Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/110

92 necessary supplies for the comfort and health of the troops, their sustenance and equipment, and the requisite facilities for transportation. How well the duties of these ofﬁcers were discharged, is attested by the fact, that an additional force of near 20,000 men was sent into the ﬁeld early in the ensuing summer.

The general plan of the campaign, determined on at Washington, was, to make a series of ﬂank invasions, or attacks, on the western, northern, and eastern frontiers of Mexico. A strong naval squadron was already lying in the Gulf, and orders were issued to Commodore Conner, on the 13th of May, to blockade the Mexican ports. Instructions had been previously given to Commodore Sloat, the ofﬁcer commanding the Pacific squadron, to take possession of the principal ports and towns on that coast, as fast as his means would allow, whenever he was credibly informed that hostilities had commenced. The land forces of the United States were to penetrate the enemy's country in three divisions — one proceeding from Fort Leavenworth on the Missouri river, under Colonel (afterwards General) Kearny into New Mexico and California; the second, under General Wool, to rendezvous at San