Читать книгу Last in Their Class - James Robbins - Страница 17

CHAPULTEPEC

AT SIX IN THE MORNING on September 8, as dawn broke over the valley of Mexico, the silence was cut by the sound of bugles blowing reveille at Chapultepec. Hours earlier, American troops had moved into their assault positions, and they listened to the cry of the horns as they waited for the battle to begin. As the bugle call echoed from the distant hills, the first rounds of American artillery were fired and the assault commenced. Captain William H. T. Walker, Immortal of 1837 and hero of Okeechobee, started across the 600-yard glacis towards the Mexican lines. It had taken two years for him to recover from the wounds he suffered in Florida. He had served gallantly with the Sixth Infantry at Churubusco on August 20 and had volunteered for the forlorn hope at Molino.

Walker led his men across the downward slope to the level plain two hundred yards from the walls, and soon they began to take scattered fire from Mexican artillery and light infantry. The order was given to march double-time, and the men moved ahead quickly. The weak fire did not slow them, and when they were within musket range, the Americans loosed a volley.