from Puebla, the troops began to ascend more rapidly. Eleven miles more
brought them to a mountain river, Tesmelucan, where the elegant aërial
bridge that spanned the abyss made them almost feel they were flying.
The scenery now became Alpine. Deep chasms, answered to peaks, and
lovely glens to precipices; and the cedar, the oak and the ash, as well
as pines of extraordinary height and straightness, reared themselves
on the slopes. At Río Frio, about thirty-six miles from both Puebla
and Mexico, where an icy stream dashed foaming down the rocks, the
mountains closed in on the left, and their crest, lined with deserted
parapets, almost overhung the road.[25.14] Then a stiffer climb of
about five miles placed the troops on a narrow plateau which formed the
summit; and they were now 10,500 feet above the sea.[25.15]
A few miles down the steep descent on the other side their prospect
opened, and below, girt round with singularly bold mountains--rough,
dark and purplish, but softened here and there with a wisp of shining
vapor--lay the Valley of Mexico, which the pellucid atmosphere,
transmitting colors and outlines undimmed, brought wondrously nigh. Ten
small volcanoes, that had been crumbling for ages untold, stood clothed
in luxuriant verdure nearly to the summit. Six broad lakes now laughed
under the brilliant sun and now brooded in the shadows of passing
clouds. Velvet champaigns--cut with ash-colored roads, gleaming canals
and straight lines of poplars, and studded with walled haciendas,
rambling towns and cozy-looking villages--were further variegated with
highly cultivated fields of many crops, with groves and orchards from
which peered steeples and bell-towers, with villa roofs of tiles, red
and cheery, and with whitewashed cottages that shone like silver.
Every possible hue of green and every possible tone of light and shade
blended into one harmonious effect. And in the midst of this wonderful
scene, as the climax of the stillness and beauty, the focus of all
eyes, the aim of all desires, untarnished by smoke, seemingly without
stain, bright with sunshine, begemmed with many a palace, park and
lofty church, slumbered the capital of Mexico, Venice-of-the-Mountains.
Not one of the fascinated soldiers but held his breath; and not one,
testified the commander-in-chief, but said to himself or his neighbor,
"That splendid city shall soon be ours!"[25.15]
Along this part of the route almost 13,000 trees had been cut down
for barricades, and some of them had been placed in the road; but the
Americans were not materially hindered, and in crossing the lower
slopes they found little to do except admire the wondrous variety and
profusion of the wild-flowers. On the eleventh, seeing Mexicans ahead
for the second time, Twiggs waited for Quitman; but a few hours later,
after passing a cross-road, he went on about four miles, and occupied
the adobe village of Ayotla, half-buried in olive trees, while Harney's
cavalry took post at San Isidro, a mile and a half in advance, and
Quitman camped in the rear. The next day Worth's division turned to the
left by the cross-road, marched three miles and a half to the squalid
little town of Chalco, simmering at the margin of the shallow, marshy
lake bearing that name, and finally halted a little distance beyond;
and Pillow camped at Chimalpa, not far beyond Worth.[25.15]
But what had the enemy been doing? The people along the route, who were
to have stung the Americans day and night, recognized the difference
between them and the Mexican irregulars, welcomed them cordially, and
gave them all possible assistance. Canalizo--who seems to have been
cowed by the disaster of Cerro Gordo, and some time before this had
fled from San Martín, with six hundred men at his back, on seeing
an American officer, detailed to arrange an exchange of prisoners,
approach with a small escort--felt no desire to fight, besides which
most of his troops revolted or deserted; and Governor Isunza not only
failed to assist him with men and means, but flatly refused him a
particular corps, expressly demanded by the Executive at Mexico.[25.16]
Alvarez, well-nigh a brigand, had always fought for his own advantage,
knew that all the other chief leaders were doing this now, and, in
addition to cherishing resentments against Santa Anna, probably felt no
craving to play a strictly inferior part. Though he did not have all
the men for whom he seems to have been drawing rations, his force was
important, and in three particulars he obeyed his orders. He stationed
himself at the designated point on the flank of San Martín, kept
beyond the reach of Scott's artillery, and scrupulously refrained from
attacking the Americans on unfavorable terms; but while he made excuses
