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Another random document with
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Into Mexico with
General Scott
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Into Mexico with General Scott

Author: Edwin L. Sabin

Illustrator: Charles H. Stephens

Release date: July 30, 2022 [eBook #68652]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: J. B. Lippincott Company,

1920

Credits: Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTO

MEXICO WITH GENERAL SCOTT ***
INTO MEXICO WITH
GENERAL SCOTT
 The American Trail Blazers
“THE STORY GRIPS AND THE HISTORY STICKS”

These books present in the form of vivid and fascinating fiction, the
early and adventurous phases of American history. Each volume
deals with the life and adventures of one of the great men who made
that history, or with some one great event in which, perhaps, several
heroic characters were involved. The stories, though based upon
accurate historical fact, are rich in color, full of dramatic action, and
appeal to the imagination of the red-blooded man or boy.
Each volume illustrated in color and black and white
12mo. Cloth.

LOST WITH LIEUTENANT PIKE

GENERAL CROOK AND THE FIGHTING APACHES
OPENING THE WEST WITH LEWIS AND CLARK
WITH CARSON AND FREMONT
DANIEL BOONE: BACKWOODSMAN
BUFFALO BILL AND THE OVERLAND TRAIL
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH
DAVID CROCKETT: SCOUT
ON THE PLAINS WITH CUSTER
GOLD SEEKERS OF ’49
WITH SAM HOUSTON IN TEXAS
“YOU YOUNG RASCAL! WHAT’S THE MEANING OF THIS RACKET?”
 INTO MEXICO WITH
GENERAL SCOTT
WHEN ATTACHED TO THE FOURTH UNITED STATES
INFANTRY, DIVISION OF MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM J.
WORTH, CORPS OF THE FAMOUS MAJOR-GENERAL
WINFIELD SCOTT, KNOWN AS OLD FUSS AND FEATHERS,
CAMPAIGN OF 1847, LAD JERRY CAMERON MARCHED AND
FOUGHT BESIDE SECOND LIEUTENANT U. S. GRANT ALL
THE WAY FROM VERA CRUZ TO THE CITY OF MEXICO,
WHERE SIX THOUSAND AMERICAN SOLDIERS PLANTED
THE STARS AND STRIPES IN THE MIDST OF ONE HUNDRED
AND FIFTY THOUSAND AMAZED PEOPLE

