...about four thousand men, to await his coming. This position, well fortified, and defended by a few guns of heavy calibre, was the key of the valley of the Rio Grande and of the Santa Fe road. But Canby 's troops, although numerically superior, were far inferior in quality, to the Texans, who had long been inured to the hardships of war by their incessant struggles with the Indians and the Mexicans. ...