_Wherein Captain Galligasken marches with the illustrious Soldier
to the Halls of the Montezumas, and glowingly describes the
brilliant Campaign in Mexico._
General Winfield Scott was a great soldier, and his Mexican campaign
gave him a European reputation, chary as the critics of the old world
are in the bestowment of praise upon American celebrities. He was never
popular as an individual, for his qualities of mind and heart were not
of the winning sort. His military skill must stand unchallenged, and
his operations in Mexico will always attest his ability. A greater than
Scott arose to obscure and eclipse his fame as a commander; but if
the midday sun darkens the lustrous star, yet shall the star shine on
bright as ever, its light paled only by the mighty contrast.
Scott was a well-trained, a prudent, and a skilful soldier. Like
Taylor, he fought his battles thoroughly; and, after throwing out two
or three brilliant geniuses in the art of war, he compares favorably
with any of the great captains of ancient or modern times. He was
the peer of Wellington, Marlborough, and the galaxy of able generals
whom Napoleon gathered around him; and his fame as a soldier will be
cherished by the American people to their remotest posterity.
General Scott's bloody but brilliant and successful campaign was to
be the next training school of Lieutenant Grant; and to have been a
witness of the skilful strategy and the terrible fighting included
in that memorable march from Vera Cruz to Mexico was to obtain an
experience of war and an insight into its mysteries which could not
fail to be of incalculable value to the future chief of the armies
of the Union. Grant was twenty-five years of age when he landed at
Vera Cruz. Among the eager young officers whose souls were fired
with the military spirit, he was but a unit. As a second lieutenant,
however bravely and faithfully he discharged his duties, there was no
opportunity for him to attract attention beyond the limit of his own
brigade. He was training for the future rather than living for the
present.
Scott landed at the head of twelve thousand men to make the conquest of
Mexico. His first objective point was the famous Castle of San Juan de
Ulua, the dragon which guarded Vera Cruz, and lay in the path of the
little army to the capital. On the 12th of March, 1847, the investment
of the city was completed. Ten days later the batteries opened fire
upon the castle and city; and after four days of the most incessant
hammering, an assault by the besieging army was planned; but the
governor of the city proposed to surrender. In just twenty days after
the little army landed, the Stars and Stripes floated victoriously over
the city, and over the invulnerable castle.
The amazing rapidity with which the siege operations were carried
forward confounded the enemy. With the bitter experience of Monterey as
a specimen of the spirit of the assailants, they were not disposed to
go through the form of attempting to repel an assault. The dragon in
the path of the victorious army was demolished, and the road to Mexico
was open to the conquerors. Preparations were made immediately for the
grand march to the Halls of the Montezumas.
On the 1st of April Lieutenant Grant was appointed quartermaster of
the Fourth Regiment--a position requiring peculiar abilities in the
incumbent. He was selected for this important office because he was a
careful, substantial, and energetic person; and he continued to fill it
to the entire satisfaction of his superiors until the close of the war.
Early in April the advance was sent forward on the road to Jalapa.
Santa Anna, routed at Buena Vista, had gathered together another army
of fifteen thousand men, and intrenched himself in a strong position
on the heights of Cerro Gordo, effectually commanding the only passage
through the mountain gorges to the capital. Six days after the
appearance of the advance before this formidable position, Scott, with
the main army, arrived. The stronghold was immediately stormed, and
after a series of brilliant operations the position was carried. Three
thousand prisoners and forty-three bronze guns were captured, besides
seven standards and Santa Anna's private baggage.
Signor Jimen, in the official journal of Mexico, defended the
generalship of Santa Anna, and innocently attributed the terrible
defeat to "inevitable misfortune, the result of the tactics of the
invaders." The Mexicans were flanked by the passage of a portion of the
American forces through a ravine which had never before been crossed,
and which was deemed impassable. The "tactics" were doubtless the sore
trial of the Mexicans, and when I think of the material of which our
officers were composed, I am hardly supprised at the magnitude of their
achievements. Scott believed in councils of war, and had the benefit of
the united thought of his brilliant officers.
