Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/467

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INDIGNATION AGAINST SCOTT.
447

afterward took possession of the city and castle, which were placed under the command of Worth.[1]

In the siege of Vera Cruz the loss on the side of the Americans was insignificant, being only 67 in killed and wounded, eleven of whom were killed.[2] The Mexicans suffered much more severely, and 1,000 is perhaps not too low an estimate of the killed alone.[3] The spoils taken, according to the official statements sent to the American government, comprised 5,000 stands of arms, 400 pieces of ordnance, and a large quantity of ordnance stores.[4]

Scott's bombardment of Vera Cruz and his refusal to yield to the appeal of the consuls produced in the country the deepest indignation; and in the Mexican publications of the day no epithet is spared in qualifying his course of action as barbarous and inhuman. Nor were foreign nations — which under similar circumstances would have acted in precisely the same manner — behindhand in condemning him.[5] But with the lapse of time the matter has been judged with more calmness and proper justice, and there are not

  1. Scott's despatches, in U. S. Govt Doc., ut sup., p. 229-38.
  2. Scott's return, in Id., p. 253-5. This number includes the casualties sustained in outside skirmishes. The period extended from the 9th to the 28th of March.
  3. Landero states that 350 of the troops and 400 of the inhabitants were killed, but that the numbers in neither case are exact, as many dead — muchos cadáveres — lay buried in the ruins. Tributo á la Verdad, 72. Roa Bárcena states that the number of killed and wounded was estimated at 1,000, and that the value of property destroyed was between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000. Recuerdos, 178. The number of shot and shell thrown into the city was 6,700, weighing 463,600 lbs, while the projectiles fired by the Mexicans amounted to 8,486. Id., 178-9; El Iris Español, May 12, 1847, p. 3; Tributo á la Verdad, 72; Furber's Volunteer, 551. See also the account in El Iris Español, Apr. 7, 1847, p. 2-3. Furber states that the Mexicans did not know their own loss, and that their calculations varied from 1,200 to 1,500. Volunteer, 554.
  4. U. S. Govt Doc., ut sup., p. 239. The number of guns is thus made to exceed by more than 100 the figures supplied by the minister of war at the close of the preceding year. Scott also says 5,000 prisoners were taken. Roa Bárcena considers that the American general raised his figures too high. Recuerdos, 188.
  5. The London Times of May 1, 1847, denounces his action as opposed to the sentiments of humanity and justice. Many of the English and French residents, who had suffered severely during the siege, with glaring inconsistency complained bitterly against Scott.