flag of the United States upon its citadel, in the midst of a population of forty thousand [March 2], and took possession of the province in the name of his government. After resting six weeks he marched to Saltillo [May 22], where General Wool was encamped. From thence he returned to New Orleans, having made a perilous march from the Mississippi, of about five thousand miles. The conquest of all Northern Mexico,' with California, was now complete, and General Scott was on his march for the great capital. Let us now consider

GENERAL SCOTT'S INVASION OF MEXICO.

A refusal

The Mexican authorities having scorned overtures for peace made by the government of the United States in the autumn of 1846, it was determined to conquer the whole country. For that purpose General Scott was directed to collect an army, capture Vera Cruz,' and march to the Mexican capital. His rendezvous was at Lobos Island, about one hundred and twenty-five miles north from Vera Cruz; and on the 9th of March, 1847, he landed near the latter with an army of about thirteen thousand men, borne thither by a powerful squadron commanded by Commodore Connor. He invested the city on the 13th; and five days afterward [March 18], having every thing ready for an attack,* he summoned the town and fortress, for the last time, to surrender was the signal for opening a general cannonade, and bombardment from his batteries and the fleet. The siege continued until the 27th, when the city, the strong castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, with five thousand prisoners, and five hundred pieces of artillery, were surrendered to the Americans. The latter had only forty men killed, and about the same number wounded. At least a thousand Mexicans were killed, and a great number were maimed. It is estimated that during this siege, not less than six thousand seven hundred shots and shells were thrown by the American batteries, weighing, in the aggregate, more than forty thousand pounds.

INTRENCHMENTS AT VERA CRUZ.

Two days after the siege [March 29, 1847], General Scott took possession of Vera Cruz, and on the 8th of April, the advanced force of his army, under General Twiggs, commenced their march for the interior by way of Jalapa. Santa Anna had advanced, with twelve thousand men, to Cerro Gordo, a diffi

1

Some conspiracies in New Mexico against the new government, ripened into revolt, in January, 1847. Governor Bent and others were murdered at Fernando de Taos on the 19th, and massacres occurred in other quarters. On the 23d, Colonel Price, with three hundred and fifty men, marched against and defeated the insurgents at Canada, and finally dispersed them at the mountain gorge called the Pass of Embudo.

This city was considered the key to the country. On an island opposite was a very strong fortress called the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa [pronounced San-whan-dah-oo-loo-ah], always celebrated for its great strength, and considered impregnable by the Mexicans.

3

Page 480.

The engineering operations were performed very skillfully under the direction of Colonel Totten, an officer of the War of 1812. For his bravery at Vera Cruz, he was made Brigadier-General, by brevet. He is now [1856] about seventy years of age. Pronounced Hah-lah-pah.

cult mountain pass at the foot of the eastern chain of the Cordilleras. He was strongly fortified, and had many pieces of cannon well placed for defense. Scott had followed Twiggs with the main body. He had left a strong garrison at Vera Cruz, and his whole army now numbered about eight thousand five hundred men. Having skillfully arranged his plans, he attacked the enemy on the 18th of April. The assault was successful. More than a thousand Mexicans were killed or wounded, and three thousand were made prisoners. Having neither men to guard, nor food to sustain the prisoners, General Scott dismissed them on parole.' The boastful Santa Anna narrowly escaped capture by fleeing upon a mule taken from his carriage. The Americans lost, in killed and wounded, four hundred and thirty-one.

The victors entered Jalapa on the 19th of April; and on the 22d, General Worth unfurled the stars and stripes upon the castle of Perote, on the summit of the eastern Cordilleras, fifty miles from Jalapa. This was considered the strongest fortress in Mexico next to Vera Cruz, yet it was surrendered without resistance. Among the spoils were fifty-four pieces of cannon, and mortars, and large quantity of munitions of war. Onward the victorious army marched; and on the 15th of May [1847] it entered the ancient walled and fortified city of Puebla,' without opposition from the eighty thousand inhabitants within. Here the Americans rested, after a series of victories almost unparalleled. Within two months, an army averaging only about ten thousand men, had taken some of the strongest fortresses on this continent, made ten thousand prisoners, and captured seven hundred pieces of artillery, ten thousand stand of arms, and thirty thousand shells and cannon-balls. Yet greater conquests awaited them.

CHURUBUSCO

CONTRERASOK. Chalce.

