[20.] [75]Circular del ... Peña ... á los Gobernadores, Sept. 27. [75]Circulares del min. de relac., Sept. 27. [75]Peña, manifesto, Oct. 13. [75]Rosa to prest. of Congress, Oct. 14. [52]Trist, no. 16, confid., Sept. 27. Communicaciones habidas. Correo Nacional, Oct. 18. Negrete, Invasión, iii, app., 176, 408–11, 421–6, 469–83. S. Anna, Mi Historia, 90. [6]Anderson papers. [76]Peña, circular, Nov. 16. [6]S. Anna to J. M. Guerra, Oct. 25. Id.., Contestación al Oficio. Id.., Comunicación Oficial. Sen. 1; 30, 1, p. 385 (Scott). [75]S. Anna to Congress, Nov. 1.
Scott assisted Peña by giving safe-conducts to several members of Congress (Sen. 1; 30, 1, p. 385). Santa Anna took the ground that he was still legally responsible for the government of the country, and therefore must be allowed to exercise the powers of a President. Nov. 1 he made this demand formally (Negrete, Invasión, iii, app., 469). He also tried to create trouble for the new government by proclaiming that his removal from the command of the army was intended to cause his personal destruction or to pave the way for a disgraceful peace. He further said he could not be placed on trial until Congress should declare there were grounds for trying him. But he found he had no prestige left. Rosa said to Santa Anna that his resignation of the Presidency had been consummated by actually giving up the executive power, and that, in view of public opinion, it would be impossible to prove Peña’s impartiality and maintain discipline in the army, unless the conduct of the general defeated at Cerro Gordo and in the later battles were officially inquired into (ibid., 421). In reply to another letter from Santa Anna he said (Nov. 11) that Peña would not discuss the resignation further, that his authority had been recognized by all the states and by Congress, and that Congress admitted no right on Santa Anna’s part to resume the Presidency. In January, 1848, Rosa issued a circular reproaching Santa Anna for his past political conduct.
[21.] [76]M. Ocampo, Nov. 27. [76]Comte. gen. Oaxaca, Mar. 16, 1848. [76]Guerra to Relaciones, Feb. 14. [76]Gov. Oaxaca to Relaciones, Dec. 27, 1847. [76]Milit. comte. Orizaba, Jan. 20, 1848. México á través, iv, 699–700. Kenly, Md. Vol., 391–7. Sen. 52; 30, 1, pp. 205–6. [76]S. Anna to Reyes, Oct. 16, 1847. Correo Nacional, Oct. 26, 1847; Apr. 4, 1848. [76]J. M. Miñón to Guerra, Oct. 20. Comunicaciones habidas. [47]Perry, Nov. 3. Eco del Comercio, Apr. 6, 1848. Rivera, Jalapa, iii, 927; iv, 8–9. Monitor Repub., Nov. 10, 1847. [179]Diario Esactísimo, Sept. 15. Roa Bárcena, Recuerdos, 519–21, 532. [69]Thomas to Twiggs, Mar. 6, 1848. [69]Seymour to Hughes, Mar. 27. [69]—— to adj. gen. of the Amer. army, Mar. 29. [69]Hughes, safeguard to S. Anna, family and attendants, Mar. 17. [69]Hughes to Twiggs, Mar. 15. S. Anna, Detall, 37. [13]Doyle, nos. 29, 38, 1848.
Santa Anna’s military reports had excited resentment because he had been liberal with censures, particularly to relieve himself of blame.
Santa Anna was ordered to turn the command over to Rincón or (temporarily) Alvarez. But he said that he did not know where Rincón was, and that on account of the position of the Americans he could not safely send his artillery to Alvarez. Reyes marched north. Santa Anna then chose Tehuacán for a place of residence instead of going nearer Guatemala, because he still had hopes of regaining power through intrigue or revolution. His presence was not desired there by the people, presumably because it endangered them. They made it difficult for him to stay; and his friends, whose opinions he asked, now felt that his remaining in the country would injure them. See also chap. xxxii, p. 242. He sailed from La Antigua on or about April 4 in a Spanish brig for Venezuela, it was understood, after expressing warm appreciation of the treatment received at this time from the Americans ([69]to Gutiérrez, Mar. 11, 1848). Some thought he had increased his wealth since his return to Mexico.
