Decisive battles since Waterloo : the most important military events from 1815 to 1887 . nt a summons to General Morales, the command-er of the Mexican forces at Vera Cruz, to surrender thecity and the fortress. Immediately on receiving a refusal,General Scott opened fire from his batteries, which hadbeen erected at a distance of eleven hundred yards. Asteady cannonade was maintained all through thenight and the next day. It was found that the bat-teries were too light and too far away for breachingpurposes, and on the night of the 23d a new batteryconsiderably nearer the city was constructed
Decisive battles since Waterloo : the most important military events from 1815 to 1887 . nt a summons to General Morales, the command-er of the Mexican forces at Vera Cruz, to surrender thecity and the fortress. Immediately on receiving a refusal,General Scott opened fire from his batteries, which hadbeen erected at a distance of eleven hundred yards. Asteady cannonade was maintained all through thenight and the next day. It was found that the bat-teries were too light and too far away for breachingpurposes, and on the night of the 23d a new batteryconsiderably nearer the city was constructed and madeready to open fire in the morning. The value andimportance of the new battery was evident in a fewhours after fire was opened. The walls were crumbling,and the American guns had such perfect range of thecity that the whole place was covered by a destructivefire. By the 26th there was a practicable breach, and thetroops for the assault had already been told off when awhite flag appeared on the walls, and soon afterwards thefortress and the city were under the domination of the. 98 DECISIVE BATTIES SINCE WATERLOO. invaders. Officers and men were paroled not to serveduring the war unless exchanged ; the officers retainedtheir side-arms, but the muskets of the rank and file werepiled in front of the conquerors. All public property ofevery name and kind was handed over with the surren-dered place. Nearly two weeks were required to get the army inreadiness for an advance into the interior, which was ledon the 8th of April by General Twiggs. The Mexicanswere severely defeated, and their army was cut up androuted at Cerro Gordo, where Scott lost a total of fourhundred and thirty-one killed and wounded out of a forceof eighty-five hundred of all arms. The Mexicans left up-wards of a thousand men dead on the field of battle. LaHoya, Perote, and Puebla were occupied with littleopposition, and at Puebla General Scott waited forreinforcements, which arrived during June and
Size: 1156px × 2162px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnavalartandscience
