Page:Into Mexico with General Scott (1920).djvu/300

 Artillery—were to hammer the south gates as a blind.

The army for action numbered about seven thousand. The Mexicans were supposed to be defending Chapultepec with seven batteries and seven breastworks, manned by two thousand to six thousand troops. And Santa Anna had fifteen or twenty thousand troops in reserve.

The wait proved very long. The heavy batteries thundered, sprinkling the castle of Chapultepec and the entrenchments with solid shot and shell. The Lieutenant Reno howitzers paid especial attention to the wall at the foot of the hill and the ditch behind it. The roof-tops of Tacubaya and of all the buildings extending along the Tacubaya road to Chapultepec were black with spectators; the walls and roofs of the City of Mexico were crowded like the seats of an amphitheater.

The sun was high when, at a quarter to eight o'clock on this morning of September 13, two aides galloped out from General Scott's headquarters in Tacubaya. Down they came, the one straight for the Quitman column, the other for the mill. They paused an instant to say something to the heavy batteries, and continued at full speed.

"General Pillow! The commander-in-chief's compliments, and he directs that when the batteries cease firing, in a few minutes, you will at once proceed with your column to the attack."

General Pillow faced his troops.

"Attention! We are about to storm the hill, my lads. We shall take it with the bayonet in thirty minutes, remember."

"Huzzah!"