Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/390

340 still hoped for the best. A majority of his countrymen appeared to be with him, heart and hand; the clergy, who possessed the means, contributed from their vast wealth for the national protection; new levies were made, and large numbers of citizens enrolled in the National Guard; and he never suffered his energies to relax, nor his spirits to be dampened, after the avowal of his determination to prosecute the war to the uttermost. One triumph, — one repulse, — but a single check given to the unbroken tide of victories sweeping in advance of General Scott, as he progressed towards the capital, — would be sufficient to place him on that proud pinnacle of power to which his aspirations were directed, and enable him, and those whom he served, to proffer, instead of accepting, terms of peace to the enemy, without humiliation, and without dishonor.

Early in the month of August, 1847, Mexico was placed in a tolerable condition of defence. The main avenues leading to the city, on the south and east, by one or other of which it was supposed the American army would approach, were strongly guarded. Sweeping away, in a wide semicircle, from the southern border of Lake Tezcuco to the western mountains, a chain of bristling fortifications met the eye. About seven miles from the capital, in a south-easterly direction, is El Peñon, an isolated hill, three hundred feet high, having three plateaus of different elevations, each of which was garnished with a tier of guns, and infantry breastworks. Directly at its base, on the north, is the National Road, passing along a causeway