![were placed, side by side, that fifty could go up abreast. The blue
Voltigeur flag, now full of holes, was planted on the parapet. A tide
of brave Americans overflowed the fort. Resistance was vain. A little
before half-past nine Bravo gave up his diamond-hilted sword, and
the tricolor, that had been waving placidly amidst the uproar, came
down with a jerk.[17]
Fire was opened then upon the Mexicans at the gateway below, and
fearless Captain Roberts of Casey’s storming party, at the head of all
the troops on the causeway and supported by General Smith’s
brigade, carried the gateway batteries. Many from Quitman’s and
Smith’s commands rushed to the summit, dealing with flying
enemies as they went. Scott himself came up—the hero of Chippewa
and Lundy’s Lane. The men pressed round him. He told them how
glad he was, and how proud of them; and how proud their country,
their wives, their sisters and their sweethearts would be; and it
seemed as if such cheering had never been heard, anywhere in the
world, before.[17]
Exultant but weary, the soldiers now looked about them as they took
breath. From this eyrie the whole wonderful Valley of Mexico could
be surveyed. All round the west the great wall of rugged mountains
closed it in, and two vast, snowy peaks guarded its portal on the
east. As if reluctantly the mountains gradually subsided into verdant
hills and a wide plain, enamelled in a thousand soft hues. The broad,
smooth lakes gleamed like molten silver. The gold of ripening grain,
penciled lines of pale-green maguey, cottages radiant in the sun like
the sails of distant ships, country-houses and villas half hiding in
foliage, and many straight, converging avenues, lined with trees,
delighted the eye. In the midst, clear-cut as a medallion, lay the city
of Mexico, the capital, its roofs and towers black with people; and
there, just yonder, stood the Halls of the Montezumas, the Jerusalem
of these ardent young crusaders. Unfortunately breastworks,
redoubts, cannon and a Mexican army were still to be reckoned with.
Santa Anna had probably lost not more than 1800 killed, wounded
and missing this day, and apparently Scott’s loss had been about one
fourth as great.[18]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-54-320.jpg)
![QUITMAN’S
OPERATIONS
The Citadel in 1840.
But the Americans quickly prepared to
advance—first of all, Quitman. Naturally a
certain discretion had been given to the
commanding generals, and he intended to
make the most of it. Looking from the hill along the Belén causeway,
he saw a wide avenue divided through the middle by a stone
aqueduct some eight feet wide and fifteen feet high, resting on
heavy arches and pillars of masonry. Owing to fine weather the road
was unusually firm. A small number of troops, fleeing in the utmost
confusion, could be seen upon it, but at only one point fortifications.
Borrowing all of Pillow’s troops except the Fifteenth Infantry, which
remained to hold Chapultepec and guard the prisoners, he quietly
gave orders that his men should assemble near the main gateway.
At once the inspiring words began to circulate, “Quitman’s division to
the city!” and as soon as possible the Rifles, in their crimson sashes,
were leading the march forward. About a mile on, a two-gun battery,
with a field redan at its right on the marsh, blocked the way. For an
hour or so Drum used a small gun upon it. Then the Rifles, after
creeping along the aqueduct from arch to arch, took it by assault,
and the march continued toward the fortifications at the garita.[19]
As at the other garitas, no gates existed here,
but a ditch and a parapet blocked one half of
the causeway and a zigzag redoubt the other.
Just at the north was the stone house intended
for guards and customs officials, beyond which
lay the wide Paseo (Promenade). South, on the
Piedad road, were artillery and infantry that
could fire through the arches. Inside the garita,
buildings extending toward the east offered
shelter, and in open ground a little more
toward the north and about 300 yards distant,
the extensive edifice called the citadel,
protected with a wall and a wet ditch, constituted a serious obstacle.
[19]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-55-320.jpg)
![Santa Anna, after acting like a madman when Chapultepec fell, came
to this garita. General Terrés, a brave old Spaniard, commanded
here with about 180 infantry and some artillerymen. Santa Anna
gave him three guns of medium power, and stationed General
Ramírez in the Paseo, Brevet General Argüelles on the opposite side,
and General Perdigón Garay and Colonel Barrios in the rear with
substantial reserves.[19]
On approaching this formidable position, Quitman encountered a
withering storm of bullets, grape and solid shot from both sides and
the front, and suffered rather severely. But Drum and Benjamin, iron
men, bringing up as soon as possible a long 18-pounder and a 24-
pound howitzer on the opposite sides of the aqueduct, dampened
the ardor of the Mexicans not a little, and splinters from the masonry
did havoc among the sheltered artillerymen at the garita. Some
troops already beaten at Chapultepec and at the intermediate
battery soon became demoralized. At about one o’clock rumors crept
in that Americans from the southern front were turning the position.
Ramírez, Garay, Argüelles and Barrios retired without the formality of
saying good-by; and Terrés, whose cannon ammunition had failed,
withdrew prudently to the citadel with two of the guns and about
seventy panicky men, the remnant of his garrison. The Rifles now
dashed over the parapet; and at exactly twenty minutes past one a
tall, slender man with short, bristling, grayish hair stood on it,
smoking a cigar and waving a red handkerchief tied to a rifle. It was
Quitman, self-possessed but exultant; and in a few moments the
Palmetto colors and the green banner of the Rifles, with its blazing
gold eagle, were flying at the portal of the city.[19]
The advance then continued for some little distance, and, as the
ammunition of our two heavy guns had been exhausted, the
captured Mexican 8-pounder was made to do good service. But
Santa Anna, who had thought the position safe and gone on to San
Cosme, soon arrived with ordnance and troops. The citadel was
reinforced, and infantry and cannon were placed at other points.
Quitman’s last artillery cartridges were used, and under the enemy’s
fire no more could be brought up. Solid shot cut down both Drum](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-56-320.jpg)
![THE SAN COSME
APPROACH
and Benjamin. Our infantry had to retire to the vicinity of the garita.
Attempts were then made to strengthen the position; but they did
not accomplish very much. Ammunition gave out entirely, and firing
ceased. The enemy grew bolder. Again and again they charged, and
though repulsed they did not appear to be discouraged. By this time
every member of Quitman’s staff, Beauregard, his engineer officer,
and all his artillery officers had been killed or wounded, and he
longed anxiously for night.[19]
Meanwhile, events had occurred on Scott’s other wing. Trousdale’s
command, supplemented with Jackson’s guns, pushed along the
road and aqueduct on the north side of the rectangle, and the latter
distinguished himself by fearlessly attacking a one-gun redoubt,
which, supported by infantry and by fire from the summit of the hill,
barred the way. To check Mexican reinforcements and threaten the
enemy—particularly the troops in Quitman’s front—Scott now had
Worth, Garland’s brigade, C. F. Smith’s battalion, Duncan’s battery,
the rest of Magruder’s battery and Sumner’s dragoons pursue the
same route. The one-gun redoubt was flanked and occupied; and
Worth’s forces arrived at the northeast corner of the rectangle in
time to annoy the retreat of Rangel and other departing Mexicans.
[20]
Here began the broad, straight Verónica
causeway—closely similar to that of Belén—
which extended almost north for nearly two
miles (3530 yards) to the English cemetery,
and there joined the San Cosme highway at approximately a right
angle. Understanding the difficulties of the Belén approach, Scott
intended to make only a feint in that quarter, and let his left wing
break into the city. He therefore sent the brigades of Clarke and
Cadwalader and also Huger with siege guns to Worth. To organize
the attacking column, replenish the ammunition, make other needed
preparations, and sweep away the resistance encountered at several
minor fortifications, especially near the cemetery, required time; but
at about four o’clock Worth found himself on the straight highway
about half a mile from the San Cosme garita.[20]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-57-320.jpg)
![This entrance to the city had been included in the general scheme of
defence, but on account of its remoteness from pressing danger few
workmen had been employed here; and when Chapultepec fell, it lay
entirely open except for a small parapet without a ditch extending
partly across the highway some 250 yards to the west. General
Peña, however, coming this way from Chapultepec, stopped at the
parapet, and Rangel placed at the garita such troops as he could
assemble. Santa Anna, who displayed on this occasion reckless valor
and an almost fiendish activity, sent three available cannon and
brought additional troops. The roofs of buildings in the vicinity were
occupied. A redoubt with embrasures was hastily erected at the
garita, the near arches of the aqueduct were stopped up with sand-
bags, and some guns in the Paseo were prepared to coöperate.[20]
On attempting to advance, therefore, Worth found the highway
swept with bullets, canister, grape and shells. Garland, however, was
ordered to creep forward under the protection of the arches, and
endeavor to reach the south flank of the garita, and Clarke to
burrow through the continuous line of buildings on the other side,
and strike the northern flank. Lieutenant U. S. Grant, who was
reported as acquitting himself at this time “most nobly,” waded some
ditches with a party of men and a mountain howitzer, and planted
the gun on the roof of a church at the right; and Lieutenant Raphael
Semmes of the navy performed a similar exploit on the left. Artillery
fire compelled Peña, who—reinforced by Santa Anna with two
companies of the Eleventh Infantry—was fighting gallantly, to leave
the parapet; and Hunt, of Duncan’s battery, though he lost more
than half his men in dashing 150 yards at full speed, landed a gun at
that point, where he could load in safety and then fire from the one
embrasure.[20]
By five o’clock these preparations were complete. On the other hand
Rangel had been severely wounded, and his principal gun, a 24-
pound howitzer, had become unserviceable. Suddenly, to his utter
astonishment, Americans appeared on the top of a three-story house
that commanded the interior of his redoubt, and with a single volley
disposed of almost every gunner and artillery mule. Then some of](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-58-320.jpg)
![them hurried down to the front door of the house, burst it open, and
rushed into the redoubt, where they met Americans just arrived by a
flanking movement from the other side of the highway. In a panic
the Mexicans fled, literally sweeping away Santa Anna and a body of
troops, who had come at all speed from Belén to support the
position. Many of them scattered, but with no little difficulty others
were conducted to the citadel. By six o’clock Worth entered Mexico.
Near the garita his forces were safely housed, and by way of “good-
night” and good advice, Huger dropped a few shells in the vicinity of
the palace.[20]
The end, however, was not yet in view. Santa Anna had some 5000
infantry and fifteen cannon at the citadel, with probably about 7000
more troops not far away, and the Americans, besides having lost
many in the day’s fighting, were now fearfully divided. Not only
Worth but Quitman, who planted three heavy guns in battery during
the night, intended to advance in the morning, and apparently a day
of carnage was to ensue.[20]
But Santa Anna probably began to feel the reaction that always
followed his great efforts. Funds and provisions were scanty. The
army was demoralized, and the mass of the people felt
disheartened. Within the town there were no fortifications, and it
looked as if another battle under these conditions might scatter the
troops, and involve the loss of nearly all the war material. Besides,
leading persons in the city had always been strenuously anxious to
prevent bombardment and assault; and the President was urged
now, as four months previously, to spare it. Early in the evening,
therefore, he briefly discussed the situation with Olaguíbel, the
minister of war and three generals. The Governor was for acting
deliberately; but Santa Anna, declaring that honor had been satisfied
and the city could not be defended successfully, ordered immediate
evacuation; and by one o’clock the troops retired in a somewhat
orderly fashion to Guadalupe Hidalgo. About three hours later a
commission of the city council (ayuntamiento) offered terms of
capitulation at the American headquarters in Tacubaya. These were](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-59-320.jpg)
![THE AMERICANS
CAPTURE MEXICO
of course rejected, for the town lay at our mercy; but Scott gave
informally the usual assurances of good treatment.[21]
So when the first thin streak of dawn
glimmered forth behind the gray volcanoes,
and our cannon at Belén garita were on the
point of opening fire, a white flag and an
invitation to enter the capital reached Quitman. First making sure
there was no deception, he advanced; and after stopping about half
an hour at the citadel he moved forward under a splendid sun to the
grand plaza, which fronted the palace and the cathedral, with
Smith’s brigade, the Marines, the New York volunteers and Steptoe’s
battery. As a triumphal procession the command looked rather
strange. Quitman and Smith marched at its head on foot—the
former with only one shoe; and behind them came troops decorated
with mud, the red stains of battle and rough bandages, carrying
arms at quite haphazard angles. Not less astonishing looked the city,
for sidewalks, windows, balconies and housetops were crowded with
people. Except for the silence, the countless white handkerchiefs and
the foreign flags, it might have been thought a holiday. Before the
palace, which filled the east side of the plaza, the troops formed in
line of battle. Officers took their places at the front, and when
Captain Roberts hoisted a battle-scarred American flag on the staff
of the palace at seven o’clock, arms were presented and the officers
saluted.[22]
Soon loud cheering was heard. A few squares away the commander-
in-chief, escorted by cavalry with drawn swords, had reached
Worth’s command, which had stopped at six o’clock by orders
opposite the high ash trees of the Alameda. A clatter of galloping
hoofs followed; and in another moment, amidst the involuntary
applause of the Mexicans, General Scott, dressed in full uniform and
mounted on a tall, heavy bay charger, dashed with his staff and
Harney’s dragoons into the grand plaza—his noble figure, gold
epaulets and snowy plumes, resplendent under the brilliant sun, fitly
typifying the invisible glory of his unkempt and limping army.
Uncovering, he rode slowly along the line of battle to the music of](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-60-320.jpg)
![our national airs; the troops, presenting arms again, cheered and
hurrahed till it seemed as if the earthquake-proof cathedral must be
shaking, and the cavalry escort waved high their flashing blades.[22]
In stentorian tones the commander-in-chief appointed Quitman
governor of the city; and then, dismounting in the courtyard, he
clanked up the broad stairway of the palace, to indite
congratulations on the “many glorious victories” of his army.
Presently cross-belted American Marines were calmly patrolling the
Halls of the Montezumas as if they owned them, while the rest of
the troops gazed with profound exultation at the long pinkish façade
and the endless balconies of the upper story, and the people gazed
silently at the troops. “They are all and each of them heroes,”
commented a foreigner present, and others in the world thought the
same.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-61-320.jpg)
![“Light up your homes, O fathers,
For those young hero bands,
Whose march is still through vanquished towns
And over conquered lands,
Whose valor, wild, impetuous
In all its fiery glow,
Pours onward like a lava-tide,
And sweeps away the foe!”[22]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-62-320.jpg)
![XXIX
FINAL MILITARY OPERATIONS
January, 1847–April, 1848
At the north, after the Buena Vista campaign and the embarrassments growing out
of it came to an end, Taylor probably wished, in what an officer calledto advance as
far as San Luis Potosí, and retained troops urgently needed by Scott; but by the
middle of June, 1847, he doubtless realized that effective operations on so long a
line, especially through hostile and much of the way through barren territory, were
impracticable, and advised that Scott’s column alone should act on the offensive. A
month later orders of a corresponding tenor were issued at Washington, and then
some 3000 surplus troops of the northern army proceeded toward the capital,
though too late, of course, to assist in the decisive struggle.[1]
Valencia, during his brief stay at San Luis Potosí in the early summer of 1847, not
only requested permission to move against Saltillo, but planned that General
Filisola, aided by a brigade under Avalos, then lying at Matehuala, by Reyes, the
comandante general of Zacatecas, and by Urrea—who still commanded theand
could easily pass across the Sierra Madre from Tula—should threaten, if not attack,
Saltillo and Monterey, and at least keep the Americans on the defensive. Some
disquieting movements of these troops resulted; but Valencia was soon called to
Mexico, and various difficulties, chiefly a lack of means resulting from the American
occupation, proved fatal to this ambitious enterprise, besides hindering the Mexican
preparations to receive Taylor at San Luis Potosí.[1]
During the winter of 1846–47 and to some extent later, the garrison of Tampico was
menaced by plans for an uprising, to be assisted by outside forces, and sometimes
it was feared that a move to capture the city would be launched from Tula in the
hope of embarrassing Scott’s communications; but the Americans, though not
strong in numbers there, were vigilant and well protected by fortifications. Besides,
the authorities of Tamaulipas, now living on fairly good terms with the invaders,
had little wish to take part in active hostilities. They quarrelled bitterly with Urrea,
who naturally attempted to draw supplies and money from the region, and in
November, 1847, with a view to bringing about harmony, that officer was removed.
Scott’s victories and especially the fall of Mexico had no little effect in this quarter;
the prospect of serious operations entirely disappeared; and early in November,
1847, General Taylor, who had reached the conclusion some time before that his
country wanted him for President, and had laid aside his old brown coat in favor of
checked shirt sleeves, set out for home on a leave of absence, which actually](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-63-320.jpg)
![FIGHTING IN THE CAPITAL
continued until the close of the war. Wool took his place; but nothing occurred in
this region except guerilla affairs, of which a due account will be given presently.[1]
In the northwest, meantime, Price, who commanded in New Mexico and was
disturbed by rumors of danger from the south, decided on his own responsibility,
ignoring instructions to do otherwise, that he must assume the aggressive. Early in
March, 1848, the city of Chihuahua was therefore reoccupied; and on the sixteenth
of that month, after a little brisk fighting, the town of Rosales, about sixty miles to
the southeast, which Angel Trias held with some 800 men, chiefly National Guards,
was captured by assault with a trifling loss. But this campaign had no general effect
on the war—indeed, the treaty of peace had already been signed—and Price was
ordered by Marcy to retire.[1]
In Scott’s department the final military operations
began very promptly. Immediately after the Americans
took possession of the grand plaza at Mexico on the
morning of September 14, a multitude of blanketed léperos crowded closely upon
them. Already these miscreants had tasted the disorder they loved, for the palace
had been left unguarded, and they had sacked it; and now they showed signs of
turbulence. The plaza was cleared, however, and no further trouble seemed likely.
But when our troops began to march away to their quarters, a shot was heard. A
bullet probably intended for Worth struck Garland, and almost instantly firing from
street corners, windows and the tops of houses became general, though not
systematic. Thousands of convicts from the jail supported the populace, and in one
way or another not a few of the better class coöperated. By Tornel’s order paving
stones had been taken to many of the azoteas with a view to resisting the invader
step by step, and these, like every other sort of weapon, were now used.[2]
Though surprised, the Americans promptly accepted the challenge. Skirmishers
drove back the mobs. Grape and canister swept the streets. As a rule, every house
from which a shot flew became a target for our heavy cannon, which seemed to
shake the very foundations of the city, and when breached was immediately
sacked; and sharpshooters worked effectively on towers and roofs. Scott
threatened even sterner measures; and the city authorities not only put up notices,
embodying his threats and imploring the people to desist from a vain and
imprudent contest, but interceded personally with them in the streets. By about
noon the Americans held all the points of vantage, and as evening approached, the
firing died away. A fearful night ensued. It was dark and cold. No lights relieved the
gloom. Wild mobs ran shouting through the streets, and the hoof-beats of American
patrols resounded from square to square.[2]
Santa Anna, finding it impossible on the morning of the fourteenth to subsist his
army at Guadalupe, had ordered the infantry and heavy guns to Querétaro under
General Herrera, and proceeded with four small pieces and the cavalry to San
Cristóbal, a point about fourteen miles northeast of the capital. After seeing the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-64-320.jpg)
![people of Mexico view with indifference his efforts of the previous day, he expected
nothing of them; but on learning of the outbreak he marched back to Guadalupe,
and at a late hour sent into Mexico a small force of cavalry and infantry to
investigate and assist. This met Duncan’s battery and retreated; but Santa Anna,
assured that on the next day there would be a rising en masse, erected a
breastwork at the Peralvillo garita on the north side of the town, and waited.[2]
As soon as day broke, gloomy and wet, the shooting was in fact resumed, at least
in the northern quarters. But he soon perceived that no general movement was
taking place, and again marched away. This disheartened the people still more; the
efforts of the authorities influenced them greatly; and by the end of the afternoon,
realizing that much was to be suffered and nothing gained, they generally
abandoned hope. During the next day or two scattering shots could be heard, but
real fighting was over. Extravagant hopes of destroying the small American army
were still entertained by lightheaded men.wrote one of these, and attempts were
made by military officers to organize a real conspiracy; but lack of courage, means,
confidence and mutual trust—as well as the watchfulness of the Americans—made
success impossible. Scott repeatedly warned his troops to be vigilant and orderly, to
keep together, and to refrain from drinking. As the danger grew less menacing,
however, they became less careful, and for probably a month assassinations were
frequent. From first to last several hundred Americans perished in the hostilities,
and no doubt far more of the enemy. But by the middle of October the city was
tranquil.[2]
The concluding field operations in Scott’s department resembled for the most part
the fighting just described, for they had to do chiefly with guerillas. That style of
warfare suited the national character. It had figured prominently in the Spanish
struggle against Napoleon and in the Mexican war of independence; and when the
public began to see clearly that battles could not stop the Americans, it was
invoked—even though by universal military practice in Europe those who robbed
and fought at will, while pretending to be inoffensive, were considered brigands
and assassins—as the one hope.[3]
Thoughtful persons like J. F. Ramírez and General Mora pointed out serious
dangers: the impossibility of discipline, the relaxation of morale, the destruction of
all standards, and the certainty that a spirit of violence and rapine would grow by
what it fed upon; and they recognized the improbability that such methods could
prevail against the strength, equipment, compactness and skill of the Americans.
But the obvious advantages of the guerilla system, which it required far less
intelligence to perceive and appreciate, counted powerfully on the other side. How
much the Spanish themselves had suffered from their irregulars during the
hostilities against Napoleon was not understood, and patriotic pride in the war of
independence had tended to draw a veil over its horrors.[3]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-65-320.jpg)
![THE GUERILLAS OF THE
NORTHEAST
The dagger, said the official newspaper, was the favorite weapon of the people.
Unarmed men could burn wagons and intercept communications, it was pointed
out. Even women and children could help. A thorough knowledge of the country, its
mountains and its by-paths, would evidently constitute an enormous advantage.
Light corps of the abstemious rancheros, embarrassed with no baggage, could
travel quickly day and night, concentrate in large numbers against an American
detachment, strike, vanish, and then, when least expected, reappear, making the
most of all neglects, all mistakes, nullifying superior strength by avoiding it, and
nullifying discipline by fighting in a style that had no need of discipline. Situated
even more favorably than Spain for such warfare, the Mexicans were to outdo her
example.[3]
This is what will save us, proclaimed in effect the legislature of México
state.exclaimed the congress of Vera Cruz. Santa Anna endorsed the plan. Salas
organized thewhich were to make” “in every manner imaginable”; and in April,
1847, the government, pinning its faith to the system, set it on foot in earnest.
