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CH. VI.]

CASA MATA AND CHAPULTEPEC TAKEN.

on the right, and Colonel M'Intosh was ordered to assault that point. But the Casa Mata proved to be a massive stone work surrounded with bastioned entrenchments and deep ditches, whence a deadly fire was delivered, and kept up without intermission upon the advancing troops, until they reached the very slope of the parapet surrounding the citadel. Here they were fairly mowed down by the guns of the fort, and were forced to withdraw to the left of Duncan's battery, where the remnant of the column reformed in readiness for another assault.

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The Mexican cavalry threatened an attack on the American left, but were repulsed by the artillery, and by the mere appearance of the American dragoons; while new efforts were made against the Molino, which soon yielded to a desperate charge, led by Major Buchanan and Captain M'Kenzie on one side, and Captains Anderson and Ayres on the other. All the guns were now brought to bear on the Casa Mata, and the garrison cut off from all support, and exposed to a most destructive cannonade, evacuated it. Two attempts to rally and lead their men on, for the recovery of the positions that had been lost, were made by the Mexican leaders, but they could not stand before the terrible fire of the American artillery, and by nine o'clock in the morning the battle was over.

General Scott did not think it expedient to pursue the victory at the present, although Worth begged to be allowed to do so; the Casa Mata was blown up, and the troops were marched back to Tacubaya to prepare for the

VOL. III.-57

449

contest on a succeeding day. The entire American force engaged in this hard fought battle was only three thousand four hundred and forty-seven, whilst the Mexicans were at least ten thousand strong, and were posted behind strong fortifications. The loss in killed and wounded was very severe, amounting to nearly eight hundred, of whom fifty-nine were officers. The loss on the side of the Mexicans was never ascertained, but it must have been great, and two of their generals were killed.

Although no immediate results followed this battle, General Scott was actively engaged in preparing for the assault on the capital at the earliest practicable moment. Three batteries were constructed on the night of the 11th of September, and in the course of the following day; and General Pillow's troops took possession of Molino del Rey again. Throughout the 12th, the fortress of Chapultepec was briskly bombarded; whilst feigned attacks were directed against the garitas San Antonio and Niño Perdido. On the morning of the 13th, all necessary measures having been arranged between the general-in-chief and his subordinate commanders, the bom bardment was renewed with greater vigor than before, until at eight o'clock the batteries suddenly ceased firing, and Pillow's division rushed from its position, overpowered the resistance offered by the enemy on the ground before the fortress, rapidly climbed the steep sides of the hill on which Chapultepec stood, and rearing their scaling ladders against its walls, poured into the works. Quitman, with Shields and

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Smith, at the same time advanced against the south-eastern side of the hill, and though they had difficult ground to pass over, and were much exposed to the enemy's fire, they reached the fortress in time to take part in its capture. Chapultepec was entered on every side; the officers who were to have fired the mines were shot down before they could apply the match; and though the garrison made a stout and prolonged defence, almost at the point of the bayonet, it was all in vain, and the survivors, with their commander, General Bravo, were made prisoners. Whilst the battle was raging round Chapultepec, General Worth, passing to the north of it, had advanced by the causeway and aqueduct of San Cosmé upon Mexico itself. General Quitman, also, as soon as Chapultepec had fallen, pressed on, with the greater part of his command, against the garita Belen: both detachments driving the fugitives and stragglers from the former field before them into the city. A hot fire from the roofs and windows of the houses in the street of San Cosmé delayed Worth's progress, but he made good the ground he had won when night fell. But Quitman, whose attack was intended as a feint merely, converted it into a real assault, carried the garita in spite of all obstacles, and early in the afternoon established himself under the very guns of the citadel.

The final result was now no longer doubtful, and Santa Anna and his officers held a council that night to determine upon what they should do in the present posture of affairs. Immediate retreat was the almost necessary

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alternative, and it was commenced with. out delay. out delay. Santa Anna, having liberated the convicts in the city prisons, so as to give all the trouble he could to the conquerors, took the road to Guadalupe Hidalgo. The retreat was begun, as Mr. Mayer states, "at midnight, and not long after a deputation from the Ayuntamiento, or city council, waited upon General Scott with the information, that the federal government and troops had fled from the capital. The haggard visitors demanded terms of capitulation in favor of the church, the citizens, and the municipal authorities. Scott refused the ill-timed request, and promising no terms that were not self-imposed, sent word to Quitman and Worth to advance as soon as possible on the following morning, and guarding carefully against treachery, to occupy the city's strongest and most commanding points. Worth was halted at the Alameda, a few squares west of the Plaza; but Quitman was allowed the honor of advancing to the great square, and hoisting the American flag on the national palace. At nine o'clock on the morning of the 14th of September, the commander-in-chief, attended by his brilliant staff, rode into the vast area in front of the venerable cathedral and palace, amid the shouts of the exulting army, to whose triumphs his prudence and genius had so greatly contributed."

