In the morning the clouds had vanished. The day was as warm as
midsummer; in the east and southeast the great peaks of Iztaccihuatl
and Popocatepetl stood out white and sharp and clear; large Lake Chalco
shimmered in lanes of water through reeds and floating meadows; across
it, and farther in the northwest, the City of Mexico appeared plainly,
its towers and high roofs glistening in the sun.
Everything looked peaceful. After the camp had performed its fatigue
duties, the men were set at work cleaning their equipment. Jerry
finished early and was free to wander.
By all talk throughout the regiment the situation was serious. The City
of Mexico was in sight, but it was surrounded by lakes and bogs, and
batteries of heavy guns, and fortifications manned by thirty thousand
or more Mexican soldiers.
After a while he espied an officer seated by himself, apart, upon a
pile of old clay bricks and studying a map. It was Lieutenant Grant,
busy figuring the problem. Jerry went to him and saluted.
“Well, my lad?” the lieutenant invited.
“Beg your pardon, sir, but I was wondering what we’re going to do,”
Jerry ventured.
Lieutenant Grant smiled.
“So are the rest of us. It’s a very pretty puzzle. But General Scott
will solve it, for here we are.”
“Oh, we’ll take the city, of course, sir,” Jerry agreed. “I don’t know
how, though.”
“N-no,” the lieutenant mused, eying his map. Then he eyed Jerry. He was
worn and thin, like the soldiers generally. “You’re a bright boy. Maybe
if you look at this map you will understand things better. But this is
all confidential, you must remember. The man in the ranks is supposed
to wait and obey orders; the field officers say what they are. And as
I’m only a second lieutenant I have little to do with the planning of
operations.”
“I’ll remember, sir,” Jerry promised.
“All right. Sit down. Here’s a sketch map that I’ve borrowed from the
engineers. It covers this section. There’s the road from Puebla, over
which we advanced. There’s the Fourth Division camp, at Buena Vista,
which we passed before turning off; and there’s the Second Division
camp at Ayotla, three miles along toward the city. Here we are at
Chalco, a short distance south of the Puebla road and the two other
camps, and there in the northwest is the City of Mexico. You’ll see how
we are blocked off from going over the Puebla or National road, by the
fortress of El Peñon. There’s El Peñon, thirteen miles west of General
Twiggs’ camp, on the main highway.”
[Illustration: _The Campaign in the Valley of Mexico_]
“Yes, sir. I see it. Can’t we take it like we took Cerro Gordo?”
“General Scott, I have been informed, would rather not try. El Peñon is
stronger than Cerro Gordo was. You can see it from here. It consists of
one steep hill; mounts fifty-one guns by batteries placed in terraces,
and is surrounded by a ditch of water twenty-four feet wide and ten
feet deep. The guns enfilade, or rake the length of the road for a long
distance, and we cannot avoid them by leaving the road on account of
marshes on either hand. To force El Peñon would cost three thousand
men, and we would still be upon a narrow road, seven miles from the
city, and unable to manœuvre. But southwest of El Peñon, and nearer the
city, on a branch road or cut-off from the main road, you see another
fortress called Mexicalcingo.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mexicalcingo is a fortified town, commanding the passage of a bridge
through the marsh at the head of Lake Xochimilco, which is the lake
extending into the northwest from Lake Chalco. Mexicalcingo is scarcely
five miles from the City of Mexico, but otherwise it gives much the
same problem as El Peñon. We might carry the batteries and the bridge,
and then we’d still be on a narrow road, flanked by marshes for four
miles, before we struck another main road to the city. General Scott is
having both fortifications reconnoitred, I believe, but his spies have
already posted him.”
“Then what can we do, sir?” Jerry asked.
“I’m not saying, although I am at liberty to have my own ideas. Anybody
is permitted to think, but it’s against regulations to think aloud
sometimes. I’m telling you these things as man to man. When you grow up
you may be an officer yourself, with maps at your disposal. Well, if we
can’t get at the capital from the east, there ought to be other ways.
Napoleon laid down as a maxim of war: ‘Never do what the enemy expects
you to do.’ Santa Anna expects General Scott to advance upon the city
by the eastern approaches, and I understand that he has concentrated
his batteries and men so as to defend these approaches. Now you’ll see
by the map that beyond Mexicalcingo the cut-off road joins a main road
from the south, named the Acapulco road. And that farther west there is
still another main road from the south.”
“Yes, sir,” mused Jerry, pouring over the map and following the
lieutenant’s finger.
“There is a way to strike the Acapulco road, or the other road, without
reducing Mexicalcingo. An army might――I do not say it could――but an
army of brave men might march around south of Lake Chalco, here, and
away south of Mexicalcingo, over a very rough country, and reach the
Acapulco road at the town of San Augustine, about thirty miles from
where we now are. Thus we should avoid El Peñon and Mexicalcingo, and
approach the city from an unexpected quarter, either the south or the
west.”
“Maybe General Scott has thought of that, sir.”
Lieutenant Grant smiled again.
“No doubt he has. I rather surmise that he thought of it at Puebla. I
know he was busy gathering information. But by all reports from our
spies and from the natives the route around south of Lake Chalco is
very bad, with lava rocks and sharp ridges and bogs. It is so bad that
the Mexicans themselves rarely use it, and General Santa Anna has paid
little attention to it.”
“The same way he didn’t pay much attention to that first hill at Cerro
Gordo,” said Jerry.
“Cerro Gordo ought to have taught him, but apparently it didn’t. He’s
fairly good at tactics and poor at strategy. General Scott shines in
both. I have an idea,” continued the lieutenant; and he suddenly asked:
“Can you keep a secret, boy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well. Do so. I am telling you a secret――or what may be a secret.
It is quite likely that the march upon the City of Mexico will be made
by the south. Captain Lee, of the engineers, has reconnoitred the trail
around the lake to San Augustine and thinks it passable.”
“And we won’t have to fight, sir?”
“Oh, we’ll have fighting enough and to spare. There are defenses over
on the Acapulco road, and Santa Anna will find out what we’re up to.
It’s simply a question whether he’ll dare move his forces in time
and leave the eastern approaches weakened. You see Tlalpam, or San
Augustine? North on the road to the city there is the town of San
Antonio, which probably has strong batteries; and then Churubusco, four
miles from the city. After these are taken, we should have to fight
a way through the interior line of defenses connected with the city
walls. But at San Augustine we shall be within nine miles of the city
and have the choice of several roads. Yes,” smiled the lieutenant,
folding the map, “we shall be kept busy, officers, men and boys.”
The Third Division, under General Pillow, bringing the new infantry
regiments and the Voltigeurs, arrived this afternoon. They all passed
on through Chalco and encamped two miles south at Chimalpa. Now if the
attacks were to be made from the east, then the Second Division and
the Quitman Volunteers and Marines would get in first, because they
already were on the main road. This put the First and Third Divisions
in the rear again, which was not pleasing to them. But Jerry, hearing
the talk, smiled to himself, for he thought that he and Lieutenant
Grant knew different.