Scott, thewas to be routed after all.[3]
In the north February, 1847, was the golden month of
the irregulars, for the approach of the Mexican army
under Santa Anna encouraged the rancheros to lay
aside the habits of peace. Canales boasted of 161
Americans killed that month, and Urrea with his combined force of regulars and
guerillas, besides engaging in other operations, captured a train of wagons at Agua
Negra, and horribly slaughtered a large number of guards and teamsters. To
avenge this butchery a party of Rangers, teamsters and other civilians murdered
twenty-four men in a village not far distant. Upon this Canales declared what he
called martial law, announcing that every American, armed and unarmed, and every
Mexican living peaceably would be shot; and many were led by fear or a lust for
plunder to take up arms.[4]
The American trains in particular seemed likely to be easy prey. As they commonly
stretched out for some two miles and were guarded only—for so the character of
the road usually dictated—at the ends, the Mexicans, trained to charge at full speed
through an ordinary thicket, could readily attack them from ambush at about the
middle point, create a stampede, and do a great deal of mischief. Infantry could not
pursue the guerillas with success, and the number of our mounted men was always
comparatively small, for every Mexican ranchero had at least one smart pony. In
September, 1847, a band even attacked Mier. Governor Aguirre of Coahuila exerted
himself particularly to organize forces of this character, and not only alcaldes but
priests aided the cause.[4]
The American leaders, however, pursuing a course that was now conciliatory, now
severe, and in many instances technically unjust, succeeded in coping with a
system that was itself unjust. Taylor levied on the people of Nuevo Léon a tax of](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-66-320.jpg)
![GUERILLAS IN VERA CRUZ
STATE
$96,000, the estimated value of the goods destroyed at Agua Negra, but suspended
it indefinitely, when representative authorities proved the substantial innocence of
the population and begged for mercy. Cavalry patrols and detachments pursuing
culprits fairly wore out their horses. Villages, if even suspected of harboring
thewere burned. Contributions were imposed wherever connivance appeared
probable. By April, 1847, Canales was in despair.[5]
Then Wool determined to stamp out the evil, and announced in July that any
guerillas caught by him would be executed. In December, 1847, he issued his
famous Order 11, which not only made the Mexican authorities and their towns
responsible for all damages done, but required them to hunt down theAguirre
attempted to retaliate, but in vain. The Americans had power enough to carry out
threats, whereas he had not; and he admitted his failure. Besides, the mass of the
population were indolent in mind as well as body, and looked upon submission as
preferable to danger. In February, 1848, finding the guilty rancheros were anxious
to give up the business, Wool enabled them to resume peaceful occupations by
declaring an amnesty, and in the following May he stated that the country had
never before been so free from highway robbery.[5]
In the south, Vera Cruz, a state of mountains, gorges,
thickets and forests threaded with blind paths, was
the chief home of the guerilla, and it looked as if
Scott’s line of communication might be virtually
destroyed. Not only many hardy, hot-blooded and unscrupulous natives, but a great
many desperadoes hailing from Cuba were ready to enlist. After the fall of Vera
Cruz, and still more after the battle of Cerro Gordo, a large number of regular
officers, to say nothing of privates, could scarcely find bread, and some men, like
the ex-divinity student, ex-Carlist, Jarauta—whose small, close beard, fierce black
eyes, braided jacket, graceful cloak and gold-laced sombrero gave him a romantic
air—had acquired in Spain a taste for this adventurous, reckless life; but a vastly
greater number were prosaic felons, liberated from prison under a pledge to rob
and murder. Nominally J. C. Rebolledo, a fine looking man of rather humane
instincts, was the chief in this district, but the 800 or so persons belonging to many
small bands, while occasionally acting more or less in concert, were mainly
independent. The decree under which all goods coming from points occupied by the
Americans were lawful booty opened possibilities of large gains, and Rebolledo’s
capture of ten loaded wagons in April, 1847, set the people aflame with cupidity.[6]
Brevet Colonel McIntosh and his inexperienced officers, who left Vera Cruz for the
interior—it will be recalled—about the first of June, 1847, with a well-advertised
convoy including a large amount of specie, dependent on wild mustangs under raw,
half-mutinous drivers largely ignorant of English, received the full benefit of this
ambitious feeling. Near Tolomé and at Paso de Ovejas he lost men, wagons and
pack-mules; and at the national bridge there was a genuine skirmish, in which a
number of Americans were killed or wounded. Out of about 130 wagons twenty-](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-67-320.jpg)
![four had to be abandoned in the low country; and a little way above Jalapa, though
strongly reinforced, the troops had to fight again. General Pierce, who left Vera
Cruz about six weeks later than McIntosh, had similar experiences. Early in August
Major Lally set out from the coast with a few more than 1000 soldiers, two 6-
pounders and sixty-four wagons. He lost no merchandise, but his four fights cost
him nearly 100 men killed, wounded and missing; and Captain Wells, who followed
Lally with some 200 recruits and additional ammunition, lost forty and had to
retreat. These and other affairs proved that irregulars, favored by the geography of
the region, were capable of doing substantial harm.[7]
But in Vera Cruz, as in every other quarter where they operated, though perhaps
nowhere else in so marked a degree, the lack of morale, which enabled the guerilla
system to exist, proved the cause of its failure. Poor arms, poor ammunition, poor
marksmanship, and the want of artillery might have been remedied, or at least
might have been offset by the counter-balancing advantages; but this defect was
fatal. The Mexican guerillas were very different from what the guerillas of Spain had
been. They fought like savages without the excuse of savages, for they knew
better. Infuriated by their treacheries and cruelties, the Americans were persistent
and unsparing in severity. Patrols who seemed never to sleep hunted out their nests
in the mountains. On the march, flanking parties would force their way through the
woods five miles or more from the road to catch them between two fires. The torch
was applied with much liberality on suspicion, and sometimes on general principles,
to huts and villages; and in the end a black swath of devastation, leagues in width,
marked the route.[8]
Scott ordered that in every case of outrage the nearest alcalde, if he failed to
deliver up the guilty, should be fined at least $300 for a murder or the value of the
stolen property for a robbery, and that any robber or murderer and any person
belonging to a known party of such miscreants might, when caught, be summarily
tried by three officers, and either flogged or executed. This plan, however, did not
quite satisfy those on the ground—especially the Texas troops. Captain Walker, on
his cream-colored horse, and Colonel Hays, in his blue roundabout, black trousers
and black leather cap, impressed themselves on the Mexican imagination as the
agents of diabolical wrath; and in general it was a tale of merciless atrocities
followed by merciless reprisals.[8]
At the same time this lack of morale deprived the guerillas of Mexican support. By
taking bribes for letting merchandise pass up to the interior and sometimes even
guarding it, they violated the laws on which their existence rested. Mostly they
were brave only where they felt safe. When laden with booty they would scatter to
their homes, no matter how important the business in hand. Rivalries and even
hostilities between parties operating in the same district arose. Cooperation could
seldom be reckoned upon, and hardly any would face the climate far above Jalapa.
Soon learning that it was more wholesome to waylay Mexicans than Americans,
they plundered their fellow-countrymen without ceremony; and they would rob](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-68-320.jpg)
![GUERILLAS OF THE CENTRE
even old women or young children of their needful clothing. Sheafs of complaints
against them piled up in the state and national archives. People organized to fight
them, and sometimes appealed to the Americans against the very men who were to
have been their champions.said an American officer.[9]
In the states of Puebla, México and Oaxaca also
guerillas were organized, and in Puebla all these
parties could find an opportunity. General Rea, a pupil
of Morelos and the Mexican revolution, had the discredit of the chief command,
though Bravo, who stood at the summit of the social scale, was mainly responsible
for their iniquities, since during his brief term as comandante general of Puebla he
issued a great number of patents to unfit leaders. What Rea did particularly in this
regard was to combine individuals and small groups, and place them under some
kind of supervision. He loved to answer critics by saying that his guerillas were in
the field because honorable men were not; and that, had not the government
condoned their crimes, they would have served the Americans as counter-guerillas.
After a time his officers adopted a set of rules which aimed to regulate operations,
but even this measure seems to have accomplished little. The guerillas robbed the
people, seized funds belonging to the state, and pillaged even churches. Some
gangs were large enough to attack haciendas. One party called themselves the
“Lancers of the Poisoned Spear.”[10]
Soon after Scott left Puebla for Mexico early in August, 1847, these banditti and
every individual ruffian of that vicinity hurried to the city. Mexicans and even foreign
residents were robbed and outraged, and about the first of September, in the hope
of more booty, the Americans also were attacked. Two thousand soldiers were
needed for a garrison, and Colonel Childs, the civil and military governor, actually
had 2193; but 1800 of these were in hospitals. His effectives consisted of about
fifty cavalry, 100 artillery, 250 of the First Pennsylvania volunteers, and a small spy
company of Mexicans.[11]
Headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Black of Pennsylvania and the main body of
troops occupied thea large rectangular building on the eastern side of the town,
which had a plaza of its own opening toward a public promenade called the Tivoli.
To this position five howitzers were allotted, and within a hundred and fifty yards of
it all the sick were placed. Half a mile or so from the town on a hill stood Loreto
fort, a stone affair equipped with two 12-pound field guns and a 10-inch mortar,
where Major Gwynn of the Sixth Infantry commanded; and not far distant, on a
higher point of the same hill, was Guadalupe church, now protected with mountain
howitzers, a ditch and an earthen wall, under Captain Morehead of the
Pennsylvania regiment. But the chief element of the defence was the large, robust,
finely-featured Childs, a skilful and veteran officer, cold in manner, clear in
judgment, and inflexible in courage. September 13 thebegan in earnest, and from
that day on there was a continual small-arm attack, particularly at night, upon San
José, which replied with a musket and howitzer fire that kept the assailants at a](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-69-320.jpg)
![THEOF PUEBLA
respectful distance. What was more serious than guerilla shooting, all supplies were
now cut off. Such was the state of things at the second city of Mexico when Santa
Anna retired from the first.[11]
Santa Anna’s real intention was probably to seek an
asylum in Guatemala. But many of his friends urged
that he could make himself dictator as the sole hope
of the country, and it was clear that, if he should recover Puebla and cut off Scott,
he would still be able to boast of a triumph. His cavalry, though greatly reduced by
desertion, included some 2000 men backed with four light guns. Alvarez, who was
ordered to Puebla, still had about 600 foot and horse. Rea, Santa Anna understood,
commanded 600 irregulars; 2500 National Guards lay near him with two field
pieces, it was reported; and the Pueblans were described as eager to fight. Six
thousand men and six guns appeared quite enough to dispose ofas Mexicans
described the garrison; and he therefore presented himself at Puebla on September
21. Two days later Alvarez arrived there. But between these two events Childs
appeared at a second-story balcony, as a soldier expressed it, and announced that
Scott had taken the capital. Evidently, therefore, the Mexican President was not
greatly to be feared.[11]
After looking about, Santa Anna concluded that it would not be easy to capture the
American positions by assault, and appealed to the minister of war—wherever that
official might be—for 1000 infantry, a 16-pounder, a 12-pounder, ammunition and
supplies. He now had ten cannon, but all of them were light; owing to desertion his
force included only some 4000 men; and the citizens had no arms, he reported.
Probably, too, the annoyances and outrages inflicted upon them by him and his
troops, and his appointing the guerilla chief military commandant of the city
dampened whatever ardor they had possessed.[12]
On September 23 and 24 unsuccessful attempts were made at Guadalupe, and the
next day Santa Anna summoned Childs, describing his army as 8000 strong, and
graciously announcing thatthe Americans might retirewith the honors of war. Childs
replied as was proper, and then, riding to the posts, gave notice amid cheers that
no surrender need be expected. To add the touch of humor that soldiers love, an
American flag was manufactured out of an old Mexican uniform, and raised aloft;
and the garrison settled down to severe duty, stern discipline, short rations and
incessant watchfulness at all hours. The Mexicans tried to approach San José by
throwing up successive breastworks at night in the streets leading that way, but
shot, shell and rockets from Loreto kept them back. September 30 Santa Anna
learned that no ammunition could be provided for the heavy cannon demanded of
the minister, and resolved apparently to make a bold effort. With two 6-pounders
he fired all day on the weak, plaza face of San José. But Childs, anticipating such a
manoeuvre, had brought a 12-pounder from Loreto the night before; and this,
protected with bags of tobacco, made an assault impracticable.[12]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-70-320.jpg)
![THE FIGHT AT HUAMANTLA
A new factor now entered the military situation. About the middle of September
GeneralLane, one of Taylor’s chief officers at Buena Vista, arrived at Vera Cruz from
the Rio Grande, and on the nineteenth his brigade set out for the interior. Aware of
the situation at Puebla but not aware what was to be encountered on the route, the
General had not made adequate preparations, and on meeting guerillas at the
national bridge he was obliged to send back for ammunition and supplies. By
October 1, however, he managed to leave Jalapa.[13]
It was a hard march that ensued. Torrents of rain deluged the troops. Sometimes
the road lay deep under water. For dinner they had a thin slice of beef, a couple
ofand some coffee; for supper, after darkness fell upon them with tropical
abruptness, the same without the beef; and perhaps mud for a couch. But Lane, a
hearty westerner with a stout frame and unbounded vigor, led on unshrinkingly in
his black hat and old blue overcoat, and the rest followed him eagerly. October 5,
after incorporating additional troops at Perote, he left that place with a force of
about 3300 and seven guns, and marched on across hot plains, where water sold
for five dollars a drink, and men died of sheer fatigue.[13]
Santa Anna, informed by spies that 1000 Americans were approaching, and
anxious, not only to prevent them from joining Childs, but still more to win the
glory of routing them, had set out from Puebla four days earlier with perhaps 3500
men, leaving Rea to continue the fighting. Desertion played havoc with his
command, especially when the strength of Lane’s force was ascertained; but, after
sending back a large part of the faithful in order to keep control of them, he took
possession of El Pinal, where the national highway passed between a precipitous
mountain and a ravine, with about 1000 cavalry and six guns, and made
preparations to ambush Lane’s rear. This done, he moved to Huamantla, a sizable
town eight miles distant, and waited.[13]
Early on October 9 the drums and bugles awoke
Lane’s troops at the hacienda of San Antonio Tamaris,
approximately ten miles from Huamantla and twelve
from El Pinal; and the men, leaping from the damp grass and buckling their muddy
belts, found the white walls of the hacienda, the church towers of neighboring
villages, the dark woods on the hillsides, and the distant, snowy peaks all aglow
under a splendid sun. Never, perhaps, did soldiers feel more like having an
adventure. Santa Anna had just marched from Huamantla to conceal his force at El
Pinal, leaving behind him with no scouts or outposts his six guns, a very small
guard for them and a party of irregulars; but a spy reported to the Americans that
he was at Huamantla, and Lane moved off to attack him. First rode four mounted
companies, and at their head a rather short, slender, spare, slouchy man, with
reddish hair, a small reddish beard, mild blue eyes and a quiet, kindly manner,
whom nobody would have picked out as a fearless, indomitable fighter, the scourge
of the guerillas, but in fact he was Captain Walker; and then marched Lane with
five guns and some 1800 men.[14]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-71-320.jpg)
![When about three miles from their destination, Walker and his 200 cavalry, seeing a
party of Mexican horse approach the town, dashed ahead. Entering Huamantla they
formed in fours, and then with a yell, a flash of sabres and a thunder of hoofs they
swept through to the plaza. The Mexicans had time to get four of the guns away,
but the others were captured, and most of the American troopers, concluding their
work had been finished, scattered to drink, loot or hunt for cannon and
ammunition. But now Santa Anna, who had observed Lane’s movement from a
church tower near El Pinal, appeared with his full command. They were a beautiful
sight—galloping horses, red and green uniforms, brilliant pennons and a billowy sea
of flashing lance points; but they were enemies, and the Americans accepted their
challenge.[14]
“Take it cool, my boys, but run like the devil!” cried Lane. Every nerve was taxed.
Blood gushed from nostrils. The Mexicans, lashing their steeds into foam, reached
the goal first, however, and the American troopers found themselves attacked on all
sides. Walker was shot from a house, and soon expired; but he lived long enough
to give a final order: “Don't surrender boys; the infantry will soon be here.” And so
they were—“with a shout and a bound,” said one of them. The tide was quickly
turned, and giving up the town, as the soldiers loved to call Santa Anna, passed the
night some distance away. So ended the Tale of Huamantla or The Biter Bitten,
which received no little applause at the time.[14]
While these events were taking place, the garrison of Puebla continued to be
hemmed in, starved and harassed. Their casualties numbered in all only fifty-two,
but they felt severely the effect of so long a strain. Though a number of sorties
were made, and their persecutors had to retire from several annoying positions, the
Americans were not strong enough to do more. Their day of deliverance was
approaching, however. October 10 Lane moved forward, dogged and somewhat
annoyed by Santa Anna. Two days later his men saw the spires of Puebla,
dominated by the sombre towers of the cathedral, and set off by white volcanoes
veiled with clouds. And now and again the numberless bells of the city, great and
small, pealed forth harmonious tones of many colors, that seemed to blend and
interweave in rich and varied tapestries of sound, hung out in the mediaeval style
to honor their triumphal approach.[15]
At about one o’clock, announced by the bells of Guadalupe, they entered the
suburbs—not a few of them at a run. One column then advanced by the main
street, while another flanked the town by the left. For two hours there was
considerable firing from houses, though Rea’s guerillas had begun to leave their
posts the night before; but at length Lane extended histo Childs, with a sunny smile
on his rather hard features, and the garrison joyously welcomed their deliverers. In
the main plaza a bugler playedand all sang the chorus:
“The star-spangled banner, Oh, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”[15]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-72-320.jpg)
![POLITICAL CHAOS IN
MEXICO
Now followed the punishment of Rea. Some twenty-five miles from Puebla toward
the southwest lay beautiful Atlixco, a defensible point that not only reconciled the
climates of the temperate and the cold zones of Mexico, and controlled a region
fertile in grains, flocks and herds, but, while fairly remote from the Americans, gave
convenient access to important roads. Here, in the midst of flowers, fruits and
snowy mountains, the government of Puebla had found a refuge, when the
Americans under Worth approached the state capital; and to this asylum Rea now
withdrew. De facto, at least, the guerilla chief was the most important person on
the ground. The authorities did not relish his prominence; they detested his men
and his methods; and on October 18, tired of spending money fruitlessly on the
National Guards for Rea to command, they dissolved the corps. But many of the
irregulars proposed to make the best of what appeared to be a good situation, in
which they could live on plunder, if not paid.[16]
October 18 Lane, who apparently never slept nor expected his followers to sleep,
ordered them to be ready in the morning for an expedition. Many of the soldiers
were barefoot, but they borrowed shoes; and at about nine o’clock, cheered by the
fife and the drum, some 1500 men set out round the base of Popocatepetl under a
hot sun. At about four in the afternoon, after making twenty miles or so, they came
in sight of the enemy, and a running fight began. Blistered feet and parching
tongues were now forgotten. The Mexicans, holding some good position and
protected by chaparral, could make a stand against cavalry, but when the infantry
came up they always fled. Shortly after sunset Lane reached Atlixco, which stood
on the slope of a lofty hill. As it was unsafe to risk a street fight in an unknown
town at night, he ordered the artillery to open. The moon was full. Marks were
easily selected. By their burning fuses the shells could be traced until they fell
amidst the shadows; and then a burst of red fire, the crash of roofs and walls, and
the cries of the people told the rest.[17]
After about an hour of cannonading, the troops advanced into the town—which
surrendered at once—and there slept as best they could. Rea, with two guns and
the disordered remnants of his force, retreated to Izucar de Matamoros, about
thirty miles farther down the valley; but from that point he was routed a month
later. These and other exploits of Lane’s discouraged as well as dispersed the chief
guerilla forces of the plateau, and in February, 1848, Rea asked permission of the
Mexican authorities to leave the country.[17]
Neither in these affairs nor in any other military
operations did Santa Anna figure at this time, and
there was a good reason for his inactivity. Officially he
no longer existed. As General Scott had feared, our
entering the capital had resulted in the destruction of the Mexican government.
September 16 Santa Anna resigned, explaining that it was advisable to preserve the
chief magistracy from the hazards of war, and fix it near the centre of wealth and
population, whereas he proposed to continue the hostilities wherever that should](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-73-320.jpg)
![SANTA ANNA ELIMINATED
be possible. The same proclamation or decree assigned the executive power to a
triumvirate: the president of the supreme court, General Herrera and General
Alcorta, and Santa Anna then ceased actually to exercise any civil authority.[18]
But as Congress was not in session to accept his resignation, some doubted
whether it became effective; the presidency of the supreme court was vacant on
account of the incumbent’s death; the appointment of Herrera and Alcorta needed
to be made, or at least confirmed, by the council of government, a body no longer
acting; and it was denied broadly that Santa Anna had the power to issue such a
decree. Peña y Peña, to be sure, was regarded as a member of the court, and, if he
was, he could claim by right of seniority to act as the chief justice; but the legality
of his membership was questioned, and the presidency of that body was really an
elective office. Peña was old, feeble and even timid; his ill-success as Herrera’s
minister of relations doubtless weighed heavily upon him; and he was now living,
almost as a recluse, in the country. Indeed there was really no organic law even, for
the amended constitution of 1824, though formally adopted, had not come into
effect. In short, chaos reigned, and the states were officially “resuming” their
individual sovereignty.[18]
But a number of good and able men, particularly Cuevas and Couto, determined to
ward off ruin, and awakened others. Peña, drawn from his retirement, consented
for patriotic reasons to override all the technical difficulties; and on September 22
he announced formally that, in order to give the nation a head, he would act as the
Executive until an interim President could somehow be chosen. At the small city of
Toluca, capital of the state of México, just outside the Valley, this fiction of a
government pitched its tent; and perhaps it gained some feeling of security from
the vast bastioned, battlemented ridge between it and the Americans, from snowy
Mt. Miguel towering above the city, and from the peacefully shining lagoons of the
intervening meadows. What was more important, Herrera, Olaguíbel and many
others of the best men rallied to the support of Peña, the representatives of neutral
governments recognized him, and the states began to concur. Early in October,
however, he removed to Querétaro, a safer yet central place, and with Luis de la
Rosa as sole minister addressed himself to his task.[19]
The programme that he announced was honorable
and straightforward. My tenure of office will be
extremely brief, he said in effect, for Congress will be
assembled as soon as possible; I will usurp no powers, but will not be turned from
the path of duty by insurrections; the closest economy will be practised, the
necessary taxes laid fairly, and all interests respected; union and harmony will be
the watchwords, and the national rights will be maintained. His most urgent
problem, of course, was to deal with Santa Anna, who not only held the chief
military command, but insisted that he could resume the Presidential authority by
simply withdrawing his resignation; and in this matter the government showed a
decision that earned it no little prestige. All Santa Anna’s protests against political](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-74-320.jpg)
![effacement were disregarded, and on October 7 he was instructed both to give up
his troops and to submit, as did other unsuccessful commanders, to a military trial.
