A Wonderful Campaign

Onward the victors swept along the Great National Road over the Cordilleras, and on the 15th of May they halted at the fine "City of the Angels"-Pueblo de los Angelos-where they remained until August. In a campaign of two months, General Scott had made ten thousand Mexican prisoners of war, and captured seven hundred splendid pieces of artillery, ten thousand muskets, and twenty thousand shots and shells; and yet, when he reached Pueblo, his whole effective marching force for the conquest of the capital did not exceed four thousand five hundred men. The demands for garrison duty and severe sickness had reduced his army about one-half.

While Scott was resting at Pueblo, an opportunity was given to the Mexicans to treat for peace. At Jalapa, the commander-in-chief issued a proclamation to the Mexican people, very conciliatory in character, but closing with this significant paragraph: " I am marching on Pueblo and Mexico; and from those capitals I shall again address you." The government also sent Nicholas P. Trist as a diplomatic agent, with letters to certain persons in Mexico, and clothed with power to treat for peace. He reached the army just as Scott left Jalapa, and went forward with it when it resumed its march. He had made overtures to the Mexican government, which were treated with disdain. The Mexicans foolishly boasted of their patriotism, valor and strength, while losing post after post in rapid succession.

At Pueblo, Scott was reinforced by fresh troops, which had been sent by way of Vera Cruz. There his principal officers were Generals Worth, Quitman, Pillow, Twiggs, Shields, Smith, and Cadwallader; and on the 7th of August, he resumed his march toward the capital, with about eleven thousand men. The road lay nearly along the line of the march of Cortez, more than three hundred years before, over the Anahuac range of mountains, and up the slopes of the great Cordilleras. It was a most beautiful and picturesque region, well watered, clothed with rich verdure, and bathed in the most salubrious air. From the lofty summits of these mountain and almost upon the spot where Cortez stood, Scott and his army beheld, as the Spanish conquerors had there beheld, the great valley of Mexico, with its intervales and lakes, cities and villages, and the waters of Tezcuco embracing the Mexican capital-the ancient metropolis of the Aztec empire-now presenting lofty steeples and spacious domes. Down into that valley the invaders cautiously pressed, for resistance was expected at the mountain-passes. General Twiggs, with his division, led, and on the 11th of August he was encamped at St. Augustine, with the strong fortress of San Antonio before him. Close upon his right were the heights of Churubusco, crowned with embattled walls covered with cannon, and to be reached in front only by a causeway exposed at every point to a raking fire from the batteries. Not far off was the strongly fortified camp of Contreras, containing about six thousand Mexicans under General Valencia; and between it and the capital was Santa Anna with twelve thousand men, who were held in reserve. The whole of the invading army were concentrated in the valley by the 15th, with headquarters on the Acapulco road.

Such was the general disposition of the belligerent forces when General Scott arrived at headquarters on the morning of the 18th, and after surveying the whole scene, made arrangements for attacking the enemy and fighting his way to the gates of the city. That was a difficult task, for the capital was strongly defended at points nearer than those already mentioned, and approaches to it could only be made over narrow causeways through oozy ground, as in the time of Montezuma. Near the city was the hill of Chepultepec, which was strongly fortified and covered by a Military Institute, and at the foot of it, at the King's Mill (Molino del Rey), was a fortified stone wall and a citadel capable of great resistance. Every avenue to the city was guarded, and no point had been neglected. Chepultepec would have to be carried by storm, and so would the position at Molino del Rey and the strongholds of Contreras. San Antonio and Churubusco would have to be carried before these could be reached. To carry these, and capture Chepultepec and Molino del Rey, was now the important business to which Scott addressed himself.

Confronted by the victorious Americans, the Mexicans prepared for a desperate struggle. They strengthened their fortifications and increased their garrisons. The Americans were equally active, and prepared for the attack with great skill under the immediate direction of General Scott, ably assisted by Captain Robert E. Lee (general-in-chief of the Confederate forces in the late Civil War), the chief engineer of the army, whose services at Cerro Gordo and before Mexico won for him the commissions of major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, in rapid succession.