General Scott

ms-Worth enters Puebla-Civil administration of the city not interfered with-Scott arrives at Puebla-Scott's address to the Mexicans after the

of a commission to meet Mr. Trist-Major Lally-Meeting of Mr. Trist with the Mexican commissioners-Failure to agree-Armistice violated by the Mexicans and n

siege train bringing up the rear. The other three divisions followed successively on the 8th, 9th, and 10th. No division was at any time more than seven or eight miles from sup

movements to be marked on a map daily, as information was received. Admiring its triumphs up to the basin of Mexico, he no

rcements for his army. There was but one day's interval between the troops of General Worth and the Mexican brigades of Leonard Perez and the cavalry under General Alcorta, the whole of which was commanded by Gene

of a few hours was made, when the march was resumed, and the American forces without oppo

ees stipulated by the Ayuntamientimo and General Worth, or perhaps despising a people who easily permitted the occupation of their territory-stacked arms in the plaza while waiting for quarters, while some wandered into neighboring streets to drink pulque and embrace the leperos, with whom they seemed old acquaintances. [The leperos were the vagabonds of the city and country.] There is no d

he inhabitants that they would not be disturbed either in person or property, and that they could continue without molestation their ordin

es, of which there were a large number, were opened, and continued their usual functions, and the attendance was largely augmented by the American officers

ed the balconies were filled with Mexican ladies and the avenues crowded with men. The populace cheered him heartily and escorted him to the palace. The soldiers, volunteers and regulars, gave h

the address of General Scott to the Mexic

ral opinion as to the inevitable results of a national war. We were deceived, and perhaps you Mexicans were also deceived, in judging of the real intentions of General Santa Anna when you recalled and when your Government permitted him to return. Under this state of things the Mexican nation has seen the results lamented by all, and by us most sincerely, for we appreciate as is due the valor and noble decision of those unfortunate men who go to battle ill-conducted, worse cared for, and almost always enforced by violence, deceit, or perfidy. We are witnesses, and we shall not be taxed with partiality as a party interested when we lament with surprise that the heroic behavior of the garrison at Vera Cruz in its valiant defense has been aspersed by the general who has just been routed and put to shameful flight at Buena Vista by a force far inferior to his own. The same general rewarded the insurgents of the capital, promoters of civil war, and heaped outrage upon those who had just acquired for themselves singular distinction by a resistance beyond expectation and of admirable decision. Finally, the bloody events of Cerro Gordo have plainly shown the Mexican nation what it may reasonably expect if it is no longer blind to its real situation-a situation to which it has been brought by some of its generals whom it has most distinguished and in whom it has most confidence. The hardest heart would have been moved to grief in contemplating any battlefield in Mexico a moment after the last struggle. Those generals whom the nation has paid without service rendered for so many years, have, in the day of need, with some honorable exceptions, but served to injure her by their bad example or unskillfulness. The dead and wounded on those battlefields received no marks of military distinction, sharing alike the sad fate which has been the same from Palo Alto to Cerro Gordo; the dead remained unburied and the wounded abandoned to the clemency and charity of the victor. Soldiers who go to battle knowing they have such reward to look for deserve to be classed with the most heroic, for they are stimulated by no hope of glory, nor remembrance, nor a sigh, nor even a grave! Again, contemplate, honorable Mexicans, the lot of peaceful and industrious citizens in all classes of your country. The possessions of the Church menaced and presented as an allurement to revolution and anarchy; the fortunes of rich proprietors pointed out for plunder of armed ruffians; and merchants and the mechanic, the husbandman and the manufacturer, burdened with contributions, excises, monopolies, duties on consumption, surrounded by officers and collectors of these odious internal customs; the man of letters and the legislator, the freeman of knowledge who dares to speak, persecuted without trial by some faction or by the very rulers who abuse their power; and criminals unpunished are set at liberty, as were those of Perote. What, then,

eld S

is a field of volcanic rock of very uneven surface. It is between the roads leading to the capital from San Augustin and Padierna. A reconnoissance of the pedregal was made by Lieutenants Robert E. Lee and Pierre G.T. Bea