[20]
At about the time this order overtook him, the Huamantla affair occurred. From a
military point of view he was now prostrate. He saw it himself, and knew that the
country would see it. Evidently his countless political enemies would make the most
of his complete failure, and he was doubtless aware that his military reports had
offended many officers. His chief executive merits—decision and activity—had led
only to a useless expenditure of life and money, it was now pointed out, and his
ostensible patriotism was attributed to passion and obstinacy. Even his confidence
in himself broke down. Unable to understand why failure had attended all his
efforts, he fell into a sombre depression, and without a struggle he placed his
troops at the orders of General Reyes, who joined him on October 11 with about
1000 men. His part in the war was over; and in the following January, realizing that
nothing could be gained through intrigue or conspiracy and fearing the Americans
would make him a prisoner, he asked for permission to leave the country. Both his
own government and our authorities consented. And after giving a dinner at El
Encero to the American officers of that vicinity, who had treated him with
distinguished consideration, he sailed once more, about the first of April, from what
he regarded as an ungrateful country.[21]
Santa Anna being now eliminated, the government had to face its military
difficulties without his assistance. In general the problem was to make bricks with
neither straw nor clay. Almost every good cannon had been taken by the
Americans, and the muskets had nearly all been captured, thrown away or sold.
Ammunition was almost wholly wanting. The engineering material had been lost or
destroyed. Vast sums of money were needed to provide fortifications as well as
replace all this equipment, and the government could hardly obtain enough, day by
day, to cover its minimum expenses. Even officers had to sell their shoes for bread.
[22]
As for an army, Santa Anna and Alvarez together had some 2000 troops the first
week of October, Reyes had about 1000, about 3000 from Mexico City concentrated
at Querétaro under Herrera, about 1000 from Jalisco were on their way to the same
point, and small detachments existed at various other places. But nearly all of these
men were utterly demoralized. “Almost useless,” they were officially termed; and
the army as a whole felt the crushing weight of general contempt. Herrera, the
commander-in-chief, became so disgusted over the uncontrolled excesses of the
troops that he resigned. Rincón declined on the ground of ill-health to serve. Arista,
when summoned to Querétaro, declared he would not command a soldier until
exonerated for his conduct on the Rio Grande. No officers of high distinction,
indeed, were available except the aged, torpid and infirm Bustamante and “the old
woman,” Filisola, as Bancroft described him.[22]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-75-320.jpg)
![THE AMERICAN POLICY
Attempts were made to lay plans of campaign, but an expert summed up one of
them by saying it appeared excellent—only it was based upon things as they should
have been, not as they were; and all the others had the same defect. Schemes
were devised to reform, reorganize and build up the forces, and quotas amounting
to 16,000 were assigned to the states; but México, which had been expected to
furnish nearly a quarter of these men, promptly answered that she could not, and
other states did not even reply. In fact, the regular forces decreased instead of
multiplying, for sometimes a general could not feed his troops, and frequently,
when soldiers were let out of the barracks on service, they vanished; and the
people, instead of helping to support the Mexican troops, even dreaded to see
them approach, for their coming was liable to draw an American attack, and more
than liable to mean extortion, outrage and robbery. Nowhere on the military horizon
could a glimmer of light be seen.[22]
Over against this pitiful government stood the United
States—wealth against poverty, strength against
weakness; and the antithesis was complete, for while
the Mexicans could only plan, that was the hardest thing for us to do. The idea of
retiring to a defensive line still persisted. Taylor himself adhered to it. But in
addition to the other overwhelming objections to this project, it seemed improbable
that a majority in Congress could agree where to draw the line. Even Calhoun,
though qualified to make a better argument for an untenable proposition than any
other man in the country, was unable to present this policy in such a manner as to
satisfy either the friends or the opponents of the war. Some advised holding, in
addition to the territory thus to be cut off, the chief ports of Mexico; and some
advocated retaining the capital also, and the line to Vera Cruz. Others favored the
occupation of still more cities; and many were for subjugating and holding the
entire country.[23]
To this last plan, however, even had it been practicable to levy all the costs upon
Mexico, there were tremendous objections. It would have involved keeping under
arms 80,000 or possibly 100,000 young men, seriously needed at home for the
most part, in order to be sure of having effectives enough at the front. The troops
in Mexico would have become corrupted both physically and morally; and the
commanders would have acquired the ideas and vices of proconsuls. It seemed to
be almost an insoluble problem. No final decision was made. But the government
determined to occupy the capital, hold the line to Vera Cruz, retain the chief ports,
and extend our holdings according to circumstances.[23]
To Scott, however, the lack of a definitive plan signified little. Not one reinforcement
entered the capital until after the first of November, and even at the end of that
month he was barely able to garrison Mexico and Chapultepec. December 4 his
army included only about 8000 privates, of whom a quarter were sick. During the
next three weeks Generals Patterson, Butler and Cushing, Colonel Hays, Lieutenant](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-76-320.jpg)
![Colonel Johnston and Major Lally, each with troops, arrived; and the forces then
numbered about 11,000 effectives and 3000 sick.[24]
Scott therefore announced, with no doubt a strategic purpose as well as a rhetorical
flourish, that our army was “about to spread itself over and to occupy the Republic
of Mexico.” What he really intended was to take possession successively of the
principal mining regions—those of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí—and the capitals
of such important states as lay within easy reach. Even for the former purpose,
however, two columns of some 5000 effectives each were needed, and the men as
well as clothing for them could not be provided. The only immediate operations,
therefore, aside from the establishment of new posts on the road to Vera Cruz,
were the peaceful occupation of Pachuca, a mining town about fifty miles northeast
of Mexico, Toluca, about thirty-eight miles distant in the opposite direction, and
Cuernavaca, the key to the Acapulco region, a little farther away toward the
southwest.[24]
February 6, 1848, an expedition of more consequence marched, by Scott’s orders,
from Vera Cruz. Most of the guerillas who infested the road to the interior lived and
found a market at or near Córdoba, a city about sixty-five miles to the southwest,
and Orizaba, sixteen or eighteen miles beyond it in the same direction; and
Bankhead was instructed to occupy those towns. Very different from Lane’s rough
trips on the plateau was this march. Near Córdoba flourished such genuine tropical
wonders as the bread tree, the butter tree, the milk tree, and a kind of palm called
“the traveller’s friend,” which covered the wayfarer’s head with a tent, and
quenched his thirst with abundant sap. Going on, one found enormous masses of
vegetation—thick, matted, boundlessly prolific—moulded into astonishing yet
harmonious forms by the bays and promontories of the rapidly mounting foothills;
terraces of luxuriant foliage piled on sheer cliffs, castles on the terraces, and
cathedrals on the castles; verdure, verdure everywhere, dripping, flowing, spurting,
tumbling in every hue and shade of green, with a dark, velvety mist in the gorges
that became clear sapphire when the sun touched it, and here and there a cascade
letting fall its crystal thread from a mossy crag.[25]
Then came the rich Orizaba valley, hemmed in with jungles, and winding off
between sombre, precipitous mountains until lost in the dreamy distance; and
above it the sparkling snows of the vast peak sent down a torrent of gray glacier
water, that leaped into mid-air, and then, gathering itself below, wound on through
splendid, odorous trees full of parrots, canaries and mocking-birds, hurried past
fragrant orange groves and still more fragrant blossoms, poured through the arches
of a noble old bridge, and buried itself in the woods. But the Americans did not
forget their orders. Both cities were occupied without resistance, and both were
garrisoned; and the guerillas now found their proceedings considerably hampered.
[25]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-77-320.jpg)
![THE REMOVAL OF SCOTT
The final military operations of Scott seemed thus
rather tame, as was natural; but Polk executed one
that could be termed startling, if not exactly brilliant.
His principal assistants were Pillow, Worth and Duncan; and in different ways each
had excellent qualifications for the work. Pillow was not “The Lie Incarnate,” as Trist
believed, nor even “a perfect ass,” as many thought; but vanity, ambition, lack of
probity, and a gift for dark and cunning methods characterized him. His instincts
and talents, indeed, were those of the criminal lawyer who minds nothing about his
case except the verdict. When the President’s brother shot a man down in the
street at Nashville, Pillow got him off. With reference to his work in helping bring
about Polk’s nomination at Baltimore he wrote, “The fatal blow was given, but it
was not seen nor known what produced such a result—nor where the blow came
from.” “I feel as boyant as the air,” he said in December, 1846, when great
dissatisfaction with Taylor prevailed at Washington, because I know “that I have
done the work.... I have paid him in full” for his treatment of me. And one could
seldom get a finger on Pillow’s back, when he was not wriggling actively toward
some object of selfish desire.[26]
Without a particle of real military ability or success to his credit, he now stood
second in our army, and hence logically enough saw no reason why he might not,
by some devious path, arrive at the first position and even at the Presidency.
“Modesty,” said Burke, “does not long survive innocence.” To plant such a person,
with urgent recommendations, at open, big-hearted Scott’s right hand, to win his
confidence, to spy upon, criticise and undermine him, and inevitably to scheme for
his place, was indecent; but Polk did it.[26]
Very unlike Pillow was the courtly and fascinating Worth; but his mind was intense,
narrow and self-centred. After the battle of Monterey he exclaimed, “I am satisfied
with myself. The most vindictive foes crouch at my feet, and my friends choke with
joy and delight.” And there is one sin of which even angels are capable, we have
been told. All his military recognition he owed to Scott, but probably the debt
weighed heavily on his proud and restive nature; and, while apparently
reciprocating the genuine affection of his chief, he had inwardly rejected Scott’s
principles and methods nearly thirty years before the Mexican war. Regarding his
friend, fellow New Yorker and brother Democrat, Marcy, an adroit politician, he felt
very differently. “I would not give an ounce” of his wisdom, he wrote in June, 1846,
for all Scott’s glory; Scott “is determined to sink and draw his friends down with
him.”[27]
At Vera Cruz the commander-in-chief, relying on their long intimacy, told Worth
frankly that he believed the administration intended to ruin him, and the
subordinate officer evidently determined not to be drawn down. At the same place
a brother officer suggested to Worth a higher position than was even the highest in
the army. The suggestion appears to have struck root. All military men believed the
next President would be one of them, and what commander had acquired a more](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-78-320.jpg)
![THE REMOVAL OF SCOTT
brilliant reputation? The New York Sun recommended him for the place; and the
idea of his candidacy was favorably received by many. This prospect naturally
turned him still more against his old friend, for either Scott or Taylor seemed almost
certain to be the Whig nominee. Through a series of clashes, for which little—if any
—justification can be seen, and in spite of Scott’s efforts to conciliate him, Worth
proceeded then to gain emancipation from his burden of gratitude, and place
himself in open antagonism to his former patron.[28]
Duncan’s motives were different again. He was
intimate with Worth; and Pillow, who offered to marry
the Colonel to a rich and handsome widow, doubtless
promised him the post of inspector general. At any rate he urged Polk to make the
appointment, hinting at other reasons than mere qualifications, and it was made;
and we know that Duncan gave himself much trouble to assist Pillow as a partisan
supporter. The power of such a combination, headed by the President himself, to
gather adherents from the many ambitious officers hardly needs to be pointed out;
and finally there were, of course, jealous and envious men. “Since we cannot attain
to greatness, let us revenge ourselves by railing at it,” said Montaigne for the
benefit of such persons; and many of the officers knew that greatness was beyond
their powers. None of them could monologue as Scott did; none could look in a
cocked hat as he looked; none had won the Mexican war; and, moreover, he was
the sole general-in-chief.[29]
The result was a powerful movement against the prestige and authority properly
belonging to Scott. Pillow’s reports on the battles of Contreras and Chapultepec
tended to represent the General as a nonentity; and Worth not only did somewhat
the same, but referred to the Commander in terms of ridicule and contempt. A
letter, doubtless written directly or indirectly by Pillow over the signature of
“Leonidas,” extolling Pillow shamelessly and belittling Scott, was trickily worked into
the New Orleans Delta of September 10, 1847; and another letter, containing a
passage intended to show that Worth and Duncan had saved Scott from choosing
the wrong approach to the capital, appeared in the United States, then in a
Tampico newspaper and finally at Mexico City. Both letters were grossly improper,
especially since the army lay in the enemy’s country; and Scott found it necessary
to act. As he well said, “The general-in-chief who once submits to an outrage from
a junior, must lay his account to suffer the like from all the vicious under him,” and
“even the great mass of the spirited, intelligent, and well affected, among his
brothers in arms, would soon reduce such commander to utter imbecility, by
holding him in just scorn and contempt” for his recreancy to himself and the
country.[30]
On November 12, therefore, he issued his General Orders 349, which aimed to
stigmatize these offences in such a way as to prevent a recurrence of them.
Duncan then assumed in a plainly defiant manner the paternity of the Tampico
letter, although in fact the offensive passage had not been written by him. His](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-79-320.jpg)
![primary object in doing this was evidently to give Worth a handle, and the handle
was promptly seized. One thing led to another; and in the end formal charges were
brought by the commander-in-chief against Pillow, Worth and Duncan, and by the
two generals against him; appeals—insulting to Scott—were made by Pillow and
Worth to the government; and the technical “arrest” of the three officers followed.
[31]
The government then stepped in. Scott had no doubt given it offence during the
campaign, for his letters had plainly enough revealed a conviction that Polk had
broken faith with him, and purposely thrown difficulties and annoyances across his
path; but the circumstances had appeared to warrant his complaints, and Marcy
had at least “got even” by administering liberal censures in reply. The balance in
fact—aside, perhaps, from a mere acerbity of language—was against the
administration. Besides, having served the country well and saved the government
from disaster, Scott was entitled to some indulgence for irritation caused by the
peculiarly trying circumstances that surrounded him. He was a large man, had done
a large work and merited large treatment. But there was nothing large about the
administration. The confines of mediocrity hemmed it in. Pillow and Duncan were
therefore by its orders relieved of arrest; Worth was not only released, but assigned
to duty according to his highest brevet rank; and “in view of the present state of
things in the army,” chiefly or entirely caused by Polk’s agent and Marcy’s friend,
Scott was deposed. He had performed his task, said Robert E. Lee, and now was
“turned out as an old horse to die.” April 22, 1848, amidst the lamentations, cheers
and blessings of the army as a whole—trembling himself with emotion—he took his
leave, and Major General Butler, who was a Democrat and looked well on a horse,
bore sway at headquarters.[32]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-80-320.jpg)
![XXX
THE NAVAL OPERATIONS OF THE WAR
1845–1848
In January, 1846, the United States had available for naval hostilities one ship-of-
the-line, seven frigates and razees, fifteen sloops-of-war, six brigs, one schooner
and three steamers—that is to say, thirty-three war craft. As ships-of-the-line
carried more than seventy guns, frigates about forty-four to fifty, sloops twenty,
brigs ten and other vessels in proportion, this fleet had 1155 cannon. Two of the
vessels, under Commodore James Biddle, were on the coast of Asia; several
occupied the Brazil station; and five cruised in African waters to check the trade in
slaves. The Pacific squadron, commanded by Commodore John D. Sloat, comprised
on July 1, 1846, the frigate Savannah, the sloops Portsmouth, Levant, Warren and
Cyane, the schooner Shark and the storeship Erie, to which the frigate Congress,
the razee Independence and the sloops Dale, Saratoga and Preble were added later
in the year, while the Levant went home; and substantially all the rest of the fleet,
known as the Home Squadron, attended to the West Indies and Gulf service, under
Commodore David Conner.[1]
The appropriation for the year ending with June, 1846, was a little less than ten
millions, but only about six and a half millions were expended. The war bill of May
13 permitted the completion of all vessels then building and the purchase of others;
and by November, 1847, after suffering a number of losses, the navy had in
commission five ships-of-the-line, one razee, four frigates, thirteen sloops, six brigs,
eleven schooners, four bomb-vessels, twelve steamers and six storeships.[1]
The peace establishment created by Congress in 1844 provided for 7500 petty
officers, seamen, landsmen and boys, and in August, 1846, this number was raised
to 10,000 for the period of the war; but owing to the remarkable activity of the
merchant marine and the consequently high wages, men could not easily be
obtained. During the most important year—November, 1846, to November, 1847—
not over 8000 were in the fleet at any one time. The whole number of seamen
employed in the course of the war did not exceed 7000; and hence plans to
strengthen our forces in the Gulf and the Pacific had to be curtailed. The service,
too, did not enjoy unqualified popularity. In the sailor’s decalogue appeared this
commandment:](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-81-320.jpg)
![PRIVATEERING
“Six days shalt thou work
And do all thou art able,
On the seventh thou shalt holystone
The deck and scrape the cable”;
and the cannon had to be rubbed with fragrant “sea pitch” from the bottom of the
ocean until they shone like Japanese lacquer. Discipline, therefore, not reinforced by
the enthusiasm and the necessities of war, fell considerably below its reputation,
and the crews were eager to be free when their time expired. The officers, even,
had become lax after thirty years of peace, and in too many instances their
standards of conduct had given way.[2]
In the administration of the navy, also, the effects of a long peace could be seen.
The control of matters had fallen, though not by accident, into the hands of shrewd
officers deeply interested in themselves and their friends. Supernumeraries
abounded. Those who drew the most pay often rendered the least service. The pet
ambition was for a safe, quiet and easy position. Shore billets were too numerous.
No field officer of the Marines had cruised since his promotion, and one of them
had been in the service more than a generation without going to sea. Secretary
Bancroft, eager for distinction, undertook to eliminate the abuses, but only
succeeded in eliminating himself. He had taught Greek, and was ridiculed by the
naval men as undertaking to play the pedagogue over them. Having no dominating
force of character nor even a commanding presence, he could not stand against the
governing clique. The requirements of the war, which might have assisted an abler
administrator to win the day, only increased his difficulties. The Senate refused to
confirm some of his appointees; and early in September, 1846, he became our
minister to England.[3]
J. Y. Mason, who succeeded him, was a fat, easy, agreeable man, quite innocent of
the desire to achieve reforms. Nobody disliked him, but nobody felt obliged to obey
him; and as late as the twentieth of February, 1847, suddenly discovering that Scott
had mentioned certain designs of the army against Vera Cruz, he awoke to the fact
that his department had failed to give the anticipated assistance. Just what could
be expected of the navy under all these prejudicial conditions was, therefore, in
some minds, a little uncertain.[3]
One of the most serious duties imposed upon it was to
guard against privateering, for not only our commerce
but the supplies required by our troops depended
upon free lanes. About the middle of 1845 the government issued orders that any
activity of such a kind on the part of Mexico should be considered the signal for
war; and as a deterrent it was announced by the newspapers, though incorrectly,
that privateersmen were to be regarded as pirates. Crews not predominantly
composed of Mexicans, it was often asserted, could legally be “strung up to the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-82-320.jpg)
![yard-arm,” since we were understood to have treaties that sanctioned this principle
with most countries.[4]
After the war actually began, a great deal of danger was apprehended. Desperate
characters were believed to be waiting at New Orleans, and “piratical gangs” in the
ports of Cuba, where Almonte seemed to be at work. News arrived early in August,
1846, that privateering regulations had been issued by Mexico, and suspicious craft
soon appeared off Key West. In December the Mexican minister of war openly
avowed that great hopes of injuring the United States in this manner were
entertained. Blank certificates and commissions reached Washington; information
regarding efforts to set vessels at work in various quarters arrived there; and finally
the Carmelita of Bangor, Maine, was captured near Gibraltar by a felucca named El
Unico, fitted out at Oran, Algeria, and run by Spanish desperadoes.[4]
Mexico had not in reality, after studying the subject with deep interest, much
expectation of accomplishing any large results by issuing letters of marque, and the
regulations of July, 1846, were intended principally or wholly to annoy this country;
but in September and October she took the matter up rather seriously. A new law
provided that any foreigner entering her naval service might become a Mexican at
once, and blank naturalization papers as well as thousands of privateering
commissions, duly signed but not filled out, were carried by agents to the West
Indies, Great Britain, France and Spain. Almonte did his best at Havana. J. N.
Pareda, appointed Mexican chargé d’affaires at Madrid, appears to have circulated
the documents actively in the Peninsular ports; and another privateer, a Spanish
steamer named La Rosita, put out from Oran.[5]
On the other hand, the representatives of the United States insisted upon our
treaties and the obligations of neutrality. Polk’s annual Message of December, 1846,
denounced the Mexican plan as inviting “all the freebooters upon earth,” who felt
like paying for the privilege, to cruise against American commerce, announced that
our own courts would say whether such papers could protect them from the pirate’s
doom, recommended that Congress provide at once for the trial of Spanish subjects
caught in such business, and suggested American privateers—intended mainly to
recapture vessels taken under Mexican letters. An American force hastened to the
Mediterranean, and our squadrons were expected to seize all the rovers putting
out, as well as intercept all prizes on their way to the enemy’s ports. These
precautions looked rather discouraging to enterprising desperadoes.[6]
In England there was a feeling, as will appear later, that Mexico should be allowed
the utmost license against us, and the Mexican minister at London received many
applications for letters; but Great Britain did not really wish her supplies of cotton
to be endangered, and all the seas to be filled with corsairs preying upon the trade
of the world; and in October, 1845, her minister to Mexico was instructed to
prevent that country, if he could, from issuing letters of marque indiscriminately.
Bankhead protested also, as did the Spanish minister, against important features of](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-83-320.jpg)
![THE BLOCKADE
the regulations. Palmerston himself, though he acted in a languid fashion, and gave
notice at Washington that British subjects, found on Mexican privateers, could not
be treated as pirates, announced that his government would faithfully do its duty.[7]
France was prompt and active in responding to our demands. Spain, placed under
stringent obligations by the treaty of October, 1795, promised full compliance with
its requirements, captured El Unico, punished its crew, pursued La Rosita, and
ordered O’Donnell, the captain general of Cuba, to act as her obligations required;
but she accepted Pareda, the colporteur of what was piracy under her agreement,
as consul of Mexico; and the captain general, while he convinced the American
representative of his good-will and in fact would not permit an open violation of the
treaty, suggested to the Mexicans ways—fortunately impracticable—of evading his
own rules. But the risks of privateering under so many embarrassments and the
virtual impossibility of converting a prize into cash, prevented all attempts except
the feeble ones already mentioned. In this field, consequently, our navy, though
incessantly watchful, could acquire no laurels.[7]
Another aspect of the situation concerned it more
seriously. On the day Congress passed the war bill
(May 13, 1846) orders were issued to blockade the
ports of Mexico. Several definite aims prompted this action. Primarily, of course, it
was desired to prevent supplies of all kinds from reaching the enemy, and to
deprive them of the almost indispensable revenues obtained in peace by taxing
imports; but there were also hopes that loss of business would induce Great Britain
and France, which had a profitable trade in that quarter, to urge upon Mexico the
acceptance of our terms. The blockade was therefore to be enforced vigorously. At
the same time neutrals were to be treated with all reasonable indulgence.
