Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/440

* MEXICAN WAR. 404 MEXICO. the United States) brought the total .strength of the American forces to 10,738, nearly one-half of whom were recruits. Leaving a detach- ment of 500 men at Puebla, where 2300 wounded were in liospitals, Scott advanced upon the 'Halls of the Montezumas.' The city was entered by three roads, eacli guarded by rocky hills strongly fortilicd, the most prominent being that of El Pefion, mounting 51 guns, beliind which were long and narrow causeways. Hanked on one side by fields covered with broken lava, and on the other by ponds and marshes. On the east and southeast large lakes added to the military pro- tection of the city; an inner lino of fortifications, made doubly imprcgnal)le l)y nature and art. (•om]ilcted tlic obstacles to a further advance on the part of the Americans. Undismayed by these, however. General Scott sununoned his engineers, among whom were Captains George B. JIc- Clellan and Robert K. Lee, and a new road was cut, skirting Lake C'halco and by a circuitous route of 27 miles leading to the most vulnerable ^ide of the town. After careful reconnoissance the first impediment, the hill of Contreras (q.v.). was taken (August 2l)tli) l)y an une.i)ected and desperate assault, with 813 ])risoncrs (inclnding four generals), 22 cannon, and tliousands of small arms. The attacking force numbered 4500. the defense 7000 men. of wliom 700 were killed, while the Americans lost about 60 in killed and wounded. On the same day the strong positions of San Antonio and t'hurubusco (q.v.) were carried by the divisicms of Worth and Twiggs, with further captures of 1800 prisoners, includ- ing 4 general officers: the ^Mexicans losing more tlian 3000 and the Americans af)(nit 1!0 kitled and wounded. After the 'outer walls' had tlius been gained, the American advance was again lialted, and on August 23d an armistice was agreed upon pending the possibility that the de- mands of the I'nited States miglit'be acceded to without further liloodshed. This expectation proved futile, and on Se])teniber 7th the final movement began. After severe hand to hand fighting, the defenses of .Moliiio del Key were carried by the Americans on September 8th, and on the 13th the castle of Cliapulteiioc was stormed. On the 14th the Mexican army evacu- ated the capital, and General Scott made his entrj- into the city. The total American losses during the operations in the Valley of Mexico were 2703. including 383 officers: that of the Mexicans 7000 kiiled and wounded and 3730 prisoners of war. The sjioils of war comprised 20 standards. 132 cannon, and 20.000 small arms. General Scott estalilislied liis headipiarters in the City of Mexico, was reenforced to an aggre- gate of "'20,000 men. and levied a tax of $150,000 upon the municipal government, to be largely ex- pended for the comfort of the sick and wounded. On Feliruary 2, 1848, a treaty of peace between the I'nited States and Mexico was signed nt Guadalupe Hidalgo. (See Gr.vn.vLi'PF. HinAi.oo. Tkkatv of.) The total number of .American regulars who served in Mexico and its. borders during the war was 21,50!l:(if volunteers. 22,027. ntni.inoRAPiiY. Consult: I'iplev. T/ir llVn- i/iV/i Mrxirn ( Xew York. 1840) : Mansfield, Thr Mrxi- can UV/r (Xew York, 1852) : Ladd, Thr War vilh Mexico (New York, IS83) : Official Krpnrl. Kcrrrfari) of M'ar (Washington. 1847) ; Wilcox. Ifiston/ of Ihr Mr.riran War (Washington, 1892) ; Bancroft, //is/on/ uf Mexico, vol. v. (San Francisco, 1885) ; Autobiograpliy of Liiutenant- Goieral ticott (New York, 1804); Howard, Gen- eral Taylor (Xew York, 1892) ; and Wright, aeneral ticott (Xew York, 1894), in the "Great Commanders Series." For further information concerning the causes and results of the war, see the article Uxited St.tes. MEXICO (Sp. Mcjico, mri'jii-k6). A country of Xorth America bounded on the north by the United States and the Gulf of Mexico, east by the Gulf of Jlexico. the Carililiean Sea, and British Honduras, south and west by the Pacific Ocean and Guatemala. It extends" tlirough 18 degrees of latitude. Ijetween the |)arallels of 15" and 33° X'., and tlirough 30 degrees of longitude, between the meridians of 87° and 117° W., and has an area of 707,000 square miles, including the islands. The Tro[)ic of Cancer passes through it nearly midway lietween its northern and south- ern fjoundaries, the southern half of the country being therefore within the troiiics. The boundary between Mexico and the United States is 183.3 miles in length, the northern extremity of the country being its widest portion. The Is'tbmus of Teliuanteiiec. a little more than 100 miles across, is the narrowest part. The country has 1727 miles of coast line on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and 4574 miles on the Pacific Ocean. In form Mexico is not tmlike a cornu- coi)i;i with its narrow end tapering toward the southeast: and the country is concave on its east- ern and convex on its western coast lines. It is junlonged toward the east by the low. wide jieninsula of Yucatan ; and the long, narrow pen- insula of Lower California projects through 9 degrees of latitude, the great Gulf of California separating it from the mainland. TopooRAPiiY. The surface of the main i)ortion of Mexico rises steeidy from the narrow coast lands, and more gently from the great deiiression of the lower Kio (Vrandc to the broad talileland of the interior. This central [ilateau is dominated by mountains whose great height is masked by the elevated lands above which they rise. The peninsula of Yucatan, on the other hand, has nothing in common with the main mass of Jlexico in its conformation or geological struc- ture, being a very low, level region. The eastern coast is of monotonous aspect, low, fiat, and sandy: but in the State of Vera Cruz, where the lofty mountain edge of the plateau most nearly apiiroaclies the coast, the inconspicu- ous shore line is forgotten by all who approach it from the gulf, for the majestic summits of the interior arc visible far out to sea and dominate the view. Long reaches of sand banks stretch in front of the shore nearly as far south as Vera Cruz, shielding the shallow waters between the mainland and the banks from the sea waves. The Pacific shore is also generally low. though here and there relieved by spurs from the Cordillera that extend to the ocean. Most of the many small islands near the coasts are uninhabited, though some of them are very fertile. The most important islands are El Carmen, the largest ^Icxicnn isl.nnd in the fiulf of Mexico: San Juan de Ulna and Sacrificios, at Vera Cruz: Mnjeres and Cozumel. in the Caribbean .Sea: Guadalupe, in the Pacific off the coast of Lower California; the Trcs Marias group, near the entrance to the Gulf of California; the Revilla Gigedo group, far ofi' the coast of the State of Colima. (o which it