Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/471

Rh his preparations. The government had neglected to provide for the maintenance and equipment of troops. A great portion of his force was composed of raw recruits, undisciplined and unaccustomed to the use of fire-arms. The position at Cerro Gordo was without water; intrenchments had to be thrown up and the army was without the proper implements; the soldiers were hungry and there was little to eat. Nevertheless, this indefatigable leader, without money and most of the ordinary resources for military preparation, collected an army of 9,000 or 10,000 men, with more than forty pieces of artillery. With laborers and implements taken from his hacienda he cut a ditch from it to Cerro Gordo, three leagues in length, supplying abundance of water, and threw up intrenchments and placed batteries on half a dozen important points. And all this was accomplished within twelve days. It is true the works were incomplete and the surrounding ground was not properly cleared, but he maintained that if he had had fifteen days more time, he would have made his position unassailable. He established a depôt, making himself responsible to a merchant of Jalapa for the payment of goods delivered at it. He caused the