The aggregate number of Texians engaged in the battle were two hundred and sixty-one, our loss being ten killed, twenty-three badly, and several slightly wounded.*17

The aggregate number of the Mexican forces engaged were twenty-three hundred and forty, composed of the Zapadores battalion, the Yucatan regiment, a portion of each of the seventh and twelfth regiments, and the artillery company of sixty men - regulars, in all twelve hundred and forty; also eight hundred mounted defensors, under Colonel Canales, [108] and not less than three hundred citizens in and about Mier.§18 Their loss was between seven and eight hundred killed and wounded. The Mexican report of their loss on the evening of the surrender was four hundred and thirty killed and two hundred and thirty wounded. Canales, in his official despatch, in avoiding the truth, says, "As every great good costs dear, the streets and gutters of Mier overflowed with valiant Mexican blood."19 All their officers that I conversed with admitted their loss to be rising of seven hundred. It is certain that only four hundred and sixty regulars marched back to Matamoras, myself and other officers counting them every day between Mier and that city; and I am informed by Dr. Sinnickson that none but killed and wounded were left behind. The regulars were so thinned that General Ampudia did not think them a sufficient guard for our two hundred and twenty-six prisoners, our wounded being left behind; and he required Canales with his mounted defensors, all of whom belonged to the upper towns, to accompany them. The loss of their cavalry must have been considerable at the lower ford, while those who attacked Joseph Berry's guard could not have been less than twenty. We were informed at Matamoras by the United States consul and several American and English gentlemen, who had it in [109] confidence from the Mexican officers, that their loss exceeded eight hundred in killed and wounded.20 Their official report to the war department of the amount of ammunition expended in the battle was nine hundred cannon cartridges and forty-three thousand musket cartridges, besides three hundred rockets, &c., while ours was between fourteen and fifteen hundred of every description. There never has existed in any age a nation who understood so well as the Texians this important matter, "never to shoot without killing;" and this will explain why a larger proportion than one to two of our shots took effect in this battle.

With the permission of General Ampudia, I visited the church that evening to see our wounded, and carried them a quantity of bandages. Doctors Sinnickson, Brennem, and Shepherd were then attending them. All appeared to be cheerful, though most of them were badly, and several mortally wounded. I have never yet seen a calamity so great befall Texians as to prevent their making

* See Appendix No. I.

§ The enemy's force has been variously estimated from twenty-seven hundred to thirty-three hundred; but I have adopted an estimate still smaller, and one that I know to be under the mark.