bravely, and proposed valiant operations that Santa Anna forbade as
inconsistent with his general plan, he retired some ten miles from the
route on the plea that his exhausted horses required pasturage. For
probably similar reasons Valencia quibbled and shirked; his train of
heavy guns--which, though needed in the fortifications, he would not
give up--impeded his movements; and so the only hostilities were a
trifling skirmish with irregulars, in which one American trooper fell a
victim to his own rashness. Thus ended, to his deep disgust, the first
chapter of Santa Anna's hopes.[25.16]
[THE APPROACH TO MEXICO]
Four lines of advance now offered themselves to Scott. By taking the
cross-road to the right he could have skirted Lake Texcoco, passing the
village of that name, and approached the north or the northwest quarter
of Mexico. But the route would have been long, deficient in water and
fuel, and circuitous; it was defended by Valencia with an ample supply
of artillery; a movement in that direction would have made surprise or
even sudden attack impossible for him; at a pass near Guadalupe Hidalgo
stood fortifications; and a march round these would have involved
another long circuit on exposed and unknown ground. This route,
therefore, was not seriously considered. On the other hand, after the
most thorough investigation, Scott had planned before leaving Puebla
to take the cross-road to the left, march along the southern shores of
Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco, and reach San Agustín, some ten miles to
the south of Mexico; and it was for this reason that he placed Worth,
who was to lead the movement while Twiggs was to menace Old Peñón, near
Chalco.[25.17]
On reaching the ground, however, unfavorable reports about this road
were given by Mexican spies; and the General, partly for that reason
and partly to mystify the enemy, reconnoitred the Peñón and also a
fourth route, which led to the village of Mexicaltzingo, about five
miles from the city. In regard to the Peñón his engineers--who pushed
their investigations with the utmost intrepidity, studied every foot
of the red ledges dripping with crimson gravel, and even penetrated
behind the hill--decided that it could be carried, but only at a
severe loss; while the evidence concerning the fourth possibility led
to a substantially similar conclusion, supported by the additional
objection, that apparently success would place the Americans on
difficult and unknown ground. At about the same time Scott obtained
further information regarding the Chalco route, which seemed to
justify the opinion formed at Puebla. Consequently the orders to
attack Mexicaltzingo--issued either because at the time Scott thought
he should march that way or because he desired to mislead the cunning
Mexican spies, who even gained the confidence of high American
officers--were suddenly rescinded in the night of the fourteenth, and
the next day, though Twiggs continued to threaten the Peñón until the
morning of the sixteenth, all the rest of the army, headed by the
cavalry and Worth's division, set out for San Agustín, distant from
Chalco some twenty-five miles.[25.17]
For about half this distance the road was little more than a narrow
lane, with a lake--or more properly a watery marsh--on the right and
bold foothills close on the left. Spaces of firm ground there were.
At one time venerable olive trees formed an arch over the road; once
the troops camped in a fine grove, and some ledgy, rocky spurs had to
be crossed. But for much of the way, although the weather had been
remarkably dry for the midst of the rainy season, the story, as Scott
had anticipated, was "mud, mud, mud." Now and then a man would slip
and sink to his waist in a bog-hole; in places the track was quite
overflowed; the chilly, torrential rains of almost every afternoon
increased the difficulties; and the labor of getting several miles
of wagons and heavy guns along such a route was almost incredible.
Besides, the troops had to be ready at all hours for attack--frontal,
rear or flank. But early in the afternoon of the seventeenth Harney
and Worth's advance reached San Agustín, a delightful place full of
handsome gardens and orchards; and the next day the rest of the troops
joined them--"ready," as a soldier put it, "for anything except a
thrashing."[25.18]
[TO SAN AGUSTÍN]
But again, where were the Mexicans? With so many works to construct,
Santa Anna could hardly be censured for leaving unfortified--especially
as both an inner and an outer line were made ready against any forces
using it--a route that seemed to be quite impracticable for an army
train; but he might have placed upon it a few light guns and a body
of skirmishers, who could have embarrassed the Americans greatly.
