Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/777

Rh Miramon's chief aim now was to capture Vera Cruz, to accomplish which he borrowed from the clergy $300,000 on private security. Leaving all state affairs to be attended to by the ministers, he started for Vera Cruz on the 16th of February accompanied by Minister of war Castillo. In Puebla the populace gave him a royal reception. He had been preceded by the battalions which were to carry out the difficult undertaking. On the 21st he went to Orizaba, where the ayuntamiento gave him a cordial greeting. On the 3d of March preparations had been completed, and the forces began their march. A portion of them under Oronoz and Negrete was sent to flank the Chiquihuite positions, and the Tamariz brigade to force the Jamapa ravine. The rest of the forces marched on by the national road, carrying with them a large supply of projectiles. The hopes of the liberal party were now centred in Vera Cruz, where every preparation was made to meet the impending storm. All the constitutional troops that occupied the defiles of the sierra were concentrated in the port, and families were by order of the comandante general, Iglesias, sent out of harm's way.

Ampudia, commanding the eastern liberal army, addressed Miramon's troops, urging them to abandon their standard. Money was offered to such reactionist officers as were considered purchasable, but only a small number accepted the bribe.

Meantime the reactionists had received heavy blows elsewhere. One of them was the capture by their opponents of Zacapoaxtla, which left free the communications between Vera Cruz and the north. Leon, Lagos, Aguascalientes, and Guanajuato fell into the hands of the constitutionalists. San Luis Potosí, Guadalajara, and other principal towns were closely pressed. Morelia, in Michoacan, where the