CHAPTER IX.

SCOTT AT CERRO GORDO.

Return of Santa Anna to the city of Mexico-Fortifications at Cerro Gordo-Arrival of the American Army at the Rio del Plan-Storming the Heights-The Enemy routed-Capture of Jalapa and PeroteThe Guerilleros-Proclamation of General Scott-Entrance of the Americans into Puebla-Warlike proceedings of the Mexican government-Skirmishing on the road from Vera Cruz-The Army reinforced-March towards the Mexican Capital.

WITH sickness and famine stalking, like giant spectres, in his rear, Santa Anna returned to San Luis Potosi, followed by the remnant of the proud army so signally routed and repulsed, by an inferior force, on the field of Buena Vista. During his absence the city of Mexico had been the scene of continued tumult and confusion, and he now hurried to the capital, with a portion of his soldiers, to put an end to these disorders. The election of Gomez Farias to the Vice Presidency, as has been mentioned, was extremely unpopular. He appears to have been zealous and patriotic; but these were qualities which many of his countrymen could not, or did not appreciate. He attempted to enforce contributions from the church, for the support of the army and the prosecution of the war, which at once called down upon his head the denunciations of the clergy. The embers of discord were soon fanned into a flame; for several days the rival factions, unmindful of the prostrate condition of their country, fought like infuriated madmen, in'the streets of Mexico: and the

CIVIL DISSENSIONS IN MEXICO.

269

émeute was only suppressed upon the arrival of Santa Anna, and his assumption of the reins of power.*

This question also occasioned considerable altercation and debate in Congress. Various measures were proposed, some of them of a most violent character, for the removal of Farias; but Santa Anna would not allow any thing to be done except in a constitutional manner. Finally, on the 1st of April, the decree by which the office of vice president had been created, was suppressed; permission was given to the Provisional President to take command of the forces in the field; and a President substitute was ordered to be chosen, to exercise the authority of chief magistrate in the absence of Santa Anna. On the same day General Anaya was elected to fill the office; the appointment appeared to give satisfaction to all parties; and on the 2nd instant he entered upon the discharge of his duties as the acting executive.

The capture of Vera Cruz and the fall of San Juan de Ulua, awakened the Mexican people to the necessity of foregoing the indulgence of their constitutional predilection for party strifes and contentions, if they would resist the march of the American soldiers then advancing upon their capital, under the successful chieftain who led them on to battle and to glory. Governor Morales and General Landero received the reward usually meted out by Santa Anna to his unfortunate officers for their failure to achieve impossibilities they were arrested, and confined in the castle of Perote. Earnest appeals were made by Santa Anna and Anaya to their fellow-citizens, to forget their feuds and animosities, and to listen only to the suggestions of pa

Santa Anna did not assume the supreme power until requested to do so by a majority of the members of the Mexican Congress.

270

THE TIERRA CALIENTE.

triotism, and unite in making preparations to meet the invaders.

*

A more warlike spirit was soon manifested. The clergy of the archbishopric of Mexico bound themselves to furnish the government with the sum of one and a half million of dollars, payable in monthly instalments; plans for fortifying the city were adopted, and the public journals devoted their columns to articles designed to encourage the timid, and arouse the faint-hearted. At the head of 8,000 troops, 5,000 of whom had constituted the flower of the army, at San Luis Potosi,† Santa Anna again ventured forth to try his fortunes on another field. While on the road to check the advance of General Scott, he was joined by a large body of national guards from the State of Puebla; at Jalapa he was reinforced by 2,000 men; and numbers of the jarochada, or lower class of peasantry and laborers, of the State of Vera Cruz, were also pressed into his service. With these additions his army numbered little short of 15,000. After leaving Jalapa, he advanced to the pass of Vaechi, or CERRO GORDO, near the Rio del Plan, which had been the scene of one of his most brilliant efforts during the revolution, and was regarded as being almost impregnable.

About sixty miles from Vera Cruz, and over thirty from Jalapa, the national road crosses the Rio del Plan and the wide rocky plain on its northern bank,

"In the front of an enemy conquering and menacing, we conjure all Mexicans who love the honor, and even the existence of their country, that henceforth they have but one party,-that of Independence; and but one device, that of Vengeance and War!"-Extract from an artıcle in the Republicano.

These were the infantry regiments and regular artillerists, who highly distinguished themselves at the battle of Buena Vista,

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271

and then commences the ascent to the elevated plateau of Mexico. Here terminates the low level,-the land of the vanilla and cacao, of the banana, the orange and the sugar-cane,-glowing with the rich vegetation of the tropics, and its shady bowers and sequestered recesses vocal with the melodies of the mocking bird, and the thousand other songsters whose notes are trilled, softly and sweetly, from early morn till eventide. The traveller, as he climbs the steep sides of the Cordilleras, pauses on each terrace, and turns upon his steps, to gaze upon the broad expanse spread out beneath him, like a carpet of rare embroidery ;-the tall coronals of the aloe, the dahlia, the cactus, and the convulvulus, -flowers blushing with every hue of the rainbow,unfold their beauties at his feet; here a small streamlet, and there an ample river, shimmers through the leafy interstices of the luxuriant woodland; and there are groves, too, of palins, and cocoas, and sycamores, matted together with the waving festoons of unnumbered parasites, whose brilliant dyes fairly dazzle the vision of the beholder. With ravished senses he pursues his way to the interior, and as he lifts his eyes to the snow-crowned summit of Orizaba, it were not strange if he should fancy the mountain peak some hoary warder, whose locks were silvered with the frosts of age, keeping watch over the enchanted realm behind him.

After crossing the stream, the road continues its course to the north until it reaches the foot of the hills, when it turns abruptly to the east. A few hundred yards further on it changes its direction to the northwest, and after pursuing a circuitous course for nearly two miles, now ascending some difficult acclivity or thridding some narrow dell, and now surmounting a

272

FORTIFICATIONS OF THE ENEMY.

steep ridge, and then dipping down between the overhanging banks on the opposite side, it inclines again towards the river, and enters the Pass of Cerro Gordo. As it approaches the defile it is flanked, on the left, by three hills, nearly parallel to each other and to the road, jutting out in the shape of a fan from the same terrace in the rear, and separated by deep ravines, from one to two hundred yards in width. The southernmost ridge is situated just above the deep and impassable gorge through which the river flows. These hills, which command the road, and the defiles leading to the high ground in their rear, formed the right and front of the Mexican position. Intrenchments were thrown up on their eastern extremities, and seventeen pieces of cannon distributed among the different works. In addition to the advanced breastwork on the crest of the central bluff, which was partially masked by brush and a stone wall, there was a redoubt in the rear, with three or four guns, and still further to the rear and left, on a retired line, was an intrenched battery of two guns. The intervals and slopes on the east of this line of intrenchments were for the most part thickly wooded, or covered with underbrush.

Something more than half a mile higher up, on the right of the road, and at a point where it approaches to within eighty or a hundred yards of the river, was a strong battery of six large brass guns, which completely enfiladed the defile. Just beyond this, and a little further to the north, rose the key of the whole position, the main height of Cerro Gordo, towering far above the surrounding hills, and commanding the advanced batteries, and the road," on a single declination, like a glacis, for nearly a mile." Around the hill, about sixty yards from its foot, was a breast work of stone for