BY
EDWIN L. SABIN
AUTHOR Of “LOST WITH LIEUTENANT PIKE,” “OPENING THE
WEST WITH LEWIS AND CLARK,” “BUILDING THE
PACIFIC RAILWAY,” ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
CHARLES H. STEPHENS
PORTRAIT AND 2 MAPS
 PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1920
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
 FOREWORD
Although General Winfield Scott was nicknamed by the soldiers
“Old Fuss and Feathers,” they intended no disrespect. On the
contrary, they loved him, and asked only that he lead them. No
general ever lived who was more popular with the men in the ranks.
They had every kind of confidence in him; they knew that “Old Fuss
and Feathers” would look out for them like a father, and would take
them through.
His arrival, all in his showy uniform, upon his splendid horse, along
the lines, was the signal for cheers and for the bands to strike up
“Hail to the Chief.” At bloody Chapultepec the soldiers crowded
around him and even clasped his knees, so fond they were of him.
And when he addressed them, tears were in his eyes.
General Scott was close to six feet six inches in height, and
massively built. He was the tallest officer in the army. His left arm
was partially useless, by reason of two wounds received in the War
of 1812, but in full uniform he made a gallant sight indeed. He never
omitted any detail of the uniform, because he felt that the proper
uniform was required for discipline. He brooked no unnecessary
slouchiness among officers and men; he insisted upon regulations
and hard drilling, and the troops that he commanded were as fine an
army as ever followed the Flag.
While he was strict in discipline, he looked keenly also after the
comforts and privileges of his soldiers. He realized that unless the
soldier in the ranks is well cared for in garrison and camp he will not
do his best in the field, and that victories are won by the men who
are physically and mentally fit. He did not succeed in doing away
with the old practice of punishment by blows and by “bucking and
gagging,” but he tried; and toward the ill and the wounded he was all
tenderness.
 As a tactician he stands high. His mind worked with accuracy. He
drew up every movement for every column, after his engineers had
surveyed the field; then he depended upon his officers to follow out
the plans. His general orders for the battle of Cerro Gordo are cited
to-day as model orders. Each movement took place exactly as he
had instructed, and each movement brought the result that he had
expected; so that after the battle the orders stood as a complete
story of the fight.
His character was noble and generous. He had certain peculiar
ways—he spoke of himself as “Scott” and like Sam Houston he used
exalted language; he was proud and sensitive, but forgiving and
quick to praise. He prized his country above everything else, and
preferred peace, with honor, to war. Although he was a soldier, such
was his justice and firmness and good sense that he was frequently
sent by the Government to make peace without force of arms, along
the United States borders. He alone it was who several times
averted war with another nation.
General Scott should not be remembered mainly for his battles
won. He was the first man of prominence in his time to speak out
against drunkenness in the army and in civil life. He prepared the
first army regulations and the first infantry tactics. He was the first
great commander to enforce martial law in conquered territory, by
which the conquered people were protected from abuse. He
procured the passage of that bill, in 1838, which awarded to all
officers, except general officers like himself, an increase in rations
allowance for every five years of service. The money procured from
Mexico was employed by him in buying blankets and shoes for his
soldiers and in helping the discharged hospital patients; and
$118,000 was forwarded to Washington, to establish an Army
Asylum for disabled enlisted men. From this fund there resulted the
present system of Soldiers’ Homes.
The Mexican War itself was not a popular war, among Americans,
many of whom felt that it might have been avoided. Lives and money
were expended needlessly. Of course Mexico had been badgering
the United States; American citizens had been mistreated and could
obtain no justice. But the United States troops really invaded when
they crossed into southwestern Texas, for Mexico had her rights
there.
The war, though, brought glory to the American soldier. In the
beginning the standing army of the United States numbered only
about eight thousand officers and men, but it was so finely organized
and drilled that regiment for regiment it equalled any army in the
world. The militia of the States could not be depended upon to enter
a foreign country; they had to be called upon as volunteers. Mexico
was prepared with thirty thousand men under arms; her Regulars
were well trained, and her regular army was much larger than the
army of the United States.
When General Zachary Taylor, “Old Rough and Ready,” advanced
with his three thousand five hundred Regulars (almost half the
United States army) for the banks of the Rio Grande River, he
braved a Mexican army of eight thousand, better equipped than he
was, except in men.
A military maxim says that morale is worth three men. All through
the war it was skill and spirit and not numbers that counted; quality
proved greater than quantity. “Old Zach,” with seventeen hundred
Regulars, beat six thousand Mexican troops at Resaca de la Palma.
At Buena Vista his four thousand Volunteers and only four hundred
and fifty or five hundred Regulars repulsed twenty thousand of the
best troops of Mexico. General Scott reached the City of Mexico with
six thousand men who, fighting five battles in one day, had defeated
thirty thousand. Rarely has the American soldier, both Regular and
Volunteer, so shone as in that war with Mexico, when the enemy
outnumbered three and four to one, and chose his own positions.
The battles were fought with flint-lock muskets, loaded by means
of a paper cartridge, from which the powder and ball were poured
into the muzzle of the piece. The American dragoons were better
mounted than the Mexican lancers, and charged harder. The artillery
was the best to be had and was splendidly served on both sides, but
the American guns were the faster in action.
Thoroughly trained officers and men who had confidence in each
other and did not know when they were beaten, won the war. Many
of the most famous soldiers in American history had their try-out in
Mexico, where Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan were young
engineers, U. S. Grant was a second lieutenant, and Jefferson Davis
led the Mississippi Volunteers. The majority of the regular officers
were West Pointers. General Scott declared that but for the military
education afforded by the Academy the war probably would have
lasted four or five years, with more defeats than victories, at first.
Thus the Mexican War, like the recent World War, proved the value
of officers and men trained to the highest notch of efficiency.
In killed and wounded the war with Mexico cost the United States
forty-eight hundred men; but the deaths from disease were twelve
thousand, for the recruits and the Volunteers were not made to take
care of themselves. In addition, nearly ten thousand soldiers were
discharged on account of ruined health. All in all the cost of the war,
in citizens, footed twenty-five thousand. The expense in money was
about $130,000,000.
By the war the United States acquired practically all the country
west from northern Texas to the Pacific Ocean, which means
California, Utah, Nevada, the western half of Colorado and most of
New Mexico and Arizona. This, it must be said, was an amazing
result, for in the outset we had claimed only Texas, as far as the Rio
Grande River.
E. L. S.
 CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE

The War with Mexico 18

Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott 27
I. The Star-Spangled Banner 37
II. A Surprise for Vera Cruz 53
III. The Americans Gain a Recruit 61
IV. Jerry Makes a Tour 67
V. In the Naval Battery 84
VI. Second Lieutenant Grant 92
VII. Hurrah for the Red, White and
Blue! 110
VIII. Inspecting the Wild “Mohawks” 120
IX. The Heights of Cerro Gordo 130
X. Jerry Joins the Ranks 146
XI. In the Wake of the Fleeing Enemy 154
XII. An Interrupted Toilet 164
XIII. Getting Ready at Puebla 175
XIV. A Sight of the Goal at Last 188
XV. Outguessing General Santa Anna 194
XVI. Facing the Mexican Host 203
XVII. Clearing the Road to the Capital 218
XVIII. In the Charge at Churubusco 229
XIX. Before the Bristling City 240
XX. The Battle of the King’s Mill 250
XXI. Ready for Action Again 269
XXII. Storming Chapultepec 279
XXIII. Forcing the City Gates 291
XXIV. In the Halls of Montezuma 311
 ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE

“You Young Rascal! What’s the Meaning of this Racket?”

