promote his schemes against Santa Anna.[1] That similar designs influenced the latter may readily be supposed. A council of officers supported Valencia in an indignant refusal to obey the order of the general-in-chief, which implied an exchange of victory for demoralizing defeat, that left the way of the enemy open to Mexico. No, they would rather perish with the whole army.[2] Nevertheless, the abandonment of his advantage by Santa Anna cast a gloom over the hitherto festive camp.
Santa Anna's retreat was not observed by the invaders, who passed the night in preparations for the morrow. Persifer Smith had assumed command[3] at San Gerónimo, and had planned a night attack upon the exposed rear of Valencia's camp, with three brigades, leaving a fourth to check the vanished forces of Santa Anna, and a fifth to mask the movement by active demonstrations in front. He set out shortly after midnight, groping his way in the dark through the forest and along the slopes, favored to some extent by the patter of the rain and the whistling wind. The need for caution and silence, and the difficulties of the imperfectly known route, delayed the march; and it was not till dawn that he found himself in position, just behind the brow of the neglected summit. The brigade in front had already engaged the Mexicans, and protected by the din, he could reload the wet arms and arrange for the assault. Meanwhile Valencia discovered the advance, and turned two guns to assist in checking it; but the
- ↑ 'El enemigo ha sufrido una pérdida espantosa,' he writes. Text in Rel. Causas, 27. The final order to spike the guns appears to have come after midnight, a previous despatch, arriving at 9 p. m., having vainly urged him to join Santa Anna's forces in front of San Gerónimo. Id., 28-9. Even Roa Bárcena, who generally seeks to shield Santa Anna, cannot refrain from pointing out that it was far easier for him to reach Padierna than for the other to break through. He blames his conduct throughout this transaction, and states that he began the retreat at 7 p. m. Recuerdos, 331-6; 'como abandono criminal,' adds Apunt. Hist. Guerra, 240. Americans, Ripley's War with Mex., ii. 240-1, and others, freely stamp the act as savoring of treachery.
- ↑ Rel. Causas, 28.
- ↑ Conceded by Shields, who ranked higher.
