Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/502

482 This was the name of a small village on the southern causeway, lying on slightly elevated ground about 1,200 feet south of the streamlet Churubusco, which flows eastward into Xochimilco Lake. Its central feature was the massive stone convent of San Pablo, nearly square, with crenellated walls for musketry and unfinished parapets, surrounded by an outer wall which constituted a regular field-work, with embrasures and platforms for cannon, and especially strong toward the south. It was held by General Rincon with about 1,400 men and seven guns. Intent mainly on the inner line of the capital, Santa Anna ordered Rincon to maintain himself at this point to the last, keeping back the enemy, while he sought refuge with the main army across the river, deploying a portion to the left, and the rest behind the artificially elevated banks, which, with their rows of maguey, offered an excellent rampart. At the bridge by which the highway crosses the river was a scientifically constructed work, well bastioned and curtained, with wet ditches and platforms for heavy metal; but the line in front was obstructed by the stalled trains, which served the enemy for a screen. The total strength of the defenders at and behind Churubusco was estimated at from 9,000 to 27,000.

Santa Anna's plan, as we have seen, was to let the