e position on the Pelon Cuauhtitlan to command the expected movements of the American army. General Santa Anna wrote from San Antonio through the Minister of War to General Valencia, at San Angel: "The general in chief directs me to say to your Excellency that the enemy having now [August 18th, 3 p.m.] taken up a position on our left in front of San Antonio with a part of

se positions and the road leading from San Augustin through Padierna to these points. To me it is as clear as the light of day that the enemy will undertake his attack, if not to-morrow, the day after, and that he desires to make two attacks at the same time, the one true and the other false, and tha

eport the movements of the enemy. He further ordered Colonel Mendoza to occupy with his regiment the edge of the pedregal, having in his front a detachment of infantry under Captain Solos, and beyond him a detachment of cavalry. To the left of Padierna was posted the corps of San Luis Potosi, to the righ

nce was fired upon by the Mexicans. General Persifor F. Smith ordered the mounted rifle regiment under Major William Wing Loring, aided by a section of Magruder's battery, to drive in the Mexican pickets. Lieutenant George B. McClellan placed the artillery in position, but before it was ready for action it received a fire from the guns on the elevated ridge beyond Padierna. The remainder of Smith's brigade and the other section of Lieutenant John Bankhead Magruder's battery were ordered forward, and the Mexicans were driven back. General Bennet Riley's brigade was ordered to the right, and to pass over the pedregal and take possession in the enemy's rear. General Cadwallader's brigade was ordered to support Riley's movement. General Scott, perceiving that re-enforcements were approaching Valencia from the City of Mexico, ordered a regiment of General Franklin Pierce's brigade to move forward and occupy San Geronimo, and General James Shields with two regiments (New York, and Palmetto, South Carolina) was ordered forward as a support. General Persifor F. Smith

rge. Riley now withdrew to San Geronimo, which he found occupied by Cadwallader's and Smith's brigades, and a regiment of Pierce's brigade under command of Colonel George Washington Morgan. When General Valencia's advanced forces were driven in by Twiggs's division on the pedregal, Valencia announced (August 19th, 2 p.m.) to General Santa Anna at San Antonio that the enemy were approaching Padiern

the night: Cadwallader's command in the outer edge of the village of San Geronimo, Riley's brigade parallel to it, the Rifles on the right, and the Third Infantry in the churchyard. In the night Captain R.E. Lee arrived, bearing a letter from General Scott asking to be informed of affairs beyond the pedregal. The information sought for was given, and Captain Lee was requested to inform General Scott

was present, denies this, saying that the order was qualified by one to spike the guns, destroy the ammunition, and saving only what could be safely transported. General Valencia declined to obey the order. At 2.30 p.m. of August 20th Smith's troops moved to reach Valencia's rear. Riley's brigade a

thousand yards from the enemy's works, from which point he made the attack. Riley moved up the ravine to a slope leading to a high point of the ridge and attacked the enemy some eight hundred yards distant. Cadwallader followed Riley, and the Mounted Rifles a

fled in the greatest confusion. The battle of Contreras was one of the most brilliant victories of the war. It opened the road to the City of Mexico. Seven hundred of the enemy were killed, eight hundred and thirteen prisoners were captured, including eighty-

made by the Mexicans, he had ordered General Worth to march from San Antonio on the morning of August 20th, with Garland's brigade, by way of San Augustin to Padierna, to

and Engineers, in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. They were attacked at San Angel, but the attacking party were soon driven off. Gene

rigade, and Taylor's battery were ordered to attack. After the defeat of General Valencia at Contreras, General Worth returned with Garland's brigade in front of San Antonio. His orders were to attack as soon as Pillow and Twiggs, moving from Contreras, approached in the rear. Worth ordered Clarke's brigade to move over the pedregal and turn the right flank of the fortifications at San Antonio and cut the enemy's line of communication. Henry Francis Clarke's brigade was attacked on its march, but dispersed the attacking force, and soon encountered the rear of the Mexicans from San Antonio and engaged them. Pillow with Cadwallader's brigade, joined Worth in pursuit of the fleeing Mexican troops and both attacke

troops in the convent consisted of the Independencia and Bravo battalions, about six hundred and fifty each, with the necessary cannoneers for six guns, and in the tête-de-pont cannoneers for five guns, the San Patricio companies, and the battalion of Tlapa. Along the Rio Churubusco, on the north side, was the brigade of General Perez, some twenty-five hundred strong. The Mexicans made a brave and gallant defens

