the lead, and reached Tlalpam,on the second day, after a slight skirmish with Álvarez, who might readily have inflicted trouble and injury by harassing the enemy along the several defiles, encumbered as they were with heavy trains, while he possessed a flying corps of fully 4,000 men.[1]
As soon as Santa Anna found that the Americans had changed their route, he threw his forces to the southern side, and hastened to strengthen its defences. Valencia's northern army, embracing 4,000 of the most experienced soldiers in the country,[2] was ordered from its post of observation at Tezcuco to San Ángel. A preliminary examination caused Valencia to report against the occupation of either San Ángel or Padierna, a point southward, by which the invaders might branch off toward Tacubaya; and as later indications led to the belief that they proposed to march straight along the main road upon San Antonio, he was ordered to fall back to Coyoacan.
By this time Valencia's views had expanded. He had lately made himself conspicuous by objecting to timid defence operations, and boasting that he knew how to crush the enemy. The bombast proved so contagious as to revive a proposal of investing him with the chief command. Santa Anna became alarmed,
- ↑ The Americans say 6,000, while an official report records him only 2,762; but he had many irregular followers. Santa-Anna, Detall, 95, 106.
- ↑ 'Cinco mil veteranos,' says Santa Anna. Id., 94. In Apuntes Hist. Guerra, 228, this is reduced to 3,700, while Scott raises it as high as 7,000. U. S. Govt Doc., Cong. 30, Ses. 1, Sen. Ex. 1, p. 308.
to accord credit for a discovery which exposed his own neglect. Scott's Mem., 469. But Worth's friends show that a council of generals held on the 14th decided on the former plan, and declared that the less practicable route south of the lake should be tried merely by Worth's lighter division for a rear movement. Ripley's War with Mex., ii. 190-202. The effort of Scott's friends to explain this plan as a mere feint is further disproved by the testimony of Semmes, Campaign, 239-57, who joined Worth's exploring party, and appends letters by Worth, Scott, and others. The change was fortunate for the Americans, for they might have become involved on the narrow and easily obstructed causeways, which afforded no facilities for operations, while forces from El Peñon could have harassed their rear. The reconnoissance round Mexicalcingo was declared to have been the most daring feat of the kind during the war. A partial movement was made in this direction to deceive the Mexicans. Peterson's Mil. Heroes, ii. 94; Arco Iris, Aug. 25, 1847. The northern route round Tezcuco Lake was declared difficult, with its barren and wet lands and its strong works.
