Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/452

418 able, awaited the return of daylight under the guns of the formidable and unsubdued citadel.

So ended the battles of the 13th of September, 1847, and so, in fact, ended the great contests of the war. Santa Anna had been again "disconcerted" in his plan of battle, by Scott, as he had previously been thwarted by Valencia's disobedience and wilfulness. Scott would not attack the south of the city where he expected him, and consequently the American chief conquered the point where he had not expected him!

When darkness fell upon the city a council of disheartened officers assembled in the Mexican citadel. After the customary crimination and recrimination had been exhausted between Santa Anna and other officers, it was acknowledged that the time had come to decide upon future movements. Beaten in every battle, they now saw one American General already within the city gate, while another was preparing to enter on the following morning, and kept the city sleepless by the loud discharges of his heavy cannon or bursting bombs as they fell in the centre of the capital. General Carrera believed the demoralization of his army complete. Lombardini, Alcorta and Perez coincided in his opinion, and Santa Anna at length closed the panic stricken council by declaring that Mexico must be evacuated during the night and by naming Lombardini General-in-Chief, and General Perez second in command. Between eight and nine o'clock Señor Trigueros called at the citadel with his coach, and bore away the luckless military President to the sacred town of Guadalupe Hidalgo, three miles north of the capital.

The retreat of the Mexican army began at midnight, and not long after, a deputation from the Ayuntamiento, or City Council, waited upon General Scott with the information that the federal government and troops had fled from the capital. The haggard visitors demanded terms of capitulation in favor of the church, the citizens and the municipal authorities. Scott refused the ill-timed request, and promising no terms that were not self imposed, sent word to Quitman and Worth to advance as soon as possible on the following morning, and, guarding carefully against treachery, to occupy the city's strongest and most commanding points. Worth was halted at the Alameda, a few squares west of the Plaza, but Quitman was allowed the honor of advancing to the great square, and hoisting the American flag on the National Palace. At 9 o'clock the Commander-in-Chief, attended by his brilliant staff, rode into the vast area in front of the venerable Cathedral and Palace,