Frontispiece
Winfield Scott—General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United
States at the Period of His Commanding in Mexico 27
“And All Your Army and Guns Can’t Keep Them Off” 46
“’Peared Like They Were Going to Ambush Me and Take this
Turkey” 125
Lieutenant Grant Used this as a Ladder 264

MAPS
The March to the City of Mexico, 279 Miles 18
The Campaign in the Valley of Mexico 194
 WORDS OF GENERAL SCOTT
His motto in life: “If idle, be not solitary; if solitary, be not idle.”
At Queenstown Heights, 1812: “Let us, then, die, arms in hand.
Our country demands the sacrifice. The example will not be lost. The
blood of the slain will make heroes of the living.”
At Chippewa, July 5, 1814: “Let us make a new anniversary for
ourselves.”
To the Eleventh Infantry at Chippewa: “The enemy say that
Americans are good at long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I
call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie to that slander.
Charge!”
From an inscription in a Peace Album, 1844: “If war be the natural
state of savage tribes, peace is the first want of every civilized
community.”
At Vera Cruz, March, 1847, when warned not to expose himself:
“Oh, generals, nowadays, can be made out of anybody; but men
cannot be had.”
At Chapultepec, 1847: “Fellow soldiers! You have this day been
baptized in blood and fire, and you have come out steel!”
To the Virginia commissioners, 1861: “I have served my country
under the flag of the Union for more than fifty years, and, so long as
God permits me to live, I will defend that flag with my sword, even if
my own native State assails it.”
 THE WAR WITH MEXICO (1846–1847)
The Causes
March 2, 1836, by people’s convention the Mexican province of
Texas declares its independence and its intention to become a
republic.
April 21, 1836, by the decisive battle of San Jacinto, Texas wins its
war for independence, in which it has been assisted by many
volunteers from the United States.
May 14, 1836, Santa Anna, the Mexican President and general
who had been captured after the battle, signs a treaty acknowledging
the Texas Republic, extending to the Rio Grande River.
September, 1836, in its first election Texas favors annexation to
the United States.
December, 1836, the Texas Congress declares that the
southwestern and western boundaries of the republic are the Rio
Grande River, from its mouth to its source.
The government of Mexico refuses to recognize the independence
of Texas, and claims that as a province its boundary extends only to
the Nueces River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico, about 120
miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande.
This spring and summer petitions have been circulated through
the United States in favor of recognizing the Republic of Texas.
Congress has debated upon that and upon annexation. The South
especially desires the annexation, in order to add Texas to the
number of slave-holding States.
February, 1837, President Andrew Jackson, by message to
Congress, relates that Mexico has not observed a treaty of friendship
signed in 1831, and has committed many outrages upon the Flag
and the citizens of the United States; has refused to make payments
for damages and deserves “immediate war” but should be given
another chance.
March, 1837, the United States recognizes the independence of
the Texas Republic.
Mexico has resented the support granted to Texas by the United
States and by American citizens; she insists that Texas is still a part
of her territory; and from this time onward there is constant friction
between her on the one side and Texas and the United States on the
other.
In August, 1837, the Texas minister at Washington presents a
proposition from the new republic for annexation to the United
States. This being declined by President Martin Van Buren in order
to avoid war with Mexico, Texas decides to wait.
Mexico continues to evade treaties by which she should pay
claims against her by the United States for damages. In December,
1842, President John Tyler informs Congress that the rightful claims
of United States citizens have been summed at $2,026,079, with
many not yet included.
Several Southern States consider resolutions favoring the
annexation of Texas. The sympathies of both North and South are
with Texas against Mexico.
In August, and again in November, 1843, Mexico notifies the
United States that the annexation of Texas, which is still looked upon
as only a rebellious province, will be regarded as an act of war.
October, 1843, the United States Secretary of State invites Texas
to present proposals for annexation.
In December, 1843, President Tyler recommends to Congress that
the United States should assist Texas by force of arms.
April 12, 1844, John C. Calhoun, the Secretary of State, concludes
a treaty with Texas, providing for annexation. There is fear that Great
Britain is about to gain control of Texas by arbitrating between it and
Mexico. The treaty is voted down by the Senate on the ground that it