[22.] Chief documents used. S. Anna, Apelación, app., 138–9. Id.. Comunicación Oficial. Suárez y Navarro, Causas, 70–2. México á través, iv, 700–1. Dublán, Legislación, v, 300–4, 307–14, 333–5. Apuntes, 339–40. Curtis, Buchanan, i, 590. Negrete, Invasión, iv, app., 399. [335]Thornton to Trist, Dec. 5. [75]Anaya at meeting of govs., Nov. Roa Bárcena, Recuerdos, 572. And from [76] the following. Director gen. of artill., Dec. —, 1847. Suárez y Navarro, Nov. 9. J. de D. Peza, Nov. 29. Sección de operaciones, Nov. —. J. M. Márquez to Mora, Nov. 29. Rincón, Jan. 8, 1848. Olaguíbel, Oct. 29; Dec. 24, 1847. Id.to Alvarez, Oct. 23, 26. Bustamante, Oct. 2. Memorias of the chiefs of sections, Nov. —. To plana mayor and to Filisola, Nov. 19. Orders for reorganizing the army, Dec. 1, 20. Min. of war, memoria, Nov. 19. Diario, división del oriente, Sept. 29-Oct. 15. Rosa to Herrera, Sept. 29. Comte. gen. Querétaro, Sept. 16. To Bustamante, Oct. 30; Dec. 30. Quijano, Jan. 27, 1848. Gen. staff, memo., Dec. 31, 1847. Filisola, Dec. 27. Alcorta (plana mayor), Dec. 27. Gen. in chief of infantry, Oct. 14. Rosa, Nov. 2. Alvarez, Oct. 20, 28; Nov. 19. To Alvarez, Oct. 28, 31. Alvarez to Olaguíbel, Oct. 21. To Rea, Nov. 1. To Olaguíbel, Oct. 23. Valencia, Jan. 4, 1848.
Nov. 19 a detailed statement of the available forces gave the figures as 6785 scattered over twelve states. The largest body (2683) was at Querétaro. Oct. 14 the Army of the East had only one 16-pounder, one 12-pounder, one 6-pounder, three 5–3/4-pounders, one 4-pounder and two 24-pound howitzers. It was pointed out that even if men could be raised, they would be of the poorest sort, and long before an efficient army could be created, the Americans might be expected to attack them. Herrera probably had about 4000 men when he left Mexico, but he could not prevent wholesale desertion on the way to Querétaro. (Gamboa asserted that Herrera took only 2–3000 infantry from Mexico, but his statements are not always to be relied upon.) Jan. 2, 1848, Valencia was captured by the Americans.
Filisola and Alcorta agreed substantially in recommending an elastic, evasive plan of campaign: bodies of, say, 2000 men to be stationed at strategic positions; the one attacked to fall back upon the next; these to fight or join the third, as might seem best; those not otherwise engaged, to strike for the American rear; and thus a campaign of movements, in which the Mexicans would have the advantages of mobility, of knowing the country, and of having the coöperation of the people, would be pursued in order to wear out the Americans. But the means of carrying out this system were lacking. In October the government planned to have three sizable armies; but by the end of December it limited its ambition to having two small brigades of infantry and one of cavalry, each headed by a colonel.
[23.] Chief documents. Sen. 1; 30, 1, pp. 60–2. [108]Bancroft to Polk, Dec. 3, 1846. [256]Barnard to Totten, Oct. 11, 1847. [66]Id.to Id.., Dec. 15, 1847 (Taylor) [169]Peyton to Crittenden, Jan. 25, 1848; [169]Taylor to Crittenden, Nov. 15, 1847. [354]Welles papers. Davis, Autobiog., 257–8. Wash. Union, Jan. 7, 1848, N. Y. Sun, May 17, 1847. Niles, Oct. 23, 1847, p. 114. Schouler, Hist. Briefs, 155. Sen. 1; 30, 1, pp. 60–2 (Marcy, report). Calhoun Corres., 718 (to Clemson). Public Ledger, Jan. 4, 1848. [169]Rives to Crittenden, Feb. 8, 1847. Richardson, Messages, iv, 542–4. [13]Crampton to Palmerston, nos. 71, 1847; 5, 1848. Claiborne, Quitman, ii, 7. Polk, Diary, Oct. 30, 1847. [61]Scott, Sept. 18. Sen. 52; 30, 1, pp. 138–40, 211. [256]Totten to Marcy, Nov. 23, 21. [256]Trist to Buchanan, Sept. 28. Picayune, Dec. 15. See chap. xxxii, [p. 235].
Sept. 17, at a gathering of generals, one of the best proposed retiring at once to Vera Cruz. For the defensive plan see chap. xviii, [p. 348]. General Butler (Calhoun, Corres., 1146) and apparently Daniel Webster (Boston Courier, Feb. 20, 23, 1847) favored this plan. Had it been adopted we should in all probability have been forced sooner or later to resume active operations after having given up the results of much fighting. It seemed hardly possible that a majority in Congress would soon be able to agree upon a policy, and it looked as if injurious debates on the subject might occur. Marcy particularly advised Scott to prevent the formation of a new Mexican army, but authorized him to use his own judgment as to military operations. They were not, however, to be modified in consequence of Mexican peace proposals (Sen. 52; 30, 1, p. 140). For the difficult situation of the United States see the first paragraphs of chap. xxxii.