Part 24

On the American side, too, little was done. On August 8, the Wilmot Proviso was considered. It was a proviso to the $2,000,000 bill asked by the President to arrange peace with Mexico, and it declared it to be "an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from Mexico, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist therein." August 10 the proviso came up for final passage, but John Davis of Massachusetts, in order to defeat action on the bill, held the floor till the session expired. Congress adjourned on that day. Great agitation prevailed in the North over the defeat of this proviso. The Democrats lost their majority in the Twenty-ninth Congress, owing to the new tariff and the predominance of pro-slavery issues in the war. Polk had but 110 votes against 118 when the new Congress met. Now the new tariff went into effect. Howe, the American inventor, secured a patent for an improvement in sewing-machines, which embodied the main features of the machine used at present; to wit, a grooved needle provided with an eye near its point, a shuttle operating on the side of the cloth opposite the needle to form a lockstitch, and an automatic feed. On December 28, Iowa was admitted to the Union as the twenty-ninth State.

1847

General Winfield Scott reached the harbor of Vera Cruz in January, and assumed command of all the American forces. He took with him the best officers and troops on the field of action, and left Taylor with only 5,200 men, most of whom were volunteers. Santa Anna, who had gathered 12,000 men eager to be led against the Americans, was approaching Saltillo. Leaving Monterey on January 31, Taylor reached Saltillo on February 2, and passed on to Aqua Nueva, twenty miles south of Saltillo, where he remained three weeks. Thence he fell back to a mountain gorge opposite Buena Vista. On February 22, his troops and those of Santa Anna were within sight of each other. Under a flag of truce, Santa Anna demanded Taylor's surrender, which was refused. The famous battleground, taking its name from the estate of Buena Vista, is a rugged valley from two to five miles wide, between rocky walls a thousand feet high. The slopes on either side are cut by deep ravines. Taylor placed his forces in groups on the crests of the bluffs, at the base of the eastern mountain, and in the southern edge of the plateau. The Mexican troops attempted to flank his position, but were driven off. The Mexican cavalry were sent to Taylor's rear to intercept the American retreat, but they were beaten back after a fierce hand-to-hand fight, led by Taylor himself. Santa Anna made his first attack in three columns. Two of these combined and turned the American left. The third, thrown against the American right, was forced to retreat, the Americans having formed a new front. Again the Mexicans sought to gain Taylor's rear, but with two regiments supported by artillery and dragoons, the American commander drove them back, firing into their heavy mass.

At one point in the engagement, an Indiana regiment, through a mistaken order, gave way, thereby placing the American army in peril. But the Mississippians and the Kentuckians threw themselves forward; the Indiana troops rallied, and the Mexicans were repulsed. General Taylor, standing near Captain Bragg's battery, saw signs of wavering in the enemy's line. "Give them a little more grape, Captain Bragg," he exclaimed--a command which was repeated all over the United States during the political campaign two years later. The Mexican column broke, and Taylor drove it up the slope of the eastern mountain. By means of a false flag of truce the endangered wing, however, escaped. Santa Anna, forming his whole force into one column, advanced. The Americans fell back, holding only the northwest corner of the plateau. When morning broke, the enemy had disappeared. The Mexican loss was 2,000, that of the Americans 746. Henry Clay, a son of the Kentucky statesman, as he lay wounded, was despatched by a Mexican vacquero. Colonel Jefferson Davis commanded with distinction a regiment of Mississippi riflemen. Buena Vista was Taylor's last battle. Its fame was heralded throughout America. Both sides claimed the victory. The Mexicans chanted Te Deums. In the United States the poet Kifer sang:

From the Rio Grande's waters to the icy lakes of Maine, Let us all exult! for we have met the enemy again. Beneath their stern old mountains we have met them in their pride, And rolled from Buena Vista back the battle's bloody tide; Where the enemy came surging swift, like the Mississippi's flood, And the reaper, Death, with strong arms swung his sickle red with blood.

After the battle of Buena Vista, General Taylor returned to the United States, his task finished. The exploit shed such lustre on his name that he was soon regarded as the fittest candidate for the Presidency.

