Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/402

 374 own eye, resolved to fortify it for the reception of the Americans. The brigades of General Pinzon and Ranjel; the companies of Jalapa and Coatepec, commanded by Mata; and the veterans of the division of Angostura arrived also about this period, and their last sections reached the ground on the 12th. Meanwhile all was activity in the work of hasty fortification. Robles constructed a parapet at the edge of the three hills, but failing to obtain all requisite materials for such a work, his erection merely served to mark the line of the Mexican operations, and to form a breast-work whence the artillery and infantry might command the ground over which, as the defenders supposed, the Americans would be obliged to advance. Colonel Cano had already cut off the access by the road at the point where it turned on the right slope of the Telegraph, by placing a heavy battery. He also formed a covered way leading to the positions on the right, while General Alcorta constructed a circular work on the summit of the eminence and established within it a battery of four guns. In the centre of this the national flag was hoisted, and off to the left nothing was seen but thick, thorny dells and barrancas, which were regarded by Santa Anna as impassable.

Such was the Mexican line of defences extending on the brink of these precipices for nearly a mile, and, throughout it, the commander-in-chief hastened to distribute his forces. The extreme right was placed under the command of General Pinzon, the next position under the naval captain, Buenaventura Aranjo, the next under Colonel Badillo, the next under General Jarero, the next post, at the road, under General La Vega, and finally the extreme left, at the Telegraph, under Generals Vazquez, Uraga and Colonel Palacios. The forces thus in position, according to the Mexican account, amounted to three thousand three hundred and seventy men with fifty-two pieces of ordnance of various calibre. The remainder of the army, with the exception of the cavalry, which remained at Corral Falso until the 15th, was encamped on the sides of the road at the rancheria of Cerro Gordo, situated in the rear of the position. In this neighborhood was placed the reserve, composed of the 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th light infantry, comprising 1,700 men; and the 1st and 11th regiments of the line, with 780 men, together with their artillery. It is said that the army was badly provided with food and suffered greatly from the climate and the innumerable insects which infest the region.

As Scott advanced against this position the dangers of his enterprize became manifest, and he caused a series of bold