IN THE WAR WITH MEXICO
THOMAS AP CATESBY JONES, THE HERO OF LAKE BORGNE, STRUCK THE FIRST
BLOW OF THE WAR--OPERATIONS ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST THAT INSURED
THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA--STOCKTON AND “PATHFINDER” FRÉMONT
OPERATE TOGETHER--WILD HORSES AS WEAPONS OF OFFENCE--THE _SOMERS_
OVERTURNED WHILE CHASING A BLOCKADE RUNNER--JOSIAH TATTNALL BEFORE
VERA CRUZ--WHEN SANTA ANNA LANDED--THE YANKEE SAILORS IN A SHORE
BATTERY--THE HARD FATE OF ONE OF THE BRAVEST AMERICAN OFFICERS.
In beginning the story of the Navy’s part in the war between Mexico
and the United States, it is interesting to note that the first overt
act of aggression on the part of the United States was made by a naval
officer, because of his distrust of the British Government. It was in
the year 1842, a long time before war was actually declared to exist.
As the reader will remember, the present State of California was then
a most inviting part of the Mexican domain--so inviting, indeed, that
the long-headed statesmen of England were puzzling their brains to
find a way of getting control of it without a too great expense of
trouble and money. Just how far they would have gone in their efforts
can never be known, of course, but no one now doubts that they were
considering the matter. This is not to say that their wishes were
discreditable; from the point of view of the American leaders at that
time, the British statesmen were merely enterprising, for the Americans
were looking at California with a thought quite as covetous as any
that ever animated the mind of an Englishman. Mexico was but a feeble
power. Stirring American frontiersmen had pushed over into the Mexican
state of Texas and, wresting it from the Mexican rule, had set up an
independent government. There were other restless Americans who were
making their way into California. The American statesmen could not
quite see their way to taking possession of the domain on the Pacific,
but this they could do: They could and they would prevent England’s
grasping it. To this end a strong squadron was ordered around Cape
Horn to the Pacific, and the command of it was given to the hero of
Lake Borgne, Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones,--he who with less than
two hundred brave seamen on open gun-boats withstood for an hour the
shock of a British flotilla, manned by nine hundred and eighty men,
besides the officers. His fleet included the brave old frigate _United
States_, the captured sloop _Cyane_, the sloop-of-war _Dale_, and the
schooner _Shark_.
[Illustration: SCENE OF NAVAL OPERATIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST.]
On reaching Callao Commodore Jones “came upon a copy of Mexico’s
somewhat querulous complaints” about the neutrality that the United
States Government showed in Mexico’s war with Texas, while a Callao
newspaper published as authentic news an article asserting that Mexico
had just ceded California to England. This report appeared on September
6, 1842. As it happened, the big British frigate _Dublin_, flying a
rear-admiral’s flag, appeared off Callao that very evening. Heaving to
for a short time, the Britisher had a look at the Yankee squadron and
then sailed away to the north without casting anchor.
That was a right curious action for a British frigate in those days,
and Commodore Jones could explain it only by connecting it with the
story that California had been ceded to England. And Jones, with his
squadron, had been sent to the Pacific for the express purpose of
preventing, by force if necessary, the establishment of a British Hong
Kong on the coast of California. There was but one thing for him to do,
and that was to up anchor and make all sail for California, and this
he did. On October 19th he arrived in Monterey harbor, and, although
nothing had been seen of the _Dublin_, he landed and took possession of
the town.
A day later he learned that Monterey was still a Mexican town, and that
Mexico and the United States were at peace. So he made such amends as
he could, and surrendered the town to its lawful authorities.
Commodore Jones had carried out the policy of his Government, as
he understood it, and his act was unquestionably approved by the
Administration at Washington, but to conciliate the Mexicans Jones was
recalled, though, of course, in nowise punished.
Of the causes of the war which followed, beginning by official
declaration on May 13, 1846, it is not the province of this history
to treat, but the writer may be permitted to observe that no one of
those who protest most loudly against Anglo-Saxon aggressiveness
has ever shown how to stop it; and, what is of more importance, it
is absolutely certain that every territory that has been taken by
Anglo-Saxon aggressiveness has been greatly benefited by the rule of
the aggressors, whether found in Asia, Africa, or on the Pacific coast
of North America. Not because of commercial considerations, for these
are commonly detestable, but because “the only race that possesses a
proper conception of the two pillars that support civilization--Liberty
and Justice”--is the Anglo-Saxon race, every humanitarian views with
satisfaction the spreading power of the English-speaking people, even
though it be “inevitable that causes of offence should arise.” That
policy which would confine the United States Government to its present
geographical limits, however good the motives of its advocates may be,
is short-sighted and wholly devoid of philanthropy.