In March, Scott's army of 12,000 landed at Vera Cruz. After four days' bombardment by land and water, the city and castle of San Juan d'Ulloa surrendered. General Worth was left in command at Vera Cruz, and Scott started on his march to the City of Mexico, two hundred miles away. Santa Anna, with the flower of his army, awaited him in the strong position of Cerro Gordo, fifty miles northwest. General Twiggs turned the Mexican left flank. On the following morning, April 18, the Americans attacked in three columns. Pellow advanced against the Mexican right, where three hills at an angle in the road were crowned with batteries. Shields' division, climbing by a pass, fell upon Santa Anna's right and rear. Twiggs and Worth, bearing to the right, covered the El Telegrafo Hill, and attacked the height of Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna commanded in person. Carrying this position, they turned its guns on the retreating Mexicans. Caught between the columns of Pellow, Twiggs and Worth, Santa Anna's forces surrendered. The American troops thus gained the national road to the capital of Mexico. They had made 3,000 prisoners and taken forty-three cannon, with $22,000 in silver and immense munitions of war. They lost, at Cerro Gordo, 481 killed and wounded; the Mexican loss was 2,000. Jalapa was occupied on April 19, and on the 22d the American flag waved above the Castle of Perote, fifty miles beyond. Puebla, containing 80,000 inhabitants, was occupied without opposition on May 15. On account of the sufferings of the men in the hot climate, General Scott rested at Puebla for several months.

The authority of the United States was established on the Pacific Coast, after a final defeat of the Mexicans at San Gabriel. Colonel Doniphan of Kearney's command, having been left in charge in New Mexico, compelled the Navajo Indians to enter into a treaty of peace, after which he set out with 1,000 Missourians to join General Wool. At Bracto, a Mexican commander with a superior force sent a black flag demanding his surrender. On refusal of this summons notice was given that no quarter should be granted. The Mexicans then advanced firing; the Americans lying down to escape the bullets. Cheering, the Mexicans ran forward, when suddenly Doniphan's command rose and fired, killing more than 200 Mexicans. The rest turned and fled. Near the capital of Chihuahua, Doniphan, after a sharp encounter, dispersed 4,000 Mexicans. The Stars and Stripes were raised above the citadel. In May, Doniphan rejoined Wool at Saltillo. Then followed a long lull in the Mexican campaign.

The question concerning the power of the American Congress to legislate on slavery again came up in connection with the bill for the establishment of the Oregon Territorial government. In February Calhoun had introduced his new slavery resolution, declaring the Territories to be the common property of all the States, and denying the right and power of Congress to prohibit slavery in any Territory. Thus began the agitation which led to the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise. By the terms of an amendment offered for the extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean, slavery was to be excluded from all future territory in the West. This amendment was lost, but the bill passed with another, incorporating the anti-slavery clause of the ordinance of 1787. Calhoun declared that the exclusion of slavery from any Territory was a subversion of the Union, and proclaimed "the separation of the Northern and Southern States complete."

In British North America a new era of home rule began after the Earl of Elgin took his oath as Governor-General of Canada in January. The imperial government abandoned all control over the customs of Canada. The building of the first great Canadian railroad was begun on the main line of the Grand Trunk system. Discouraging reports from the extreme northern regions of America at last confirmed the impression that Sir John Franklin, with the other members of his expedition, had perished in the Arctic regions. A romantic naval career was thus brought to a close. Born in 1786, John Franklin entered the British navy at the age of fourteen as a midshipman, and soon saw his first active service at the battle of Copenhagen in 1801. In the following year he was taken on his first trip of exploration to Australia by his cousin, Captain Flinders of the "Investigator." In 1818 he was a member of an expedition sent out by the British Government to attempt a passage to India by crossing the Polar Sea. His bold seamanship during this voyage brought him into such prominence that during the next year he was appointed by the Admiralty to command an expedition to travel overland from Hudson's Bay to the Arctic Ocean. During the course of this expedition he and his companions walked 5,560 miles and endured many hardships, of which Franklin wrote a thrilling narrative on his return to England in 1822. He then married Eleanor Porden, the author of the heroic poem "Coeur de Lion." In 1825 he was appointed to the command of another overland Arctic expedition. When the day of his departure arrived, his wife was dying of consumption. Lying at the point of death as she was, she would not let him delay his voyage, and gave him for a parting gift a silk flag to hoist when he reached the Polar Sea. On the day after Franklin left England she died. When he returned again he was knighted and showered with honors by various scientific societies of England and France. After serving as Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir John, in 1845, was appointed an admiral, and then another Arctic expedition to discover the Northwest Passage was organized. He sailed from Sheerness on May 26, 1845, and was last seen by a whaler in Baffin's Bay. Many years later a record was found on the northwest shore of King William's Land, announcing that Sir John Franklin died in the spring of 1847, and that the survivors of his expedition had attempted to make their way back on the ice to the American continent. To Sir John Franklin belongs the honor of the first discovery of the northwest passage leading from Lancaster Sound to Behring Strait.