Theoretically only their war vessels had the right of entering closed ports, but
practically the intention was to broaden that narrow door considerably. Toward
itself, however, the United States determined to be strictly faithful in observing its
declared principles. Merely those ports where the order could become effective
were in view. The announcement of blockade was to be made as public as it could
be; and in particular the government required that a full warning should be given to
neutral ships.[8]
For the work thus imposed upon him Conner had ample time to prepare. As early
as August, 1845, he was directed to blockade the Gulf ports in case of war; early in
1846 he knew of Mexico’s attitude regarding Slidell; before the end of March his
vessels occupied convenient positions; and promptly on the outbreak of hostilities a
blockade was announced at the chief harbors. By July, with some assistance from
the revenue service, it extended from the Rio Grande to the Goatzacoalcos.[9]
But the difficulty of making it continuously effective proved to be extraordinary.
There were not vessels enough of the proper kind; occasionally a more or less
complete concentration became necessary; and accidents of many sorts occurred.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-84-320.jpg)
![Uncharted shoals and rocks, currents of unknown direction and force, the frequent
haze, and the darkening of the lighthouses made extreme caution imperative. The
suddenness and violence of the storms almost surpassed belief. At Vera Cruz the
Somers was blown over and sunk before Semmes, her able commander, could take
steps to avert the disaster. Even at the anchorages one would suddenly hear on a
calm afternoon the clarion orders of the speaking trumpet; the ship would quiver
and reverberate as the cable of the heaviest anchor ran swiftly out; in a moment
the storm would burst; and for days it might be a question almost hourly of going
ashore. At such times all sailing vessels on patrol duty had to make instantly for the
open sea, and before they could return to their stations a lurking blockade runner
could perhaps enter the port. Owing to such difficulties Alvarado and Frontera, for
instance, could not be watched continuously.[9]
Embarrassments also of a minor yet serious character had to be encountered. Our
vessels, unlike those of England, were designed exclusively for war, and long
confinement impaired the efficiency of the men. The government supplies of
eatables needed to be eked out from New Orleans huckster boats and European
merchant ships. Water could not be obtained readily from a hostile shore. At the
Antigua River, in July, 1846, the boats going up with casks were fired upon, and
such affairs had to be expected. Vessels were despatched long distances
occasionally to obtain fresh provisions, but even then scurvy of a most serious
nature broke out in the summer of 1846, disabling some of the largest and most
efficient ships for several months. The Raritan had more than 200 cases. Nearly all
on the Potomac suffered. The Falmouth had to go as far north as Boston to throw it
off. Swampy shores and kelp rotting under the torrid sun produced myriads of
poisonous as well as otherwise annoying insects. During a brief stay in the river off
Tampico nearly all the officers and men contracted ague, and the yellow fever
scourged a number of the vessels. More than two thirds of those on the Saratoga
had the latter disease. In August, 1847, the Mississippi left her station with some
200 men suffering from it.[10]
Being strangers and enemies, the Americans labored under peculiar disadvantages.
The people gladly assisted blockade runners in every possible way. Spanish captains
in particular, having friends on shore and pilots thoroughly familiar with the coast,
could not be prevented from reaching harbor at night or in thick weather by way of
the shoals. Sometimes it looked, for one or another of these many reasons, as if
our officers were careless or incompetent. Army observers, not well informed
regarding the conditions, felt disposed now and then to pronounce the blockade a
humbug, and naturally some foreigners did so. This opinion had neither truth nor
probability in its favor. But naturally, in view of all the circumstances, it proved more
satisfactory to occupy the ports, and open them to commerce on the basis of a
reasonable contributory tariff.[11]
Besides cruising to watch for privateers and hovering off the chief harbors to
maintain a blockade, our fleet was expected to share in the general offensive. For](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/21459489-250528150542-f8c06e7d/85/Touchdevelop-Programming-On-The-Go-R-Nigel-Horspool-Nikolai-Tillmann-85-320.jpg)
Touchdevelop Programming On The Go R Nigel Horspool Nikolai Tillmann
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- 5. TouchDevelop Programming on the Go R Nigel Horspool University of Victoria Nikolai Tillmann Microsoft Research
- 6. TouchDevelop: Programming on the Go by R. Nigel Horspool and Nikolai Tillmann Copyright © 2013 by Apress Media, LLC, all rights reserved. ApressOpen Rights: You have the right to copy, use and distribute this Work in its entirety, electronically without modification, for non-commercial purposes only. However, you have the additional right to use or alter any source code in this Work for any commercial or non-commercial purpose which must be accompanied by the licenses in (2) and (3) below to distribute the source code for instances of greater than 5 lines of code. Licenses (1), (2) and (3) below and the intervening text must be provided in any use of the text of the Work and fully describes the license granted herein to the Work. (1) License for Distribution of the Work: This Work is copyrighted by Apress Media, LLC, all rights reserved. Use of this Work other than as provided for in this license is prohibited. By exercising any of the rights herein, you are accepting the terms of this license. You have the non- exclusive right to copy, use and distribute this English language Work in its entirety, electronically without modification except for those modifications necessary for formatting on specific devices, for all non-commercial purposes, in all media and formats known now or hereafter. While the advice and information in this Work are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. If your distribution is solely Apress source code or uses Apress source code intact, the following licenses (2) and (3) must accompany the source code. If your use is an adaptation of the source code provided by Apress in this Work, then you must use only license (3). (2) License for Direct Reproduction of Apress Source Code: This source code, from TouchDevelop, ISBN 978-1-4302-6136-0 is copyrighted by Apress Media, LLC, all rights reserved. Any direct reproduction of this Apress source code is permitted but must contain this license. The following license must be provided for any use of the source code from this product of greater than 5 lines wherein the code is adapted or altered from its original Apress form. This Apress code is presented AS IS and Apress makes no claims to, representations or warrantees as to the function, usability, accuracy or usefulness of this code. (3) License for Distribution of Adaptation of Apress Source Code: Portions of the source code provided are used or adapted from TouchDevelop, ISBN 978-1-4302-6136-0 copyright Apress Media LLC. Any
- 7. use or reuse of this Apress source code must contain this License. This Apress code is made available at Apress.com/9781430261360 as is and Apress makes no claims to, representations or warrantees as to the function, usability, accuracy or usefulness of this code. ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-6136-0 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-6137-7 Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. President and Publisher: Paul Manning Editor: Jeffrey Pepper Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800- SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505, e-mail orders-ny@springer-sbm.com, or visit www.springeronline.com. For information on translations, please e-mail rights@apress.com, or visit www.apress.com.
- 8. Contents Preface Who this book is for Background to the book Other learning materials Acknowledgments Important websites The TouchDevelop Team List of figures List of tables Chapter 1 Introduction to TouchDevelop 1.1 Computers want to be programmed 1.2 What is TouchDevelop? 1.3 The TouchDevelop ecosystem 1.4 History and Future 1.5 Platforms 1.6 The scripting language Chapter 2 The Scripting Language
- 9. 2.1 Introduction – the language flavor 2.2 Datatypes and variables 2.3 Expressions 2.4 Statements 2.5 Actions 2.6 Events 2.7 Pages 2.8 Creating library scripts Chapter 3 The Wall – using the screen 3.1 Output – the writing on the wall 3.2 Input of values from the touchscreen 3.3 Updating the wall’s content 3.4 Events on the touchscreen 3.5 Pushing and popping pages 3.6 Titles and subtitles 3.7 Wall buttons 3.8 On-demand creation of output Chapter 4 The Web 4.1 URLs and webpages 4.2 Downloading and uploading files 4.3 Downloading structured data 4.4 REST guidelines and web requests Chapter 5 Audio 5.1 Music
- 10. 5.2 Sounds 5.3 Microphone Chapter 6 Camera, Graphics and Video 6.1 Camera 6.2 Working with pictures 6.3 Static graphics drawing and display 6.4 Playing videos from the internet Chapter 7 Sensors 7.1 The sensors 7.2 Sensor-driven events 7.3 Accelerometer 7.4 Compass 7.5 Gyroscope 7.6 Motion Chapter 8 Interactions 8.1 Social messages 8.2 Locations, places, maps 8.3 Emails 8.4 Phone Calls 8.5 2D barcodes 8.6 SMS messages (WP8 only) 8.7 Calendar and appointments (WP8 only) 8.8 Contacts (WP8 and Android only) Chapter 9 Game Board
- 11. 9.1 Introduction 9.2 The Board datatype 9.3 The Sprite datatype 9.4 The Sprite Collection datatype 9.5 Touching and board events 9.6 Debugging games Chapter 10 UI with Boxes and Pages 10.1 Page Overview 10.2 Box Overview 10.3 Examples of Boxes and Pages 10.4 Working with Pages 10.5 Live Editing of the User Interface 10.6 API Support for Boxes and Pages Chapter 11 Authenticating Web Services 11.1 Registering your app 11.2 Authenticating 11.3 Libraries 11.4 Advanced topics Appendix A Editing TouchDevelop Scripts A.1 The starting point A.2 The editing steps A.3 Additional steps A.4 More advanced editing features Appendix B TouchDevelop Services
- 12. B.1 bazaar B.2 box B.3 collections B.4 colors B.5 contract B.6 invalid B.7 languages B.8 locations B.9 maps B.10 math B.11 media B.12 phone B.13 player B.14 senses B.15 social B.16 tags B.17 tile B.18 time B.19 wall B.20 web Appendix C TouchDevelop Datatypes C.1 Appointment C.2 Appointment Collection C.3 Board C.4 Boolean
- 13. C.5 Camera C.6 Color C.7 Contact C.8 Contact Collection C.9 DateTime C.10 Form Builder C.11 Json Builder C.12 Json Object C.13 Link C.14 Link Collection C.15 Location C.16 Location Collection C.17 Map C.18 Matrix C.19 Message C.20 Message Collection C.21 Motion C.22 Number C.23 Number Collection C.24 Number Map C.25 OAuth Response C.26 Page C.27 Page Button C.28 Page Collection C.29 Picture C.30 Picture Album
- 14. C.31 Picture Albums C.32 Pictures C.33 Place C.34 Place Collection C.35 Playlist C.36 Playlists C.37 Song C.38 Songs C.39 Song Album C.40 Song Albums C.41 Songs C.42 Sound C.43 Sprite C.44 Sprite Set C.45 String C.46 String Collection C.47 String Map C.48 TextBox C.49 Vector3 C.50 Web Request C.51 Web Response C.52 Xml Object Appendix D Platform Capabilities D.1 Supported Browsers D.2 General Features
- 15. D.3 Supported Sensors and Devices D.4 Support for Services/Resources D.5 Support for Created Apps Appendix E TouchDevelop Editor on a Windows Phone E.1 The sample program E.2 The back button, undo and mistakes E.3 The editing example E.4 Additional steps E.5 Refactoring code into a new action Index
- 16. Preface The sales figures for smartphones continue to rise exponentially. Tablet computers are showing a similarly phenomenal adoption rate and are replacing laptop computers in many areas of life. We can imagine a time when nearly everyone is carrying around a powerful computer in the form of a smartphone or a tablet. The term mobile device is used to cover such devices. Typically, an app (an application program) for a smartphone or tablet has to be developed in a PC and transferred to the mobile device later. But does it have to be that way? The TouchDevelop project at Microsoft Research has proved that the answer is No. TouchDevelop is a programming environment that runs on all mobile devices. It allows a script to be developed on a mobile device, or on a PC, and to be run on any mobile device or a PC. After releasing the app in 2011 when it was available only for the Windows Phone, the overwhelming response was a big surprised us: more than 200,000 users downloaded the app and they published more than 10,000 scripts written entirely on phones. Since then, TouchDevelop has been made available in a form that runs on PC, Mac and Linux platforms, and on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices. TouchDevelop is truly a portable development environment for creating portable apps.
- 17. Who this book is for Mobile devices represent the latest in technology. Furthermore, many students actually own their own smartphone. High school teachers and college or university instructors love the idea of using the latest technology to engage their students. While they may be experts in the field of teaching programming, many teachers appreciate guidance on how to navigate a complex app like TouchDevelop: its visual program editor is designed for touchscreens and uses different editing paradigms from a traditional keyboard- based text processor. Another opportunity and challenge is how to make use of some of the sensors that a modern mobile device has to offer. This book has much to offer to both both teachers and self-starting students who are learning how to program on their own. For teachers, it walks in detail through all of the screens of the app, and it points out similarities and differences of the TouchDevelop language compared to other programming languages that the teacher might already be familiar with. For students and enthusiasts, the book can serve as a handy reference which they keep next to the device they are using – it is particularly useful when that device has a small screen. The book systematically addresses all programming language constructs, starting from the very basic constructs such as variables and loops. The book also explores many of the phone sensors and data sources which make creating apps for mobile devices so rewarding. If you are new to programming with TouchDevelop, or if you have not yet worked on touchscreen devices, we suggest that you read the book starting from Chapter 1. If you are already familiar with the basic paradigm of the TouchDevelop programming environment, then feel free to jump ahead to the later chapters that address particular topic areas. This book is written from the perspective of a person developing their code using a browser. All screenshots and navigation instructions refer to the TouchDevelop Web App running in a browser and is
- 18. applicable to all platforms except the Windows Phone. Only Appendix E, which covers the editor on the Windows Phone, uses screenshots and instructions specific to the Windows Phone. This book is available online as well as being publish in print form by APress. Please email touchdevelop@microsoft.com to give feedback. Background to the book This edition of the book is the result of the year-long evolution of earlier book versions, incorporating feedback from tutorials and lectures given by the authors. The first version of the book was produced as limited edition of 75 copies for the ACM SIGCSE Conference in Raleigh, NC, March, 2012. That book was based on the recently released Version 2.6 of TouchDevelop. An updated copy of the book with 1000 copies, based on Version 2.10, was printed in January 2013. This book was made available via a Creative Commons Licence and put on the Amazon Bookstore as well as the TouchDevelop website. Much of the contents of the second book were also applicable to the Web App version of TouchDevelop, though all the screenshots were still of a phone. This third version has been retargeted at the Web App version of TouchDevelop. Other learning materials On the TouchDevelop website, you can also find extensive videos, tutorials and slides to help you learn and teach TouchDevelop. Just tap (or click) on the large tile labeled “Docs” under the “Chat and Learn” heading once you have logged in to the TouchDevelop website to find these learning resources. Comments are very welcome. To contact the TouchDevelop team or the authors, you can Send email to touchdevelop@microsoft.com Post on https://facebook.com/touchdevelop Post on the forum in the app
- 19. Acknowledgments As the TouchDevelop community grows, we are finding that we are learning from everyone who engages in the project – students at Hackathons, academics who write papers, and most of all developers of the amazing apps in the bazaar. Thanks to all of you. Important websites https://www.touchdevelop.com https://www.facebook.com/TouchDevelop http://research.microsoft.com/touchdevelop The TouchDevelop Team Thomas (Tom) Ball is a principal researcher and research manager at Microsoft Research, Redmond, widely known for his work in program profiling, software model checking, program testing, and empirical software engineering. Ball is a 2011 ACM Fellow for "contributions to software analysis and defect detection." Since becoming a manager at Microsoft, he has nurtured and grown research areas such as automated theorem proving, program testing and verification, and empirical software engineering. He holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Cornell University and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- 20. Judith Bishop is Director of Computer Science at Microsoft Research, based in Redmond, USA. Her role is to create strong links between Microsoft’s research groups and universities globally, through encouraging projects, supporting conferences and engaging directly in research. Her expertise is in programming languages and distributed systems, with a strong practical bias and an interest in compilers and design patterns. She is the author or editor of 17 books on programming languages. She has a PhD from the University of Southampton, UK in Computer Science. Sebastian Burckhardt is a Researcher at Microsoft Research. He was born and raised in Basel, Switzerland. His research interests revolve around the general problem of programming concurrent, parallel, and distributed systems conveniently, efficiently, and correctly. More specific interests include consistency models, concurrency testing, self-adjusting computation, and the concurrent revisions programming model. After a few years of industry experience at IBM, he earned his PhD in Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Juan Chen is a Researcher in the RiSE group at Microsoft Research Redmond. Her main research areas include
- 21. compilers, programming verification, and type systems. She has worked on certifying compilers for object-oriented languages, and design and implementation of a functional programming language for specifying and verifying program properties. She has a PhD in Computer Science from Princeton University. Jonathan ‘Peli’ de Halleux is a Software Engineer in the Research in Software Engineering group at Microsoft Research. Peli also volunteers at the local high school to teach mobile computer science. From 2004 to 2006, he worked in the Common Language Runtime (CLR) as a Software Design Engineer in Test in charge of the Just In Time compiler. He has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Manuel Fähndrich is a Senior Researcher in the RiSE group at Microsoft Research in Redmond. He works on programming language design, static type systems, program analysis and verification, as well as runtime techniques and optimizations. His past and current project involvements include the Singularity OS and Sing# language, CodeContracts for .NET, and TouchDevelop. He has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
- 22. Nigel Horspool is a professor of computer science at the University of Victoria. His main focus for research and teaching has been programming languages and compilers, though his main claim to fame is a string searching algorithm. He is the author or co-author of three books, which cover the C language, Unix and the C# language. He is currently the co-editor of the journal ‘Software: Practice and Experience’. He has a PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada in Computer Science. Michał Moskal is a Researcher in Redmond. He is in the RiSE group working on software verification, automated theorem proving, and programming languages. He works on a formal verifier for concurrent C programs called VCC, while also taking on other projects including Boogie intermediate verification language, SPUR tracing JIT, and DKAL authorization engine. He has a PhD from the University of Wrocław, Poland. Arjmand Samuel works with the academic community to foster research and collaborations in the devices and services research areas. He leads the mobile and cloud computing research and outreach for Microsoft Research (Project Hawaii and TouchDevelop). His recent research interests are in software architectures and programming paradigms for devices of all shapes
- 23. and forms (TouchDevelop and HomeOS). He has published in a variety of publications on topics of security, privacy, location aware access control, and innovative use of mobile technology. Samuel has a Ph.D. in Information Security from Purdue University. Nikolai Tillmann is a Principal Research Software Design Engineer, Microsoft Research. His main areas of research are program authoring on mobile devices, program analysis, testing, optimization, and verification. He started the TouchDevelop project, which enables end-users to write programs for mobile devices on mobile devices. He also leads the Pex project, in which he develops together with Peli de Halleux a framework for runtime verification and automatic test case generation for .NET applications based on parameterized unit testing and dynamic symbolic execution. Nikolai has a Dipl. Inf. in Computer Science from TU Berlin, Germany.
- 24. List of figures Figure 1-1: The TouchDevelop ecosystem Figure 1-2: Viewing metadata of a script Figure 1-3: Editing a script Figure 2-1: The ‘new songs’ script (/okzc) Figure 3-1: Simple output, normal and reversed order Figure 3-2: Displaying a string using a TextBox Figure 3-3: Displaying composite values Figure 3-4: Prompting for input Figure 3-5: An updatable textbox (/censaair) Figure 3-6: Updating text using a board (/wkoxnasz) Figure 3-7: Using tap wall events Figure 3-8: Using sprite events (/akmcnpux) Figure 3-9: Title and subtitle example Figure 3-10: The ‘Question Mark’ page button Figure 4-1: Posting a Webpage Link to the wall Figure 4-2: Posting a link to an image on the wall Figure 4-3: Downloading a text file Figure 4-4: Picture download Figure 4-5: Snapshot of a weather webpage Figure 4-6: Weather data in JSON format
- 25. Figure 4-7: Accessing Twitter with a library Figure 4-8: Weather data in JSON format Figure 5-1: The ‘new songs’ script (WP8 and Android only) Figure 6-1: A simplified camcorder script (/xbhl) Figure 6-2: Computing brightness Figure 6-3: Blending two pictures Figure 6-4: Using the draw ellipse method Figure 7-1: A simple pedometer program (/jbpv) Figure 7-2: Accelerometer orientation Figure 7-3: Accelerometer colors simplified (script /tbcb) Figure 7-4: Magnetic compass script (script /drvu) Figure 7-5: Methods of the Motion type Figure 7-6: Yaw, pitch and roll Figure 8-1: Examples of 2D barcodes Figure 8-2: Sending an SMS message Figure 9-1: Example script: a moving ball (/nyuc) Figure 10-1: Page Example 1 (/bvhugenw) Figure 10-2: (a) Result from Page Example 1 Figure 10-3: Page Example 2 (/hnimxaiw) Figure 10-4: Result of Running Page Example 2 Figure 10-5: Page Example 3 (/wrsonnwh) Figure 10-6: Translation produced by Page Example 3 Figure 10-7: Icons for User Interface Editing Figure 11-1: Post a message to Facebook with OAuth Figure 11-2: Using Facebook Library Figure A-1: The rotor program /gtbd
- 26. Figure A-2: The first few script templates Figure A-3: The editor webpage Figure A-4: The left keypad Figure A-5: The right keypad Figure A-6: Add above and add below buttons Figure A-7: The running script Figure A-8: Selecting the first line Figure A-9: Marking the first line to extract Figure A-10: Marking the last line to extract Figure A-11: Naming the extracted code Figure E-1: The rotor program /cqxk Figure E-2: Getting started screenshots Figure E-3: Editing the first line Figure E-4: Running the script
- 27. List of tables Table 2-1: Special symbols used in scripts Table 2-2: The Value types Table 2-3: Reference types provided by the API Table 2-4: Regular collection types Table 2-5: Special collection types Table 2-6: Operators Table 2-7: Events Table 2-8: Gameboard events Table 3-1: Display of media values Table 3-2: Display of social values Table 3-3: Display of web values Table 3-4: Prompting for input Table 3-5: Tap wall events Table 3-6: Methods of the Page Table datatype Table 4-1: Converting URLs Table 4-2: Creating web links Table 4-3: Uploading/downloading to websites Table 4-4: Methods of Web Request datatype Table 4-5: Methods of Web Response datatype Table 5-1: Supported music formats
- 28. Table 5-2: Accessing media resources (WP8 and Android only) Table 5-3: Using songs and song albums (WP8 and Android only) Table 5-4: Methods of player resource for songs Table 5-5: Methods of Sound datatype Table 6-1: Methods for using the camera(s) Table 6-2: Methods of the Camera datatype Table 6-3: Methods of Picture Album and Pictures datatypes (WP8 and Android) Table 6-4: General Picture methods Table 6-5: Colorizing/intensity picture effects Table 6-6: Drawing methods of the Picture datatype Table 7-1: Sensing methods of the senses service Table 7-2: Sensor events Table 8-1: Messaging methods of the social service Table 8-2: Extra methods of the Message Collection datatype Table 8-3: Methods of the locations service Table 8-4: Methods of the maps service Table 8-5: Methods of the Map datatype Table 8-6: Methods for handling phone calls Table 8-7: Barcode generation methods Table 8-8: Methods of the Appointment datatype Table 8-9: Methods for accessing and creating contacts Table 9-1: Methods to create a board Table 9-2: Methods of Board datatype: appearance Table 9-3: Methods of Board datatype: creating/accessing sprites Table 9-4: Methods of Board datatype: obstacles/boundaries
- 29. Table 9-5: Methods of Board datatype: forces/animation Table 9-6: Methods of Sprite datatype: visual attributes Table 9-7: Methods of Sprite datatype: position/velocity Table 9-8: Methods of Sprite datatype: mass, friction, elasticity Table 9-9: Methods of Sprite datatype: additional features Table 9-10: Additional or modified Sprite Set methods Table 9-11: Touch methods of the Board datatype Table 10-1: General Methods of box Service Table 10-2: Text Handling Methods of box Service Table 10-3: Layout Methods of box Service Table 11-1: General methods related to OAuth 2.0
- 30. Chapter 1 Introduction to TouchDevelop TouchDevelop is a complete app creation ecosystem designed for touch, cloud connected, mobile devices. This chapter provides a brief introduction to the world of TouchDevelop scripting and the devices that support it. 1.1 Computers want to be programmed 1.2 What is TouchDevelop? 1.3 The TouchDevelop ecosystem 1.4 History and Future 1.5 Platforms 1.6 The scripting language 1.1 Computers want to be programmed Computers are everywhere, and they take on many different forms: TVs, smart phones, fridges with apps, etc. Despite this abundance of form and function, until recently, most people thought of desktop PCs and then laptops when they were asked about computers. This perception is shifting, as smartphones and tablets are quickly becoming the main computers for an increasing number of people. As a matter of fact, smartphone sales have surpassed PC sales even faster than some analysts anticipated. New smartphone and tablet models are getting more powerful and becoming suitable for many tasks that used to require PCs. Mobile devices have become well established tools for reading and composing emails, browsing the web, and playing games. These devices are even being used to annotate documents. And yet, the one task that can be seen as the defining moment of any computing
- 31. platform is not yet widely performed on smartphones and tablets: writing code, or even creating entire applications. The previous generation of people who grew up with full featured PCs always had the option to program them. While most people chose not to do that, they at least had the option. Decades of programming language and development environment research produced powerful tools suitable for PCs. It is through exploring this opportunity that many young people became interested in computer science. Unfortunately, in the new world of apps and app marketplaces with a focus on existing curated content, it seems that the creative outlet of programming that encouraged aspiring programmers in the past is no longer easily accessible. The ability to program on the very device one owns and uses all the time is not a prominent option anymore. Granted, smartphones and tablets pose new challenges for programming tasks. These devices have no physical keyboard, the screen tends to be rather small, and data tends to not be stored locally but is dynamically fetched from the cloud. A group at Microsoft Research asked the question: “Is it possible to create interesting apps directly on a smartphone, without using a separate PC or a keyboard?” It is in the attempt to answer this question that TouchDevelop was born. The TouchDevelop team took on the challenge of rethinking computer programming from the ground up, trying to understand how a modern mobile touch-screen device should be programmed in its own right. TouchDevelop was created with a goal to ignore the legacy of programming languages optimized for linear text input via a keyboard, often having a verbosity that assumes big screens. We believe that as more people adopt mobile devices as their primary, or possibly only, computing devices, it will become more important to not just enable users to consume content but to also empower them to produce content. We particularly believe in empowering users to produce new applications.
