Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/450



CAPTURE OF MEXICO.

ight and day the Mexicans labored to complete the fortifications of the Capital. The dull heavy sound of the mattock and spade, employed in digging ditches and throwing up breastworks, was continually heard. Men, women, and children, were constantly employed in the construction of additional defences. Alarm pervaded every breast, and was depicted on every countenance. Anxious groups were collected in the Plaza, and at the corners of the streets—each man eager to put forth the same inquiry, which rushed unbidden to his lips. Even those, who, with folded arms, had hitherto complacently regarded the progress of the war at a distance,—now that the banners of the beleaguering army could be discovered from their balconies and housetops, shared in the general feeling, that something must be done, and that promptly, to avert the impending danger. Letters had been addressed by the Secretary of State to the Governors of the states of Puebla and Mexico, calling for a levy en masse, to attack and harass the enemy, by every means which it was