On February 8, Daniel O'Connell, the great Irish Parliamentary leader, made his last speech in the English House of Commons. The question on which he spoke was a proposed bill for the relief of famine in Ireland: "I am afraid," he said, in the course of this address, "that the English people are not sufficiently impressed with the horrors of the situation in Ireland. I do not think they understand the accumulated miseries which my people are suffering. It has been estimated that 5,000 adults and 10,000 children have already died from famine, and that one-fourth of the whole population must perish unless something is done." Failing in health himself, O'Connell went to Italy. At Rome, Pope Pius IX. prepared a magnificent reception for him. Before he could reach the Eternal City, O'Connell died in his seventy-second year. Lacordaire, who but shortly before this had pronounced his greatest of funeral orations over the bier of General Drouot, thus spoke of O'Connell: "Honor, glory and eternal gratitude for the man who gave to his country the boon of liberty of conscience. Where is a man in the Church since the time of Constantine who has at one stroke enfranchised six millions of souls?" When the body of O'Connell was buried at Glasnevin, it was followed to the grave by fifty thousand mourners, among whom Orangemen and Ribbonmen walked side by side. In England, O'Connell's death was regarded with a feeling akin to relief. There his persistent demands of "justice for Ireland" had come to be regarded with derision, bringing him the nickname of "Big Beggarman."

Another spirit that won religious renown in England passed away with Thomas Chalmers, the great Scotch divine. As a teacher of theology at Edinburgh he wrote no less than twenty-five volumes, the most famous of which is his "Evidences of the Christian Revelations," a reprint of his article on "Christianity" contributed to the "Encyclopedia Britannica." In other respects it was a notable year for English letters. Charles Dickens had just published his famous stories "Dombey and Son" and "The Haunted Man." The success of these novels was surpassed by that of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair." Three writers now made their appearance. Anthony Trollope brought out his "MacDermotts of Ballycoran"; Emily Brontë published her first novel, "Wuthering Heights," while her sister, Charlotte Brontë, at the same time achieved an immense success with her story of "Jane Eyre." These successes were more than rivalled by that of Jenny Lind, the great soprano singer, who made her first appearance in London during this season. Another event for intellectual England was the sale at auction of Shakespeare's house at Stratford. It was acquired by a united committee of Shakespeare lovers for the sum of £3,000.

The oft-mooted question of the civil disabilities of the Jews in England was brought up again by the election of Baron Rothschild as a member of Parliament for London, together with Lord John Russell. The Premier, whose name was already identified with the cause of civil and religious liberty, made another strong effort to obtain the recognition of his colleague's claim to his seat. He was supported in this not only by most of the Whigs in the House of Commons, but also by three such prominent men of the opposition as Lord Bentinck, Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, himself of Jewish lineage. As heretofore, this proposed reform was accepted by the Commons only to be rejected by the Lords, now installed in their new House of Peers. Otherwise, Lord Russell's Ministry followed largely in the footsteps of their immediate predecessors. Palmerston pursued his wonted vigorous foreign policy.