or burying the dead and collecting the wounded, which he at once rejected. The deputation accompanying the flag consisted of Se?ores Basadre, Mora y Villamil and Aranjos, who had been sent by Pacheco, Minister of Foreign Affairs. General Santa Anna expressed great dissatisfaction at the action of the Minister, on which he resigned. General Scott addressed a communication to the head of the Mexican Government and general in chief, in which he said that too much blood had already been spilled, and suggested that it was time the

of the Navy, named two brigadier generals of the Mexican army

distance of twenty-eight leagues from the capital. The American army was not to obstruct the passage from the surrounding country into the capital of the ordinary supplies of food necessary for the subsistence of the Mexican army and the inhabitants within the city, nor were the Mexican authorities to obstruct the passage of supplies of subsistence from the city or country necessary for the supply of the American army. The armistice was to continue pending negoti

elson Caldwell, of the Voltigeurs, and Arthur C. Cummings, Eleventh Infantry, were severely wounded. Nine enlisted men were wounded, one mortally. The Mexican loss is not known. On August 12th the command reached Puente Nacional and found the Mexicans in considerable force, strongly barricaded. An artillery fire was opened on them and they were driven back. The American loss in this affair was sixty killed and wounded. On approaching the battlefield of Cerro Gordo they were again attacked, and sustained a loss of one killed and eight wounded. Several other attacks of a similar character were made, but without success. Major Lally, with his troops and wagon train, arrived at Jalapa thirteen days out from Vera Cruz, when without interruption five days would

ndary line between the two countries. It was also a part of the project that Mexico was to concede to the United States the right of transport across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec free from tolls. These and all else asked by Mr. Trist were refused. The Mexican commissioners asked for further instructions from their Government, which were given-that they should neither exceed nor modify the former instructions

then submitted a counter project on the 6th, which in effect refused all of the more important concessions asked by the United States. With this the diplomatic conferences terminated. General Scott at once called a conference with his general officers. He stated to them the bad faith of the enemy, who commenced the work of repair on their fortifications. He recited the incident of the mobbing of t

my of the United

, Septemb

sident and General in Chie

f Mexico; and I now have good reasons to believe that within the last forty-eight hours, if not earlier, the third article of that convention has been equally violated by the same party. These direct breaches of faith give to this army the most perfect right to resume hostilities against Mexic

be your Excellency's

ield

solent note, denying General Scott'

oners-that Santa Anna was really desirous to make peace. The manifesto which he issued to the nation is itself sufficient proof on this score; and certainly it reflects the highest credit on General Scott, that when he was at the very gates of the capital, which he could h

ance stores. Chapultepec was a strong, well-fortified and well-armed fort. Molino del Rey was occupied by a brigade of the National Guards, under General Leon. These were re-enforced on the morning of the 7th by a brigade under General Rangel. The Casta Mata, a large

d on the eminence to Garland's right and rear; a storming party of some five hundred picked men under Brevet Major George Wright, Eighth Infantry, to take post near and to the right of Hugér's battering guns, to attack the battery in the center of the enemy's lines; Clarke's brigade under Colonel James S. McIntosh and Captain James Duncan's battery opposite the enemy's right to support the assaulting column; Cadwallader to be held in reserve; and Major Edwin V. Sumner with his cavalry to be posted on the extreme left. Some changes were made in the disposition of the Mexican forces. Early on the morning of the 8th Hugér with two 24-pounders opened fire, and the assaulting column under Major Wright advanced under a heavy fire of grapeshot from the Mexican center and left. Undismayed, they pushed forward now under fire of musketry, captured a battery, and turned it upon the enemy, who fled in confusion. They were soon re-enforced, and rallied and reopened fire not only from their lines but from the housetops and walls. The storming party was driven back, but Duncan's battery opening fire at this time checked the Mexican advance. The light battalion of Colonel Charles F. Smith, now under command of Captain Edmund Kirby Smith, Fifth Infantry, moved forward, supported by a part of Cadwallader's brigade, and this was