Soldiers of Conquest (22 page)

Men from the ranks of Patterson's volunteers had grown restless from idleness and angry from not having been paid for months, and had stolen away from camp and pillaged several homes of Mexican citizens. The officials of Jalapa had filed formal complaints with General Scott. He immediately had the provost martial arrest the men, those that could be identified, and sentenced them to receive a punishment of thirty lashes each. As a lesson to others, Scott had the entire army drawn up on the plain just outside Jalapa to watch the flogging.

The punishment ended and there was an audible release of breath from the assembled soldiers. The floggers cut the whipped men loose. Hospital orderlies came forward and led the bleeding men away to the hospital for treatment of their wounds. Scott released the assembled soldiers and they fell silent and thoughtful out of ranks.

Lee struck out for headquarters. As he crossed the National Highway to enter Jalapa, he saw a troop of Dragoons leading several horses approaching from the north. He recognized Grant and Chilton and went to meet them. Grant was the most experienced of all the quartermasters and Lee had questions for him.

The two lieutenants halted and saluted Lee. “Well, Grant, I see you've had some luck getting mounts for the cavalry.”

“Yes, sir, seventy and I believe they're solid animals.”

Lee didn't doubt Grant's judgment. It was talked about among the officers that Grant was the best man with horses in the army, and from the way he sat his saddle so easily, so solidly, seeming to be part of his horse, might well be the one of its best riders. He was known at West Point as the cadet who had ridden a big horse that no one else could, and riding the animal had set an all time record for the high jump.

“When are you returning north?” Lee asked.

“Soon as I deliver these horses to Colonel Harney for his troopers.”

“Can we talk?” Lee asked.

“Certainly, sir.” Grant stepped down from his horse.

“How I can help you, major?” Grant asked. He had observed the new straps on Lee's shoulders

“Our new spy Dominguez reports Santa-Anna has ordered General Salas, who's reported to be one of his best officers, to organized guerrilla bands to attack our wagon trains. As an incentive, the leaders will receive rank and pay according to how many men they recruit and all plunder will belong to the guerrillas. A good recruiter can earn a colonelcy for five hundred men.”

“With that kind of reward, they'll get plenty men. If the Mexicans begin all out guerrilla warfare we would suffer as heavily as Napoleon did in his invasion of Russia.”

“You've had a lot of experience moving supplies and fighting guerrillas with General Taylor's army. What's the best way to protect a supply train, some of which as you know will be more than two miles long?”

“I've tried having the escorting Dragoons and infantry divided with part bunched at the front and part at the rear, or spread out along the length of the train. If the escort is spread out, the guerrillas can easily break through and run off with several wagons and their teams, while if the guards are bunched at the ends, they can't reach the spot under attack in time to prevent serious losses. You have to play it to best suit the type of country you're traveling through. One thing for sure, you've got to have riders out a half mile or so both sides to spot guerrillas and warn the train so the escort can get ready to defend it. The problem is that we are often traveling on roads squeezed in between mountains or steep, wooded hills and it's impossible to have flankers out.”

“We don't have enough men to put heavy guards on every foraging train, and yet we must go out foraging. And there're thousands of tons of supplies at Veracruz that must be brought up.”

“There's a way to cut down on the number of attacks, major.”

“What's that?”

“Make them stop hitting us.”

“How would we do that?” Lee said, surprised.

“General Scott should have the Texas governor send a few companies of Texas Rangers here to escort the trains. We found out up north that those Texas boys are the best at it. After the bloody massacres the Mexicans pulled on them at Alamo and Goliad, the Texans hate them like you can't believe. Our few hundred Dragoons are being wore to a frazzle acting as escort when they should be used for other jobs. Further they never chase the guerrillas far for they're afraid of being ambushed. And that's Colonel Harney's standing orders. But the Texans don't stop chasing the guerrillas until they run them down, whether that's back to their town, or rancho, or wherever. They take no prisoners; just simply shoot the hell out of all they can catch. You'll find that after several hundred Mexicans are killed the fear of the Lord will be put in them and we'll have fewer and fewer attacks.”