- 32. 1.2 What is TouchDevelop? TouchDevelop is a novel application development environment that allows anyone to script their mobile devices anywhere. It does not need a separate PC and can be used by students, hobbyists, power users, and developers. Through TouchDevelop, users can create scripts (i.e., apps written using TouchDevelop) to access data, media, and sensors on a smart phone, tablet or PC. The scripts can also interact with the cloud services for storage, computing, and social networks. TouchDevelop applications can serve many purposes and are typically written for fun, for personalizing the phone, and for creating productivity tools. TouchDevelop brings the excitement of the first programmable personal computers to the now ubiquitous mobile devices. Scripts developed using TouchDevelop allow users to show and manipulate music and pictures stored on their own mobile devices, to use the device’s sensors, and to interact with friends in their social networks. TouchDevelop can be used to develop games such as “missile defense”, which is a full featured game where cities must be defended against incoming missiles (https://www.touchdevelop.com/zvpj). The script for this sample game can be downloaded to the TouchDevelop application installed on a Windows Phone or directly from the TouchDevelop web application. The user has full access to the script and can modify the game in any way imaginable. If someone has made improvements to the game, the improved game can be shared with others. It is as simple as tapping a button to upload the changed script back to the website. The script will be assigned a different identification tag (replacing the /zvpj letters at the end of the URL). If the author of missile defense publishes an update, TouchDevelop will automatically redirect the user to the latest version of that game. An example of a TouchDevelop script being used for productivity is the “my online meetings” script, which finds active online meetings. If there is one, it can be joined through the Microsoft Lync application installed on the phone (https://www.touchdevelop.com/mpuj).
- 33. The TouchDevelop website provides a variety of scripts that can be used for learning or as examples. Sample scripts meant to illustrate how to use the built-in APIs can be found at the URL https://www.touchdevelop.com/pboj. Scripts written by other users can be found by going to the TouchDevelop URL https://www.touchdevelop.com/search and entering a term like ‘game’ into the search box. Alternatively one can explore the on-line API manual at https://www.touchdevelop.com/doc/api. 1.3 The TouchDevelop ecosystem A script developed using the TouchDevelop editor can be shared with other users by using the TouchDevelop cloud infrastructure at https://www.touchdevelop.com. Figure 1-1 gives a high level architectural overview of the TouchDevelop ecosystem: regardless of whether a phone or browser client is used, all information such as scripts is retrieved and stored in the touchdevelop.com cloud service. Figure 1-1: The TouchDevelop ecosystem
- 34. TouchDevelop scripts are developed by users on their devices and executed within the TouchDevelop run time environment. These scripts can be shared with other users. The TouchDevelop cloud infrastructure supports this sharing amongst a community of TouchDevelop users. These scripts can also be searched, viewed, and installed into a user’s account using the TouchDevelop website. The cloud infrastructure enables sharing, and, acts as a repository of all scripts developed and published by users. The TouchDevelop website allocates a unique deep link for each script on http://touchdevelop.com; where each script is identified by a seemingly random letter sequence. For example, https://www.touchdevelop.com/zpco refers to a particular version of the TouchInvaders game, as in Figure 1-2. It can be used to open the script directly. This link can be shared with other people or on social networks.
- 35. Figure 1-2: Viewing metadata of a script If a user likes this script, he or she can show their appreciation of a script or a comment by giving it a positive review in the form of a “heart”. On any client, a phone or a web browser, the user can edit a script as shown in Figure 1-3. Figure 1-3: Editing a script
- 36. 1.4 History and Future After releasing TouchDevelop in April of 2011, first exclusively available for Windows Phone, the overwhelming response surprised us. Since then, more than 300,000 people downloaded the app. At first, TouchDevelop was limited to creating scripts on the device where it was installed – there was no way to share scripts with other people. In August 2011, the update to v2.0 of TouchDevelop brought sharing of scripts via the touchdevelop.com cloud service. The update also enabled many more social features such as reviewing scripts, writing comments, taking screenshots, etc. Since then, more than 90,000 people registered online and shared more than 25,000 scripts, most of them written entirely on phones. Many features were added over
- 37. time, making TouchDevelop an increasingly powerful development environment and language. The features include support for libraries for code reuse and custom structured data types. In order to share scripts not only within the TouchDevelop environment, but also with other people who might not be aware of TouchDevelop, we added the ability to export scripts as apps that can be submitted to the Windows Phone Store. This capability has existed since March of 2012. In October 2012, TouchDevelop took a giant step forward. Thanks to a complete re-implementation, TouchDevelop could now run not just on Windows Phones, but on virtually any modern device in a browser as a Web App. The supported platforms include PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android. The new TouchDevelop implementation harnesses the power of HTML5 and JavaScript, while still using the same programming language as before. The code editor dynamically adjusts to the screen size to accommodate small screens on smartphones, medium-sized screens on tablets, and large screens on PCs. The user interface of the Web App has again been optimized for touchscreens, but a keyboard and a mouse can also be used if desired and available. At the same time, we also added the ability to export scripts as apps that can be submitted to the Windows Store (which is a separate concern from the Windows Phone Store). In the near future, the update v3.0 of the TouchDevelop app for Windows Phone will bring the same editing and execution engine that currently powers the TouchDevelop Web App to Windows Phone 8 devices. A significant upcoming addition to the TouchDevelop programming language will be the concept of “cloud state.” By just tagging a variable as “cloud”, similar to how one marks a variable as “static” in C#, an app is turned into a distributed app with shared state. All changes to that variable will get automatically synchronized between different devices and users. 1.5 Platforms
- 38. There are a number of optional sensors for Windows Phones. “Near field communication” (NFC), front camera, rear camera, magnetometer and gyroscope may or may not be present in any given device model. Similarly, some browsers choose to expose certain sensors while others don’t. Safari on iOS exposes the accelerometer; Chrome on Android only partially, and Internet Explorer 10 not at all. This variety is most likely an artifact of the continuously evolving HTML5 standard; so, hopefully, more and more sensors will be supported by all browsers as time goes by. Depending on these constraints, and depending on whether you are running the native TouchDevelop app on Windows Phone or the Web App in the browser, different feature sets are available to you when you write your scripts. See https://www.touchdevelop.com/platforms for a complete and up-to- date overview of the different platform capabilities. 1.5.1 Installing TouchDevelop on a Windows phone If TouchDevelop is to be used for the first time on a Windows Phone, it will need to be installed. To install the app, follow these steps: 1. Tap the Store tile on the Windows phone. 2. Press the search icon at the bottom of the screen, and type the text ‘touchdevelop’ into the Store Search text box. Before you finish typing all the letters, the TouchDevelop app should appear as a choice on the screen. 3. Tap that choice to select it. 4. Tap Install. If your device is running a Windows Phone 7 or 7.5 or 7.8 operating system, then you will get TouchDevelop v2.0, which uses a slightly different user interface that does not match the screenshots in this book, and its language is a subset what is discussed in this book. If your device is running Windows Phone 8, then you will get TouchDevelop v3.0, which resembles the Web App at
- 39. https://www.touchdevelop.com/app, but it exposes many more sensors and data providers available on the phone. 1.5.2 Running TouchDevelop on other platforms On all other platforms, TouchDevelop does not come as an app in a marketplace, but instead as a Web App. You can run it from your web browser: 1. Go to https://www.touchdevelop.com/ 2. Log in. You will be taken to the Web App. 1.6 The scripting language TouchDevelop is a language for writing mobile apps. The TouchDevelop Windows Phone application and the web app also provide a runtime environment for executing TouchDevelop scripts. The TouchDevelop language is a typed, structured programming language built around the idea of only using touch to author code. It has built-in primitives that make it easy to access the rich sensor data available on a mobile device. The TouchDevelop language mixes imperative, object-oriented, and functional features. The imperative parts are the most visible: users can update local variables, and the states of global objects. Object-orientation is dictated by auto completion requirements – properties of objects are an easily accessible and intuitive concept. However, for the sake of simplicity, the language does not provide the ability to define new types which are subtypes of other types. A TouchDevelop script consists of a number of actions (functions or procedures), events (actions to be performed when an external event occurs), definitions of tables and record types, global state (global variables and read-only data) and library references (references to other scripts). The language is covered in some depth in Chapter 2. The TouchDevelop script editor is part of the TouchDevelop application. It is designed for efficient entry of scripts using only the
- 40. touchscreen. TouchDevelop scripts execute within the TouchDevelop application. The mode of execution is entirely reactive - actions are run in response to events. Events can be raised by user input (e.g., interacting with a UI element, changing the orientation of the phone, or shaking it), events from the phone (e.g., change of active song in the song player) or passage of time. TouchDevelop uses cooperative multi-threading. Actions and events are executed in a single- threaded manner.
- 41. Chapter 2 The Scripting Language A TouchDevelop script appears to the user as statements in a language which is not unlike many other programming languages. This chapter covers the syntax and semantics of that language. The language is augmented by a powerful and rich API (Application Programming Interface), an API which significantly extends the programming capabilities of the TouchDevelop language. The API is covered in the chapters which follow this one. 2.1 Introduction – the language flavor 2.2 Datatypes and variables 2.3 Expressions 2.4 Statements 2.5 Actions 2.6 Events 2.7 Creating library scripts 2.1 Introduction – the language flavor These introductory paragraphs are written for people who know some of the terminology used to describe programming language semantics, and will allow such readers to fast forward over large chunks of this chapter. The scripting language is statement oriented. Statements are executed in a sequential manner. Control flow constructs include if- statements, for and while loops, and functions (which are called actions in this language).
- 42. The statements manipulate values. All intermediate values and variables are statically type checked. Only parameters of actions have explicit type declarations. The datatypes of all other values and variables are inferred through analysis of the code. The language is strongly typed, in that (with one exception), every operation requires operands of particular datatypes and there is no automatic coercion to the type required by an operation. The datatypes belong to one of two categories: value types and reference types. Value types may have storage on the stack used for local variables, and their storage is automatically deallocated on exit from an action (i.e. from a function). Reference types have their storage allocated on the heap. The heap is garbage collected. In addition to parameters and local variables, a script can define globally visible variables in its data section or read-only variables in its art section. Their storage is persistent across script executions. Although the language syntax shows similarities to object-oriented languages, the language does not support the object-oriented paradigm. For example, there is no equivalent of class inheritance or method overloading. To conserve real estate on smaller screens, several symbols are used instead of keywords. These symbols are all available as characters in the Segoe UI Symbol font (a font which is distributed with the Windows 7 and 8 operating systems). The symbols are summarized in Table 2-1. Table 2-1: Special symbols used in scripts Symbol Unicode Value Description U+2192 Select a method or field belonging to the value provided on the left
- 43. Symbol Unicode Value Description U+25B7 Call the action named on the right and defined in the current script U+25F3 Access a global persistent variable defined in the data section of the script U+267B Call a function defined in another script, which has been published as a library U+2339 Access a datatype or item declared in the record section of the script U+273F Access a value in the art section of the script 2.1.1 A sample program (/okzc) This sample program is shown in Figure 2-1. It uses several features provided by the API. They will be explained only briefly. More complete explanations are provided in later chapters. Note that this script runs only on a Windows Phone. Figure 2-1: The ‘new songs’ script (/okzc)
- 44. The script comprises two actions and two events. The action named main is the entry point for the script. The action named display song is called by main. It has one input parameter named song (with type Song) and has one result parameter named result (with type Number). The main action defines and initializes a local variable named found. No datatype is provided in that definition; it is inferred from the value
- 45. used for initialization which has type Number. The local variable named songs is, by using the API, initialized with a collection of all songs held on the phone. A for-each loop steps through every value in the collection, assigning the next variable to a new local variable named song. The first statement inside the loop calls an action using the notation display song(song). It passes a reference to the local variable song and receives a number back as the result, adding that to the found variable. The second statement inside the loop takes a string constant and concatenates the value of the global data item named played. The preceding symbol indicates that the variable has global scope and is persistent. The string concatenation operator is || and is the only operator in TouchDevelop which is overloaded – meaning that it accepts operands with any datatypes and those operand values are converted to strings. The resulting string value constructed by the concatenation appears to the left of the arrow operator →. It indicates that the value is to be transmitted to the method shown on the right, whose name is post to wall. Almost every datatype has a post to wall method; it causes a representation of the value to be displayed on the screen. The sample script contains two events. An event is an action which is executed whenever the specified event occurs. The shake event is caused by physically shaking the phone. When shaking is detected by the phone’s sensors, the code provided for the shake event is executed. Events do not interrupt each other; they are executed in first-come first-served order. If a script contains one or more events, the main program does not terminate. It waits for events to occur. In this case, the script terminates only if halted by the user (e.g. tapping the phone’s back button) or if it executes a call to a method in the API for that purpose (time→stop). 2.2 Datatypes and variables
- 46. Each type (except the special type Nothing) belongs to one of two categories: Value Types or Reference Types. If a variable has a value type, then storage for an instance of that type is held inside the variable itself. For example, a variable with type Number is allocated storage which is used to hold number values. However, if a variable has a reference type, then storage for its value is allocated on the heap and the variable holds a reference to that heap storage. 2.2.1 The Invalid value Every datatype (except the special type Nothing) has a special value Invalid in addition to all its normal values. This special value is normally used to indicate that a global data variable has not been initialized or that a method in the API was unable to return a value. TouchDevelop provides a method for testing a value of any datatype (except Nothing) to test whether it is the Invalid value. There are also API methods for obtaining the Invalid value for any desired type. If a data structure (such as a tree or linked list) is constructed using Object types declared in the Records section of a script, the Invalid value would usually be used to play the role of a null reference value. Some code to demonstrate the use of Invalid values appears below. var numUsers := 0 … if connection failure detected then numUsers := invalid → number else … if numUsers → is invalid then “Script is terminating” → post to wall else 2.2.2 The Nothing type A method or an operation which does not return a usable result, but which otherwise succeeded, actually returns a value of type Nothing. For example, the post to wall method which is provided for every datatype returns a result of type Nothing. In some languages, such as F#, the Unit type is the equivalent of the Nothing type in TouchDevelop. There is a single value with type Nothing. No
- 47. operations at all are provided for this type; it is similar to the void type in languages like C/C++ and Java. Value types The basic types or elementary types provided in the TouchDevelop scripting language are Number, Boolean, and String. These are all Value Types. There are also several composite types which are value types. All the value types are listed in Table 2-2. Here are some further details about the Number and String types. Table 2-2: The Value types Value Type Description Covered in Chapter Number An integer or floating-point number 2 Boolean The type whose constants are true and false 2 String A sequence of zero or more Unicode characters 2 Color Used for colors displayed on the screen. Values are compatible with 4 byte ARGB (alpha, red, green, blue) color representations. Many standard colors are provided as constants of the Color datatype. 6 DateTime Holds any date from 0001 CE (Common Era) to 9999 CE, combined with a time of day. The time of day is recorded with 100 nanosecond accuracy. 8 Location Holds a combination of latitude, longitude and altitude values plus a course direction and a speed in two-dimensional space. 8
- 48. Value Type Description Covered in Chapter Motion A combination of sensor readings which describe motion of the phone in 3D space plus a time-stamp which specifies when the readings were taken. The motion information includes speed, acceleration and angular velocity. 7 Vector3 A triple of three numbers used to hold a velocity or acceleration in the three spatial dimensions or an angular velocity about the three axes in 3D space. 7 Number The Number type combines the integer and floating-point types found in other languages. Values are held in double-precision floating point format, consistent with the IEEE 754 standard. This implies that the special values plus infinity, minus infinity and NaN (not-a-number) can be computed as the result of a calculation. When a Number value is used in a context where an integer is needed, such as when selecting the k-th value in a collection, the value is rounded to the closest integer. A value exactly half-way between is rounded up; for example, 1.5 is rounded up to 2 while 1.49 is rounded down to 1. String A string may contain zero or more Unicode characters. When a string constant is shown as part of a TouchDevelop script, double- quote characters are used to enclose the string and a backslash character is used to escape a double-quote character or a special character which appears inside the string. However, when using the editor to enter a string constant, no backslash characters should be entered (unless a backslash character itself is wanted inside the string constant). It should be noted that TouchDevelop does not provide the char type for working with single characters. Instead a string of length one
- 49. should be used. 2.2.3 Reference types Storage for an instance of a reference type is allocated in a different place from a variable declared with that type. A local variable with a reference type is implemented as a pointer (a reference) to the actual value which is stored elsewhere. In TouchDevelop, two kinds of reference types are provided. If the value represents an entity which exists outside TouchDevelop, such as a song on a Windows phone, then storage is allocated outside the TouchDevelop application. Otherwise the storage is allocated within an area of memory controlled by TouchDevelop which is called the heap. When there are no more references to a value on the heap, the storage used by that value is automatically reclaimed. It is garbage collected. The language facilities and the operations which can be performed on reference types in a TouchDevelop script depend on whether the values are external to the script or are internal. When one variable with a reference type is assigned to another variable, both variables will become references to the same instance. A simple example to illustrate this sharing of one instance between two variables is provided by the following code. // Set x to refer to a value of type Contact var x := social → choose contacts var y := x x → set title(“His Excellency”) y → title → post to wall In this example, the title displayed on the screen by the last statement will always be ‘His Excellency’ because x and y are both references to the same instance on the heap, in which the title field of an instance of the Contact type has been set to that string. Reference types provided by the API Excluding the collection types (which are covered in the next subsection of this chapter below), Table 2-3 lists the reference types implemented by the API and available to TouchDevelop scripts. The
- 50. table explicitly indicates whether storage for an instance of each type is allocated on the heap or is external to the TouchDevelop script. Table 2-3: Reference types provided by the API
- 51. Collection types The API also provides homogeneous collections. A collection contains zero or more elements whose type is one of the value types or one of the reference types listed in Table 2-2. Collections are provided for many of the possible element types. When a collection type has not been provided, an equivalent list type can be defined instead using an Object declaration (see Objects and Decorators, below). Some collections correspond to resources provided on a Windows Phone (and therefore may not be supported on other platforms), such as a collection of stored songs, and such collections are immutable. Other collections are mutable, meaning that new elements can be inserted into the collection and/or elements may be deleted. The collection types provided by the API are listed in Table 2-4 and Table 2-5. Three of the collection types have been tagged as special and are listed separately in Table 2-5. These three collection types have some special properties not possessed by the other collection types and need some additional explanation.
