Whatever may be said of the justice of our war with Mexico, no
criticism can be offered as to the brilliancy of the result. The
campaign of General Scott against the ancient capital of the Aztecs,
was almost spectacular; certainly it was heroic.
On the ninth of March, 1847, the General, then nearly sixty-one years
of age, arrived at Vera Cruz, with an army of 12,000 men. That city
was taken in about a week, and the way was opened from the coast to
the capital. The advance began on the eighth of April, and ten days
afterward the rocky pass of Cerro Gordo was carried by assault. Santa
Anna barely escaped with his life, leaving behind 3000 prisoners, his
chest of private papers, and his _wooden leg!_
On the twenty-second of the same month, the strong castle of Perote,
crowning a peak of the Cordilleras, was taken without resistance. Then
the sacred city of Puebla was captured. On the seventh of August,
Scott, with his reduced forces, began his march over the crest of the
mountains against the city of Mexico. The American army, sweeping over
the heights, looked down on the valley. Never before had a soldiery in
a foreign land beheld a grander scene Clear to the horizon stretched
a living landscape of green fields, villages, and lakes--a picture too
beautiful to be marred with the dreadful enginery of war.
The American army advanced by the way of Ayotla. The route was the
great national road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. The last fifteen miles
of the way was occupied with fortifications, both natural and
artificial, and it seemed impossible to advance directly to the gates
of the city. The army was accordingly brought around Lake Chalco, and
thence westward to San Augustine. This place is ten miles from the
capital. The approach now lay along causeways, across marshes and the
beds of bygone lakes. At the further end of each causeway, the
Mexicans had built massive gates. There were almost inaccessible
positions at Contreras, San Antonio and Molino del Rey. Further on
toward the city lay the powerful bulwarks of Churubusco and
Chapultepec. The latter was of great strength, and seemed impregnable.
These various outposts were held by Santa Anna with a force of fully
thirty thousand Mexicans.
The first assaults of the Americans were made on the nineteenth of
August, by Generals Pillow and Twiggs. The line of communications
between Contreras and Santa Anna's army was cut, and in the darkness
of the following night an assault was made by General Persifer F.
Smith, who about sunrise carried the place and drove the garrison
pell-mell. This was the _first_ victory of the memorable twentieth of
August.
A few hours later, General Worth compelled the evacuation of San
Antonio. This was the _second_ victory. About the same time, General
Pillow advanced on Churubusco, and carried one of the heights. The
position was taken by storm, and the enemy scattered like chaff. This
was the _third_ triumph. The division of General Twiggs added a
_fourth_ victory by storming and holding another height of Churubusco,
while the _fifth_ and last was achieved by General Shields and Pierce,
who drove back an army of reinforcements under Santa Anna. The
Mexicans were thus forced back into the fortifications of Chapultepec.
On the following morning, the alarm and treachery of the Mexican
authorities were both strongly exhibited. A deputation came out to
negotiate; but the intent was merely to gain time for strengthening
the defences. The terms proposed by the Mexicans were preposterous
when viewed in the light of the situation. General Scott, who did not
consider his army vanquished, rejected the proposals with scorn. He,
however, rested his men until the seventh of September before
renewing hostilities. On the morning of the eighth, General Worth was
thrown forward to take Molino del Rey and Casa de Mata, which were the
western defences of Chapultepec. These places were defended by about
fourteen thousand Mexicans; but the Americans, after losing a fourth
of their number in the desperate onset, were again victorious. The
batteries were now turned on Chapultepec itself, and on the thirteenth
of September that frowning citadel was carried by storm. This exploit
opened an avenue into the city. Through the San Cosine and Belen gates
the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at nightfall the soldiers
of the Union were in the suburbs of Mexico.
During the night, Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled
from the city, but not until they had turned loose from the prisons
2000 convicts, to fire upon the American army. On the following
morning, before day-dawn, a deputation came forth from the city to beg
for mercy. This time the messengers were in earnest; but General
Scott, wearied with trifling, turned them away with disgust.
"_Forward!_" was the order that rang along the American lines at
sunrise. The war-worn regiments swept into the beautiful streets of
the famous city, and at seven o'clock the flag of the United States
floated over the halls of the Montezumas. It was the triumphant
ending of one of the most brilliant and striking campaigns of modern
history.
The American army, as compared with the hosts of Mexico, had been but
a handful. The small force which had left Vera Cruz on the march to
the capital had lost considerably by battle and disease. Many
detachments had been posted _en route_ to hold the line of
communications, and for garrison duty in places taken from the enemy.
The army had thus dwindled until, after the battles of Churubusco and
Chapultepec, _fewer than six thousand men_ were left to enter and hold
the capital.
The invasion had been remarkable in all its particulars. The obstacles
which had to be overcome seemed insurmountable. There were walled
cities to be taken, fortified mountain passes to be carried by storm,
and frowning castles with cannon on the battlements to be assaulted by
regiments whose valor and impetuosity were their only protection and
warrant of victory. Yet the campaign was never seriously impeded. No
foot of ground once taken from the Mexicans was yielded by false
tactics or lost by battle.
The army which accomplished this marvel, penetrating a far-distant and
densely peopled country, held by a proud race, claiming to be the
descendants of Cortes and the Spanish heroes of the sixteenth
century, and denouncing at the outset the American soldiers as
"barbarians of the North," was, in large part, an army of
volunteers--a citizen soldiery--which had risen from the States of the
Union and marched to the Mexican border under the Union flag.