“Sounds cruel, but I can see that it could work. I'll suggest it to the general. It'll take better than a month for a request to get to the Texas governor and for him to send the Rangers here.” Lee knew the Rangers were companies of men organized to travel swiftly with light arms to protect the Texas frontier from Indians, Mexicans, and bandits. The Texas governor had volunteered five hundred Rangers for General Taylor's use when the war with Mexico began.

“I'll feel a lot better when they're riding with me,” Grant said. “Is there anything else major?”

“No, that's all.”

*

General Patterson entered General Scott's office with a hesitant step and a distressed expression upon his face. He halted just inside the doorway.

“Come in, general,” Scott said. “It can't be that bad.” Scott had been waiting in his office in the governor's palace. With him were Lee and Hitchcock.

“I wish that was true,” Patterson replied.

Lee leaned forward as did the other men to hear. The one-year enlistment of Patterson's 3,700 volunteers was due to expire in the first part of June, a month hence. Before Scott ordered the division deeper into Mexico, he wanted to know how many would re-enlist and had instructed Patterson to canvass his men to determine that.

“Tell us straight out,” Scott said.

“General, only one man in ten will ship over,” Patterson's said in a sad voice. “That leaves enough men to form only one under strength regiment.”

Lee felt dismayed. The army had been reduced in one fell swoop from something over 10,000 men to about 6,400. He had heard rumblings of the low morale of the volunteers from their officers but had not expected anything of this magnitude.

Scott broke the silence that had fallen like iron upon the room. “It's their right to go home and I don't reproach them for that natural desire. They have been misled by the War Department and the president as I have been. Reinforcements haven't arrived as promised so we could press the war and that has meant they have been idle far too long. Our strength should be four times what it is.

“The men have served with honor, and now we must protect them on their way home. Though their enlistments don't end for several weeks, prepare them to leave as soon as possible. I want to get them to Veracruz and away on the ships before the peak of the yellow fever season arrives and many of them are struck down.”

“General, with the boys gone I'll have no division,” Patterson said. “I brought them here and I should see that they get safely home. I request permission to return to the States with them.”

Patterson's boys had joined the army for a great adventure, and with the old gentleman leading them, had journeyed to a distant foreign land. There they had fought battles, made hellish marches, had lived on short rations, saw blood shed and comrades die. Some of the men had survived disease and serious wounds. None had been paid since leaving the States.

“Granted, general, for that is most appropriate,” Scott said. “I'll prepare your orders. Don't linger in Veracruz for any reason. Get your men aboard the ships as quickly as possible. Regarding the men who will be re-enlisting, assign them to General Quitman. You will have company on you journey to Washington for General Pillow has informed me that should the volunteers leave that he will also go back to the States to recruit a fresh brigade. I shall give him orders to that effect.” Lee saw that Scott wasn't displeased with this opportunity to be shut of Pillow.

Scott came and caught Patterson by the arm. “General, you have given your country and me brave and honorable service. I shall inform the Secretary of War and the President of this in my official report.”

“Thank you for those generous words,” Patterson said.

Lee was sure he caught sight of tears in Patterson's eyes as the man pivoted about and hurried from the room.

Scott went to the door and watched after Patterson. He wheeled back toward Lee and Hitchcock and swept them with his keen eyes.

“Get those expressions of loss off your faces and those thoughts of despair and defeat out of your hearts,” he commanded. “We are a small army, yes indeed, but a valiant one. I promise you that we shall yet succeed in conquering Mexico.”

Scott began to pace the room, which Lee had never seen him do, and the tread of his large body shook the floor. His hands were clenched into fists and held behind his back. He stopped and stared at the floor for a moment, and then resumed his pacing. Lee wished he had been released to leave for it was uncomfortable to see the general in such a state.