- 52. Table 2-4: Regular collection types Table 2-5: Special collection types 2.2.4 Tables and indexes
- 53. Another Random Document on Scribd Without Any Related Topics
- 54. were placed, side by side, that fifty could go up abreast. The blue Voltigeur flag, now full of holes, was planted on the parapet. A tide of brave Americans overflowed the fort. Resistance was vain. A little before half-past nine Bravo gave up his diamond-hilted sword, and the tricolor, that had been waving placidly amidst the uproar, came down with a jerk.[17] Fire was opened then upon the Mexicans at the gateway below, and fearless Captain Roberts of Casey’s storming party, at the head of all the troops on the causeway and supported by General Smith’s brigade, carried the gateway batteries. Many from Quitman’s and Smith’s commands rushed to the summit, dealing with flying enemies as they went. Scott himself came up—the hero of Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane. The men pressed round him. He told them how glad he was, and how proud of them; and how proud their country, their wives, their sisters and their sweethearts would be; and it seemed as if such cheering had never been heard, anywhere in the world, before.[17] Exultant but weary, the soldiers now looked about them as they took breath. From this eyrie the whole wonderful Valley of Mexico could be surveyed. All round the west the great wall of rugged mountains closed it in, and two vast, snowy peaks guarded its portal on the east. As if reluctantly the mountains gradually subsided into verdant hills and a wide plain, enamelled in a thousand soft hues. The broad, smooth lakes gleamed like molten silver. The gold of ripening grain, penciled lines of pale-green maguey, cottages radiant in the sun like the sails of distant ships, country-houses and villas half hiding in foliage, and many straight, converging avenues, lined with trees, delighted the eye. In the midst, clear-cut as a medallion, lay the city of Mexico, the capital, its roofs and towers black with people; and there, just yonder, stood the Halls of the Montezumas, the Jerusalem of these ardent young crusaders. Unfortunately breastworks, redoubts, cannon and a Mexican army were still to be reckoned with. Santa Anna had probably lost not more than 1800 killed, wounded and missing this day, and apparently Scott’s loss had been about one fourth as great.[18]
- 55. QUITMAN’S OPERATIONS The Citadel in 1840. But the Americans quickly prepared to advance—first of all, Quitman. Naturally a certain discretion had been given to the commanding generals, and he intended to make the most of it. Looking from the hill along the Belén causeway, he saw a wide avenue divided through the middle by a stone aqueduct some eight feet wide and fifteen feet high, resting on heavy arches and pillars of masonry. Owing to fine weather the road was unusually firm. A small number of troops, fleeing in the utmost confusion, could be seen upon it, but at only one point fortifications. Borrowing all of Pillow’s troops except the Fifteenth Infantry, which remained to hold Chapultepec and guard the prisoners, he quietly gave orders that his men should assemble near the main gateway. At once the inspiring words began to circulate, “Quitman’s division to the city!” and as soon as possible the Rifles, in their crimson sashes, were leading the march forward. About a mile on, a two-gun battery, with a field redan at its right on the marsh, blocked the way. For an hour or so Drum used a small gun upon it. Then the Rifles, after creeping along the aqueduct from arch to arch, took it by assault, and the march continued toward the fortifications at the garita.[19] As at the other garitas, no gates existed here, but a ditch and a parapet blocked one half of the causeway and a zigzag redoubt the other. Just at the north was the stone house intended for guards and customs officials, beyond which lay the wide Paseo (Promenade). South, on the Piedad road, were artillery and infantry that could fire through the arches. Inside the garita, buildings extending toward the east offered shelter, and in open ground a little more toward the north and about 300 yards distant, the extensive edifice called the citadel, protected with a wall and a wet ditch, constituted a serious obstacle. [19]
- 56. Santa Anna, after acting like a madman when Chapultepec fell, came to this garita. General Terrés, a brave old Spaniard, commanded here with about 180 infantry and some artillerymen. Santa Anna gave him three guns of medium power, and stationed General Ramírez in the Paseo, Brevet General Argüelles on the opposite side, and General Perdigón Garay and Colonel Barrios in the rear with substantial reserves.[19] On approaching this formidable position, Quitman encountered a withering storm of bullets, grape and solid shot from both sides and the front, and suffered rather severely. But Drum and Benjamin, iron men, bringing up as soon as possible a long 18-pounder and a 24- pound howitzer on the opposite sides of the aqueduct, dampened the ardor of the Mexicans not a little, and splinters from the masonry did havoc among the sheltered artillerymen at the garita. Some troops already beaten at Chapultepec and at the intermediate battery soon became demoralized. At about one o’clock rumors crept in that Americans from the southern front were turning the position. Ramírez, Garay, Argüelles and Barrios retired without the formality of saying good-by; and Terrés, whose cannon ammunition had failed, withdrew prudently to the citadel with two of the guns and about seventy panicky men, the remnant of his garrison. The Rifles now dashed over the parapet; and at exactly twenty minutes past one a tall, slender man with short, bristling, grayish hair stood on it, smoking a cigar and waving a red handkerchief tied to a rifle. It was Quitman, self-possessed but exultant; and in a few moments the Palmetto colors and the green banner of the Rifles, with its blazing gold eagle, were flying at the portal of the city.[19] The advance then continued for some little distance, and, as the ammunition of our two heavy guns had been exhausted, the captured Mexican 8-pounder was made to do good service. But Santa Anna, who had thought the position safe and gone on to San Cosme, soon arrived with ordnance and troops. The citadel was reinforced, and infantry and cannon were placed at other points. Quitman’s last artillery cartridges were used, and under the enemy’s fire no more could be brought up. Solid shot cut down both Drum
- 57. THE SAN COSME APPROACH and Benjamin. Our infantry had to retire to the vicinity of the garita. Attempts were then made to strengthen the position; but they did not accomplish very much. Ammunition gave out entirely, and firing ceased. The enemy grew bolder. Again and again they charged, and though repulsed they did not appear to be discouraged. By this time every member of Quitman’s staff, Beauregard, his engineer officer, and all his artillery officers had been killed or wounded, and he longed anxiously for night.[19] Meanwhile, events had occurred on Scott’s other wing. Trousdale’s command, supplemented with Jackson’s guns, pushed along the road and aqueduct on the north side of the rectangle, and the latter distinguished himself by fearlessly attacking a one-gun redoubt, which, supported by infantry and by fire from the summit of the hill, barred the way. To check Mexican reinforcements and threaten the enemy—particularly the troops in Quitman’s front—Scott now had Worth, Garland’s brigade, C. F. Smith’s battalion, Duncan’s battery, the rest of Magruder’s battery and Sumner’s dragoons pursue the same route. The one-gun redoubt was flanked and occupied; and Worth’s forces arrived at the northeast corner of the rectangle in time to annoy the retreat of Rangel and other departing Mexicans. [20] Here began the broad, straight Verónica causeway—closely similar to that of Belén— which extended almost north for nearly two miles (3530 yards) to the English cemetery, and there joined the San Cosme highway at approximately a right angle. Understanding the difficulties of the Belén approach, Scott intended to make only a feint in that quarter, and let his left wing break into the city. He therefore sent the brigades of Clarke and Cadwalader and also Huger with siege guns to Worth. To organize the attacking column, replenish the ammunition, make other needed preparations, and sweep away the resistance encountered at several minor fortifications, especially near the cemetery, required time; but at about four o’clock Worth found himself on the straight highway about half a mile from the San Cosme garita.[20]
- 58. This entrance to the city had been included in the general scheme of defence, but on account of its remoteness from pressing danger few workmen had been employed here; and when Chapultepec fell, it lay entirely open except for a small parapet without a ditch extending partly across the highway some 250 yards to the west. General Peña, however, coming this way from Chapultepec, stopped at the parapet, and Rangel placed at the garita such troops as he could assemble. Santa Anna, who displayed on this occasion reckless valor and an almost fiendish activity, sent three available cannon and brought additional troops. The roofs of buildings in the vicinity were occupied. A redoubt with embrasures was hastily erected at the garita, the near arches of the aqueduct were stopped up with sand- bags, and some guns in the Paseo were prepared to coöperate.[20] On attempting to advance, therefore, Worth found the highway swept with bullets, canister, grape and shells. Garland, however, was ordered to creep forward under the protection of the arches, and endeavor to reach the south flank of the garita, and Clarke to burrow through the continuous line of buildings on the other side, and strike the northern flank. Lieutenant U. S. Grant, who was reported as acquitting himself at this time “most nobly,” waded some ditches with a party of men and a mountain howitzer, and planted the gun on the roof of a church at the right; and Lieutenant Raphael Semmes of the navy performed a similar exploit on the left. Artillery fire compelled Peña, who—reinforced by Santa Anna with two companies of the Eleventh Infantry—was fighting gallantly, to leave the parapet; and Hunt, of Duncan’s battery, though he lost more than half his men in dashing 150 yards at full speed, landed a gun at that point, where he could load in safety and then fire from the one embrasure.[20] By five o’clock these preparations were complete. On the other hand Rangel had been severely wounded, and his principal gun, a 24- pound howitzer, had become unserviceable. Suddenly, to his utter astonishment, Americans appeared on the top of a three-story house that commanded the interior of his redoubt, and with a single volley disposed of almost every gunner and artillery mule. Then some of
- 59. them hurried down to the front door of the house, burst it open, and rushed into the redoubt, where they met Americans just arrived by a flanking movement from the other side of the highway. In a panic the Mexicans fled, literally sweeping away Santa Anna and a body of troops, who had come at all speed from Belén to support the position. Many of them scattered, but with no little difficulty others were conducted to the citadel. By six o’clock Worth entered Mexico. Near the garita his forces were safely housed, and by way of “good- night” and good advice, Huger dropped a few shells in the vicinity of the palace.[20] The end, however, was not yet in view. Santa Anna had some 5000 infantry and fifteen cannon at the citadel, with probably about 7000 more troops not far away, and the Americans, besides having lost many in the day’s fighting, were now fearfully divided. Not only Worth but Quitman, who planted three heavy guns in battery during the night, intended to advance in the morning, and apparently a day of carnage was to ensue.[20] But Santa Anna probably began to feel the reaction that always followed his great efforts. Funds and provisions were scanty. The army was demoralized, and the mass of the people felt disheartened. Within the town there were no fortifications, and it looked as if another battle under these conditions might scatter the troops, and involve the loss of nearly all the war material. Besides, leading persons in the city had always been strenuously anxious to prevent bombardment and assault; and the President was urged now, as four months previously, to spare it. Early in the evening, therefore, he briefly discussed the situation with Olaguíbel, the minister of war and three generals. The Governor was for acting deliberately; but Santa Anna, declaring that honor had been satisfied and the city could not be defended successfully, ordered immediate evacuation; and by one o’clock the troops retired in a somewhat orderly fashion to Guadalupe Hidalgo. About three hours later a commission of the city council (ayuntamiento) offered terms of capitulation at the American headquarters in Tacubaya. These were
- 60. THE AMERICANS CAPTURE MEXICO of course rejected, for the town lay at our mercy; but Scott gave informally the usual assurances of good treatment.[21] So when the first thin streak of dawn glimmered forth behind the gray volcanoes, and our cannon at Belén garita were on the point of opening fire, a white flag and an invitation to enter the capital reached Quitman. First making sure there was no deception, he advanced; and after stopping about half an hour at the citadel he moved forward under a splendid sun to the grand plaza, which fronted the palace and the cathedral, with Smith’s brigade, the Marines, the New York volunteers and Steptoe’s battery. As a triumphal procession the command looked rather strange. Quitman and Smith marched at its head on foot—the former with only one shoe; and behind them came troops decorated with mud, the red stains of battle and rough bandages, carrying arms at quite haphazard angles. Not less astonishing looked the city, for sidewalks, windows, balconies and housetops were crowded with people. Except for the silence, the countless white handkerchiefs and the foreign flags, it might have been thought a holiday. Before the palace, which filled the east side of the plaza, the troops formed in line of battle. Officers took their places at the front, and when Captain Roberts hoisted a battle-scarred American flag on the staff of the palace at seven o’clock, arms were presented and the officers saluted.[22] Soon loud cheering was heard. A few squares away the commander- in-chief, escorted by cavalry with drawn swords, had reached Worth’s command, which had stopped at six o’clock by orders opposite the high ash trees of the Alameda. A clatter of galloping hoofs followed; and in another moment, amidst the involuntary applause of the Mexicans, General Scott, dressed in full uniform and mounted on a tall, heavy bay charger, dashed with his staff and Harney’s dragoons into the grand plaza—his noble figure, gold epaulets and snowy plumes, resplendent under the brilliant sun, fitly typifying the invisible glory of his unkempt and limping army. Uncovering, he rode slowly along the line of battle to the music of
- 61. our national airs; the troops, presenting arms again, cheered and hurrahed till it seemed as if the earthquake-proof cathedral must be shaking, and the cavalry escort waved high their flashing blades.[22] In stentorian tones the commander-in-chief appointed Quitman governor of the city; and then, dismounting in the courtyard, he clanked up the broad stairway of the palace, to indite congratulations on the “many glorious victories” of his army. Presently cross-belted American Marines were calmly patrolling the Halls of the Montezumas as if they owned them, while the rest of the troops gazed with profound exultation at the long pinkish façade and the endless balconies of the upper story, and the people gazed silently at the troops. “They are all and each of them heroes,” commented a foreigner present, and others in the world thought the same.
- 62. “Light up your homes, O fathers, For those young hero bands, Whose march is still through vanquished towns And over conquered lands, Whose valor, wild, impetuous In all its fiery glow, Pours onward like a lava-tide, And sweeps away the foe!”[22]
- 63. XXIX FINAL MILITARY OPERATIONS January, 1847–April, 1848 At the north, after the Buena Vista campaign and the embarrassments growing out of it came to an end, Taylor probably wished, in what an officer calledto advance as far as San Luis Potosí, and retained troops urgently needed by Scott; but by the middle of June, 1847, he doubtless realized that effective operations on so long a line, especially through hostile and much of the way through barren territory, were impracticable, and advised that Scott’s column alone should act on the offensive. A month later orders of a corresponding tenor were issued at Washington, and then some 3000 surplus troops of the northern army proceeded toward the capital, though too late, of course, to assist in the decisive struggle.[1] Valencia, during his brief stay at San Luis Potosí in the early summer of 1847, not only requested permission to move against Saltillo, but planned that General Filisola, aided by a brigade under Avalos, then lying at Matehuala, by Reyes, the comandante general of Zacatecas, and by Urrea—who still commanded theand could easily pass across the Sierra Madre from Tula—should threaten, if not attack, Saltillo and Monterey, and at least keep the Americans on the defensive. Some disquieting movements of these troops resulted; but Valencia was soon called to Mexico, and various difficulties, chiefly a lack of means resulting from the American occupation, proved fatal to this ambitious enterprise, besides hindering the Mexican preparations to receive Taylor at San Luis Potosí.[1] During the winter of 1846–47 and to some extent later, the garrison of Tampico was menaced by plans for an uprising, to be assisted by outside forces, and sometimes it was feared that a move to capture the city would be launched from Tula in the hope of embarrassing Scott’s communications; but the Americans, though not strong in numbers there, were vigilant and well protected by fortifications. Besides, the authorities of Tamaulipas, now living on fairly good terms with the invaders, had little wish to take part in active hostilities. They quarrelled bitterly with Urrea, who naturally attempted to draw supplies and money from the region, and in November, 1847, with a view to bringing about harmony, that officer was removed. Scott’s victories and especially the fall of Mexico had no little effect in this quarter; the prospect of serious operations entirely disappeared; and early in November, 1847, General Taylor, who had reached the conclusion some time before that his country wanted him for President, and had laid aside his old brown coat in favor of checked shirt sleeves, set out for home on a leave of absence, which actually
- 64. FIGHTING IN THE CAPITAL continued until the close of the war. Wool took his place; but nothing occurred in this region except guerilla affairs, of which a due account will be given presently.[1] In the northwest, meantime, Price, who commanded in New Mexico and was disturbed by rumors of danger from the south, decided on his own responsibility, ignoring instructions to do otherwise, that he must assume the aggressive. Early in March, 1848, the city of Chihuahua was therefore reoccupied; and on the sixteenth of that month, after a little brisk fighting, the town of Rosales, about sixty miles to the southeast, which Angel Trias held with some 800 men, chiefly National Guards, was captured by assault with a trifling loss. But this campaign had no general effect on the war—indeed, the treaty of peace had already been signed—and Price was ordered by Marcy to retire.[1] In Scott’s department the final military operations began very promptly. Immediately after the Americans took possession of the grand plaza at Mexico on the morning of September 14, a multitude of blanketed léperos crowded closely upon them. Already these miscreants had tasted the disorder they loved, for the palace had been left unguarded, and they had sacked it; and now they showed signs of turbulence. The plaza was cleared, however, and no further trouble seemed likely. But when our troops began to march away to their quarters, a shot was heard. A bullet probably intended for Worth struck Garland, and almost instantly firing from street corners, windows and the tops of houses became general, though not systematic. Thousands of convicts from the jail supported the populace, and in one way or another not a few of the better class coöperated. By Tornel’s order paving stones had been taken to many of the azoteas with a view to resisting the invader step by step, and these, like every other sort of weapon, were now used.[2] Though surprised, the Americans promptly accepted the challenge. Skirmishers drove back the mobs. Grape and canister swept the streets. As a rule, every house from which a shot flew became a target for our heavy cannon, which seemed to shake the very foundations of the city, and when breached was immediately sacked; and sharpshooters worked effectively on towers and roofs. Scott threatened even sterner measures; and the city authorities not only put up notices, embodying his threats and imploring the people to desist from a vain and imprudent contest, but interceded personally with them in the streets. By about noon the Americans held all the points of vantage, and as evening approached, the firing died away. A fearful night ensued. It was dark and cold. No lights relieved the gloom. Wild mobs ran shouting through the streets, and the hoof-beats of American patrols resounded from square to square.[2] Santa Anna, finding it impossible on the morning of the fourteenth to subsist his army at Guadalupe, had ordered the infantry and heavy guns to Querétaro under General Herrera, and proceeded with four small pieces and the cavalry to San Cristóbal, a point about fourteen miles northeast of the capital. After seeing the
- 65. people of Mexico view with indifference his efforts of the previous day, he expected nothing of them; but on learning of the outbreak he marched back to Guadalupe, and at a late hour sent into Mexico a small force of cavalry and infantry to investigate and assist. This met Duncan’s battery and retreated; but Santa Anna, assured that on the next day there would be a rising en masse, erected a breastwork at the Peralvillo garita on the north side of the town, and waited.[2] As soon as day broke, gloomy and wet, the shooting was in fact resumed, at least in the northern quarters. But he soon perceived that no general movement was taking place, and again marched away. This disheartened the people still more; the efforts of the authorities influenced them greatly; and by the end of the afternoon, realizing that much was to be suffered and nothing gained, they generally abandoned hope. During the next day or two scattering shots could be heard, but real fighting was over. Extravagant hopes of destroying the small American army were still entertained by lightheaded men.wrote one of these, and attempts were made by military officers to organize a real conspiracy; but lack of courage, means, confidence and mutual trust—as well as the watchfulness of the Americans—made success impossible. Scott repeatedly warned his troops to be vigilant and orderly, to keep together, and to refrain from drinking. As the danger grew less menacing, however, they became less careful, and for probably a month assassinations were frequent. From first to last several hundred Americans perished in the hostilities, and no doubt far more of the enemy. But by the middle of October the city was tranquil.[2] The concluding field operations in Scott’s department resembled for the most part the fighting just described, for they had to do chiefly with guerillas. That style of warfare suited the national character. It had figured prominently in the Spanish struggle against Napoleon and in the Mexican war of independence; and when the public began to see clearly that battles could not stop the Americans, it was invoked—even though by universal military practice in Europe those who robbed and fought at will, while pretending to be inoffensive, were considered brigands and assassins—as the one hope.[3] Thoughtful persons like J. F. Ramírez and General Mora pointed out serious dangers: the impossibility of discipline, the relaxation of morale, the destruction of all standards, and the certainty that a spirit of violence and rapine would grow by what it fed upon; and they recognized the improbability that such methods could prevail against the strength, equipment, compactness and skill of the Americans. But the obvious advantages of the guerilla system, which it required far less intelligence to perceive and appreciate, counted powerfully on the other side. How much the Spanish themselves had suffered from their irregulars during the hostilities against Napoleon was not understood, and patriotic pride in the war of independence had tended to draw a veil over its horrors.[3]
- 66. THE GUERILLAS OF THE NORTHEAST The dagger, said the official newspaper, was the favorite weapon of the people. Unarmed men could burn wagons and intercept communications, it was pointed out. Even women and children could help. A thorough knowledge of the country, its mountains and its by-paths, would evidently constitute an enormous advantage. Light corps of the abstemious rancheros, embarrassed with no baggage, could travel quickly day and night, concentrate in large numbers against an American detachment, strike, vanish, and then, when least expected, reappear, making the most of all neglects, all mistakes, nullifying superior strength by avoiding it, and nullifying discipline by fighting in a style that had no need of discipline. Situated even more favorably than Spain for such warfare, the Mexicans were to outdo her example.[3] This is what will save us, proclaimed in effect the legislature of México state.exclaimed the congress of Vera Cruz. Santa Anna endorsed the plan. Salas organized thewhich were to make” “in every manner imaginable”; and in April, 1847, the government, pinning its faith to the system, set it on foot in earnest. Scott, thewas to be routed after all.[3] In the north February, 1847, was the golden month of the irregulars, for the approach of the Mexican army under Santa Anna encouraged the rancheros to lay aside the habits of peace. Canales boasted of 161 Americans killed that month, and Urrea with his combined force of regulars and guerillas, besides engaging in other operations, captured a train of wagons at Agua Negra, and horribly slaughtered a large number of guards and teamsters. To avenge this butchery a party of Rangers, teamsters and other civilians murdered twenty-four men in a village not far distant. Upon this Canales declared what he called martial law, announcing that every American, armed and unarmed, and every Mexican living peaceably would be shot; and many were led by fear or a lust for plunder to take up arms.[4] The American trains in particular seemed likely to be easy prey. As they commonly stretched out for some two miles and were guarded only—for so the character of the road usually dictated—at the ends, the Mexicans, trained to charge at full speed through an ordinary thicket, could readily attack them from ambush at about the middle point, create a stampede, and do a great deal of mischief. Infantry could not pursue the guerillas with success, and the number of our mounted men was always comparatively small, for every Mexican ranchero had at least one smart pony. In September, 1847, a band even attacked Mier. Governor Aguirre of Coahuila exerted himself particularly to organize forces of this character, and not only alcaldes but priests aided the cause.[4] The American leaders, however, pursuing a course that was now conciliatory, now severe, and in many instances technically unjust, succeeded in coping with a system that was itself unjust. Taylor levied on the people of Nuevo Léon a tax of