By this time, Grant, having been engaged in his fifth battle, was
almost a veteran; and in this daring warfare was the training process
carried on in his mind; in this arena of brilliant strategy was his
military education perfected, and his experience enriched by an
observation vouchsafed to only a few.
The army, having beaten down the obstacle at Cerro Gordo, continued
on its march towards the capital, occupying Jalapa and Castle Perote
on its way. At Puebla the little force was so reduced by sickness,
death, and the expiration of the term of volunteer enlistments, that
the veteran general no longer deemed it prudent to advance. His numbers
had dwindled down to five thousand; and he rested here, in the heart of
Mexico, with his handful of men, for three months, until reënforcements
swelled his army to eleven thousand--an insignificant force for the
conquest of the country.
About the middle of August this little army reached the vicinity of
the capital. The city of Mexico is situated on Lake Tezcuco, and is
approached over impassable marshes and lagoons by long causeways and
bridges. The nature of the country was favorable to an effective
defence of the place, especially as the Mexicans had at least four
times as many troops in service as their invaders. Located outside of
these causeways, and guarding the approaches of the city, were the
strongholds of Chapultepec and Churubusco, and the heavy batteries of
San Antonio and Contreras, all of them mounting about a hundred pieces
of artillery. They were surrounded by morasses, by headlong steeps
and rocks heaved into fantastic irregularities by volcanic action.
The Mexicans confidently relied upon these natural additions to the
strength of their works, and regarded their positions as impregnable.
Turning aside from the national road, by which he had marched to
Ayolata, and which here presented too many difficulties for the
remaining fifteen miles of his journey, Scott made a detour around Lake
Chalco, and approached the city from the south. On the 20th of August
the battery on the height of Contreras was captured by an impetuous
assault, which occupied but seventeen minutes. The garrison of San
Antonio evacuated their position, being cut off from the line of
defence by the fall of the supporting works.
Four miles nearer to the city of Mexico, and commanding the road,
frowned upon the invaders the strong fortification of Churubusco,
where the main body of the enemy's army had been concentrated for an
obstinate resistance; but on the same day the stronghold was battered
down, and the Mexicans were driven to their only remaining fortress of
Chapultepec. All day long Scott's gallant army had been fighting three
times their own numbers, lodged in what had been deemed impenetrable
works; but their arms were victorious at every point.
After a delay of more than two weeks in receiving and declining some
absurd terms for an armistice, offensive operations were resumed by
General Scott. The plain on which the city of Mexico is situated is
studded with volcanic heights, projecting up from the morasses and lava
fields. On one of these eminences, two miles from the city, stood the
strong castle of Chapultepec, its base one hundred and fifty feet above
the average level of the ground. It had a front of nine hundred feet,
which bristled with guns, manned by a picked force, commanded by one of
the ablest Mexican officers. This huge work stood, like another dragon,
to protect the entrance to the principal causeway leading to the city.
Behind it was a powder mill, called _El Molino del Rey_, which was
fortified and occupied by troops, and constituted the principal outer
defence of the castle. It was necessary that this position should be
first captured, and the duty was assigned to General Worth, of whose
command the Fourth Infantry formed a part.
The assault was a desperate one, and Worth lost one fourth of his
troops in the action, so obstinate was the defence by the Mexicans, who
had reached their "last ditch," and fought with corresponding valor.
The position was carried, and in the sharp battle Grant won his first
recorded laurel. "Captain Brooks and Lieutenant Grant, with a few men
of their respective regiments, by a handsome movement to the left,
turned the right flank of the enemy, and the barrier was carried.
Second Lieutenant Grant behaved with distinguished gallantry on the
13th and 14th." This is the language of the official report of Major
Francis Lee, commanding the Fourth Infantry at the time.
I have said that Grant had been appointed quartermaster of his
regiment. As the officer in charge of the baggage trains of the force,
well-established precedents permitted him to remain in charge of them
during the fierce conflict, and thus to escape the personal peril of
being under fire. It would not have been dishonorable, or an imputation
upon his courage, for him to do so; but to his honor and glory be it
said, that he never took advantage of his non-belligerent position.
He always joined his regiment when it was summoned to the strife,
and "behaved with distinguished gallantry" on all occasions. For his
conduct on this eventful day he was promoted to the rank of full first
lieutenant.
