Captain Mayne Reid continues the account: "Thus was the American army
halted in its victorious career on the 20th of August. Another
hour, and it would have been in the streets of Mexico. The
commander-in-chief, however, had other designs; and with the bugle
recall that summoned the dragoons to retire, all hostile operations
ended for the time. The troops slept upon the field.
"On the following day the four divisions of the American army separated
for their respective headquarters in different villages. Worth crossed
over to Tacubaya, which became the headquarters of the army; Twiggs held
the village of San Angel; Pillow rested at Miscuac, a small Indian
village between San Angel and Tacubaya, while the Volunteer and Marine
division fell back on San Augustine. An armistice had been entered into
between the commanders-in-chief of the two armies.
"This armistice was intended to facilitate a treaty of peace; for it was
thought that the Mexicans would accept any terms rather than see their
ancient city at the mercy of a foreign army. No doubt, however, a great
mistake was made, as the armistice gave the crafty Santa Anna a chance
to fortify an inner line of defence, the key to which was the strong
Castle of Chapultepec, which had to be taken three weeks later with the
loss of many brave men.
"The commissioners of both governments met at a small village near
Tacubaya, and the American commissioner demanded, as a necessary
preliminary to peace, the cession of Upper and Lower California, all New
Mexico, Texas, parts of Sonora, Coahuila and Tamaulipas. Although this
was in general a wild, unsettled tract of country, yet it constituted
more than one-half the territory of Mexico, and the Mexican
commissioners would not, even if they dared, agree to such a
dismemberment. The armistice was therefore abortive, and on the 6th of
September, the American commander-in-chief sent a formal notice to the
enemy that it had ceased to exist. This elicited from Santa Anna an
insulting reply, and on the same day the enemy was seen in great force
to the left of Tacubaya, at a building called Molino del Rey, which was
a large stone mill, with a foundry, belonging to the government, and
where most of their cannon had been made. It is a building notorious in
the annals of Mexican history as the place where the unfortunate Texan
prisoners suffered the most cruel treatment from their barbarous
captors. It lies directly under the guns of Chapultepec, from which it
is distant about a quarter of a mile, and it is separated from the hill
of Chapultepec by a thick wood of almond trees.
"On the afternoon of the 7th of September, Captain Mason, of the
Engineers, was sent to reconnoitre the enemy's position. His right lay
at a strong stone building, with bastions, at some distance from Molino
del Rey, while his left rested in the works around the latter.
"The building on the right is called Casa Mata. It is to be presumed
that this position of the enemy was taken to prevent our army from
turning the Castle of Chapultepec and entering the city by the Tacubaya
road and the gate San Cosme. All the other _garitas_, Piedas, Nino
Perdido, San Antonio and Belen were strongly fortified, and guarded by a
large body of the enemy's troops. Having in all at this time about
30,000 men, they had no difficulty in placing a strong guard at every
point of attack.
"On the 7th General Worth was ordered to attack and carry the enemy's
lines at Molino del Rey. His attack was to be planned on the night of
the 7th and executed on the morning of the 8th.
"On the night of the 7th the 1st Division, strengthened by a brigade of
the 3rd, moved forward in front of the enemy. The dispositions made
were as follows:
"It was discovered that the weakest point of the enemy's lines was at a
place about midway between the Casa Mata and Molino del Rey. This
point, however, was strengthened by a battery of several guns.
"An assaulting party of 500 men, commanded by Major Wright, were
detailed to attack the battery, after it had been cannonaded by Captain
Huger with the battering guns. To the right of this assaulting party
Garland's brigade took position within supporting distance.
"On our left, and to the enemy's right, Clark's brigade, commanded by
Brevet-Colonel Mackintosh, with Duncan's battery, were posted; while the
supporting brigade from Pillow's division lay between the assaulting
column and Clark's brigade.
"At break of day the action commenced. Huger, with the 24th, opened on
the enemy's centre. Every discharge told; and the enemy seemed to
retire. No answer was made from his guns. Worth, becoming at length
convinced--fatal conviction--that the works in the centre had been
abandoned, ordered the assaulting column to advance.
