CHAP. XX. UNITED STATES TROOPS IN MEXICO. 1371 thousand muskets, and twenty thousand shots and shells; and yet, when he reached Pueblo, his whole effective marching force for the conquest of the capital did not exceed four thousand five hundred men. The demands for garrison duty and severe sickness had reduced his army about one.. half. While Scott was resting at Pueblo, an opportunity was given to the Mexicans to treat for peace. At Jalapa, the commander-in-chief issued a proclamation to the Mexican people, very conciliatory in character, but closing with this significant paragraph: “I am marching on Pueblo and Mexico; and from those capitals I shall again address you." The government also sent Nicholas P. Trist as a diplomatic agent, with letters to certain persons in Mexico, and clothed with power to treat for peace. He reached the army just as Scott left Jalapa, and went forward with it when it resumed its march. He had made overtures to the Mexican government, which were treated with disdain. The Mexicans foolishly boasted of their patriotism, valor and strength, while losing post after post in rapid succession. At Pueblo, Scott was reinforced by fresh troops, which had been sent by way of Vera Cruz. There his principal officers were Generals Worth, Quitman, Pillow, Twiggs, Shields, Smith, and Cadwallader; and on the 7th of August, he resumed his march toward the capital, with about eleven thousand men. The road lay nearly along the line of the march of Cortez, more than three hundred years before, over the Anahuac range of mountains, and up the slopes of the great Cordilleras. It was a most beautiful and picturesque region, well watered, clothed with rich verdure, and bathed in the most salubrious air. From the lofty summits of these mountains and almost upon the spot where Cortez stood, Scott and his army beheld, as the Spanish conquerors had there beheld, the great valley of Mexico, with its intervales and lakes, cities and villages, and the waters of Tezcuco embracing the Mexican capital-the ancient metropolis of the Aztec empire-now presenting lofty steeples and spacious domes. Down into that valley the invaders cautiously pressed, for resistance was expected at the mountain-passes. General Twiggs, with his division, led, and on the 11th of August he was encamped at St. Augustine, with the strong fortress of San Antonio before him. Close upon his right were the heights of Churubusco, crowned with embattled walls covered with cannon, and to be reached in front only by a causeway exposed at every point to a raking fire from the batteries. Not far off was the strongly fortified camp of Contreras, containing about six thousand Mexicans under General Valencia; and between it and the capital was Santa Anna with twelve thou sand men, who were held in reserve. The whole of the invading army were concentrated in the valley by the 15th, with headquarters on the Acapulco road. Such was the general disposition of the belligerent forces when General Scott arrived at headquarters on the morning of the 18th, and after surveying the whole scene, made arrangements for attacking the enemy and fighting his way to the gates of the city. That was a difficult task, for the capital was strongly defended at points nearer than those already mentioned, and approaches to it could only be made over narrow causeways through oozy ground, as in the time of Montezuma. Near the city was the hill of Chepultepec, which was strongly fortified and covered by a Military Institute, and at the foot of it, at the King's Mill (Molino del Rey), was a fortified stone wall and a citadel capable of great resistance. Every avenue to the city was guarded, and no point had been neglected. Chepultepec would have to be carried by storm, and so would the position at Molino del Rey and the strongholds of Contreras. San Antonio and Churubusco would have to be carried before these could be reached. To carry these, and capture Chepultepec and Molino del Rey, was now the important business to which Scott addressed himself. Confronted by the victorious Americans, the Mexicans prepared for a desperate struggle. They strengthened their fortifications and increased their garrisons. The Americans were equally active, and prepared for the attack with great skill under the immediate direction of General Scott, ably assisted by Captain Robert E. Lee (general-in-chief of the Confederate forces in the late Civil War), the chief engineer of the army, whose services at Cerro Gordo and before Mexico won for him the commissions of major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, in rapid succession. On the evening of the 19th (August, 1847) everything was in readiness on the part of the Americans. The day had been spent in indecisive skirmishing. The night was very dark, rainy, and cold. The American troops stood, drenched, waiting for daylight, and when it appeared, they were led forward to storm the camp. The grand struggle began at sunrise. It was brief, but sharp and sanguinary. The Americans, under cover of darkness, had gained a position close upon the Mexicans, in rear and flank, before they were discovered. Springing up suddenly from behind the crest of a hill, they delivered volleys in quick succession; dashed pell-mell into the intrenchments; captured the batteries; drove out the army of Valencia, am pursued its flying remnants on the road toward Mexico. The conflict lasted only seventeen minutes. Eighty officers and three thousand privates of the Mexicans were made prisoners, and among the trophies were thirty-three CHAP. XX. EVENTS BEFORE THE CITY OF MEXICO. 