This, however, with his usual over-confidence and faulty judgment,
he neglected to do. Yet he was not idle. On the fourteenth he knew
the Americans were talking of a march to San Agustín; and though he
suspected this language might be a blind, he not only sent additional
forces to that quarter, but ordered Alvarez to follow Scott, should
such a movement occur, and be ready to fall upon him bravely should
he attack a fortified position; and when the movement actually began
on the following day, though Santa Anna misinterpreted its aim, he
promptly took further defensive steps on that line.[25.18]
One result was a slight brush between Alvarez and Twiggs after the
latter moved from Chalco on the sixteenth; but Alvarez soon found so
many difficulties in the road pursued by the Americans and so little
food or pasturage left in their rear, that he once more abandoned his
appointed field of operations. Santa Anna would not break up his
general plan by sending strong detachments from the southern line;
and consequently Scott's march was merely annoyed by a few hundred
irregulars, who fired at intervals, rolled great stones down the
slopes, and cut ditches in the road, but broke from cover and fled like
scared rabbits when C. F. Smith's corps of light infantry ran leaping
and shouting across the hillsides. Thus ended the second chapter of
Santa Anna's hopes.[25.18]
Meantime a precipitate rearrangement of the Mexican forces took place.
The President, after reconnoitring the American advance, hastened to
place himself between San Agustín and Mexico. Troops were despatched
from the Peñón to various points on the southern front, and Valencia
was ordered to proceed by the way of Guadalupe Hidalgo to the same
quarter. But the former status could no more be restored than one could
put back the smoke of an exploded shell. The strongest fortifications
had been turned and rendered useless; and any one could see that on the
side now threatened, where a number of causeways approached the city,
the defence of it would almost necessarily be weakened by a division
of the garrison. After such enthusiasm and such impatience to meet the
enemy, retirement unadorned with laurels or with even the stains of
combat produced a humiliating reaction in all hearts.[25.19]
At Mexico the returning soldiers found empty streets, untenanted
balconies and bolted windows; and the silent, sombre, fearsome aspect
of a besieged city enveloped and oppressed them. Doubts as to Santa
Anna's competence or loyalty, which had slept but not died amidst
the recent glorification and his confident promises of "a splendid
triumph," awoke. People recalled that precisely when the enemy were
moving against Vera Cruz, the Mexican army had been led off into the
northern deserts; and they hotly demanded why the engineers, the
laborers, the troops and the cannon had been massed at Old Peñón,
where Scott could nullify them all by a turn of the wrist. As if in
answer, it was publicly stated that an outpost had found a treasonable
communication addressed by the President of Mexico to the American
commander; and so ended Chapter III of Santa Anna's hopes.[25.19]
XXVI
CONTRERAS, CHURUBUSCO
August, 1847
While grievously disappointed by the collapse of his efforts at Old
Peñón, Santa Anna felt by no means despondent regarding his new line.
Toward the south ran the great highway of Acapulco--along which
numberless cargoes of silks, teas and spices had approached--guarded at
about a mile from the city by the gateway or _garita_ of San Antonio
Abad. Three miles and a half beyond that garita the highway crossed a
bridge over Churubusco River, here practically a drainage canal running
between high embankments planted with maguey, with Mexicaltzingo
about a mile and a half distant at the left. On the farther side of
the river, a fifth of a mile southwest of the bridge, stood a massive
convent and church, skirted by the rambling hamlet of Churubusco.