- 67. GUERILLAS IN VERA CRUZ STATE $96,000, the estimated value of the goods destroyed at Agua Negra, but suspended it indefinitely, when representative authorities proved the substantial innocence of the population and begged for mercy. Cavalry patrols and detachments pursuing culprits fairly wore out their horses. Villages, if even suspected of harboring thewere burned. Contributions were imposed wherever connivance appeared probable. By April, 1847, Canales was in despair.[5] Then Wool determined to stamp out the evil, and announced in July that any guerillas caught by him would be executed. In December, 1847, he issued his famous Order 11, which not only made the Mexican authorities and their towns responsible for all damages done, but required them to hunt down theAguirre attempted to retaliate, but in vain. The Americans had power enough to carry out threats, whereas he had not; and he admitted his failure. Besides, the mass of the population were indolent in mind as well as body, and looked upon submission as preferable to danger. In February, 1848, finding the guilty rancheros were anxious to give up the business, Wool enabled them to resume peaceful occupations by declaring an amnesty, and in the following May he stated that the country had never before been so free from highway robbery.[5] In the south, Vera Cruz, a state of mountains, gorges, thickets and forests threaded with blind paths, was the chief home of the guerilla, and it looked as if Scott’s line of communication might be virtually destroyed. Not only many hardy, hot-blooded and unscrupulous natives, but a great many desperadoes hailing from Cuba were ready to enlist. After the fall of Vera Cruz, and still more after the battle of Cerro Gordo, a large number of regular officers, to say nothing of privates, could scarcely find bread, and some men, like the ex-divinity student, ex-Carlist, Jarauta—whose small, close beard, fierce black eyes, braided jacket, graceful cloak and gold-laced sombrero gave him a romantic air—had acquired in Spain a taste for this adventurous, reckless life; but a vastly greater number were prosaic felons, liberated from prison under a pledge to rob and murder. Nominally J. C. Rebolledo, a fine looking man of rather humane instincts, was the chief in this district, but the 800 or so persons belonging to many small bands, while occasionally acting more or less in concert, were mainly independent. The decree under which all goods coming from points occupied by the Americans were lawful booty opened possibilities of large gains, and Rebolledo’s capture of ten loaded wagons in April, 1847, set the people aflame with cupidity.[6] Brevet Colonel McIntosh and his inexperienced officers, who left Vera Cruz for the interior—it will be recalled—about the first of June, 1847, with a well-advertised convoy including a large amount of specie, dependent on wild mustangs under raw, half-mutinous drivers largely ignorant of English, received the full benefit of this ambitious feeling. Near Tolomé and at Paso de Ovejas he lost men, wagons and pack-mules; and at the national bridge there was a genuine skirmish, in which a number of Americans were killed or wounded. Out of about 130 wagons twenty-
- 68. four had to be abandoned in the low country; and a little way above Jalapa, though strongly reinforced, the troops had to fight again. General Pierce, who left Vera Cruz about six weeks later than McIntosh, had similar experiences. Early in August Major Lally set out from the coast with a few more than 1000 soldiers, two 6- pounders and sixty-four wagons. He lost no merchandise, but his four fights cost him nearly 100 men killed, wounded and missing; and Captain Wells, who followed Lally with some 200 recruits and additional ammunition, lost forty and had to retreat. These and other affairs proved that irregulars, favored by the geography of the region, were capable of doing substantial harm.[7] But in Vera Cruz, as in every other quarter where they operated, though perhaps nowhere else in so marked a degree, the lack of morale, which enabled the guerilla system to exist, proved the cause of its failure. Poor arms, poor ammunition, poor marksmanship, and the want of artillery might have been remedied, or at least might have been offset by the counter-balancing advantages; but this defect was fatal. The Mexican guerillas were very different from what the guerillas of Spain had been. They fought like savages without the excuse of savages, for they knew better. Infuriated by their treacheries and cruelties, the Americans were persistent and unsparing in severity. Patrols who seemed never to sleep hunted out their nests in the mountains. On the march, flanking parties would force their way through the woods five miles or more from the road to catch them between two fires. The torch was applied with much liberality on suspicion, and sometimes on general principles, to huts and villages; and in the end a black swath of devastation, leagues in width, marked the route.[8] Scott ordered that in every case of outrage the nearest alcalde, if he failed to deliver up the guilty, should be fined at least $300 for a murder or the value of the stolen property for a robbery, and that any robber or murderer and any person belonging to a known party of such miscreants might, when caught, be summarily tried by three officers, and either flogged or executed. This plan, however, did not quite satisfy those on the ground—especially the Texas troops. Captain Walker, on his cream-colored horse, and Colonel Hays, in his blue roundabout, black trousers and black leather cap, impressed themselves on the Mexican imagination as the agents of diabolical wrath; and in general it was a tale of merciless atrocities followed by merciless reprisals.[8] At the same time this lack of morale deprived the guerillas of Mexican support. By taking bribes for letting merchandise pass up to the interior and sometimes even guarding it, they violated the laws on which their existence rested. Mostly they were brave only where they felt safe. When laden with booty they would scatter to their homes, no matter how important the business in hand. Rivalries and even hostilities between parties operating in the same district arose. Cooperation could seldom be reckoned upon, and hardly any would face the climate far above Jalapa. Soon learning that it was more wholesome to waylay Mexicans than Americans, they plundered their fellow-countrymen without ceremony; and they would rob
- 69. GUERILLAS OF THE CENTRE even old women or young children of their needful clothing. Sheafs of complaints against them piled up in the state and national archives. People organized to fight them, and sometimes appealed to the Americans against the very men who were to have been their champions.said an American officer.[9] In the states of Puebla, México and Oaxaca also guerillas were organized, and in Puebla all these parties could find an opportunity. General Rea, a pupil of Morelos and the Mexican revolution, had the discredit of the chief command, though Bravo, who stood at the summit of the social scale, was mainly responsible for their iniquities, since during his brief term as comandante general of Puebla he issued a great number of patents to unfit leaders. What Rea did particularly in this regard was to combine individuals and small groups, and place them under some kind of supervision. He loved to answer critics by saying that his guerillas were in the field because honorable men were not; and that, had not the government condoned their crimes, they would have served the Americans as counter-guerillas. After a time his officers adopted a set of rules which aimed to regulate operations, but even this measure seems to have accomplished little. The guerillas robbed the people, seized funds belonging to the state, and pillaged even churches. Some gangs were large enough to attack haciendas. One party called themselves the “Lancers of the Poisoned Spear.”[10] Soon after Scott left Puebla for Mexico early in August, 1847, these banditti and every individual ruffian of that vicinity hurried to the city. Mexicans and even foreign residents were robbed and outraged, and about the first of September, in the hope of more booty, the Americans also were attacked. Two thousand soldiers were needed for a garrison, and Colonel Childs, the civil and military governor, actually had 2193; but 1800 of these were in hospitals. His effectives consisted of about fifty cavalry, 100 artillery, 250 of the First Pennsylvania volunteers, and a small spy company of Mexicans.[11] Headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Black of Pennsylvania and the main body of troops occupied thea large rectangular building on the eastern side of the town, which had a plaza of its own opening toward a public promenade called the Tivoli. To this position five howitzers were allotted, and within a hundred and fifty yards of it all the sick were placed. Half a mile or so from the town on a hill stood Loreto fort, a stone affair equipped with two 12-pound field guns and a 10-inch mortar, where Major Gwynn of the Sixth Infantry commanded; and not far distant, on a higher point of the same hill, was Guadalupe church, now protected with mountain howitzers, a ditch and an earthen wall, under Captain Morehead of the Pennsylvania regiment. But the chief element of the defence was the large, robust, finely-featured Childs, a skilful and veteran officer, cold in manner, clear in judgment, and inflexible in courage. September 13 thebegan in earnest, and from that day on there was a continual small-arm attack, particularly at night, upon San José, which replied with a musket and howitzer fire that kept the assailants at a
- 70. THEOF PUEBLA respectful distance. What was more serious than guerilla shooting, all supplies were now cut off. Such was the state of things at the second city of Mexico when Santa Anna retired from the first.[11] Santa Anna’s real intention was probably to seek an asylum in Guatemala. But many of his friends urged that he could make himself dictator as the sole hope of the country, and it was clear that, if he should recover Puebla and cut off Scott, he would still be able to boast of a triumph. His cavalry, though greatly reduced by desertion, included some 2000 men backed with four light guns. Alvarez, who was ordered to Puebla, still had about 600 foot and horse. Rea, Santa Anna understood, commanded 600 irregulars; 2500 National Guards lay near him with two field pieces, it was reported; and the Pueblans were described as eager to fight. Six thousand men and six guns appeared quite enough to dispose ofas Mexicans described the garrison; and he therefore presented himself at Puebla on September 21. Two days later Alvarez arrived there. But between these two events Childs appeared at a second-story balcony, as a soldier expressed it, and announced that Scott had taken the capital. Evidently, therefore, the Mexican President was not greatly to be feared.[11] After looking about, Santa Anna concluded that it would not be easy to capture the American positions by assault, and appealed to the minister of war—wherever that official might be—for 1000 infantry, a 16-pounder, a 12-pounder, ammunition and supplies. He now had ten cannon, but all of them were light; owing to desertion his force included only some 4000 men; and the citizens had no arms, he reported. Probably, too, the annoyances and outrages inflicted upon them by him and his troops, and his appointing the guerilla chief military commandant of the city dampened whatever ardor they had possessed.[12] On September 23 and 24 unsuccessful attempts were made at Guadalupe, and the next day Santa Anna summoned Childs, describing his army as 8000 strong, and graciously announcing thatthe Americans might retirewith the honors of war. Childs replied as was proper, and then, riding to the posts, gave notice amid cheers that no surrender need be expected. To add the touch of humor that soldiers love, an American flag was manufactured out of an old Mexican uniform, and raised aloft; and the garrison settled down to severe duty, stern discipline, short rations and incessant watchfulness at all hours. The Mexicans tried to approach San José by throwing up successive breastworks at night in the streets leading that way, but shot, shell and rockets from Loreto kept them back. September 30 Santa Anna learned that no ammunition could be provided for the heavy cannon demanded of the minister, and resolved apparently to make a bold effort. With two 6-pounders he fired all day on the weak, plaza face of San José. But Childs, anticipating such a manoeuvre, had brought a 12-pounder from Loreto the night before; and this, protected with bags of tobacco, made an assault impracticable.[12]
- 71. THE FIGHT AT HUAMANTLA A new factor now entered the military situation. About the middle of September GeneralLane, one of Taylor’s chief officers at Buena Vista, arrived at Vera Cruz from the Rio Grande, and on the nineteenth his brigade set out for the interior. Aware of the situation at Puebla but not aware what was to be encountered on the route, the General had not made adequate preparations, and on meeting guerillas at the national bridge he was obliged to send back for ammunition and supplies. By October 1, however, he managed to leave Jalapa.[13] It was a hard march that ensued. Torrents of rain deluged the troops. Sometimes the road lay deep under water. For dinner they had a thin slice of beef, a couple ofand some coffee; for supper, after darkness fell upon them with tropical abruptness, the same without the beef; and perhaps mud for a couch. But Lane, a hearty westerner with a stout frame and unbounded vigor, led on unshrinkingly in his black hat and old blue overcoat, and the rest followed him eagerly. October 5, after incorporating additional troops at Perote, he left that place with a force of about 3300 and seven guns, and marched on across hot plains, where water sold for five dollars a drink, and men died of sheer fatigue.[13] Santa Anna, informed by spies that 1000 Americans were approaching, and anxious, not only to prevent them from joining Childs, but still more to win the glory of routing them, had set out from Puebla four days earlier with perhaps 3500 men, leaving Rea to continue the fighting. Desertion played havoc with his command, especially when the strength of Lane’s force was ascertained; but, after sending back a large part of the faithful in order to keep control of them, he took possession of El Pinal, where the national highway passed between a precipitous mountain and a ravine, with about 1000 cavalry and six guns, and made preparations to ambush Lane’s rear. This done, he moved to Huamantla, a sizable town eight miles distant, and waited.[13] Early on October 9 the drums and bugles awoke Lane’s troops at the hacienda of San Antonio Tamaris, approximately ten miles from Huamantla and twelve from El Pinal; and the men, leaping from the damp grass and buckling their muddy belts, found the white walls of the hacienda, the church towers of neighboring villages, the dark woods on the hillsides, and the distant, snowy peaks all aglow under a splendid sun. Never, perhaps, did soldiers feel more like having an adventure. Santa Anna had just marched from Huamantla to conceal his force at El Pinal, leaving behind him with no scouts or outposts his six guns, a very small guard for them and a party of irregulars; but a spy reported to the Americans that he was at Huamantla, and Lane moved off to attack him. First rode four mounted companies, and at their head a rather short, slender, spare, slouchy man, with reddish hair, a small reddish beard, mild blue eyes and a quiet, kindly manner, whom nobody would have picked out as a fearless, indomitable fighter, the scourge of the guerillas, but in fact he was Captain Walker; and then marched Lane with five guns and some 1800 men.[14]
- 72. When about three miles from their destination, Walker and his 200 cavalry, seeing a party of Mexican horse approach the town, dashed ahead. Entering Huamantla they formed in fours, and then with a yell, a flash of sabres and a thunder of hoofs they swept through to the plaza. The Mexicans had time to get four of the guns away, but the others were captured, and most of the American troopers, concluding their work had been finished, scattered to drink, loot or hunt for cannon and ammunition. But now Santa Anna, who had observed Lane’s movement from a church tower near El Pinal, appeared with his full command. They were a beautiful sight—galloping horses, red and green uniforms, brilliant pennons and a billowy sea of flashing lance points; but they were enemies, and the Americans accepted their challenge.[14] “Take it cool, my boys, but run like the devil!” cried Lane. Every nerve was taxed. Blood gushed from nostrils. The Mexicans, lashing their steeds into foam, reached the goal first, however, and the American troopers found themselves attacked on all sides. Walker was shot from a house, and soon expired; but he lived long enough to give a final order: “Don't surrender boys; the infantry will soon be here.” And so they were—“with a shout and a bound,” said one of them. The tide was quickly turned, and giving up the town, as the soldiers loved to call Santa Anna, passed the night some distance away. So ended the Tale of Huamantla or The Biter Bitten, which received no little applause at the time.[14] While these events were taking place, the garrison of Puebla continued to be hemmed in, starved and harassed. Their casualties numbered in all only fifty-two, but they felt severely the effect of so long a strain. Though a number of sorties were made, and their persecutors had to retire from several annoying positions, the Americans were not strong enough to do more. Their day of deliverance was approaching, however. October 10 Lane moved forward, dogged and somewhat annoyed by Santa Anna. Two days later his men saw the spires of Puebla, dominated by the sombre towers of the cathedral, and set off by white volcanoes veiled with clouds. And now and again the numberless bells of the city, great and small, pealed forth harmonious tones of many colors, that seemed to blend and interweave in rich and varied tapestries of sound, hung out in the mediaeval style to honor their triumphal approach.[15] At about one o’clock, announced by the bells of Guadalupe, they entered the suburbs—not a few of them at a run. One column then advanced by the main street, while another flanked the town by the left. For two hours there was considerable firing from houses, though Rea’s guerillas had begun to leave their posts the night before; but at length Lane extended histo Childs, with a sunny smile on his rather hard features, and the garrison joyously welcomed their deliverers. In the main plaza a bugler playedand all sang the chorus: “The star-spangled banner, Oh, long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”[15]
- 73. POLITICAL CHAOS IN MEXICO Now followed the punishment of Rea. Some twenty-five miles from Puebla toward the southwest lay beautiful Atlixco, a defensible point that not only reconciled the climates of the temperate and the cold zones of Mexico, and controlled a region fertile in grains, flocks and herds, but, while fairly remote from the Americans, gave convenient access to important roads. Here, in the midst of flowers, fruits and snowy mountains, the government of Puebla had found a refuge, when the Americans under Worth approached the state capital; and to this asylum Rea now withdrew. De facto, at least, the guerilla chief was the most important person on the ground. The authorities did not relish his prominence; they detested his men and his methods; and on October 18, tired of spending money fruitlessly on the National Guards for Rea to command, they dissolved the corps. But many of the irregulars proposed to make the best of what appeared to be a good situation, in which they could live on plunder, if not paid.[16] October 18 Lane, who apparently never slept nor expected his followers to sleep, ordered them to be ready in the morning for an expedition. Many of the soldiers were barefoot, but they borrowed shoes; and at about nine o’clock, cheered by the fife and the drum, some 1500 men set out round the base of Popocatepetl under a hot sun. At about four in the afternoon, after making twenty miles or so, they came in sight of the enemy, and a running fight began. Blistered feet and parching tongues were now forgotten. The Mexicans, holding some good position and protected by chaparral, could make a stand against cavalry, but when the infantry came up they always fled. Shortly after sunset Lane reached Atlixco, which stood on the slope of a lofty hill. As it was unsafe to risk a street fight in an unknown town at night, he ordered the artillery to open. The moon was full. Marks were easily selected. By their burning fuses the shells could be traced until they fell amidst the shadows; and then a burst of red fire, the crash of roofs and walls, and the cries of the people told the rest.[17] After about an hour of cannonading, the troops advanced into the town—which surrendered at once—and there slept as best they could. Rea, with two guns and the disordered remnants of his force, retreated to Izucar de Matamoros, about thirty miles farther down the valley; but from that point he was routed a month later. These and other exploits of Lane’s discouraged as well as dispersed the chief guerilla forces of the plateau, and in February, 1848, Rea asked permission of the Mexican authorities to leave the country.[17] Neither in these affairs nor in any other military operations did Santa Anna figure at this time, and there was a good reason for his inactivity. Officially he no longer existed. As General Scott had feared, our entering the capital had resulted in the destruction of the Mexican government. September 16 Santa Anna resigned, explaining that it was advisable to preserve the chief magistracy from the hazards of war, and fix it near the centre of wealth and population, whereas he proposed to continue the hostilities wherever that should
- 74. SANTA ANNA ELIMINATED be possible. The same proclamation or decree assigned the executive power to a triumvirate: the president of the supreme court, General Herrera and General Alcorta, and Santa Anna then ceased actually to exercise any civil authority.[18] But as Congress was not in session to accept his resignation, some doubted whether it became effective; the presidency of the supreme court was vacant on account of the incumbent’s death; the appointment of Herrera and Alcorta needed to be made, or at least confirmed, by the council of government, a body no longer acting; and it was denied broadly that Santa Anna had the power to issue such a decree. Peña y Peña, to be sure, was regarded as a member of the court, and, if he was, he could claim by right of seniority to act as the chief justice; but the legality of his membership was questioned, and the presidency of that body was really an elective office. Peña was old, feeble and even timid; his ill-success as Herrera’s minister of relations doubtless weighed heavily upon him; and he was now living, almost as a recluse, in the country. Indeed there was really no organic law even, for the amended constitution of 1824, though formally adopted, had not come into effect. In short, chaos reigned, and the states were officially “resuming” their individual sovereignty.[18] But a number of good and able men, particularly Cuevas and Couto, determined to ward off ruin, and awakened others. Peña, drawn from his retirement, consented for patriotic reasons to override all the technical difficulties; and on September 22 he announced formally that, in order to give the nation a head, he would act as the Executive until an interim President could somehow be chosen. At the small city of Toluca, capital of the state of México, just outside the Valley, this fiction of a government pitched its tent; and perhaps it gained some feeling of security from the vast bastioned, battlemented ridge between it and the Americans, from snowy Mt. Miguel towering above the city, and from the peacefully shining lagoons of the intervening meadows. What was more important, Herrera, Olaguíbel and many others of the best men rallied to the support of Peña, the representatives of neutral governments recognized him, and the states began to concur. Early in October, however, he removed to Querétaro, a safer yet central place, and with Luis de la Rosa as sole minister addressed himself to his task.[19] The programme that he announced was honorable and straightforward. My tenure of office will be extremely brief, he said in effect, for Congress will be assembled as soon as possible; I will usurp no powers, but will not be turned from the path of duty by insurrections; the closest economy will be practised, the necessary taxes laid fairly, and all interests respected; union and harmony will be the watchwords, and the national rights will be maintained. His most urgent problem, of course, was to deal with Santa Anna, who not only held the chief military command, but insisted that he could resume the Presidential authority by simply withdrawing his resignation; and in this matter the government showed a decision that earned it no little prestige. All Santa Anna’s protests against political
- 75. effacement were disregarded, and on October 7 he was instructed both to give up his troops and to submit, as did other unsuccessful commanders, to a military trial. [20] At about the time this order overtook him, the Huamantla affair occurred. From a military point of view he was now prostrate. He saw it himself, and knew that the country would see it. Evidently his countless political enemies would make the most of his complete failure, and he was doubtless aware that his military reports had offended many officers. His chief executive merits—decision and activity—had led only to a useless expenditure of life and money, it was now pointed out, and his ostensible patriotism was attributed to passion and obstinacy. Even his confidence in himself broke down. Unable to understand why failure had attended all his efforts, he fell into a sombre depression, and without a struggle he placed his troops at the orders of General Reyes, who joined him on October 11 with about 1000 men. His part in the war was over; and in the following January, realizing that nothing could be gained through intrigue or conspiracy and fearing the Americans would make him a prisoner, he asked for permission to leave the country. Both his own government and our authorities consented. And after giving a dinner at El Encero to the American officers of that vicinity, who had treated him with distinguished consideration, he sailed once more, about the first of April, from what he regarded as an ungrateful country.[21] Santa Anna being now eliminated, the government had to face its military difficulties without his assistance. In general the problem was to make bricks with neither straw nor clay. Almost every good cannon had been taken by the Americans, and the muskets had nearly all been captured, thrown away or sold. Ammunition was almost wholly wanting. The engineering material had been lost or destroyed. Vast sums of money were needed to provide fortifications as well as replace all this equipment, and the government could hardly obtain enough, day by day, to cover its minimum expenses. Even officers had to sell their shoes for bread. [22] As for an army, Santa Anna and Alvarez together had some 2000 troops the first week of October, Reyes had about 1000, about 3000 from Mexico City concentrated at Querétaro under Herrera, about 1000 from Jalisco were on their way to the same point, and small detachments existed at various other places. But nearly all of these men were utterly demoralized. “Almost useless,” they were officially termed; and the army as a whole felt the crushing weight of general contempt. Herrera, the commander-in-chief, became so disgusted over the uncontrolled excesses of the troops that he resigned. Rincón declined on the ground of ill-health to serve. Arista, when summoned to Querétaro, declared he would not command a soldier until exonerated for his conduct on the Rio Grande. No officers of high distinction, indeed, were available except the aged, torpid and infirm Bustamante and “the old woman,” Filisola, as Bancroft described him.[22]