1373 pieces of artillery. Meanwhile Generals Shields and Pierce (the latter afterward President of the United States) had kept Santa Anna's powerful reserve at bay. A similar movement was now made against San Antonio and Churubusco. Santa Anna advanced with his numerous followers, to defend them, and very soon the whole region became a battle-field. The entire American and Mexican armies were engaged. The invaders dealt heavy and successful blows. San Antonio yielded, Churubusco was taken, and the forces of Santa Anna were sent flying toward the capital like chaff before a gale. Prisoners and spoils glutted the hands of the Americans. It was a memorable day in the annals of our military career. In the course of a single day, a Mexican army full thirty thousand strong, had been broken up by another less than one-third its strength in number; full four thousand Mexicans had been killed or wounded; three thousand were made prisoners, and thirty-seven pieces of fine artillery had been captured, with a vast amount of munitions of war. The Americans lost in killed and wounded, on that memorable day, almost eleven hundred men. They might easily have pressed on while the Mexicans were panic-stricken, and taken possession of their capital, but Scott preferred to try negotiations for peace again. He advanced to Tacubaya, on the 21st, within three miles of the capital, and there, and on the way, he was met by a proposition from Santa Anna for an armistice preparatory to negotiations for peace. It was acceded to, and Mr. Trist went into the capital on the 24th for the purpose. At the palace of the Archbishop at Tacubaya, which Scott made his headquarters, the General waited impatiently for the return of Mr. Trist. He came on the 5th of September with the information that his propositions for peace had not only been rejected with scorn, but that Santa Anna had violated the armistice by strengthening the defences of the city. General Scott, disgusted with the treachery of the Mexican chief, declared the armistice at an end on the 7th of September, and prepared to storm the capital. The castle at Chepultepec, the walls and stone citadel at Molino del Rey, and the fortified gates of Mexico manned by thousands of Mexicans, yet stood between Scott and possession of the capital, and to the capture of these he proceeded on the 8th. The Americans were on one of the main causeways, in full view of the city. General Worth was sent, with between three and four thousand troops, to attack Molino del Rey, and they were repulsed, at first, with great slaughter. Gallantly returning to the assault and fighting desperately for an hour, they drove the enemy before them. Nearly one thousand Mexicans were dead on the field. The loss of the Americans was about eight hundred. Attention was now turned to Chepultepec, the site of the "Halls of the Montezumas," and then the only defence of the city left, outside of its suburbs. On the night of the 11th of September, Scott erected four heavy batteries, the guns of which might be brought to bear upon the hill. These were opened on the morning of the 12th, and on the following morning the Americans made such a furious charge upon the works, that their occupants were routed with great slaughter and fled to the city along an aqueduct, pursued by General Quitman to the very gates. The pursuers were continually engaged in sharp encounters, at various places. Santa Anna, thoroughly alarmed and his army hopelessly shattered, fled from the city with the remnant of his troops, and the officers of the civil government, before daylight on the morning of the 14th; and at dawn a deputation came out from the municipal authorities and begged General Scott to spare the town and propose terms of capitulation, He would make no terms, but ordered Generals Quitman and Worth to move forward and unfurl the American flag over the National Palace. At ten o'clock General Scott, escorted by dragoons, rode into the city in full uniform, on his powerful white charger, and made his way to the Grand Plaza. There he dismounted, took off his hat, and drawing his sword and raising it high above his head, he proclaimed in a loud voice the conquest of Mexico, and took formal possession of the empire. CHAP. XX. CONQUEST OF MEXICO COMPLETED. 1375 Quiet soon reigned in the Mexican capital. Santa Anna afterward made feeble and unsuccessful efforts to regain his lost power. After some defeats in skirmishes with American detachments, his troops deserted him, and before the close of October he was a fugitive, flying for personal safety to the shores of the Gulf. The President of the Mexican Congress assumed provisional authority; and on the 2d of February, 1848, that body concluded a treaty of peace with commissioners of the United States, at Guadaloupe Hidalgo. It was ratified by both governments, and President Polk proclaimed it on the 4th of July following. That treaty stipulated the evacuation of Mexico by the American army within three months, the payment of three million dollars in hand, and twelve million in four annual installments by the United States to Mexico, for the territory acquired by conquest; and, in addition, to assume debts due certain citizens of our republic |