Passing the church at a distance of three hundred and fifty yards the
highway veered slightly toward the east, and some two and a quarter
miles from the river came to a great feudal hacienda named San Antonio,
adorned with trim silver poplars and Peruvian pepper trees along the
front of its buildings. A scant mile then brought one to the similar
but far less pretentious establishment of Cuapa; and two scant miles
more to San Agustín.[26.1] At the Churubusco bridgehead and convent
and at San Antonio, where the erection of defences had begun some
time before, laborers could now be seen working--particularly at San
Antonio--like bees; and with all possible haste guns, as well as
troops, were brought over from the Peñón. Here, said the President, he
"desired to have the battle fought."[26.4]
[Illustration: BATTLES OF AUG. 20, 1847 GENERAL PLAN]
To increase his confidence, troops not only occupied Mexicaltzingo on
the left, but in even stronger force guarded the opposite flank. About
three miles toward the south from San Cosme, the western garita of
Mexico, the traveller, passing the fortified hill of Chapultepec on
the right, found himself at the genial suburb of Tacubaya. Keeping
on in the same general direction for nearly six miles and traversing
Mixcoac at about half-way, one came to San Angel, a pretty but narrow
town of some importance on the skirt of the foothills. Two miles from
here toward the east at Coyoacán, a garden spot loved by Cortez and
Alvarado, the fine brigade of Pérez, which consisted of about 3500
infantry, was now placed; and at San Angel itself a high military
officer, followed by some 5500 troops[26.2] from Guadalupe, drove up
in a coach about noon on Tuesday, the seventeenth of August. The man
was of average height but unusually broad, with a bull-neck deep in his
shoulders, as if some person had tried to force a good idea into his
head with a pile-driver, a hard, cruel, domineering look about his blue
eyes, small side-whiskers, and a heavy mustache. It was Valencia, whose
imputed schemes and intrigues had of late been keeping every tongue
busy.[26.4]
[VALENCIA'S MOVEMENTS]
Valencia's instructions were to block the way from Coyoacán to Tacubaya
with men and works; but he mounted at once, rode on south by the
turnpike, passed Ansaldo--a farmhouse buried in its orchard, two miles
and a half or so from San Angel--and a strong half-mile beyond it
paused. On his right, open ground sloped gradually back into a rounded
hill, some three or four hundred yards from the road; and below him on
the left flowed a small but lively stream at the bottom of a deep, wide
ravine, near the opposite side of which stood the adobe buildings of
Padierna farm.[26.4]
From this point a mule-path, barely practicable for horses, wriggled
off in the direction of San Agustín, here about four miles distant
in a straight line; and--covering the whole intermediate plain from
San Antonio and San Agustín on the one side to Padierna and San Angel
on the other, from Coyoacán on the north to the mountains on the
south--extended a _pedregal_ or lava bed, which looked as if a raging
sea of molten rock had instantly congealed, had then been filled by the
storms of centuries with fissures, caves, jagged points and lurking
pitfalls, and finally had been decorated with occasional stunted
trees and clumps of bushes. After pursuing the mule-path for some
distance, ordering a camp and batteries established on the slope of
the rounded hill, and instructing experts to reconnoitre the ground
thoroughly, Valencia returned to his post; and in the evening, on
learning from the experts that four other paths--one of them available
for artillery--led from San Agustín to San Angel, he summarized the
reconnaissances in a letter to Santa Anna, complaining that he had
neither room to manoeuvre nor time to fortify where he was, asking
leave to change his position, and calling for 2000 more men.[26.4]
The next day, Wednesday, the eighteenth, Santa Anna, writing back
that Scott intended to attack San Antonio, ordered Valencia to place
his troops at Coyoacán, and send his artillery to Churubusco, a mile
farther east. Valencia, who by this time had placed a strong outpost
on the mule-path and sappers on the rounded hill, replied that Scott,
striking both at San Antonio and at San Angel, would push his thrust
in whichever direction he should find the easier, and that he could
not conscientiously leave the second point unguarded by obeying those
orders. Notes worthy of the most finished and effusive pirates were
then exchanged; and in the end Santa Anna, who longed to remove his
insubordinate general but dared not, authorized him to do as he pleased
and assume, of course, the attendant responsibility.[26.3] Accordingly
on Thursday morning Valencia advanced with trumpets, drums and flags
to the rounded hill, and proceeded to array his forces. A long, low,
earthen parapet with an angle at the southern end already faced
Padierna, and five guns were in battery; but the summit of the hill was
neglected.[26.4]
[SCOTT FEELS HIS WAY]
During this time the Americans were not inactive. Early on Wednesday
Scott directed Worth and Engineers Mason and Tower, supported by
Garland's brigade of infantry and a body of dragoons, to reconnoitre
San Antonio.[26.5] The task was accomplished boldly and thoroughly; and
they found the place heavily defended, not only in the vicinity of the
white castle which formed the headquarters of the hacienda, but for a
long distance eastward--where, moreover, the water-soaked ground almost
forbade approach--and saw countless laborers toiling hard upon the
works. The presence of at least one 24-pounder was demonstrated, and
other heavy cannon were believed to be there. In Worth's opinion, the
cost of making a successful assault by the narrow, gun-swept causeway
with fascines and ladders would cripple the army.[26.6]
Questioning peons through an interpreter, the officers learned of a
path which began at the highway near Cuapa, made a circuit on the
left through the pedregal, and apparently returned to the highway
some distance inside the works, and this received careful attention;
but the conclusion was, that while infantry could filter through
it, artillery could not pass; and to advance by such a route in the
presence of a strong, unshaken enemy, whose front and other flank could
not be attacked or seriously threatened, appeared worse than hazardous.