It had been customary in Greek towns to celebrate Easter by burning an effigy of Judas Iscariot. This year the police of Athens were ordered to prevent this performance, and the mob, disappointed of their favorite amusement, ascribed the new orders to the influence of the Jews. The house of one Don Pacifico, a Portuguese Jew of Gibraltar, happened to stand near the spot where the Judas was annually burned. Don Pacifico was known to be a Jew, and the anger of the mob was wreaked upon him accordingly. On April 4, his house was sacked. Don Pacifico made a claim against the Greek Government for compensation. He estimated his losses, direct and indirect, at nearly £32,000. Another claim was made at the same time by another British subject, Finlay, the historian of Greece. The Greek Government, which was all but bankrupt, was dilatory in settling these claims. A British fleet was ordered to the Piræus. It seized all the Greek vessels belonging to the government and to private merchants that were found within those waters. The Greek Government appealed to France and Russia as Powers joined with England in the treaty to protect the independence of Greece. France and Russia both made bitter complaint of not having been consulted in the first instance by the British Government, nor was their feeling softened by Lord Palmerston's peremptory reply that it was all a question between England and Greece. It was on this occasion that Palmerston made the famous speech harking back to the sentiment expressed in the old Roman boast "Civis Romanus Sum."

Next, new troubles arose with China. During the previous year riots broke out in Canton, by reason of a superstitious belief that a weather-vane on top of the flagstaff over the American Consulate interfered with the spirits of the air. A Chinaman was shot during the riots. The British had to interfere on behalf of the threatened Americans. The outraged feelings of the Chinese populace were allayed by a conciliatory declaration of Emperor Taouk-Wang, to the effect that the Christian religion could be commended as a faith for inculcating the principles of virtue. At the same time he sent a special commissioner, Ke-Ying, "amicably to regulate the commerce with foreign merchants at Canton." Trouble again broke out in March, when a small English hunting and fishing party violated the agreement confining them to the foreign concession at Canton. They were pelted with stones by the natives. Sir John Davis denounced this incident as international outrage, and, in disregard of the accepted treaty provisions, proclaimed "that he would exact and acquire from the Chinese Government that British subjects should be as free from molestation and insult in China as they would be in England." On April 1, all the available forces at Hong Kong were summoned to Canton. Three steamships, bearing two regiments of soldiers, convoyed by a British man-of-war, attacked the Bogue forts. The Chinese, acting under orders from Ke-Ying, made no resistance. A British landing force seized the batteries and spiked the guns. Next, the forts opposite Canton were captured without a blow. Without a shot fired, Canton, on April 3, lay at the mercy of the British guns. Ke-Ying accepted the British ultimatum that the whole city of Canton should be opened to Englishmen two years from date. The agreement was closed with this significant statement on behalf of the Chinese Emperor: "If mutual good-will is to be maintained between the Chinese and foreigners, the common feelings of mankind, as well as the just principles of heaven, must be considered and conformed with."

A new phase in Great Britain's boundary dispute with Nicaragua was reached by a British squadron's abrupt seizure of the harbor of San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua's only seaport on the Atlantic coast. In regard to the demands made for the free navigation of the La Plata River, the Argentine Republic at last came to terms. The joint squadrons of England and France thereupon raised their blockade of Buenos Ayres. At London a conference of English and French statesmen, to which Spain was likewise admitted, had come to an agreement to interfere on behalf of Queen Maria II., in Portugal. When this was made known, Bandiera, one of the chief partisans of Dom Pedro, announced his submission. Nonetheless, Pedro's followers persevered, and on June 26 the Junta at Oporto had to capitulate to Pedro's army.

In Germany, in the meanwhile, the agitation for Parliamentary government steadily gained ground. In Bavaria, where King Louis's open liaison with the dancer Lola Montez had turned his subjects against him, the deputies of the Landtag exerted their power to abolish the crown lotteries by a unanimous vote. In Prussia, King Frederick William IV. at last issued his long-promised summons for a united provincial Diet. A semblance of representative government was established. It was at this time that Frederick William became Elector of Hesse-Cassel. The agitation for a representative government grew. On September 12, the Liberals held a meeting at Orthenburg. Within a month the Constitutional party met at Heppenheim, in Hesse. At length a united Prussian Parliament, called the Landtag, was convoked at Berlin. The first question to claim the attention of this Parliament was that of Schleswig-Holstein. The gauntlet recently flung down to the German population of Schleswig and Holstein, by King Christian VIII. of Denmark, was picked up not only by the anti-Danish Holsteiners, but by the whole German nation as well. Little Schleswig, with its 160 square miles and 400,000 inhabitants, was claimed by every German as German borderland. King Christian at this time was failing in health. His condition had been aggravated by the recent great fire at Copenhagen, which, amid other costly properties, destroyed invaluable records of Icelandic literature, including more than 2,000 unpublished manuscripts.

