Read Online The Man Who Saved the Union by H.W. Brands - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: H.W. Brands
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dreamed that I had been ordered on the recruiting service and was near where you were,” he wrote. “In my dream, I said now I have often dreamed of being near my dear Julia but this time it is no dream for here are houses I recollect well, and it is only two days travel to St. Louis. But when I woke up on the morning and found that it was but a dream after all, how disappointed I was!”
He began to wish he had never gone to war. “How much, my DearestJulia, I regret that I had not taken my Father’s advice and resigned long ago. Now, no doubt, I would have been comfortably in business and been always near one of whom I am always thinking and whom I love better than all the world besides.” He might yet resign. “In the course of a few months more I will see you again if it costs me my commission, which by the way I value very low, for I have been a very long time balancing in my mind whether I should resign or not.”
H e didn’t resign but marched to Mexico City instead. Santa Anna unexpectedly declined to challenge the Americans on their route from Puebla, and after three days Scott’s advance guard crested the pass that opened upon the Valley of Mexico. Several volcanoes ringed the valley, the highest being Popocatepetl, which commanded the southern horizon. Three large lakes and some smaller ones occupied the valley floor; beyond the lakes lay Mexico City. The main road to the capital ran between two of the large lakes, which served as partial moats. Santa Anna filled the gap between the lakes with trenches and troops.
Scott accordingly left the main road and skirted to the south. Santa Anna detected the maneuver and repositioned his defenders. Scott skirted further, after additional reconnaissance by Robert E. Lee. On August 20 the Americans engaged the Mexicans at the neighboring villages ofContreras andChurubusco and inflicted demoralizing defeats on the defenders, although at considerable cost.
The American victories carried Scott’s force to the very gates of the capital, but he declined to enter the city. He wanted his troops to catch their breath; equally he wanted Santa Anna to catch his breath. Scott feared that if Santa Anna was totally discredited, there would be no one in Mexico able to make peace. When Santa Anna suggested a truce, Scott accepted, hoping negotiations would follow.
They did but didn’t lead anywhere, and in early September Scott declared the truce ended. As he prepared to renew the attack he received reports that Santa Anna was melting down the church bells of Mexico City to make new guns at a cluster of mills at Molina del Rey. American intelligence indicated that the mills were lightly defended; Scott, without giving the matter much thought, ordered the site taken.
Grant was among those assigned to the task, and he soon discovered that the intelligence was badly mistaken. Santa Anna had slipped several thousand troops into the mills and vicinity, and when the Americanscharged, the Mexicans raked them with musket and artillery fire. The Americans reached the walls of the mill complex but not before losing scores of officers and men.
Grant got to the walls unscathed with the first of the American troops. “I happened to notice that there were armed Mexicans still on top of the building, only a few feet from many of our men,” he recorded later. “Not seeing any stairway or ladder reaching to the top of the building, I took a few soldiers and had a cart that happened to be standing near brought up, and, placing the shafts against the wall and chocking the wheels so that the cart could not back, used the shafts as a sort of ladder extending to within three or four feet of the top. By this I climbed to the roof of the building, followed by a few men.” To his surprise he learned that an American private had preceded him to the rooftop, and to his greater surprise he saw that the single soldier had somehow captured a Mexican major and several other officers, all still armed.
He began to wish he had never gone to war. “How much, my DearestJulia, I regret that I had not taken my Father’s advice and resigned long ago. Now, no doubt, I would have been comfortably in business and been always near one of whom I am always thinking and whom I love better than all the world besides.” He might yet resign. “In the course of a few months more I will see you again if it costs me my commission, which by the way I value very low, for I have been a very long time balancing in my mind whether I should resign or not.”
H e didn’t resign but marched to Mexico City instead. Santa Anna unexpectedly declined to challenge the Americans on their route from Puebla, and after three days Scott’s advance guard crested the pass that opened upon the Valley of Mexico. Several volcanoes ringed the valley, the highest being Popocatepetl, which commanded the southern horizon. Three large lakes and some smaller ones occupied the valley floor; beyond the lakes lay Mexico City. The main road to the capital ran between two of the large lakes, which served as partial moats. Santa Anna filled the gap between the lakes with trenches and troops.
Scott accordingly left the main road and skirted to the south. Santa Anna detected the maneuver and repositioned his defenders. Scott skirted further, after additional reconnaissance by Robert E. Lee. On August 20 the Americans engaged the Mexicans at the neighboring villages ofContreras andChurubusco and inflicted demoralizing defeats on the defenders, although at considerable cost.
The American victories carried Scott’s force to the very gates of the capital, but he declined to enter the city. He wanted his troops to catch their breath; equally he wanted Santa Anna to catch his breath. Scott feared that if Santa Anna was totally discredited, there would be no one in Mexico able to make peace. When Santa Anna suggested a truce, Scott accepted, hoping negotiations would follow.
They did but didn’t lead anywhere, and in early September Scott declared the truce ended. As he prepared to renew the attack he received reports that Santa Anna was melting down the church bells of Mexico City to make new guns at a cluster of mills at Molina del Rey. American intelligence indicated that the mills were lightly defended; Scott, without giving the matter much thought, ordered the site taken.
Grant was among those assigned to the task, and he soon discovered that the intelligence was badly mistaken. Santa Anna had slipped several thousand troops into the mills and vicinity, and when the Americanscharged, the Mexicans raked them with musket and artillery fire. The Americans reached the walls of the mill complex but not before losing scores of officers and men.
Grant got to the walls unscathed with the first of the American troops. “I happened to notice that there were armed Mexicans still on top of the building, only a few feet from many of our men,” he recorded later. “Not seeing any stairway or ladder reaching to the top of the building, I took a few soldiers and had a cart that happened to be standing near brought up, and, placing the shafts against the wall and chocking the wheels so that the cart could not back, used the shafts as a sort of ladder extending to within three or four feet of the top. By this I climbed to the roof of the building, followed by a few men.” To his surprise he learned that an American private had preceded him to the rooftop, and to his greater surprise he saw that the single soldier had somehow captured a Mexican major and several other officers, all still armed.
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