[CHAPTER VI.]
Wherein Captain Galligasken marches with the illustrious Soldier to the Halls of the Montezumas, and glowingly describes the brilliant Campaign in Mexico.
General Winfield Scott was a great soldier, and his Mexican campaign gave him a European reputation, chary as the critics of the old world are in the bestowment of praise upon American celebrities. He was never popular as an individual, for his qualities of mind and heart were not of the winning sort. His military skill must stand unchallenged, and his operations in Mexico will always attest his ability. A greater than Scott arose to obscure and eclipse his fame as a commander; but if the midday sun darkens the lustrous star, yet shall the star shine on bright as ever, its light paled only by the mighty contrast.
Scott was a well-trained, a prudent, and a skilful soldier. Like Taylor, he fought his battles thoroughly; and, after throwing out two or three brilliant geniuses in the art of war, he compares favorably with any of the great captains of ancient or modern times. He was the peer of Wellington, Marlborough, and the galaxy of able generals whom Napoleon gathered around him; and his fame as a soldier will be cherished by the American people to their remotest posterity.
General Scott's bloody but brilliant and successful campaign was to be the next training school of Lieutenant Grant; and to have been a witness of the skilful strategy and the terrible fighting included in that memorable march from Vera Cruz to Mexico was to obtain an experience of war and an insight into its mysteries which could not fail to be of incalculable value to the future chief of the armies of the Union. Grant was twenty-five years of age when he landed at Vera Cruz. Among the eager young officers whose souls were fired with the military spirit, he was but a unit. As a second lieutenant, however bravely and faithfully he discharged his duties, there was no opportunity for him to attract attention beyond the limit of his own brigade. He was training for the future rather than living for the present.
Scott landed at the head of twelve thousand men to make the conquest of Mexico. His first objective point was the famous Castle of San Juan de Ulua, the dragon which guarded Vera Cruz, and lay in the path of the little army to the capital. On the 12th of March, 1847, the investment of the city was completed. Ten days later the batteries opened fire upon the castle and city; and after four days of the most incessant hammering, an assault by the besieging army was planned; but the governor of the city proposed to surrender. In just twenty days after the little army landed, the Stars and Stripes floated victoriously over the city, and over the invulnerable castle.
The amazing rapidity with which the siege operations were carried forward confounded the enemy. With the bitter experience of Monterey as a specimen of the spirit of the assailants, they were not disposed to go through the form of attempting to repel an assault. The dragon in the path of the victorious army was demolished, and the road to Mexico was open to the conquerors. Preparations were made immediately for the grand march to the Halls of the Montezumas.