An event of like international importance was the death of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, at the age of thirty-eight. He was the grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, and the son of the gifted Lea Solomon-Bartholdy, from whom he received his first piano lessons. At the age of ten he joined the Singing Academy of Berlin, where a composition of his, the "Nineteenth Psalm," was performed shortly after his entry. In 1825 his father took him to Paris to consult Cherubini, as to his future. Cherubini offered to take him as a pupil, but his father preferred to bring him up in the musical atmosphere of his own home. There the boy perfected himself as a piano player and wrote a host of early compositions. The overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written in 1826, when Mendelssohn was but seventeen years old. Two years later his first opera, "The Marriage of Camècho," was given at the Berlin Opera. In Berlin, Mendelssohn became the leading figure in the propaganda for the music of Bach. Having undertaken a journey to England, at the suggestion of Moscheles, he gave a series of concerts there, after which he travelled throughout Europe. It was at this time that he wrote his "Songs Without Words," and composed the overture, "A Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage." After filling a musical directorship at Düsseldorf, he was summoned to conduct the orchestra of the Gewandhaus there. This proved an important turn in his career. In 1841, Frederick William IV. of Prussia invited him to Berlin, where he organized the famous Cathedral choir. Returning to Leipzig, he founded the musical conservatory in that city. The sudden death of his favorite sister, Fannie, gave him such a shock that he died within a few months after her. Mendelssohn exerted little influence as an operatic composer, but achieved the highest rank by such vocal compositions as the oratorios "St. Paul" and "Elijah," and some of his beautiful songs, which have become folksongs. Of his orchestral pieces, the most famous are his concert overtures, such as that of the "Midsummer Night's Dream," or "Ruy Blas," and his "Funeral March." The most celebrated of his piano pieces are the popular "Songs Without Words," the "Wedding March" and the brilliant "Rondo Capriccioso."

By the death of Prosper Marilhat, a young artist of great promise was lost to France. But a few years before, Marilhat sent no less than eight masterpieces to the Salon, but they were received so coldly that the young artist fell into a state from which death was a happy deliverance. Théophile Gautier wrote of him, "That exhibition was Marilhat's swan song, and the works he sent were eight diamonds." After Marilhat's death, some of his unfinished paintings commanded great prices. Thus his "Entrance to Jerusalem," at the Wertheimer sale at Paris in 1861, fetched 16,000 francs. Fifteen years later, at the Oppenheim sale in Paris, Marilhat's "Ruins Near Cairo" brought no less than 29,000 francs. It was as a painter of Oriental subjects that Marilhat won his most lasting distinction. Having travelled to the East with Baron Hugel, he remained for many years in Egypt, painted portraits of the Khedive and decorated several of the buildings of Alexandria. In an obituary article published in the "Revue des Deux Mondes," Théophile Gautier wrote: "Marilhat was a Syrian Arab. He must have had in his veins some blood of the Saracens whom Charles Martel did not kill.... One of the glories of Marilhat was that he preserved his originality in presence of Decamps. The talents of these two men are parallel lines, it is true, but they do not touch each other. The more fruitful fancy of the one is balanced by the character in the works of the other."