No one proposes that as an act of justice either Calcutta or San
Francisco shall be returned to their former rulers. The dominant race
shall rule a willing world.
However false the declaration of the American Congress, made on May 13,
1846, that “war exists, and notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid
it, exists by the act of Mexico herself” (and certainly that statement
was absolutely false), a war was unavoidable. It was absolutely
impossible to prevent the expansion of the American Republic to the
Pacific. The American Government tried repeatedly to buy the territory,
but Mexico would not sell, and where individuals led the way their
government was compelled to follow.
[Illustration: John B. Montgomery.
_From a photograph._]
When the war at last began, Captain John Drake Sloat, Commodore
of the Pacific Squadron, was at Mazatlan, Mexico, in the frigate
_Savannah_. He heard the news on June 8th, and sailed at once for
Monterey, California, where he found the _Warren_, the _Cyane_, and
the _Levant_ at anchor. A force of two hundred and fifty men from the
ships took possession of the town, and Commander John B. Montgomery of
the _Portsmouth_, took possession of the settlement on San Francisco
Bay the following week. The capitulation of Sutter’s Fort, on the
Sacramento, and a couple of other stations followed.
[Illustration: R. F. Stockton.
_From an engraving by Hall of a painting on ivory by Newton, 1840._]
On July 19th “the Pathfinder,” John C. Frémont, reached Monterey, and
he, with one hundred and fifty riflemen, was sent in the _Cyane_ to
take possession of San Diego. The British liner _Collingwood_, bearing
Admiral Sir George F. Seymour on board, was in port at this time, but
there is no reason to suppose that the admiral was there in any other
capacity than that of a spectator. Anyway, the _Collingwood_ soon
sailed from the coast. Then, on July 23d, Sloat gave up the command.
He was in bad health and glad to escape the responsibility of the
situation. The more vigorous Captain Robert Field Stockton took his
place. Stockton’s first move was against Los Angeles. He had only
three hundred and fifty men, all told, in the party that he landed at
San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles, and these were armed with only
ninety muskets and a few carbines, but cutlasses and boarding-pikes
were plentiful. Indeed, when some of the enemy appeared under a flag
of truce, Stockton felt obliged to resort to a trick (since familiar
to cowboys with cattle for sale) to make his force seem larger than it
was. He marched them around some buildings in a way to make them appear
as an army several times three hundred and fifty. He also covered up
all the six-pounders in his artillery but left a thirty-two’s muzzle
peering out as if by an oversight. The trick, it is said, succeeded
well. Anyway, Stockton, after falling in with Frémont’s men, _en
route_, entered Los Angeles without opposition on August 13, 1846. The
next day the Mexican governor, Andres Pico, and General José Maria
Flores, were paroled.
[Illustration: Perry’s Expedition Crossing the Bar at the Mouth of the
Tabasco River.
_From a lithograph designed and drawn on stone by Lieutenant H. Walke,
U. S. N._]
After that Stockton organized a state government with Frémont at the
head of it. Frémont then went to Sacramento to recruit men for an
expedition which Stockton planned against Acapulco (there were plenty
of United States citizens in the California region), but before the
expedition was ready news came that the Mexicans had rallied against
Los Angeles, under the lead of ex-Governor Pico and General Flores,
who had broken their parole. The garrisons at Santa Barbara were also
reported in danger.
Sending the _Savannah_ immediately from San Francisco to help the
forces at the South, Stockton followed in the _Congress_ on October
12th, having Frémont with “one hundred and seventy good men” along with
him.
Meantime the Mexicans had risen against the Americans at Monterey.
In fact, the Mexicans in the country far outnumbered the Americans,
and it was only the difference in races that prevented the Mexicans
driving the Yankees into the sea. However, Stockton landed fifty men,
under Midshipmen Baldwin and Johnson, at Monterey and hurried on to
San Diego. Here an attack by the Mexicans was repulsed, and then came
Brigadier-general Stephen W. Kearny over the mountains with one hundred
men from Santa Fé, New Mexico. Kearny’s men, aided by the sea forces,
attacked the Mexicans at San Bernardino on the morning of December
6th; but were repulsed with a loss that was in a way significant,
for eighteen were killed to fifteen wounded, and Kearny and Captain
Gillespie and Lieutenant Beale of the naval squad were among the
wounded.
