CHAPTER XIV. 1847.

the battle was over, though bravely fought by those who were under cover and by the traitor battalion of San Patricio, formed of renegades from our army. The despatches of Santa Anna, like most of the Mexican despatches after military or political disaster, seem rather designed to criminate others, and to throw the whole blame of ultimate complete defeat on Valencia, than to point out the causes of conquest in spite of able generalship after the fall of Contreras. See Santa Anna's despatches, Mexico 23 Aug. 1847; and Tehuacan, 19 Nov. 1847, in Pillow's Court Martial, pp. 532 and 540. See also Apuntes para la historia de la guerra, &c., &c., chapters XVII-XVIII-XIX, and Ripley's History of the War, vol. 2, p. 256; "No part of the Mexican force was ready for battle, except Rincon's command," says this writer.