In that case the most natural route to take was the one which General Taylor selected.

It entered a pass in the Sierra Madre Mountains, at Monterey, through which the main road runs to the City of Mexico.

Monterey itself was a good point to hold, even if the line of the Rio Grande covered all the territory we desired to occupy at that time.

It is built on a plain two thousand feet above tide water, where the air is bracing and the situation healthy.
On the 19th of August the army started for Monterey, leaving a small garrison at Matamoras.

The troops, with the exception of the artillery, cavalry, and the brigade to which I belonged, were moved up the river to Camargo on steamers.