Meantime Captain Mervine of the _Savannah_, had tried to march to Los
Angeles but had been driven back. The Mexicans were fighting fiercely
for their homes.
However, Stockton was the man for the occasion. Kearny was reinforced
by two hundred and fifty men, and then he was able to march to San
Diego. Next a force of nearly seven hundred men was organized for
another attack on Los Angeles. The road thither was one hundred and
forty-five miles long, and it lay across a desert of sand. The weather
was cold, the men were poorly clothed. The Mexicans were well mounted
and accustomed to the country. They disputed the advance stubbornly,
and on one occasion, by a plan that proved successful on the plains of
Patagonia once upon a time, they stampeded a herd of wild horses toward
the American force; but the horses did not take kindly to the task of
trampling down Yankee sailors.
[Illustration: The Naval Expedition Under Commodore Perry Ascending the
Tabasco River at the Devil’s Bend.
_From a lithograph designed and drawn on stone by Lieutenant H. Walke,
U. S. N._]
At the San Gabriel River a decided stand was made against the
Americans, but the sailors crossed over and carried the enemy’s works
by assault on January 8, 1847. That being the anniversary of the battle
of New Orleans, the Yankees celebrated their triumph. They had lost two
killed and nine wounded, while the Mexicans lost seventy killed and one
hundred and fifty wounded. Los Angeles was retaken on January 15th.
Then Stockton left for the East and Commodore William Bradford Shubrick
came to the coast with the liner _Independence_ and the brig _Preble_.
Commodore Biddle also came to the coast at that time, and there was
some little difficulty (not personal) over the question of which one
was to have command, but it was settled by both doing the best they
could for the Government while awaiting word from the Navy Department.
Every Mexican port north of Acapulco was blockaded, and at Mazatlan
the custom-house was administered by the Americans and some $300,000
collected on imports.
[Illustration: S. F. Dupont.
_From a photograph._]
From a naval man’s point of view the most interesting deeds on this
coast were a few cutting-out expeditions. The _Cyane_, under Commander
Dupont, after landing and spiking all the guns at San Blas, went up the
Gulf of California to Guaymas. There Dupont found two Mexican gun-boats
and a brig. On seeing the _Cyane_ the Mexicans burned their gun-boats
but hauled their brig in close to the beach, where several hundred
soldiers were able to cover her from the houses along shore. There were
also a number of cannon to keep off invaders.
Captain Dupont, however, ordered out his launch and a cutter under
Lieutenant G. W. Harrison, Lieutenant Higginson, and Midshipman
Lewis. These, under cover of a fire from the _Cyane_, rowed in, cut
the moorings and began towing the brig out unmolested. At that the
_Cyane_ stopped firing for a few moments, but the instant the _Cyane_
stopped the Mexicans began. Then the _Cyane_ opened again, when the
Mexicans fled; but when the _Cyane_ had to stop on account of the line
of fire endangering her own men the Mexicans returned and began again.
However, the _Cyane_ finally drove them away by firing over her own
boats, and the brig was towed out of the Mexican range and burned.
[Illustration: The Tabasco Expedition Attacked by the Mexicans from the
Chapparal.
_From a lithograph designed and drawn on stone by Lieutenant H. Walke,
U. S. N._]
Lieutenant Harrison distinguished himself while the _Cyane_ was
blockading Mazatlan a little later. Mazatlan was dependent on the
coasting trade for food, and the blockade reduced the town to a short
allowance. Small schooners, however, managed to slip past in the shoal
water alongshore, and the small boats of the _Cyane_ had to look after
them. On one occasion the _Cyane_ was so far out from the beach that
the Mexicans launched four big barges and put out to capture Harrison,
who had three small boats with perhaps a third of the Mexican force
in men. It was clear that Harrison could easily outrow the heavier
boats of the Mexicans and escape, but instead of doing so he headed
straight for them. The Mexicans were supported by field-guns on the
beach, but they fled the moment the Yankee fire began to tell. The
American seamen showed a feeling toward the enemy that was very much
like that the English had showed for the French sailors in the wars
with Napoleon. And it is certain that the self-confidence was commonly
justified in both wars. On September 30, 1847, Lieutenant Craven of the
_Dale_ pulled up a creek at Mulijé and captured a schooner that mounted
a nine-pounder without opposition, although more than one hundred
soldiers were in the town. And the next day he landed with eighty men
and drove one hundred and forty Mexicans three miles inland.
