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While Yell was less than ideally suited to military discipline, Arkansas historians have tended to accept uncritically Pike's version of events at the Battle of Buena Vista. This is perhaps due to convenience more than anything else, since Pike's accounts are readily available in the Gazette. It is worth noting, as William W. Hughes has demonstrated, that virtually all the accounts critical of Yell's conduct at Buena Vista were authored by Pike, albeit under numerous pseudonyms and for many different publications. Pike appears to have gone out of his way to impugn the reputation of a man no longer alive to defend himself. Pike's portrayal of himself as the rescuer of a hapless Yell is not supported by any other eyewitness account of the battle. This would appear to be a case of partisan rancor taken to obscene extremes.
Pike's contention that the Arkansans "ran like hell" at Buena Vista refers to the actions of a smaller contingent under Roane's command. This group was part of an advance ordered by Gen. Lane, the bulk of the force being made up of the Second Illinois regiment under Colonel William Bowles. In the midst of the advance, Bowles inexplicably ordered the Illinois unit to retreat, leaving the Arkansans exposed. They turned tail when they realized their situation, but Roane managed to rally most of his men and regroup with Yell's forces at the Buena Vista Hacienda.
The Arkansans at the Hacienda found themselves on the American left flank. Moreover they were vulnerable and exposed due to Wool's misplacement of his troops. They would bear the brunt of the Mexican attack. Under the onslaught of superior numbers commanded by General Anastasio Torrejón, Yell's Arkansans and an allied Kentucky regiment were being steadily driven back. When General Zachary Taylor recognized the predicament of his flank, he sent Jefferson Davis's Mississippi regiment to reinforce them, along with other reserves that included Pike's company. Torrejón's cavalry was temporarily driven back.
The fighting ebbed and flowed all morning. Throughout all the deployments, Yell maintained his critical position on the extreme left of the American flank. At noon, the Arkansans once again found themselves isolated on the flank with only the Kentuckians for support. Between the two units, only 400-500 men remained from the more than a thousand that began the day. Suddenly they found themselves confronted by a force of lanceros more than twice their size. Again Taylor dispatched reinforcements, including Pike's men, but this time they had little hope of reaching the Hacienda before the flank was overrun.
Yell assembled his cavalry into a phalanx and charged headlong into the approaching enemy. He was cut down almost immediately, pierced through the forehead by a lance. The compact American wedge with their heavier horses split the Mexican ranks in two. The smaller Mexican group, finding itself cut off from the main body, fled almost instantly. The larger Mexican force continued on to the Hacienda where they encountered the American reinforcements and were driven back. The left flank had held.
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