- 76. THE AMERICAN POLICY Attempts were made to lay plans of campaign, but an expert summed up one of them by saying it appeared excellent—only it was based upon things as they should have been, not as they were; and all the others had the same defect. Schemes were devised to reform, reorganize and build up the forces, and quotas amounting to 16,000 were assigned to the states; but México, which had been expected to furnish nearly a quarter of these men, promptly answered that she could not, and other states did not even reply. In fact, the regular forces decreased instead of multiplying, for sometimes a general could not feed his troops, and frequently, when soldiers were let out of the barracks on service, they vanished; and the people, instead of helping to support the Mexican troops, even dreaded to see them approach, for their coming was liable to draw an American attack, and more than liable to mean extortion, outrage and robbery. Nowhere on the military horizon could a glimmer of light be seen.[22] Over against this pitiful government stood the United States—wealth against poverty, strength against weakness; and the antithesis was complete, for while the Mexicans could only plan, that was the hardest thing for us to do. The idea of retiring to a defensive line still persisted. Taylor himself adhered to it. But in addition to the other overwhelming objections to this project, it seemed improbable that a majority in Congress could agree where to draw the line. Even Calhoun, though qualified to make a better argument for an untenable proposition than any other man in the country, was unable to present this policy in such a manner as to satisfy either the friends or the opponents of the war. Some advised holding, in addition to the territory thus to be cut off, the chief ports of Mexico; and some advocated retaining the capital also, and the line to Vera Cruz. Others favored the occupation of still more cities; and many were for subjugating and holding the entire country.[23] To this last plan, however, even had it been practicable to levy all the costs upon Mexico, there were tremendous objections. It would have involved keeping under arms 80,000 or possibly 100,000 young men, seriously needed at home for the most part, in order to be sure of having effectives enough at the front. The troops in Mexico would have become corrupted both physically and morally; and the commanders would have acquired the ideas and vices of proconsuls. It seemed to be almost an insoluble problem. No final decision was made. But the government determined to occupy the capital, hold the line to Vera Cruz, retain the chief ports, and extend our holdings according to circumstances.[23] To Scott, however, the lack of a definitive plan signified little. Not one reinforcement entered the capital until after the first of November, and even at the end of that month he was barely able to garrison Mexico and Chapultepec. December 4 his army included only about 8000 privates, of whom a quarter were sick. During the next three weeks Generals Patterson, Butler and Cushing, Colonel Hays, Lieutenant
- 77. Colonel Johnston and Major Lally, each with troops, arrived; and the forces then numbered about 11,000 effectives and 3000 sick.[24] Scott therefore announced, with no doubt a strategic purpose as well as a rhetorical flourish, that our army was “about to spread itself over and to occupy the Republic of Mexico.” What he really intended was to take possession successively of the principal mining regions—those of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí—and the capitals of such important states as lay within easy reach. Even for the former purpose, however, two columns of some 5000 effectives each were needed, and the men as well as clothing for them could not be provided. The only immediate operations, therefore, aside from the establishment of new posts on the road to Vera Cruz, were the peaceful occupation of Pachuca, a mining town about fifty miles northeast of Mexico, Toluca, about thirty-eight miles distant in the opposite direction, and Cuernavaca, the key to the Acapulco region, a little farther away toward the southwest.[24] February 6, 1848, an expedition of more consequence marched, by Scott’s orders, from Vera Cruz. Most of the guerillas who infested the road to the interior lived and found a market at or near Córdoba, a city about sixty-five miles to the southwest, and Orizaba, sixteen or eighteen miles beyond it in the same direction; and Bankhead was instructed to occupy those towns. Very different from Lane’s rough trips on the plateau was this march. Near Córdoba flourished such genuine tropical wonders as the bread tree, the butter tree, the milk tree, and a kind of palm called “the traveller’s friend,” which covered the wayfarer’s head with a tent, and quenched his thirst with abundant sap. Going on, one found enormous masses of vegetation—thick, matted, boundlessly prolific—moulded into astonishing yet harmonious forms by the bays and promontories of the rapidly mounting foothills; terraces of luxuriant foliage piled on sheer cliffs, castles on the terraces, and cathedrals on the castles; verdure, verdure everywhere, dripping, flowing, spurting, tumbling in every hue and shade of green, with a dark, velvety mist in the gorges that became clear sapphire when the sun touched it, and here and there a cascade letting fall its crystal thread from a mossy crag.[25] Then came the rich Orizaba valley, hemmed in with jungles, and winding off between sombre, precipitous mountains until lost in the dreamy distance; and above it the sparkling snows of the vast peak sent down a torrent of gray glacier water, that leaped into mid-air, and then, gathering itself below, wound on through splendid, odorous trees full of parrots, canaries and mocking-birds, hurried past fragrant orange groves and still more fragrant blossoms, poured through the arches of a noble old bridge, and buried itself in the woods. But the Americans did not forget their orders. Both cities were occupied without resistance, and both were garrisoned; and the guerillas now found their proceedings considerably hampered. [25]
- 78. THE REMOVAL OF SCOTT The final military operations of Scott seemed thus rather tame, as was natural; but Polk executed one that could be termed startling, if not exactly brilliant. His principal assistants were Pillow, Worth and Duncan; and in different ways each had excellent qualifications for the work. Pillow was not “The Lie Incarnate,” as Trist believed, nor even “a perfect ass,” as many thought; but vanity, ambition, lack of probity, and a gift for dark and cunning methods characterized him. His instincts and talents, indeed, were those of the criminal lawyer who minds nothing about his case except the verdict. When the President’s brother shot a man down in the street at Nashville, Pillow got him off. With reference to his work in helping bring about Polk’s nomination at Baltimore he wrote, “The fatal blow was given, but it was not seen nor known what produced such a result—nor where the blow came from.” “I feel as boyant as the air,” he said in December, 1846, when great dissatisfaction with Taylor prevailed at Washington, because I know “that I have done the work.... I have paid him in full” for his treatment of me. And one could seldom get a finger on Pillow’s back, when he was not wriggling actively toward some object of selfish desire.[26] Without a particle of real military ability or success to his credit, he now stood second in our army, and hence logically enough saw no reason why he might not, by some devious path, arrive at the first position and even at the Presidency. “Modesty,” said Burke, “does not long survive innocence.” To plant such a person, with urgent recommendations, at open, big-hearted Scott’s right hand, to win his confidence, to spy upon, criticise and undermine him, and inevitably to scheme for his place, was indecent; but Polk did it.[26] Very unlike Pillow was the courtly and fascinating Worth; but his mind was intense, narrow and self-centred. After the battle of Monterey he exclaimed, “I am satisfied with myself. The most vindictive foes crouch at my feet, and my friends choke with joy and delight.” And there is one sin of which even angels are capable, we have been told. All his military recognition he owed to Scott, but probably the debt weighed heavily on his proud and restive nature; and, while apparently reciprocating the genuine affection of his chief, he had inwardly rejected Scott’s principles and methods nearly thirty years before the Mexican war. Regarding his friend, fellow New Yorker and brother Democrat, Marcy, an adroit politician, he felt very differently. “I would not give an ounce” of his wisdom, he wrote in June, 1846, for all Scott’s glory; Scott “is determined to sink and draw his friends down with him.”[27] At Vera Cruz the commander-in-chief, relying on their long intimacy, told Worth frankly that he believed the administration intended to ruin him, and the subordinate officer evidently determined not to be drawn down. At the same place a brother officer suggested to Worth a higher position than was even the highest in the army. The suggestion appears to have struck root. All military men believed the next President would be one of them, and what commander had acquired a more
- 79. THE REMOVAL OF SCOTT brilliant reputation? The New York Sun recommended him for the place; and the idea of his candidacy was favorably received by many. This prospect naturally turned him still more against his old friend, for either Scott or Taylor seemed almost certain to be the Whig nominee. Through a series of clashes, for which little—if any —justification can be seen, and in spite of Scott’s efforts to conciliate him, Worth proceeded then to gain emancipation from his burden of gratitude, and place himself in open antagonism to his former patron.[28] Duncan’s motives were different again. He was intimate with Worth; and Pillow, who offered to marry the Colonel to a rich and handsome widow, doubtless promised him the post of inspector general. At any rate he urged Polk to make the appointment, hinting at other reasons than mere qualifications, and it was made; and we know that Duncan gave himself much trouble to assist Pillow as a partisan supporter. The power of such a combination, headed by the President himself, to gather adherents from the many ambitious officers hardly needs to be pointed out; and finally there were, of course, jealous and envious men. “Since we cannot attain to greatness, let us revenge ourselves by railing at it,” said Montaigne for the benefit of such persons; and many of the officers knew that greatness was beyond their powers. None of them could monologue as Scott did; none could look in a cocked hat as he looked; none had won the Mexican war; and, moreover, he was the sole general-in-chief.[29] The result was a powerful movement against the prestige and authority properly belonging to Scott. Pillow’s reports on the battles of Contreras and Chapultepec tended to represent the General as a nonentity; and Worth not only did somewhat the same, but referred to the Commander in terms of ridicule and contempt. A letter, doubtless written directly or indirectly by Pillow over the signature of “Leonidas,” extolling Pillow shamelessly and belittling Scott, was trickily worked into the New Orleans Delta of September 10, 1847; and another letter, containing a passage intended to show that Worth and Duncan had saved Scott from choosing the wrong approach to the capital, appeared in the United States, then in a Tampico newspaper and finally at Mexico City. Both letters were grossly improper, especially since the army lay in the enemy’s country; and Scott found it necessary to act. As he well said, “The general-in-chief who once submits to an outrage from a junior, must lay his account to suffer the like from all the vicious under him,” and “even the great mass of the spirited, intelligent, and well affected, among his brothers in arms, would soon reduce such commander to utter imbecility, by holding him in just scorn and contempt” for his recreancy to himself and the country.[30] On November 12, therefore, he issued his General Orders 349, which aimed to stigmatize these offences in such a way as to prevent a recurrence of them. Duncan then assumed in a plainly defiant manner the paternity of the Tampico letter, although in fact the offensive passage had not been written by him. His
- 80. primary object in doing this was evidently to give Worth a handle, and the handle was promptly seized. One thing led to another; and in the end formal charges were brought by the commander-in-chief against Pillow, Worth and Duncan, and by the two generals against him; appeals—insulting to Scott—were made by Pillow and Worth to the government; and the technical “arrest” of the three officers followed. [31] The government then stepped in. Scott had no doubt given it offence during the campaign, for his letters had plainly enough revealed a conviction that Polk had broken faith with him, and purposely thrown difficulties and annoyances across his path; but the circumstances had appeared to warrant his complaints, and Marcy had at least “got even” by administering liberal censures in reply. The balance in fact—aside, perhaps, from a mere acerbity of language—was against the administration. Besides, having served the country well and saved the government from disaster, Scott was entitled to some indulgence for irritation caused by the peculiarly trying circumstances that surrounded him. He was a large man, had done a large work and merited large treatment. But there was nothing large about the administration. The confines of mediocrity hemmed it in. Pillow and Duncan were therefore by its orders relieved of arrest; Worth was not only released, but assigned to duty according to his highest brevet rank; and “in view of the present state of things in the army,” chiefly or entirely caused by Polk’s agent and Marcy’s friend, Scott was deposed. He had performed his task, said Robert E. Lee, and now was “turned out as an old horse to die.” April 22, 1848, amidst the lamentations, cheers and blessings of the army as a whole—trembling himself with emotion—he took his leave, and Major General Butler, who was a Democrat and looked well on a horse, bore sway at headquarters.[32]
- 81. XXX THE NAVAL OPERATIONS OF THE WAR 1845–1848 In January, 1846, the United States had available for naval hostilities one ship-of- the-line, seven frigates and razees, fifteen sloops-of-war, six brigs, one schooner and three steamers—that is to say, thirty-three war craft. As ships-of-the-line carried more than seventy guns, frigates about forty-four to fifty, sloops twenty, brigs ten and other vessels in proportion, this fleet had 1155 cannon. Two of the vessels, under Commodore James Biddle, were on the coast of Asia; several occupied the Brazil station; and five cruised in African waters to check the trade in slaves. The Pacific squadron, commanded by Commodore John D. Sloat, comprised on July 1, 1846, the frigate Savannah, the sloops Portsmouth, Levant, Warren and Cyane, the schooner Shark and the storeship Erie, to which the frigate Congress, the razee Independence and the sloops Dale, Saratoga and Preble were added later in the year, while the Levant went home; and substantially all the rest of the fleet, known as the Home Squadron, attended to the West Indies and Gulf service, under Commodore David Conner.[1] The appropriation for the year ending with June, 1846, was a little less than ten millions, but only about six and a half millions were expended. The war bill of May 13 permitted the completion of all vessels then building and the purchase of others; and by November, 1847, after suffering a number of losses, the navy had in commission five ships-of-the-line, one razee, four frigates, thirteen sloops, six brigs, eleven schooners, four bomb-vessels, twelve steamers and six storeships.[1] The peace establishment created by Congress in 1844 provided for 7500 petty officers, seamen, landsmen and boys, and in August, 1846, this number was raised to 10,000 for the period of the war; but owing to the remarkable activity of the merchant marine and the consequently high wages, men could not easily be obtained. During the most important year—November, 1846, to November, 1847— not over 8000 were in the fleet at any one time. The whole number of seamen employed in the course of the war did not exceed 7000; and hence plans to strengthen our forces in the Gulf and the Pacific had to be curtailed. The service, too, did not enjoy unqualified popularity. In the sailor’s decalogue appeared this commandment:
- 82. PRIVATEERING “Six days shalt thou work And do all thou art able, On the seventh thou shalt holystone The deck and scrape the cable”; and the cannon had to be rubbed with fragrant “sea pitch” from the bottom of the ocean until they shone like Japanese lacquer. Discipline, therefore, not reinforced by the enthusiasm and the necessities of war, fell considerably below its reputation, and the crews were eager to be free when their time expired. The officers, even, had become lax after thirty years of peace, and in too many instances their standards of conduct had given way.[2] In the administration of the navy, also, the effects of a long peace could be seen. The control of matters had fallen, though not by accident, into the hands of shrewd officers deeply interested in themselves and their friends. Supernumeraries abounded. Those who drew the most pay often rendered the least service. The pet ambition was for a safe, quiet and easy position. Shore billets were too numerous. No field officer of the Marines had cruised since his promotion, and one of them had been in the service more than a generation without going to sea. Secretary Bancroft, eager for distinction, undertook to eliminate the abuses, but only succeeded in eliminating himself. He had taught Greek, and was ridiculed by the naval men as undertaking to play the pedagogue over them. Having no dominating force of character nor even a commanding presence, he could not stand against the governing clique. The requirements of the war, which might have assisted an abler administrator to win the day, only increased his difficulties. The Senate refused to confirm some of his appointees; and early in September, 1846, he became our minister to England.[3] J. Y. Mason, who succeeded him, was a fat, easy, agreeable man, quite innocent of the desire to achieve reforms. Nobody disliked him, but nobody felt obliged to obey him; and as late as the twentieth of February, 1847, suddenly discovering that Scott had mentioned certain designs of the army against Vera Cruz, he awoke to the fact that his department had failed to give the anticipated assistance. Just what could be expected of the navy under all these prejudicial conditions was, therefore, in some minds, a little uncertain.[3] One of the most serious duties imposed upon it was to guard against privateering, for not only our commerce but the supplies required by our troops depended upon free lanes. About the middle of 1845 the government issued orders that any activity of such a kind on the part of Mexico should be considered the signal for war; and as a deterrent it was announced by the newspapers, though incorrectly, that privateersmen were to be regarded as pirates. Crews not predominantly composed of Mexicans, it was often asserted, could legally be “strung up to the
- 83. yard-arm,” since we were understood to have treaties that sanctioned this principle with most countries.[4] After the war actually began, a great deal of danger was apprehended. Desperate characters were believed to be waiting at New Orleans, and “piratical gangs” in the ports of Cuba, where Almonte seemed to be at work. News arrived early in August, 1846, that privateering regulations had been issued by Mexico, and suspicious craft soon appeared off Key West. In December the Mexican minister of war openly avowed that great hopes of injuring the United States in this manner were entertained. Blank certificates and commissions reached Washington; information regarding efforts to set vessels at work in various quarters arrived there; and finally the Carmelita of Bangor, Maine, was captured near Gibraltar by a felucca named El Unico, fitted out at Oran, Algeria, and run by Spanish desperadoes.[4] Mexico had not in reality, after studying the subject with deep interest, much expectation of accomplishing any large results by issuing letters of marque, and the regulations of July, 1846, were intended principally or wholly to annoy this country; but in September and October she took the matter up rather seriously. A new law provided that any foreigner entering her naval service might become a Mexican at once, and blank naturalization papers as well as thousands of privateering commissions, duly signed but not filled out, were carried by agents to the West Indies, Great Britain, France and Spain. Almonte did his best at Havana. J. N. Pareda, appointed Mexican chargé d’affaires at Madrid, appears to have circulated the documents actively in the Peninsular ports; and another privateer, a Spanish steamer named La Rosita, put out from Oran.[5] On the other hand, the representatives of the United States insisted upon our treaties and the obligations of neutrality. Polk’s annual Message of December, 1846, denounced the Mexican plan as inviting “all the freebooters upon earth,” who felt like paying for the privilege, to cruise against American commerce, announced that our own courts would say whether such papers could protect them from the pirate’s doom, recommended that Congress provide at once for the trial of Spanish subjects caught in such business, and suggested American privateers—intended mainly to recapture vessels taken under Mexican letters. An American force hastened to the Mediterranean, and our squadrons were expected to seize all the rovers putting out, as well as intercept all prizes on their way to the enemy’s ports. These precautions looked rather discouraging to enterprising desperadoes.[6] In England there was a feeling, as will appear later, that Mexico should be allowed the utmost license against us, and the Mexican minister at London received many applications for letters; but Great Britain did not really wish her supplies of cotton to be endangered, and all the seas to be filled with corsairs preying upon the trade of the world; and in October, 1845, her minister to Mexico was instructed to prevent that country, if he could, from issuing letters of marque indiscriminately. Bankhead protested also, as did the Spanish minister, against important features of
- 84. THE BLOCKADE the regulations. Palmerston himself, though he acted in a languid fashion, and gave notice at Washington that British subjects, found on Mexican privateers, could not be treated as pirates, announced that his government would faithfully do its duty.[7] France was prompt and active in responding to our demands. Spain, placed under stringent obligations by the treaty of October, 1795, promised full compliance with its requirements, captured El Unico, punished its crew, pursued La Rosita, and ordered O’Donnell, the captain general of Cuba, to act as her obligations required; but she accepted Pareda, the colporteur of what was piracy under her agreement, as consul of Mexico; and the captain general, while he convinced the American representative of his good-will and in fact would not permit an open violation of the treaty, suggested to the Mexicans ways—fortunately impracticable—of evading his own rules. But the risks of privateering under so many embarrassments and the virtual impossibility of converting a prize into cash, prevented all attempts except the feeble ones already mentioned. In this field, consequently, our navy, though incessantly watchful, could acquire no laurels.[7] Another aspect of the situation concerned it more seriously. On the day Congress passed the war bill (May 13, 1846) orders were issued to blockade the ports of Mexico. Several definite aims prompted this action. Primarily, of course, it was desired to prevent supplies of all kinds from reaching the enemy, and to deprive them of the almost indispensable revenues obtained in peace by taxing imports; but there were also hopes that loss of business would induce Great Britain and France, which had a profitable trade in that quarter, to urge upon Mexico the acceptance of our terms. The blockade was therefore to be enforced vigorously. At the same time neutrals were to be treated with all reasonable indulgence. Theoretically only their war vessels had the right of entering closed ports, but practically the intention was to broaden that narrow door considerably. Toward itself, however, the United States determined to be strictly faithful in observing its declared principles. Merely those ports where the order could become effective were in view. The announcement of blockade was to be made as public as it could be; and in particular the government required that a full warning should be given to neutral ships.[8] For the work thus imposed upon him Conner had ample time to prepare. As early as August, 1845, he was directed to blockade the Gulf ports in case of war; early in 1846 he knew of Mexico’s attitude regarding Slidell; before the end of March his vessels occupied convenient positions; and promptly on the outbreak of hostilities a blockade was announced at the chief harbors. By July, with some assistance from the revenue service, it extended from the Rio Grande to the Goatzacoalcos.[9] But the difficulty of making it continuously effective proved to be extraordinary. There were not vessels enough of the proper kind; occasionally a more or less complete concentration became necessary; and accidents of many sorts occurred.
- 85. Uncharted shoals and rocks, currents of unknown direction and force, the frequent haze, and the darkening of the lighthouses made extreme caution imperative. The suddenness and violence of the storms almost surpassed belief. At Vera Cruz the Somers was blown over and sunk before Semmes, her able commander, could take steps to avert the disaster. Even at the anchorages one would suddenly hear on a calm afternoon the clarion orders of the speaking trumpet; the ship would quiver and reverberate as the cable of the heaviest anchor ran swiftly out; in a moment the storm would burst; and for days it might be a question almost hourly of going ashore. At such times all sailing vessels on patrol duty had to make instantly for the open sea, and before they could return to their stations a lurking blockade runner could perhaps enter the port. Owing to such difficulties Alvarado and Frontera, for instance, could not be watched continuously.[9] Embarrassments also of a minor yet serious character had to be encountered. Our vessels, unlike those of England, were designed exclusively for war, and long confinement impaired the efficiency of the men. The government supplies of eatables needed to be eked out from New Orleans huckster boats and European merchant ships. Water could not be obtained readily from a hostile shore. At the Antigua River, in July, 1846, the boats going up with casks were fired upon, and such affairs had to be expected. Vessels were despatched long distances occasionally to obtain fresh provisions, but even then scurvy of a most serious nature broke out in the summer of 1846, disabling some of the largest and most efficient ships for several months. The Raritan had more than 200 cases. Nearly all on the Potomac suffered. The Falmouth had to go as far north as Boston to throw it off. Swampy shores and kelp rotting under the torrid sun produced myriads of poisonous as well as otherwise annoying insects. During a brief stay in the river off Tampico nearly all the officers and men contracted ague, and the yellow fever scourged a number of the vessels. More than two thirds of those on the Saratoga had the latter disease. In August, 1847, the Mississippi left her station with some 200 men suffering from it.[10] Being strangers and enemies, the Americans labored under peculiar disadvantages. The people gladly assisted blockade runners in every possible way. Spanish captains in particular, having friends on shore and pilots thoroughly familiar with the coast, could not be prevented from reaching harbor at night or in thick weather by way of the shoals. Sometimes it looked, for one or another of these many reasons, as if our officers were careless or incompetent. Army observers, not well informed regarding the conditions, felt disposed now and then to pronounce the blockade a humbug, and naturally some foreigners did so. This opinion had neither truth nor probability in its favor. But naturally, in view of all the circumstances, it proved more satisfactory to occupy the ports, and open them to commerce on the basis of a reasonable contributory tariff.[11] Besides cruising to watch for privateers and hovering off the chief harbors to maintain a blockade, our fleet was expected to share in the general offensive. For
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