Page:American Historical Review, Vol. 23.djvu/300

290 size, the routes from the Rio Grande to Monterey and from Vera Cruz to Mexico came to be LIttle more than black swaths of desolation. The principle was established that citizens residing near the scene of guerrilla outrages were to suffer. Taylor imposed a crushing fine in one such case; and at Jalapa it was ordered that three hundred dollars must be paid for every murder, or the value of the property in each case of brigandage.

People who attempted to assail our troops in the towns not only fared badly themselves but brought down misfortunes upon their neighbors. The military commander at Puebla, on finding that the governor of the state was endeavoring to cause an uprising, promptly notified the prefect that in the case of a hostile disturbance "the City [that is to say, innocent and guilty alike] would probably suffer from my guns and mortars". At the capital such an experience actually occurred. Soon after the Americans entered it, Mexicans fired upon them from the houses. Before long the First Alcalde issued this warning: "The General-in-Chief [Scott] of the American forces which have occupied the city this morning has informed the Ayuntamiento [city council] that if within three hours, reckoned from the time this notice is posted, there is not a complete cessation of the acts of hostility now being committed …, he will proceed with all rigor against the guilty, permitting their goods and property to be sacked and razing the block [manzana] in which are situated the houses from which the American troops are fired upon."

At the same time the city council issued a placard requesting the people to remain peaceably at home, and saying in explanation that under Scott's orders every dwelling from which a bullet should be fired would be destroyed with artillery, and all within it put to death. These warnings were not effectual, however; and General