In France the dissatisfaction with Louis Philippe's government, as administered by Guizot, was steadily increasing. The Socialist party, led by Louis Blanc, agitated the country for reform. An appeal to Revolutionary traditions was made by the simultaneous publication of Blanc's and Michelet's histories of the French Revolution. At the same time, Lamartine brought out his "Histoire des Girondins." Napoleonic traditions were revived by a series of events following the death of General Drouot. In September came the death of Marshal Oudinot, the hero of Bitche, Moorlautern, Trêves, Ingolstadt, Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena, Ostralenka, Friesland and Wagram. Oudinot was wounded innumerable times and was twice made a prisoner. He bore a prominent part throughout the Russian campaign and that of 1814. During the Hundred Days he remained in retirement. For this he was made Commander-in-chief of the National Guards under the Restoration, and passed through the campaign of Spain in 1823, when he captured Madrid. After his death, Marshal Soult, another veteran of the Napoleonic wars, succeeded him as general commander of the French army. Before this, Marshal Grouchy had likewise expired in his eighty-first year. He it was who was held responsible by Napoleon for the final crushing defeat at Waterloo. There he failed to support his chief, when Blücher came to the support of Wellington. To the end of his days, Grouchy insisted that Napoleon's orders to this effect never reached him, but it was held up against him that some of his officers on that occasion had vainly urged him to march on the sound of the cannons at Waterloo. On October 10, Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother and the quondam king of Westphalia, was permitted to return to France after an exile of thirty-two years. Late in the year, ex-Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife, died at the age of fifty-six in Austria. Never beloved like her predecessor Josephine, she lost the esteem of all Frenchmen by her failure to stand by her husband after his downfall and exile to St. Helena, and by her subsequent liaison with her chamberlain, Neipperg, to whom she bore several children. Other events of lasting interest in France, during this year, were the opening of the great canal from Marseilles to Durano, the death of Duc de Polignac, who helped cause the downfall of his royal master Charles X., and the publication of Mérimée's "Carmen" and of "Aventures de Quatre Femmes et d'un Perroquet," by the younger Dumas.

Under the stimulus of Pius IX.'s apparent sympathy for the cause of national unity in Italy, as well as that of the teachings of Mazzini, the Italian patriots took heart again. One group, consisting mostly of the politicians and military men of Piedmont, centred their hopes in the traditional antagonism of the princes of Savoy against Austria. Charles Albert of Carrignano, whom Metternich had attempted to exclude from the succession, showed marked independence in his dealings with Austria. In 1847, the Italian question came uppermost again when the Austrian Government, on a new interpretation in one of the clauses in the treaty of Vienna, occupied the town of Ferrara in the ecclesiastical states. Pius IX. promptly protested against this trespass of his territories. The King of Sardinia openly announced his intention to take the field against Austria, should war break out. English and French warships appeared at Naples. In Sicily and southern Italy the attitude of the patriots grew threatening. Apprehensions of a general revolution throughout Italy at length induced Metternich to agree with the neutral powers on a compromise concerning the occupation of Ferrara. Lucca was united with Tuscany. Still patriotic passion seethed in Italy.

In America, after several months of comparative inaction, the war in Mexico was renewed with vigor. On August 6, General Scott received reinforcements. Leaving a governor at Puebla, he marched on with 14,000 men. He met with no resistance at the passes of the Cordilleras. On August 10, from the top of the Rio Frio Mountains, the City of Mexico, lying in a fertile, lake-dotted basin, was in sight. The land around the city was under water, and the capital was approached by causeways across the low and marshy ground. The numerous rocky hills were all fortified. Scott passed around Lake Chalco to the southwest, and thence moved west skirting the south shore. Santa Anna, intercepting the Americans, took up his headquarters at San Antonio, five miles from the city. His position was flanked on the west by broken lava, and on the east by marshy ground. The ground was as bad as could well be encountered. Santa Anna sent orders to General Valencia, who held a fortified hill in front of the Americans, to spike his guns, destroy his stores and retreat, but Valencia refused. Riley, occupying a hill in his rear, took his intrenchments in reverse. He was cut off both north and south; 2,000 of his force were killed and wounded; a thousand with four generals were captured, and guns, stores and ammunition fell into the hands of the Americans.

The divisions of Pellow and Twiggs were ordered, August 19, to storm Contreras. The line between that position and Santa Anne's reserves was cut at the close of the day, and General Persifer F. Smith at sunrise the next morning led an assault on the Mexican camp, and in less than half an hour drove 6,000 Mexicans out of the fortification. Shortly afterward General Worth attacked Santa Anna and routed the garrison.