[Illustration: SCENE OF Naval Operations in GULF OF MEXICO.]
However, the fights were in reality skirmishes between small bands on
both sides. The Mexicans had no navy, and they did not gather their
soldiers in sufficient force at any point to permanently dislodge the
Americans. Commodore Shubrick eventually had exclusive command of the
American squadron, and he held the entire coast north of Acapulco. He
would have held it to Salina Cruz or Ocos if he had had a few more men
for garrison duty, but that was not necessary, for the hand of fate was
against the Latin-Americans, and California was destined to become,
because of the efficiency of the work of the Navy, a part of the United
States; and it is now one of the most beautiful as well as one of the
richest States of the American Union.
The work of the Navy in the Gulf of Mexico began during the battle of
Palo Alto, when Commodore David Conner, who commanded the American
squadron assembled off the mouth of the Rio Grande, landed about five
hundred of his men to help protect the garrison which General Taylor
had left at Point Isabel.
[Illustration: Landing of Perry’s Expedition Against Tabasco.
_From a lithograph designed and drawn on stone by Lieutenant H. Walke,
U. S. N._]
Unfortunately the Commodore had only ships of deep draught--vessels
that could not cross the shoal water over the bars of Mexican streams.
And the number of ships was small, so that when ordered to blockade
the coast he was not able to do so for several months. As late as
October, 1846, his force was “barely sufficient to close the ports of
Vera Cruz and Tampico.” By October, however, he had three schooners
and the shoal-draught steamer _Vixen_, and this force was subsequently
increased to three light steamers and seven gun-boats, the whole
flotilla carrying seventeen cannon.
Meantime, on August 7th, an attempt was made on Alvarado, an important
port southeast of Vera Cruz. The ships were unable to get over the
bar. On August 15th, a force was collected before Tuspan, but the
brig _Truxton_ grounded within reach of the shore-batteries and was
captured, and the attack failed.
On October 16th a second attack was made on Alvarado. The steamer
_Vixen_ towed in the schooners _Bonita_ and _Reefer_ and a vigorous
attack was made, but the steamer _McLane_, towing the _Nonita_, the
_Petrel_, and the _Forward_, grounded. The steamer _Mississippi_ had
bombarded at long range the enemy’s works, but it was ineffectual, and
this attack failed. The failures created a deal of dissatisfaction
in the United States, but it is a fact that Commodore Conner had a
wretched outfit for the work. The small steamers were especially bad.
[Illustration: Commodore Perry’s Expedition Taking Possession of Tuspan.
_From a lithograph of a drawing by Lieutenant H. Walke, U. S. N._]
On the day following the Alvarado failure Commodore Conner sent an
expedition under Captain Matthew Calbraith Perry, then commanding the
_Mississippi_, against Frontera. Perry was afterward distinguished
for opening Japan’s ports to American commerce. He had with the
_Mississippi_ in his attack on Frontera the steamers _Vixen_ and
_McLane_, and the schooners _Bonita_, _Reefer_, _Nonita_, and
_Forward_, and he carried two hundred marines, besides ample crews.
Frontera was an important port, because the river that flows in the
gulf there is the dividing line between the Yucatan peninsula and
Mexico proper. Moreover, Tabasco was an important city lying some
distance up the river. The Mexicans had a considerable fleet of
merchant vessels in this river--two river steamers, in fact, besides
five coasting schooners, a brig, a sloop, and a lot of small barges.
Captain Perry made a dash over the bar with the _Vixen_ and two
schooners, when he reached the mouth of the river. The Mexican fleet
inside were taken almost unawares--there was, at any rate, no time
to escape, and the fire of the land-batteries did no damage to the
Americans. After the capture of the shipping the forts and town
surrendered.
[Illustration: Matthew Calbraith Perry.
_From an oil painting at the Naval Academy, Annapolis._]
Captain Perry at once followed up his success by ascending the river
with the _Vixen_ and the captured steamer _Petrita_. A battery of four
good twenty-fours, advantageously located at a bend in the river, was
abandoned by the Mexicans, and at Tabasco, which lies seventy-two
miles up the river, only three shots were needed to bring down the
enemy’s flag.
The result of cutting the enemy’s territory in two here, was that
Yucatan was thereafter governed and her resources appropriated by the
Americans until the war ended.