In gaining these decisive victories, there were one hundred and thirty killed, seven hundred and three wounded, and twenty-nine missing. The Mexi cans were hopelessly defeated. General Scott's army, which numbered eleven

CH. VI.]

CONCLUSION OF HOSTILITIES.

451

governor of the city; and under his administration of Scott's general order, the city was more peaceable and safe than it had been for ages. The contri

$150,000, the greatest part of which was devoted to the purchase of blankets and shoes for the common soldiers, and comforts for the sick and wounded.

thousand men when he left Puebla, was now reduced to less than six thousand; and above half the loss had taken place in battle; sickness, desertion, and the necessity of garrisoning some of the cap-bution levied amounted to no more than tured places, accounted for the rest. But the loss of the Mexicans during the same time had exceeded seven thousand, by battle alone; and besides, there were nearly four thousand prisoners in the hands of the conquerors, who had also taken more than twenty colors and standards, seventy-five guns, and fifty-seven wall-pieces, twenty thousand small arms, and an immense quantity of shot, shells, and powder.

With this crowning victory, the Mexican war was, virtually, ended; although there was some fighting at a few other points, which may briefly be noted in the present connection. In the city of Mexico, as we have stated above, Santa Anna, as a last act, let loose the convicts out of prison, who for two or three days committed murders and outrage to an alarming extent. When the American soldiers dispersed from the great square to seek quarters in the city, they were fired upon by these scoundrels from housetops and win

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Colonel Childs was left at Puebla (p. 445) when General Scott marched for the capital, having only four hundred efficient men and nearly eighteen hundred in the hospitals. Order was preserved until, false news of Mexican success at Molino del Rey having reached the city, the masses, joined by about three thousand troops under General Rea, rose upon and besieged the garrison. On the 22d of September, Santa Anna (who, when he fled from Mexico, had summoned the congress to Querétaro, and had resigned the presidency to Chief-Justice Peña y Peña) arrived, and increasing the assailants to nearly eight thousand, made the most vigorous efforts, during the following six days and nights, to dislodge the Americans from the position they had seized. Tidings of their danger were carried to General Lane at Vera Cruz, and Major Lally at Jalapa, and they, fighting their way through the swarms of guerilleros which infested every pass, fell upon Santa Anna (who had advanced as far as Huamantla to meet them) on the 9th of October, and, although their force was under a thousand strong, defeated him after a sharp action. On the 13th, they reached Puebla, and at once reversed the aspect of affairs. Rea withdrew to Atlixco, whither Lane pursued

bim, and carried the place after an hour's cannonade by moonlight, on the night of the 19th of October. The losses of the Americans in these affairs were about a hundred killed and wounded. The guerilleros were also about the same time effectually dispersed, and communications from the sea to the capital were rendered safe and free from annoyance.

The American naval force was occupied in several expeditions principally in the Pacific. Guyamas was seized by Captain Lavallette, on the 20th of October, having been deserted by its garrison and governor, and a demonstration and a demonstration afterwards made against it was easily defeated. Mazatlan was occu

1847. pied, on the 10th of November, by Commodore Shubrick, who hoped to have made it the terminus of a line of communication with General Scott or General Taylor. San Blas, San José, Mulejé, San Antonio, and Todos Santos were also the scenes of combats and skirmishes, all of them invariably ending in the success of our countrymen's

arms.

Mexico having now been effectually subdued, and all hope of armed resistance having been cut off, it remained only to negotiate the terms on which peace was to be obtained, and the demands of the United States satisfied. Mr. Trist's efforts thus far had not been productive of any fruits, and the armistice of Tacubaya had not resulted as General Scott hoped and had reason to expect. Soon after the capture of the capital, Mr. Trist had sounded Peña y Peña respecting the renewal of peace negotiations; but it was not till the

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end of October, that that prudent statesman expressed, through his secretary, Don Luis de la Rosa, his profound desire for the cessation of hostilities. When Anaya entered on the presi dency, and Peña y Peña was no more than a member of the cabinet, he retained the same feeling, and in the latter part of November, offered to appoint commissioners for the purpose of arranging the terms of peace. But in the mean time, the president and cabinet at Washington had been convinced by the result of the armistice of Tacubaya, that Mr. Trist was not likely to arrive at a satisfactory issue; and orders had been sent for his recall. This fact General Scott (who was empowered to act as commissioner) was directed to notify to the Mexican authorities; and at the same time Trist was required to break off any unfinished negotiations, and to take with him to Washington any treaty he might have concluded, when he received his notice of recall; which was reiterated in the next dispatches, his government growing more discontented with his course of action. But, notwithstanding all this, Mr. Trist was anxious to have a share in the glory of effecting a treaty, and he ventured to continue to act as American commissioner to Mexico.

At this stage of affairs, the dissensions and squabbles among the American commanders became matter of public notoriety. General Scott was involved in warm and wordy contests with three of his immediate subordinates, at the same time; and he put two of his opponents, General Pillow, whom Mr. Trist looked upon as a per

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