"These moved rapidly down the slope, Major Wright leading. When they
had arrived within about half musket shot the enemy opened upon this
gallant band the most dreadful fire it has ever been the fate of a
soldier to sustain. Six pieces from the field battery played upon their
ranks; while the heavy guns from Chapultepec, and nearly six thousand
muskets from the enemy's entrenchments, mowed them down in hundreds.
The first discharge covered the ground with dead and dying. One half
the command at least fell with this terrible cataract of bullets. The
others, retiring for a moment, took shelter behind some magney, or, in
fact, anything that would lend a momentary protection.
"The light battalion and the 11th Infantry now came to their relief, and
springing forward amid the clouds of smoke and deadly fire, the enemy's
works were soon in our possession. At the same time the right and left
wing had become hotly engaged with the left and right of the enemy.
Garland's brigade, with Duncan's battery, after driving out a large body
of infantry, occupied the mills, while the command of Colonel Mackintosh
attacked the Casa Mata.
"This building proved to be a strong work with deep ditches and
entrenchments. The brigade moved rapidly forward to assault it, but on
reaching the wide ditch the tremendous fire of muskets to which they
were exposed, as well as the heavy guns from the Castle, obliged them to
fall back on their own battery.
"Duncan now opened his batteries upon this building, and with such
effect that the enemy soon retreated from it, leaving it unoccupied.
"At this time the remaining brigade of Pillow's division, as well as
that of Twiggs', came on the ground, but they were too late. The enemy
had already fallen back, and Molino del Rey and the Casa Mata were in
possession of the American troops. The latter was shortly after blown
up, and all the implements in the foundry, with the cannon moulds,
having been destroyed, our army was ordered to return to Tacubaya.
"Thus ended one of the most bloody and fruitless engagements ever fought
by the American army. Six hundred and fifty of our brave troops were
either killed or wounded, while the loss of the enemy did not amount to
more than half this number.
"The fatal action at Molino del Rey cast a gloom over the whole army.
Nothing had been gained. The victorious troops fell back to their
former positions, and the vanquished assumed a bolder front, celebrating
the action as a victory. The Mexican commander gave out that the attack
was intended for Chapultepec, and had consequently failed. This, among
his soldiers, received credence and doubled their confidence; we, on the
other hand, called it a victory on our side. Another such victory and
the American army would never have left the Valley of Mexico.
"On the night of the 11th of September, at midnight, two small parties
of men were seen to go out from the village of Tacubaya, moving silently
along different roads. One party directed itself along an old road
toward Molino del Rey, and about half-way between the village and this
latter point halted. The other moved a short distance along the direct
road to Chapultepec and halted in like manner. They did not halt to
sleep; all night long these men were busy piling up earth, filling
sand-bags, and laying the platforms of a gun battery.
"When day broke these batteries were finished, their guns in position,
and, much to the astonishment of the Mexican troops, a merry fire was
opened upon the Castle. This fire was soon answered, but with little
effect. By ten o'clock another battery from Molino del Rey, with some
well-directed shots from a howitzer at the same point, seemed to annoy
the garrison exceedingly.
"A belt of wood lies between the Castle and Molino del Rey on the south.
A stone wall surrounds these woods. Well-garrisoned, Chapultepec would
be impregnable. The belief is that 1,000 Americans could hold it
against all Mexico. They might starve them out, or choke them with
thirst, but they could not drive them out of it. There are but few
fortresses in the world so strong in natural advantages.
"During the whole of the 12th the shot from the American batteries kept
playing upon the walls of the Castle, answered by the guns of the
fortress, and an incessant fire of musketry was kept up by the
skirmishing party in the woods of Molino del Rey. Towards evening the
Castle began to assume a battered and beleaguered appearance. Shot and
shell had made ruin on every point, and several of the enemy's guns were
dismounted.
"To enumerate the feats of artillerists on this day would fill a volume.
A twenty-pound shot from a battery commanded by Captain Huger and
Lieutenant Hagney entered the muzzle of one of the enemy's howitzers and
burst the piece. It was not a chance shot. This battery was placed on
the old road between Tacubaya and Molino del Rey. The gate of the
Castle fronts this way, and the Calzada, or winding road from the Castle
to the foot of the hill, was exposed to the fire. As the ground lying
to the north and east of Chapultepec was still in possession of the
enemy, a constant intercourse was kept up with the Castle by this
Calzada.
