belonged. Contreras was a village on the turnpike some distance south of Padierna. San Agustin was also known as Tlálpam.
2. August 14 Valencia's 76return (estado) included 486 officers, 5078 rank and file, 1447 horses, one siege 16-pounder, three siege 12-pounders, five 8-inch (68-pound) howitzers and fifteen smaller guns. One of the guns was assigned to Torrejön and he saved it. Another small one disappeared. The name of the rounded hill where Valencia took post was Peloncoahutitlán.
3. Valencia had one excuse, for very possibly he believed (in view of Santa Anna's delay at San Luis Potosí, abandonment of Tampico, apparent neglect of Vera Cruz, etc.) that the President traitorously intended to leave open a door by which Scott could reach the capital; but none the less he was a conscienceless conspirator and the mortal foe of Santa Anna, disgusted with subordination, and eager to overthrow his chief. His past conduct had been thoroughly suspicious, and his manifiesto of August 22 does not bear analysis well. To remove him would have seemed an act of jealousy, if not treason, and very likely have caused a mutiny. Santa Anna hoped that the national crisis would hold him in line for the time being. Besides, Santa Anna did not know precisely where Valencia proposed to make a stand (Diario, Sept. 1). When he learned, he sent General Mora to reconnoitre the position (76to Valencia, August 19). Again, he could not afford to raise an issue with Valencia now, for the latter (doubtless with the, help of his engineers) had divined Scott's plans better than the former, and undertaken to guard a quarter left open by the President. Finally it was quite possible that Santa Anna thought Valencia would be taught a lesson by the Americans. It is unnecessary to discuss the merits and disadvantages of Valencia's position, for they will appear plainly in the narrative (see Balbontín, Invasión, 110-11). Had the Americans been willing to do as he wished, the hill would have been entirely satisfactory. Of Valencia's intellectual quality the following specimen is suggestive: "Soldiers of Liberty, anarchy put out its head, but your arms drowned it in a moment."
4. Mexican preliminaries. Sen. 1; 30, 1, pp. 304, 306 (Scott); 348-9 (Smith); app., 80 (Alexander). Collins papers. 66Lee to Smith, Aug. 21. Semmes, Service, 393. Sen. 65; 30, 1, pp. 276 (Longstreet); 570. 224Intercepted Letters (14, L.V. to M. O.; 26, to Old Gentleman). Apuntes, 221, 230-6. Balbontín, Invasión, 111. Gamboa, Impug., 41. 70"Guerra," no. 30 (F. Pérez). México á través, iv, 672-3, 677. Long, Memoirs, 54. So. Qtrly. Rev., Apr., 1852, pp. 408-9. Latrobe, Rambler, 90. Sen. 19; 30, 2 (Hardcastle to Smith; Smith to Abert). Valencia, Manifiesto. Calderón, Life, i, 314. 178Davis, diary. Prieto, Mems., ii, 213. 73Bermúdez de Castro, no. 534, res., July 28. S. Anna, Apelación, 51-2; app., 140-54, 157-60. Id., Detall, 12. Monitor Repub., Dec. 17, 1847. Hitchcock, Fifty Years, 276. Negrete, Invasión, iv, app., 279-83. 76Acuerdo, Aug. 16. 76To Lombardini, July 22. 76To Alvarez, Aug. 21. 76Zerecero, Aug. 25. 76To Valencia, Aug. 16. 76Expediente contra Valencia.
The defences of Valencia's camp were somewhat extended later, but not enough to render them formidable.
5. According to a topographical officer (Washington Union, Nov. 3, 1847) the only route from San Agustín to Mexico of which the Americans knew when they reached the ground was the highway. This surprises one at first. But the turnpike beyond San Angel was a local road serving only a few farms, the small villages of San Gerónimo and Contreras, and
