerous auxiliaries, and that he
lost in the affair at Palo Alto four officers and ninety-eight men
killed;--eleven officers and one hundred and sixteen men wounded, and
twenty-six privates and non-commissioned officers missing;--while in the
battle of Resaca de la Palma, six officers and one hundred and
fifty-four men were slain; twenty-three officers and two hundred and
five wounded, and three officers and one hundred and fifty-six
missing,--making a total loss of seven hundred and fifty-five. Eight
pieces of artillery, several colors and standards, a great number of
prisoners, including fourteen officers, and a large quantity of camp
equipage, muskets, small arms, mules, horses, pack-saddles, subsistence,
personal baggage, and private as well as regimental papers, fell into
our hands. The plan of campaign, as alleged to have been developed by
Arista's port-folio, was based upon the "reconquest of the lost
province," into which the Mexican forces were to have been pushed as
soon as our army was demolished on the Rio Grande. If it should be
necessary to secure the fruits of vic