"On the morning of the 11th, however, when Huger's and Hagney's battery
opened, the Calzada became a dangerous thoroughfare. The latter officer
found that his shot thrown on the face of the road ricochetted upon the
walls with terrible effect, and consequently most of his shots were
aimed at this point. It was amusing to see the Mexican officers who
wished to enter or go out of the Castle wait until Hagney's guns were
discharged, and then gallop over the Calzada as if the devil were after
them.
"A Mexican soldier at the principal gate was packing a mule with
ordnance.
"`Can you hit that fellow, Hagney?' was asked.
"`I'll try,' was the quiet and laconic reply. The long gun was pointed
and levelled. At this moment the soldier stooped by the side of the
mule in the act of tightening the girth. `Fire!' said Hagney, and
almost simultaneous with the shot a cloud of dust rose over the
causeway. When this cleared away the mule was seen running wild along
the Calzada, while the soldier lay dead by the wall.
"On the day when Chapultepec was stormed, September 13th, 1847, I was in
command of the Grenadier Company of 2nd New York Volunteers--my own--and
a detachment of United States Marines, acting with us as light infantry,
my orders being to stay by and guard the battery we had built on the
south-eastern side of the Castle during the night of the 11th. It was
about a thousand yards from, and directly in front of, the Castle's main
gate, through which our shots went crashing all the day. The first
assault had been fixed for the morning of the 13th, a storming party of
500 men, or `forlorn hope,' as it was called, having volunteered for
this dangerous duty. These were of all arms of the service, a captain
of regular infantry having charge of them, with a lieutenant of
Pennsylvanian Volunteers as his second in command.
"At an early hour the three divisions of our army, Worth's, Pillow's and
Quitman's, closed in upon Chapultepec, our skirmishers driving the
enemy's outposts before them; some of these retreating up the hill and
into the Castle, others passing around it and on towards the city.
"It was now expected that our storming party would do the work assigned
to it, and for which it had volunteered. Standing by our battery, at
this time necessarily silent, with the artillery and engineer officers
who had charge of it, Captain Huger and Lieutenant Hagney, we three
watched the advance of the attacking line, the puffs of smoke from
musketry and rifles indicating the exact point to which it had reached.
Anxiously we watched it. I need not say, nor add, that our anxiety
became apprehension when we saw that about half-way up the slope there
was a halt, something impeding its forward movement. I knew that if
Chapultepec were not taken, neither would the city, and failing this,
not a man of us might ever leave the Valley of Mexico alive.
"Worth's injudicious attempt upon the intrenchments of Molino del Rey--
to call it by no harsher name--our first retreat during the campaign,
had greatly demoralised our men, while reversely affecting the Mexicans,
inspiring them with a courage they had never felt before. And there
were 30,000 of these to our 6,000--five to one--to say nothing of a host
of _rancheros_ in the country around and _leperos_ in the city, all
exasperated against us, the invaders. We had become aware, moreover,
that Alvarez with his spotted Indians (_pintos_) had swung round in our
rear, and held the mountain passes behind us, so that retreat upon
Puebla would have been impossible. This was not my belief alone, but
that of every intelligent officer in the army: the two who stood beside
me feeling sure of it as myself. This certainty, combined with the slow
progress of the attacking party, determined me to participate in the
assault. As the senior engineer officer out-ranked me, it was necessary
I should have his leave to forsake the battery--now needing no further
defence--a leave freely and instantly given, with the words: `Go, and
God be with you!'