The Castle of Chapultepec was bombarded, and then carried by storm,
after the walls had been breached. In the complicated details of the
final attack the Fourth Infantry acted a worthy part. Grant assisted
in serving a howitzer, mounted on the top of a convent, by which
the enemy was considerably annoyed. It was a novel position for an
infantry officer; but this was not the first, and by no means the last,
time he was where he was least expected to be found--in front of the
enemy. Colonel Garland, commanding the First Brigade on this occasion,
officially says, "I must not omit to call attention to Lieutenant
Grant, of the Fourth Infantry, who acquitted himself most nobly upon
several occasions under my own observation."
The result of that gallant attack shows that all the officers behaved
well; so well that Grant and one other only are mentioned out of
the whole First Brigade, and the quality of the deeds which called
forth the generous compliment of his superior may be judged from this
fact. All had been brave to recklessness, all had been earnest and
persevering; but it was the nature of Grant, even then, to surpass the
bravest, the most earnest and persevering. In General Worth's report of
the battle, he also speaks in commendation of the gallant lieutenant.
For Grant's honorable mention he received the brevet rank of captain,
to date from the day of the battle of Chapultepec.
With this strong fortress fell the city of Mexico; and during the night
which followed its capture, the remains of the army of Santa Anna,
with the civil officers of the government, fled to a place of safety.
On the following morning, Scott and his gallant little army marched
into the capital. The American flag floated proudly over the walls of
the national capital, and Mexico was conquered; victory had constantly
perched upon our banners, and we stood in the Halls of the Montezumas,
where we were permitted to repose in peace after the battle summer
through which we had just passed.
Grant remained in the city of Mexico while the negotiations for peace
were in progress. As usual, he had a very spirited horse, for he never
rode any other when one could be obtained. A Mexican gentleman, with
whom he was on terms of friendly intimacy, desired to borrow this
animal for a ride. Grant feared that the worthy señor could not handle
the fiery steed; but it was not prudent to decline the request, for the
Spanish nature of the applicant would take offence, and misjudge his
motives in the refusal. The Mexican mounted the horse, but, when he had
ridden a short distance, was thrown off and instantly killed.
Long ago I came to the conclusion that it is not safe for any man to
attempt to ride Grant's horses, in a literal or a figurative sense.
Grant's mission in Mexico was finished. In that rapid and brilliant
campaign from Vera Cruz to the capital, he had practically learned
the lesson of war, and prepared himself for the great work he was to
accomplish at a later period of his life, when West Point was to be
divided between the opposing armies, when the most brilliant genius and
the most determined energy alone could win victories. The importance of
this season of actual duty in the field, in all the details of siege,
march, and garrison duty, can hardly be over-estimated. In the war of
the Great Rebellion he came into the field a trained soldier, with the
teachings of experience stored up for use in a broader sphere of action
than he or any of his companions in arms had yet dreamed of.
After the ratification of the treaty of peace between Mexico and the
United States, our forces evacuated Mexico, and Captain Grant was sent
to New York with his regiment, where its companies were detached and
sent to the forts on the northern frontier. Grant and his company were
first stationed at Detroit, and then transferred to Sacketts Harbor. In
1848 he was married to Miss Dent, in conformity with the engagement
made five years before, to which both had religiously adhered.
The treaty of peace with Mexico had given us California, and coincident
with the acquisition of the territory, gold was discovered there in
such quantities as to attract an immense immigration, and it was
necessary for the government to send out troops for the protection of
the swarming hosts, both from themselves and from the Indians. The
Fourth Infantry was sent to Oregon in 1851. The battalion in which
Grant served was stationed at Fort Dallas, where the illustrious
soldier obtained some further experience of Indian warfare.
He was separated from his family, and in this wild region shut out
from any employment worthy his nature, and apparently from all hope of
rising either as a citizen or a soldier. It would have been surprising
if Grant had not been discontented. He was a man of deeds, emphatically
a man of action; but there was nothing to be done worthy his ambition.
In 1853 he was promoted to a full captaincy; but this advancement
could not relieve him from the tedium of such a stupid life, and the
following year he resigned his commission, to enter upon a new and
untried career in civil life.