PILLOW'S ATTACK - September 13, 1847
Advancing from the molino on the castle's west side, Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow's division captured a redan at the western base of the castle hill. They could advance no farther while enduring a steady barrage of fire from the castle while they awaited ladders, crowbars, pickaxes and other implements. During this pause Pillow was wounded in the ankle. Finally, a storming party of 250 men from Worth's division, under Capt. Samuel Mackenzie of the 2nd Artillery, led the final assault.
This was the first contemporary print to accurately despite the attack. In the text accompanying it, George Wilkins Kendall wrote:
". . .Hidden behind the rocks, and by the cover which the rough ground in front of the walls afforded, were bodies of sharp-shooters, their fire at first annoying to the assailants as they mounted the height. The Mexicans could not however withstand the close and searching aim of their opponents, and were pressed back over the ditches and walls, there to continue the contest. So incessant was the fire of the enemy at this time, and so close the range, that the Americans were every moment falling. . .
Bearing to the left, and towards the northwestern angle of the castle, Mackenzie led his stormers, a continuous stream of missiles pouring from the outer works, windows and azotea. For a moment his men hesitated . . . But the unsparing exertions of Mackenzie, and such of his officers as were still on their feet, soon restored confidence, and again the stormers moved upward, the high and wide aim of the infantry lining the walls alone seeming to save the party from utter annihilation . . ."
The moment depicted in this print is as Mackenzie, after bearing to the left of the crest, has reached the ditch and is applying his ladders to the walls, as the last of the Mexican skirmishers is being driven form the cover of the rocks. The heavy guns of the castle are firing upon portions of the brigades of Garland and Pierce, near the northern corner of the wall below the molino.
