Page:Harris Dickson--The unpopular history of the United States.djvu/138

The Unpopular History of the United States prisoners and 43 pieces of artillery. So complete was their annihilation that Mexico no longer had an army and the road to the Capital lay open. But the American general had to stop, solely and simply because of an error committed under the dome of our Capitol at Washington. Here he was, commanding a handful of men, in the heart of a hostile country, with troops that were enlisted, not "for the war," but with the option "to serve twelve months" or "to the end of the war."

There was absolutely no excuse for this; it could have been prevented if a solitary member of Congress, familiar with the military history of his country, had moved to strike out the loophole option. But there it was, left in the law by the ignorance and the haste of legislators. National enthusiasm would have supplied men for the war, as bountifully as for twelve months. The term of Scott's twelve months men was about to expire. They wanted to go home, and had the unquestioned legal right. So on the 4th [120]