CHOLULA

PUEBLA

PEROTEO

JALAPA

CERRO

NAVIO PRIDGE

G.OF MEXICO

General Scott remained at Puebla until August,' when, being reinforced by fresh troops, sent by way of Vera Cruz, he resumed his march toward the capital, with more than ten thousand men, leaving a large number sick in the hospital. Their route was through a beautiful region, well watered, and clothed with the richest verdure, and then up the slopes of the great Cordilleras. From their lofty summits, and

STAUGUSTINE

Roule

of

Scott's Arin

EXTINCT VOLCANOES

"VE A CRUZ

ROUTE OF THE U. S. ARMY FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO.

almost from the same spot where Cortez and his followers stood amazed more

1 Note 6, page 311.

Before the battle, Santa Anna said. "I will die fighting rather than the Americans shall proudly tread the imperial city of Azteca." So precipitate was his flight that he left all his papers behind him, and his wooden leg. He had been so severely wounded in his leg, while defending Vera Cruz against the French, in 1838, that amputation became necessary, and a wooden one was substituted. Pronounced Pweb-lah.

During this long halt of the American army, the government of the United States made unavailing efforts to negotiate for peace. The Mexican authorities refused the olive branch, and boasted of their patriotism, valor, and strength, while losing post after post, in their retreat toward the capital.

At one time there were eighteen hundred men sick at Puebla; and at Perote seven hundred died during the summer, notwithstanding the situations of these places, on lofty table-lands, were considered exceedingly healthful.

than three centuries before,' Scott and his army looked down [August 10, 1847] upon that glorious panorama of intervales, lakes, cities, and villages, in the great valley of Mexico-the capital of the Aztec Empire-the seat of "the Halls of the Montezumas.""

General Twiggs cautiously led the advance of the American army toward the city of Mexico, on the 11th of August, and encamped at St. Augustine, on the Acapulco road, eight miles south of the capital. Before him lay the strong fortress of San (or St.) Antonio, and close on his right were the heights of Churubusco, crowned with embattled walls covered with cannons, and to be reached in front only by a dangerous causeway. Close by was the fortified camp of Contreras, containing six thousand Mexicans, under General Valencia; and between it and the city was Santa Anna, and twelve thousand men, held in reserve. Such was the general position of the belligerents when, a little after midnight on the 20th of August [1847], General Smith' marched to the attack of the camp at Contreras. The battle opened at sunrise. It was sanguinary, but brief, and the Americans were victorious. Eighty officers and three thousand private soldiers were made prisoners; and the chief trophies were thirtythree pieces of artillery. In the mean while, Generals Pierce and Shields," with a small force, kept Santa Anna's powerful reserve at bay.

General Scott now directed a similar movement against Cherubusco. Santa Anna advanced; and the whole region became a battle-field, under the eye and control of the American commander-in-chief. The invaders dealt blow after blow successfully. Antonio yielded, Churubusco was taken, and Santa Anna abandoned the field and fled to the capital. It was a memorable day in Mexico. An army, thirty thousand strong, had been broken up by another less than one third its strength in numbers; and at almost every step the Americans were successful. Full four

thousand of the Mexicans were killed or wounded, three thousand were made prisoners, and thirty seven pieces of cannon were taken, all in one day. The Americans lost, in killed and wounded, almost eleven

2

1 Page 43.

OPERATIONS NEAR MEXICO.

According to the faint glimmerings of ancient Mexican history which have come down to us, the Aztecs, who occupied that country when it first became known to Europeans [page 43], came from the North, and were more refined than any other tribes, which, from time to time, had held possession of the country. They built a city within the borders of Lake Tezcuco, and named it Mexico, in honor of Mexitli, their god of war. Where the present great cathedral stands, they had erected an immense temple, dedicated to the sun, and there offered human sacrifices. It is related, that at its consecration, almost sixty thousand human beings were sacrificed. The temple was built about the year 1480, by the predecessor of Montezuma, the emperor found by Cortez.

3 This expression, referring to the remains of the palace of Montezuma in Mexico, was often used during the war.

David E. Twiggs was born in Georgia in 1790. He was a major at the close of the War of 1812-15, and was retained in the army. He was breveted a Major-General after the battle at Monterey, and for his gallantry there received the gift of a sword from Congress.

5

General Persifer F. Smith, of Louisiana.

6

Page 514.

7 General James Shields, of Illinois, afterward a representative of that State in the Senate of the United States.