Scott halted and his voice rang out with conviction. “We shall throw away the scabbard and march inland with the naked blade held ready to strike any one that stands in our path.” He paused, smiled grimly, and declared, “I resolve to no longer depend on Veracruz, or the States. I'll render my little army a self-sustaining machine. We are dangerously few in number and have hard campaigning ahead. Reinforcements will be slow in coming. We'll take the necessary weapons from the Mexican Army and our food from the people. I'll write Secretary Marcy and President Polk of my decision. They'll think me mad, but so be it. This is all I have left for I won't retreat.”

Scott stepped to the doorway and shouted. “Orderly, go find General Quitman and bring him here on the double.”

He faced back to the room. “I shall send him to join General Worth with orders for both to move upon Puebla and occupy the city.”

Lee considered the general's plan an extremely risky one. Still one advantage would be gained from the action. By Scott driving his army deeper into hostile Mexico, Marcy and Polk would be under extreme pressure to insure he received the men and supplies needed to prevent his annihilation by the Mexican Army. One thing for certain, should Scott fail in his daring gamble, he and all of his men were doomed.

The four Catholic priests seated at the table were angry men, their faces hard and bodies tense. Three of them were from Jalapa and the fourth, Jesus Campomanes, was a priest emissary from the bishop of Puebla a city of eighty thousand and the second largest in Mexico. The Jalapa men were dressed in clergy garments; the priest from Puebla wore trouser, shirt, jacket and boots. He had arrived at Jalapa on horseback just hours before.

General Scott and Hitchcock and Lee sat across the table from the priests in a large room in the rectory of the Catholic Church on the plaza in Jalapa. Scott had received a request to meet with the priests in the church, with the reason given that the priests should not be seen coming to the American's headquarters. Scott had summoned Lee and Hitchcock, and taking an armed escort because he was always in danger of assassination, had gone to meet with the priests. He had held discussions with the Jalapa church officials before. Campomanes was unknown. He had done all the talking without reference to the others, which showed Scott the man's stature within the Catholic Church.

“The military caste and Santa-Anna in particular must be taught they can't abuse the people and rob the church,” Campomanes said passionately, his English excellent. He was thin, almost emaciated, with a long face and black chin beard. His hands lay locked together on the table.

Lee noted the priest had made the statement twice before during the quarter hour meeting. He had never gone any farther to explain the reason he had asked for this meeting with Scott. From the priest's expressions and words Santa-Anna had a powerful enemy in this man and the Church.

“That would meet with our objectives too,” Scott replied. “What do you propose?”

Campomanes wasn't to be hurried. “The people of Puebla, and also those of Jalapa, are gentle folk. They don't want to fight a battle with you Americans over their city. And we of the church certainly don't want a battle.”

“We wouldn't want to harm your citizens or destroy your city with our big cannon as we were forced to do at Veracruz,” Scott said, and knowing the Veracruz battle was the reason for the priest being here. “However I tell you plainly that I intend to defeat your army and occupy Puebla and capture Mexico City.”

“It isn't our army!” Campomanes declared, his voice rising. “We disown it because of its brutal ways!”

Lee knew why the priests were so vehement about the army. The spy Dominguez had reported that Santa-Anna had within the past two weeks demanded a loan of two hundred thousand dollars from the church officials in Puebla, under threat that if it wasn't willing given he would take it. The officials fully knew the loan would never be repaid, and further that the general would pocket most of it. The two hundred thousand was in addition to the more than three million taken from the church during the preceding ten months of the war.

Scott spoke. “I promise you this, we Americans desire to have peace and friendship with the citizens of Puebla and the Catholic Church. Further we shall respect private and church property rights and prevent Santa-Anna from taxing you. This is on the condition you convince the people not to resist my army in the occupation of the city.”

Lee spotted a look of satisfaction in Campomanes's eyes at Scott's words. They had contained precisely what the priest wanted to hear. He wouldn't broach it first. His hands came unlocked. The subject could now be freely discussed. “We of the Church will do our utmost to persuade the people to force the army from Puebla. That won't be easy because the city has strong walls and a large garrison of troops and they'll believe it can be defend against you. Still the bishop has instructed me to tell you that we will make our best effort to influence the people to make the soldiers leave.”