To the exquisite
delight of the assailants, the first prize of victory was the guns
O'Brien had abandoned at Buena Vista, which were regained by his own
regiment. Twenty other guns and more than a thousand prisoners,
including eighty-eight officers and four generals, were likewise
captured, and about fifteen hundred Mexicans killed and wounded. The
American loss in killed, wounded, and missing was about one hundred men.
Barely taking time to breathe his troops, Smith followed in pursuit
toward the city. By ten o'clock in the morning he reached San Angel,
which Santa Anna evacuated as he approached. The General-in-Chief and
the generals of division had by this time relieved Smith of his command.
Scott rode to the front, and in a few brief words told the men there was
more work to be done that day. A loud cheer from the ranks was the
reply. The whole force then advanced to Coyacan, within a mile of
Churubusco, and prepared to assault the place.
Santa Anna considered it the key to the city, and awaited the attack in
perfect confidence with thirty thousand men.
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