Even Scott felt rather depressed on hearing the reports, especially
as fortifications were said to exist north of the hacienda. The men,
wagons and guns, all covered with mud, that lay scattered about on the
wet ground, seemed little indeed like a conquering army. Except for
some cattle, the army had only four days' provisions; the hard bread
was already musty, and the horses lacked forage.[26.6]
Later, however, Lee and Beauregard brought somewhat more promising
information. To the hacienda of Peña Pobre, a mile and a quarter from
San Agustín toward the west, they had found a good road; and then,
after proceeding about an equal distance by a mule-path to the top of
a sharp ridge, they had seen the path continue to Padierna and the
turnpike, which lay in full view nearly a mile and a half away, and
they believed it possible to make a road by that line. Their escort had
routed a hostile corps of observation, and some men had been seen at
work on a rounded hill beyond the turnpike, but no other Mexican forces
appeared to be near. Indeed, it seemed probable that much less adequate
defences had been provided here than on the great southern highway,
and in this direction Scott resolved to strike. "An enemy that halts,
vacillates, declines the battle offered him, makes a circuit, hunts for
a position and finds none to suit him is an enemy lost," exulted the
_Diario_.[26.6]
[THE BATTLE OF CONTRERAS]
The next morning, August 19, therefore--while Quitman unwillingly
remained at San Agustín to guard the base,[26.7] and Worth, with his
engineers and troops, continued to reconnoitre and threaten on the San
Antonio side--Scott ordered a force of engineers to build a road in the
other direction. Pillow's division was to furnish working-parties, and
Twiggs's to clear away whatever Mexican detachments might undertake to
hinder the operations; and the implied instructions were to gain and
hold the San Angel turnpike, so that San Antonio could be turned. Scott
did not expect or desire a general engagement at this time; but he
directed Pillow to take command and employ both divisions, if a battle
should be opened, promising that in such an event he would soon appear
on the field. Under these instructions the troops advanced cautiously
but rapidly the first mile and a quarter, constructed a road to the
summit of the ridge, pulled up the guns with drag-ropes, and looked
over. As the returning tide makes a sea in the Bay of Fundy, where only
bare ground had been visible a few hours earlier, Valencia's army had
taken possession. It was now one o'clock, and evidently road-building
was over for a while.[26.11]
Pillow, however, knew all about winning victories. From a central
hill, Zacatepec, where he stood, he could measure Valencia's forces
to a nicety, and he decided to brush them away. By his order the
Mounted Rifles, particularly the advanced companies of Roberts and
Porter, deployed quickly, drove the Mexican skirmishers in a handsome
style from rocks and fissures, and finally occupied Padierna. At
the same time and under his instructions Magruder--tall, blonde and
intrepid--advanced his field battery nearly a mile without cover over
that almost impassable ground, which the enemy had now barred with
stone walls, planted it under the slight protection of a transverse
ledge, and not long after two o'clock opened a duel with Mexican siege
guns, 68-pound howitzers and many lighter pieces, more than twenty
in all, at a range of about 900 yards, while brave Callender fought
the howitzer battery beside him, dashing little Reno set off rockets,
and Smith's and Pierce's brigades, which were presently to attack
Valencia's camp, furnished support. And Pillow knew also how to "bag"
a defeated enemy. So he ordered Riley's brigade to the extreme right
to coöperate with the frontal attack by checking reinforcements and
cutting off Valencia's retreat. Then he countermanded this order, but
not in season.[26.11]