Of course the chief work in hand was the capture of Vera Cruz. On
the night of November 20, 1846, Lieutenant Parker, two midshipmen, and
five sailors, in a small boat from the brig _Somers_, entered Vera Cruz
harbor and burned the bark _Creole_ that was lying under the guns of
the forts. This was a right valorous but a mistaken expedition, for
it appears from the papers of Commodore Conner that not only did he
know nothing of it until the flames of the ship were seen, but had he
known of it he would have stopped it. The _Creole_ was supposed to be
a blockade runner loaded with arms, and that she had slipped in. As a
matter of fact, Conner allowed her to go in, and she was the medium
by which communications were carried on with spies and disaffected
Mexicans who had kept Conner well posted as to the condition of affairs
in Mexico, and as to the troops, guns, etc., in and around Vera Cruz.
Indeed, it is said that among the more valuable services of Conner in
this war was the gathering of exact information about the enemy.
[Illustration: Capture of Tabasco by Perry’s Expedition.
_From a lithograph designed and drawn on stone by Lieutenant H. Walke,
U. S. N._]
Another mishap occurred when the _Somers_, while chasing a blockade
runner on December 8th, carried sail so hard that she capsized and lost
over forty men--half of her crew. She was commanded at the time by
Commander Raphael Semmes, who gained fame in the Confederate cruiser
_Alabama_ in the Civil War.
But the worst feature of the work on the coast was facing the tropical
fevers. The men enjoyed meeting an enemy they could see, but there was
no defence against the malarial germs from the swamps. The yellow fever
appeared, as well as other less malignant fevers, and scurvy came in
the list of terrors.
Nevertheless, the men remained at their posts uncomplainingly, and in
March, 1847, the force before Vera Cruz numbered seventy ships and
transports, with General Winfield Scott’s army of 12,600 men on board.
Not a little controversy has grown out of the work that followed. A
number of good authorities were of the opinion that Vera Cruz should
have been captured by the ships alone, while the friends of Conner
maintain that an attack by the fleet would have been fatal to it. The
question at issue is as to the strength of the castle San Juan de
Ulloa, lying on Gallega Reef, just off the city--a reef that really
forms the harbor. The city lies on the mainland with a fort at each
end, and a wall all around it. It is said, on one hand, that the castle
was old and weak, and on the other that it had been strengthened as
to the mason-work, and with new and heavy guns, the whole number of
efficient guns being at least two hundred. Commodore Conner had a fleet
of ten vessels, ranging from the fifty-gun frigate _Potomac_ down
to a twelve-gun brig--in all two hundred and one guns, “of which
number not half were fitted either by weight or shape to make any
serious impression on the walls of a fortress.” The quotation is from
a pamphlet on the subject by P. S. P. Conner, a son of the Commodore.
Without trying to decide the matter it may be said that Farragut was of
the opinion that the fort could have been taken.
[Illustration: Brig-of-War Like the _Somers_ Under Full Sail.
_From the “Kedge Anchor.”_]
However, no naval attack was made, but every preparation was made
for a combined army and naval attack. Commodore Conner provided for
landing a battery of six heavy guns from the ships, that were to be
manned by seamen and sheltered by a sand-bag battery. At sunrise on
March 9, 1847, Conner sent the steamers _Spitfire_ and _Vixen_ with
four gun-boats to clear the beach near the town. Meantime the troops
embarked in huge row-boats, made for the purpose, and by ten o’clock
over ten thousand men had been landed with arms and stores. On the
next morning the _Spitfire_ was sent in to draw the enemy’s fire and
disclose the location of the guns along the mainland. Every gun opened
on her and she returned the fire, sending shells to the heart of the
town, and then, the guns having been located, she retired.
[Illustration: The _Mississippi_ Going to the Relief of the _Hunter_ in
a Storm off Vera Cruz.
_From a lithograph designed and drawn on stone by Lieutenant H. Walke,
U. S. N._]
The bombardment of the city by the land-batteries began on March 22d,
and on the next day Lieutenant Josiah Tattnall, with the steamers
_Spitfire_ and _Vixen_ and five schooners in tow, attacked the castle.
One schooner was left off Point Honorios, but the others steamed up
until within grape range of Fort San Juan de Ulloa. The Mexicans
held their fire in ominous fashion until the American vessels were
in position and then opened with scores and hundreds of guns, from
the city as well as the castle. The vessels were in an instant almost
obscured by the spray that arose in clouds where the shot of the enemy
struck the water on every side of them. A more terrific fire has rarely
been seen. It covered the vessels with water as well as hid them with
spray, and the sailors came out of the fight at the end of an hour
soaking wet and in real danger of taking cold.
But not a man had been hit by a missile. Only three of the vessels
were struck, and those not seriously. It was a very poor exhibition of
gunnery.