The Americans followed to Churubusco on the road to the capital, where Santa Anna had concentrated his whole force. Here the river was protected by levees, the head of the bridge strongly fortified, and the stone convent surrounded by a strong field-work. The attack on the bridge and the convent was desperate. Pierce and Shields had made a detour to the main road in the rear of Churubusco. They struck the Mexican reserves, and all the troops on both sides were engaged. Worth and Pellow carried the bridge in time to save Pierce and Shields. The Mexican left gave way. A detachment crossed the river and threatened the bridge from the rear. Worth threw his whole force upon the broken line. Through ditches and over parapets they went with a rush, and the battle was won. The Americans lost a thousand men and seventy-six officers.

General Kearney had left Fort Leavenworth in the spring of 1847. To him fell the task of conquering New Mexico and California. On August 18, Santa Fé was captured, and all New Mexico submitted. From Santa Fé, Kearney, with 400 dragoons, set off for California. Kit Carson, whom he met on the road, informed him that Colonel Fremont had conquered California. On learning this Kearney sent back most of his force, and with the few remaining pushed on to the coast. In the five distinct victories thus far gained over the Mexican army of 80,000, scarcely 10,000 Americans had been engaged, 4,000 Mexicans had been killed and wounded, and 3,000 made prisoners, and thirty-seven pieces of artillery were captured.

Scott again made overtures for peace. He had with him a government commissioner, Trist, who had already made a vain effort to secure peace. Scott accordingly advanced to Tecubaya within three miles of the capital, and on August 21 sent to Santa Anna a proposition for an armistice looking to negotiations for peace. The proposition was accepted, and Trist entered the capital on the 24th, where he remained until September 5. He reported that the American proposition had not only been rejected, but that Santa Anna had improved the armistice to strengthen the city's defences. Scott instantly declared the armistice at an end.

Scott had now 8,500 men and 68 guns. He moved, September 7, upon Molino del Rey (King's Mill), a group of stone buildings 500 yards long, forming the western side of the inclosure surrounding the rock and castle of Chapultepec, and 1,100 yards from the castle, which is a mile and a half from the city wall. Scott's purpose was to enter the city on the south, and he considered the castle of slight importance. He supposed that the battle of Molino would be a small affair. Worth anticipated a desperate struggle, and took up his position in the dark on the morning of the 8th. At 3 A.M. he opened fire with his twenty-four pounders, and his storming party advanced toward the point where the enemy's batteries had been, but their position had been changed, and they suddenly opened fire on the flank of his 500. After various contests, the fighting became a struggle for the possession of the Molino. A desperate and deadly fight took place. The southern gate gave way and the Americans passed in. The fight was renewed with bayonet and sword, and Worth lost a large number of the flower of his forces. At last the Mexicans, all but 700, retreated to Chapultepec. On the left the Americans were received with a murderous fire, which was long continued. Their whole artillery was then concentrated upon the Casa Mata and its works, which, after a desperate defence, were abandoned. Except as an outpost to Chapultepec, the position had no value. By Scott's order Worth withdrew his command, and left to the enemy the field which had been so dearly won. Of 3,500 Americans in the fight, 787 had fallen, including 59 officers.

The Rock of Chapultepec rises 150 feet, and is crowned by the great castle. The northern side was inaccessible; the eastern and southern sides nearly so, and the southwestern and western could be scaled. A zigzag road on the southern side was swept by a battery at an angle. The crest was strongly fortified; ditches and strong walls and a redoubt were constructed at various points. The garrison numbered 2,000, and thirteen long guns were mounted. A select party under Captain Joseph Hooker seized the Molino, and at night Pellow threw his whole force into it. Two forces made a desperate assault on the intrenchments in front, united and passed the Mexicans and mounted the western slope. A party passed around the western front, which they scaled, and gained the parapet. Their comrades on the western side climbed the southern slope at the same time and joined the two. The whole castle was occupied. The Mexicans were dislodged and many prisoners were taken.