General Winfield Scott, who had been sent out as commander-in-chief, was permitted, early in 1847, to organise a combined naval and military expedition for the reduction of Vera Cruz, the principal port of the Republic, whence a good road leads to Mexico.  The line of advance would be thus reduced to two hundred and sixty miles; and the natural obstacles, though numerous enough, were far less serious than the deserts which barred invasion from the north.  For this enterprise most of the regular regiments were withdrawn from the Rio Grande; and General Taylor, the hero of Palo Alto and Monterey, was left with a small army, composed principally of volunteers, to hold the conquered provinces.  Scott’s troops assembled in the first instance at Tampico.  The transports, eighty in number, having embarked their freight, were directed to rendezvous in the road stead of Lobos, one hundred and twenty miles north of Vera Cruz; and when the whole had assembled, the fleet set sail for Los Sacrificios, the island where Cortez had landed in 1520, three miles south of the city.  The army of invasion, in which the First Regiment of Artillery was included, consisted of 13,000 men.

March 9.

On the morning of March 9 the sun shone propitiously on the expedition.  The surf-boats, each holding from seventy to eighty men, were quickly arrayed in line.  Then, dashing forward simultaneously, with the strains of martial music sweeping over the smooth waters of the bay, they neared the shore.  The landing was covered by seven armed vessels, and as the boats touched the beach the foremost men leaped into the water and ran up the sandy shore.  In one hour General Worth’s division, numbering 4500 men, was disembarked; and by the same precise arrangements the whole army was landed in six hours without accident or confusion.  To the astonishment of the Americans the enemy offered no resistance, and the troops bivouacked in line of battle on the beach.

Little more than a mile north, across a waste of sand-hills, rose the white walls of Vera Cruz.  The city was held by 4000 men, and its armament was formidable.  The troops, however, but partially organised, were incapable of operations in the open field.  The garrison had not been reinforced.  Santa Anna, on learning that the American army on the Rio Grande had been reduced, had acted with commendable promptitude.  Collecting all the troops that were available he had marched northwards, expecting, doubtless, to overwhelm Taylor and still to be in time to prevent Scott from seizing a good harbour.  But distance was against him, and his precautions were inadequate.  Even if he defeated Taylor, he would have to march more than a thousand miles to encounter Scott, and Vera Cruz was ill provided for a siege.  It was difficult, it is true, for the Mexican general to anticipate the point at which the Americans would disembark.  An army that moves by sea possesses the advantage that its movements are completely veiled.  But