Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[36] pastoral people on all the continent; and, after concluding a treaty of friendship with them, this little band had taken a southern direction toward the distant city of Chihuahua, in the hope of joining Taylor's army, which had crossed the Rio Grande, and had just invaded the province of Monterey.

Doniphan had only eight hundred mounted Missourians, who were subsequently reinforced by about one hundred artillerymen, with four pieces of cannon. He was moreover obliged to accept the company of a caravan of American traders, who, after reaching Santa Fe by crossing the desert, were only waiting for an opportunity to introduce American goods into Mexico under the protection of the national flag, in spite of custom-house officers, Indians, and brigands. These warlike traders, with their train of three hundred and fifteen wagons, indemnified the troops for whatever trouble they might have caused them, by organizing among their mule-drivers two companies, which rendered essential service to the camp-guard.

The little band has scarcely set out when it finds itself assailed by all the dangers which beset the traveller in those inhospitable regions; in the Jornada del Muerto, a vast dried — up plateau of thirty-five leagues in length, it finds neither a drop of water nor a tree; scarcely a few thorny plants, which, blazing like straw, cannot impart any heat to the soldiers benumbed with cold; their cinders, quickly cooled off, alone indicate, in the midst of that vast solitude, the track of the detachments which it has been found necessary to separate from the main body in order to facilitate the march. Owing to the want of water, the Americans find it impossible to make a halt until they at last reach the boundary of the desert which has been so appropriately denominated the Dead man's halt.

But a slight skirmish soon makes them forget their hardships, and delivers to them the defile of El Paso del Norte, an important strategic point; it is the southern gate of New Mexico, the only one which opens upon the rich lands of Central Mexico. The Rio Grande, passing through this wild gorge, falls, in a succession of cascades, from the high table-lands into the rich valley, where it serves as the frontier of Texas. From this point the column advances slowly, for it is necessary to feed the animals and to