This was the name of a small village on the southern causeway, lying on slightly elevated ground about 1,200 feet south of the streamlet Churubusco, which flows eastward into Xochimilco Lake. Its central feature was the massive stone convent of San Pablo, nearly square, with crenellated walls for musketry and unfinished parapets, surrounded by an outer wall which constituted a regular field-work, with embrasures and platforms for cannon, and especially strong toward the south. It was held by General Rincon with about 1,400 men and seven guns.[1] Intent mainly on the inner line of the capital, Santa Anna ordered Rincon to maintain himself at this point to the last, keeping back the enemy, while he sought refuge with the main army across the river, deploying a portion to the left, and the rest behind the artificially elevated banks, which, with their rows of maguey, offered an excellent rampart. At the bridge by which the highway crosses the river was a scientifically constructed work, well bastioned and curtained, with wet ditches and platforms for heavy metal;[2] but the line in front was obstructed by the stalled trains, which served the enemy for a screen. The total strength of the defenders at and behind Churubusco was estimated at from 9,000 to 27,000.[3]
Santa Anna's plan, as we have seen, was to let the
- ↑ Twiggs' report claims to have captured with Rincon 104 officers, 1,155 men, and 7 guns, U. S. Govt Doc., Cong. 30, Ses. 1, Sen. Ex. 1, p. 324-5, to which must be added dead and fugitives. In the Apunt. Hist. Guerra, 251-2, this brave force is classed as 650 badly armed peasants, with 6 pieces of metal. Roa Bárcena gives its composition, Recuerdos, 353, as chicfly guardia nacional de Independencia and Bravos, with some American deserters, etc. Semmes, Campaign, 284, leaves the impression that only 3 guns were planted inside the walls; while in Ripley's War with Mex., 256, the San Antonio road, it is said, could be swept by its 7 pieces.
- ↑ Five, says Apunt. Hist. Guerra, 252.
- ↑ Americans say that reënforcements came from the city, while Santa Anna end others intimate rather that troops wcre sent into it. Scott estimates the Mexican forces round Churubusco at 27,000. U. S. Govt Doc., ubi sup., p. 310. Roa Bárcena, holding to his first basis of 20,000, and deducting the losses by Valencia and Bravo, estimates that the force could not have exceeded 9,000. Recuerdos, 375-6. But we have seen that a large number of irregular troops at least can be added. The Americans he placed at not less than 8,000, after deducting the men left at Padierna and at the depôt of Tlalpam. See note 5, this chapter.