"The Mexican flag was still waving triumphantly over the Castle, and the
line of smoke-puffs had not got an inch nearer it; nor was there much
change in the situation when, after a quick run across the intervening
ground with my following of volunteers and marines, we came up with the
storming party at halt, and irregularly aligned along the base of the
hill. For what reason they were staying there we knew not at the time,
but I afterwards heard it was some trouble about scaling ladders. I did
not pause then to inquire, but, breaking through their line with my
brave followers, pushed on up the slope. Near the summit I found a
scattered crowd of soldiers, some of them in the grey uniform of the
Voltigeur Regiment; others, 9th, 14th and 15th Infantry. They were the
skirmishers, who had thus far cleared the way for us, and far ahead of
the `forlorn hope.' But beyond lay the real area of danger, a slightly
sloping ground, some forty yards in width, between us and the Castle's
outward wall--in short, the glacis. It was commanded by three pieces of
cannon on the parapet, which, swept it with grape and canister as fast
as they could be loaded and fired. There seemed no chance to advance
farther without meeting certain death. But it would be death all the
same if we did not--such was my thought at that moment.
"Just as I reached this point there was a momentary halt, which made it
possible to be heard; and the words I then spoke, or rather shouted, are
remembered by me as though it were but yesterday:
"`Men! if we don't take Chapultepec, the American army is lost. Let us
charge up to the walls.'
"A voice answered: `We'll charge if any one leads us.'
"Another adding: `Yes, we're ready!'
"At that instant the three guns on the parapet belched forth their
deadly showers almost simultaneously. My heart bounded with joy at
hearing them go off thus together--it was our opportunity; and, quickly
comprehending it, I leaped over the scarp which had sheltered us,
calling out:
"`Come on; I'll lead you!'
"It did not need looking back to know that I was followed. The men I
had appealed to were not the men to stay behind, else they would not
have been there, and all came after.
"When about half-way across the open ground I saw the parapet crowded
with Mexican artillerists in uniforms of dark blue with crimson facings,
each musket in hand, and all aiming, as I believed, at my own person.
On account of a crimson silk sash I was wearing, they no doubt fancied
me a general at least. The volley was almost as one sound, and I
avoided it by throwing myself flat along the earth, only getting touched
on one of the fingers of my sword-hand, another shot passing through the
loose cloth of my overalls. Instantly on my feet again, I made for the
wall, which I was scaling, when a bullet from an escopette went tearing
through my thigh, and I fell into the ditch."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even as he lay wounded in the ditch, brave Mayne Reid painfully raised
himself, addressing the men and encouraging them. Above the din of
musketry his voice was heard.
"`For God's sake, men, don't leave that wall.'
"Only a few scattered shots were fired after this. The scaling ladders
came up, and some scores of men went swarming over the parapet and
Chapultepec was taken.
"The second man up to the walls of the Castle was Corporal Haup, the
Swiss, when he fell, shot through the face, over the body of Mayne Reid,
covering the latter with his blood. The poor fellow endeavoured to roll
himself off, saying, `I'm not hurt so badly as you.' But he was dead
before Mayne Reid was carried off the field.
"Mayne Reid's lieutenant, Hypolite Dardonville, a brave young Frenchman,
dragged the Mexican flag down from its staff, planting the Stars and
Stripes in its place--the standard of the New York regiment.
"The contest was not yet over. The advantage must be followed up, and
the city entered. Worth's division obliquing to the right followed the
enemy on the Tabuca Road, and through the gate of San Cosme; while the
volunteers, with the rifle and one or two other regiments, detached from
the division of General Twiggs, were led along the aqueduct towards the
citadel and the gate of Belen. Inch by inch did these gallant fellows
drive back their opponents; and he who led them, the veteran Quitman,
was ever foremost in the fight.
"A very storm of bullets rained along this road, and hundreds of brave
men fell to rise no more; but when night closed the gates of Belen and
San Cosme were in possession of the Americans.
"During the still hours of midnight the Mexican army, to the number of
some 20,000, stole out of the city and took the road for Guadaloupe.
"Next morning at daybreak, the remnant of the American army, in all less
than 3,000 men, entered the city without further opposition, and formed
up in the Grand Plaza. Ere sunrise the American star-spangled banner
floated proudly over the Palace of Moctezuma, and proclaimed that the
city of the Aztecs was in possession of the Americans.
"Chapultepec was in reality the key to the city. If the former were not
captured, the latter in all probability would not have been taken at
that time, or by that army.
"The city of Mexico stands on a perfectly level plain, where water is
reached by digging but a few inches below the surface; this everywhere
around its walls, and for miles on every side.