In the meantime, between the 10th and the 20th, the sailors had
established their battery on shore and had arranged to work it as it
would have been worked on a ship. So eager were the forces afloat
to see service in this battery that the officers for it were chosen
by lot. So effective was its work that the enemy, on the 25th,
concentrated upon it all the guns that would bear, and the work there
became the warmest any man present had ever experienced.
Seeing this, Commodore Perry, who had relieved Conner on the 21st,
ordered four vessels into the harbor to divert the attention of the
enemy from the battery. Lieutenant Josiah Tattnall was fortunate enough
to get command of this little squadron, and with it discretion to go
where he pleased. Accordingly he advanced to within eighty yards of
the castle and then went still farther in. The fire he drew on his
boats was terrific--so terrific, in fact that Commodore Perry, to save
the vessels, that seemed doomed to immediate destruction, signalled
Tattnall to return; but Tattnall was too busy to look for signals and
did not see them. So a small boat had to be sent to bring the intrepid
crews away.
While the navy must share some of the honor of the capture of Vera Cruz
with the army, it is clear that between the ships and the naval battery
ashore the seamen did the main part of the work. It was their battery
that made the first and the largest breach in the forts attacked, and
at two o’clock on the afternoon of the 25th, every gun in reach of this
battery had been silenced. The battery lost four men killed and eight
wounded.
[Illustration: Naval Bombardment of Vera Cruz, March, 1847.
_From a lithograph published in 1847 by N. Currier._]
Perhaps one of the most signal evidences of cool bravery shown by the
sailors was when Santa Anna was landed from the American fleet. As
the reader will remember, Santa Anna had been President of Mexico
earlier in the trouble with the United States, but a revolution
had overthrown him. The American Government thought to make a new
revolution in Mexico and at the same time get a man in power there who
could be bought into making a peace, by aiding Santa Anna to return.
Negotiations were opened with him at Havana and some kind of an
arrangement made by which he went to the American fleet off Vera Cruz,
and it was then proposed to land him with his suite under a flag of
truce.
A more dangerous movement for that brave Mexican could not be imagined,
for he was outlawed, and any soldier might kill him at sight.
But Lieutenant Josiah Tattnall went ashore with him, and on landing
took his arm, and then the two, at the head of the general’s suite,
walked up the streets. The throng looked on in silence until a squad
of soldiers recognized the old hero and saluted. At that everybody
cheered, and Santa Anna was again, practically, master of Mexican
affairs. And what was of more importance, he was a patriot first of
all, and the Americans soon found they had made a mistake in sending
him home.
[Illustration: The U. S. Naval Battery During the Bombardment of Vera
Cruz on the 24th and 25th of March, 1847.
_From a lithograph designed and drawn on stone by Lieutenant H. Walke,
U. S. N._]
A feature of the operations alongshore that deserves mention, if only
to say a good word for a brave officer, was a third attack on Alvarado.
The Mexicans had collected a lot of horses there that Scott needed
for the advance on the capital after Vera Cruz was taken. The steamer
_Scourge_, under Lieutenant Charles G. Hunter, was sent to blockade
the place, while a larger force was to follow to attack it. General
Quitman was to get in behind and cut off retreat. Hunter arrived at
the port on March 30th, and immediately captured the town with his one
ship. Quitman had not yet arrived in the rear, of course, and the enemy
got away with the horses. Because of Quitman’s delay, Hunter had to
suffer. He had, perhaps, exceeded his orders somewhat in capturing the
place, but his gallantry in taking it single-handed where a squadron
was thought necessary for the task, deserved a better fate than it
received. He was court-martialled and dismissed from the service. One
cannot help saying that a great wrong was done, not so much because one
man suffered unjustly, but because no nation can afford to punish a man
beyond a reprimand for an excess of bravery and zeal.
At 8 A.M. on March 25th, the firing at Vera Cruz ceased, at the request
of the Mexicans, and after a talk between the commanding officers the
town surrendered on March 28, 1847, and the important work of the navy
for that war was done.
It was not a great war. For the American nation it was not
a creditable war. Nevertheless, the naval men, although lacking
opportunity for engaging in the kind of battles for which they had
been especially trained--although lacking opportunity to meet an enemy
afloat--showed in their energy and persistent bravery that they would
not lower the standard of efficiency set for them in the War of 1812.
[Illustration: The Battle of Vera Cruz.--Night Scene.
_From an engraving by Thompson of a drawing by Billings._]