Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/539

Rh diminished, without prospects of filling the gaps. The citadel would soon be battered down, and perhaps the entire city, to bury in its ruins thousands of innocent victims. It was accordingly resolved to evacuate the capital. The cavalry, numbering 4,000, was at once despatched, and 5,000 infantry followed after midnight, the militia and irregulars being dissolved.

About one o'clock in the morning of the 14th a deputation from the city council presented itself at Worth's headquarters, and being directed to Scott at Tacubaya, demanded of him guarantees for life and property. Scott refused to bind himself to any terms, except such as were imposed by honor and customary usages, and Worth hastened to affirm possession by advancing at dawn to the alameda, while Quitman, after receiving a white flag from the citadel and occupying it, marched to the central square and hoisted over the palace the stars and stripes, the first foreign colors to flaunt within