"It does not seem to have occurred to military engineers that a position
of this kind is the strongest in the world; the most difficult to
assault and easiest to defend. It only needs to clear the surrounding
_terrain_ of houses, trees, or aught that might give shelter to the
besiegers, and obstruct the fire of the besieged. As in the wet ground
trenching is impossible, there is no other way of approach. Even a
charge by cavalry going at full gallop must fail; they would be
decimated, or utterly destroyed, long before arriving at the entrenched
line.
"These were the exact conditions under which Mexico had to be assaulted
by the American army. There were no houses outside of the city walls,
no cover of any kind, save rows of tall poplar trees lining the sides of
the outgoing roads, and most of these had been cut down. How then was
the place to be stormed, or rather approached within storming distance?
The eyes of some skilled American engineers rested upon the two
aqueducts running from Chapultepec into the suburbs of the city. Their
mason work, with its massive piers and open arches between, promised the
necessary cover for skirmishers, to be supported by close following
battalions.
"And they did afford this very shelter, enabling the American army to
capture the city of Mexico. But to get at the aqueducts Chapultepec
need to be first taken, otherwise the besiegers would have had the enemy
both in front and rear. Hence the desperate and determined struggle at
the taking of the Castle, and the importance of its succeeding. Had it
failed, I have no hesitation in giving my opinion that no American who
fought that day in the Valley of Mexico would ever have left it alive.
Scott's army was already weakened by the previous engagements, too much
so to hold itself three days on the defensive. Retreat would have been
not disastrous, but absolutely impossible. The position was far worse
than that of Lord Sale, in the celebrated Cabool expedition. All the
passes leading out of the valley by which the Americans might have
attempted escape were closed by columns of cavalry. The Indian general,
Alvarez, with his host of spotted horsemen, the Pintos of the Acapulco
region, had occupied the main road by Rio Frio the moment after the
Americans marched in. No wonder these fought on that day as for very
life. Every intelligent soldier among them knew that in their attack
upon Chapultepec there were but two alternatives: success and life, or
defeat and death."
The following are extracts from dispatches and official documents:
From Major-General Winfield Scott, commander-in-chief.
"September 18, 1847.
"The following are the officers and corps most distinguished in these
brilliant operations... Particularly a detachment under Lieutenant
Reid, New York Volunteers, consisting of a company of the same, with one
of marines."
From Major-General G.J. Pillow, commanding division.
"September 18, 1847.
"Lieutenant Reid, in command of the one company of the New York Regiment
and one of marines, came forward in advance of the other troops of this
command, Quitman's, participated in the assault and was severely
wounded."
From Major-General J.A. Quitman, commanding division.
"September 29, 1847.
"Two detachments from my command not heretofore mentioned in this report
should be noticed. Captain Gallagher and Lieutenant Reid, who, with
their companies of New York Volunteers, had been detailed on the morning
of the 12th, by General Shields, to the support of our battery, Number
2, well performed the service. The former, by the orders of Captain
Huger, was detained at that battery during the storming of Chapultepec.
The latter, a brave and energetic young officer, being relieved from the
battery on the advance to the Castle, hastened to the assault, and was
among the first to ascend the crest of the hill, where he was severely
wounded... The gallant New York Regiment claims for their standard the
honour of being the first waved from the battlements of Chapultepec."
From Brigadier-General Shields.
"September 25, 1847.
"The New York flag and Company B of that regiment, under the command of
a gallant young officer, Lieutenant Reid, were among the first to mount
the ramparts of the Castle, and then display the Stars and Stripes to
the admiration of the army."
From Captain Huger, chief of ordnance.
"September 20, 1847.
"As there were two companies in support of batteries 2 and 3, I now
allowed one of them, commanded by Lieutenant Reid, New York Volunteers,
his command, composed of volunteers and marines, to join its proper
division, and he gallantly pushed up the hill and joined it during the
storming of the Castle."
From Colonel Ward B. Burnett, commanding New York Regiment.
"Order Number 35.
"The following promotions and appointments having been made `upon good
and sufficient recommendations' will be obeyed and respected
accordingly:
"2nd Lieutenant Mayne Reid, of Company B, to be 1st lieutenant of
Company G, _vice_ Innes, promoted."