Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/424

392 fortification we have described. Beyond Churubusco the highway leads straight to the gate of San Antonio Abad, whence a work had been thrown north-westwardly towards the citadel. The city of Mexico, built on the bed of an ancient lake, was on a perfect level, nor were there any commanding or protecting elevations of importance around it within two or three miles, and the first of these, beyond this limit, were chiefly on the north and west.

Thus, General Santa Anna, in front, on the main road to the city, at the massive fortified hacienda of San Antonio, blocked up the highway in that direction, protected on his right by the barrier of the Pedregal; and by the lake of Xochimilco, the field works, and the flooded country on his left. General Valencia had been placed by him with his troops at San Angel, on the western edge of the valley, and at the village of Coyoacan, a little further east in the lap of the valley, on roads communicating easily with his position at San Antonio, while they commanded the approaches to the city by the circuitous path of the Pedregal around the edge of the valley from San Agustin de las Cuevas, through Contreras or Padierna. Valencia and Santa Anna were consequently within supporting distance of each other; and in their rear, in front of the city, were the fortifications of Churubusco. General Scott, with the whole American army was, therefore, apparently hemmed in between the lakes and the Pedregal on his flanks; the Mexican fortifications and army in front; and the steep mountains towards Cuernavaca in his rear. He was obliged, accordingly, either to retreat by the defiles through which he had advanced from Chalco,—to climb the steeps behind him and pass them to the tierra caliente,—to force the position in front at the hacienda of San Antonio,—or to burst the barrier of the Pedregal on his left, and, sweeping round the rim of the valley, to advance towards the capital through the village of San Angel. Such were some of the dangers and difficulties that menaced Scott on his arrival at San Agustin. He was in the heart of the enemy's country, in front of a capital aroused by pride, patriotism and despair, and possessing all the advantages of an accurate knowledge of the ground on which it stood, or by which it was surrounded. Scott, on the other hand, like the mariner in storm on a lee shore, was obliged to feel his way along the dangerous coast with the lead, and could not advance with that perfect confidence which is ever the surest harbinger of success.

The reconnoissances of the American engineers which had been pushed boldly, in front, on the main road, to the north, by the hacienda of San Antonio, soon disclosed the difficulty in that direction.