IT is due to those who are immediately interested in the accuracy of the following account, as well as to the historian who may hereafter consult it, to state what were the opportunities of the writer for knowing the truth. For two months before the battle of Eu ena Vista, he was stationed at or near the ground on which it was fought; and, dur ing this time, he was led, with others, to remark its strength as a military position. In the battle itself, the nature of the service he was called on to perform as com mander of a company of dragoons, afforded opportunities of deliberate observation in many different parts of the scene, and eu abled him sometimes to take notes of what was going on around him.