proceeding to take supreme command. The young lieutenant was ordered to report immediately for duty with the 1st Regiment of Artillery; and proceeded through Pennsylvania, down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, which was the rendezvous of the forces designed to reinforce the army in Mexico.

IN MEXICO.

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CHAPTER III.

IN MEXICO.

THE war of the United States against Mexico, beginning with the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in Western Texas, had rolled its waves, under General Zachary Taylor, up the Rio Grande, and into the province of New Leon. Monterey was occupied after a sanguinary victory, and the advanced forces had proceeded as far as Saltillo. But it was apparent, at the end of 1846, that successes on this line of operations would never bring peace, because it could only lead the arms of the United States aside from the heart of their enemy's strength. To reach the capital, a circuitous inland march would have been necessary; while the overpowering navy of the Union, if once Vera Cruz were occupied, would enable them to base upon the sea-coast a direct and short line of advance, by the great National Road. General Winfield Scott, who had been sent out as commander-in-chief of the whole forces, was therefore allowed to carry out his plan for organizing a powerful land and naval force against Vera Cruz, early in the year 1847. Most of the regular regiments were withdrawn from the command of General Taylor, and concentrated, during the month of February, at the seaport of Tampico, about two hundred and thirty miles north of Vera Cruz, where General Scott was also assembling his reinforcements. Young Jackson's company of heavy artillery formed a part of the

latter. On the 24th of February, the commanding general commenced the assembling of his forces at Lobos Island, a convenient intermediate point, offering a roadstead for his numerous ships unmolested by his enemies, a little north of Vera Cruz. On the 9th of March, 13,500 land forces were disembarked in one day from the fleet, upon the open beach near the city, without a single casualty. Young Jackson often referred to this as a spectacle more grand and animating than man is often permitted to witness. The brilliant array proceeded to the land under a cloudless sky, and in perfect order, in the innumerable boats of the squadron, with colors displayed, martial music, and the enthusiastic shouts of the soldiers, and by sunset the whole force was paraded on shore, in order of battle. The garrison of about four thousand partially organized troops were in no condition to obstruct their advance. On March 13th, the city was formally invested, and on the 29th it capitulated, with all the garrison, after a heavy bombardment. In this service Jackson, who had on March 3d received the commission of second-lieutenant, bore his part, but no occasion for special distinction occurred. Meantime President Santa Anna, whose activity and genius deserved greater success than he was fated to achieve, assembled a force of about twenty thousand men in the province of San Luis Potosi, between the three points of Saltillo, Vera Cruz, and the capital, proposing from this central position to strike his assailants in succession. His first attack was upon General Taylor, who had been left at the first place of the three, with a little more than five thousand men, of whom nearly all were volunteers levied since the beginning of the war. The result was the battle of Buena Vista, in which, on the 23d of February, that small force inflicted a bloody repulse upon the Mexicans.

Santa Anna, having failed in this well-conceived attempt,

JACKSON ENTERS MAGRUDER'S BATTERY.

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reorganized and recruited his forces, to resist the advance of the Americans (now masters of Vera Cruz) on the capital. General Scott having set out for the interior on April 12th, he prepared himself for battle on the strong position of Cerro Gordo, a few miles east of Jalapa, crowning a line of precipitous hills with barricades and field-works ranging along, and commanding the great highway. After a reconnoissance effected by Captain Robert E. Lee of the Engineers (in which Lieut.Col. Joseph E. Johnston of the cavalry received a severe wound), General Scott determined to adopt a plan of assault suggested by the former officer. This was to threaten the whole front of the enemy, but to direct the main attack against a hill at the western extremity of his position; because this post, if once seized by the Americans, commanded the only line of retreat for the discomfited Mexicans, as completely as, they supposed, their position commanded the great road. This vital attack was confided to the veteran division of Twiggs, powerfully supported by artillery, the whole being brought in front of the place to be assailed by an exceedingly rough and circuitous route, planned by Lee. The attack was made April 18th, and was completely successful. The Mexican army almost ceased to exist. It lost all its ordnance and several thousand prisoners; and the victory opened to Scott the town of Jalapa, the powerful fortress of Perote, and the city of La Puebla, within eighty-five miles of the capital.

It was in this assault that Captain John Bankhead Magruder, commanding a light field-battery, won brilliant distinction. But in such operations heavy artillery could only play a secondary part. The place of second-lieutenant in Magruder's battery was then to be filled, and most young officers shrank from it, because the commander was considered as an exacting disciplinarian, and the service of that arm was full of hardship and

exposure to danger. But the latter reason was the very one which commended it to Jackson. He applied for, and quickly obtained, a transfer to it; and this change marks the beginning of his career of distinction. The old artillery, cumbersome in moving and slow in working, was usually posted at some permanent point, and must needs remain there for the day. If the tide of battle flowed towards it, it might render important service; if away from it, it was condemned to inactivity, and a partial disaster could compel its surrender. But the rapid manoeuvring of the light artillery in action was then a new feature in American warfare. Its brilliant results at Palo Alto, at Resaca de la Palma, at Buena Vista, had delighted General Taylor, and electrified the country. Jackson foresaw that this arm of warfare was henceforth destined to be used in every battle, and to be always thrust forward to the post of danger and of honor. To a soul thirsting, like his, for distinction, this was motive enough for preferring it. And he said that, determined as he was to do his whole duty, and to consecrate himself wholly to his functions as a soldier, he had no fears of being unable to satisfy the rigidity of its captain. In this he was not disappointed; he speedily became one of his favorite officers.

General Scott, after remaining at La Puebla to rearrange and recruit his force, moved upon the city of Mexico with about eleven thousand men, August 7, 1847. President Santa Anna, meantime, had collected another powerful army, with abundant munitions of war, and had created every practicable obstacle to the approach of the city by the direct road. When the invader reached the mountain ridge of El Peñon, which assists to enclose the great basin in the centre of which the city stands, he found it so well fortified, that it was manifest the attempt to force his way through its defiles, would cost him a large part of his army. Here the ingenuity of his engineers again came to