CHAPTER X. 

 1847. 



VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE. SANTA ANNA AT SAN LUIS. - 



SCOTT COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. PLAN OF ATTACK ON THE EAST 



COAST. GENERAL SCOTt's PLAN. DONIPHAN'S EXPEDITION. 



BRACITO SACRAMENTO. REVOLT IN NEW MEXICO. 



MURDER OF RICHIE. SELECTION OF BATTLE GROUND DE- 

 SCRIPTION OF IT. BATTLE OF ANGOSTURA OR BUENA VISTA. 



MEXICAN RETREAT TOBASCO TAMPICO. 



We return from the theatre of these military operations on the 

 shores of the Pacific, to the valley of the Rio Grande and the head- 

 quarters of General Taylor. The armistice at Monterey had 

 ceased by the order of our government, and the commander of our 

 forces, leaving Generals Worth and Butler at Monterey and Sal- 

 tillo which had been seized^ hastened with a sufficient body of 

 troops to the gulf for the purpose of occupying Tampico, the capi 

 tal of the state of Tamaulipas. But he did not advance furthei 

 than Victoria, when he found that Tampico had surrendered to 

 Commodore Conner on the 14th of November. 



In the meanwhile the political aspect of Mexico was changed 

 under the rule of Santa Anna who had returned to power, though 

 he had not realized the hopes of our president by acceding to an 

 honorable peace. A secret movement that was made by an agent 

 sent into the country proved altogether unsuccessful, for the people 

 were aroused against this union, and would listen, willingly, to no 

 advances for accommodation. Santa Anna, cautiously noted the 

 national feeling, and, being altogether unable to control or modify 

 it, — although he studiously refrained from committing himself 

 prior to his return to the capital, — he resolved to place himself at 

 the head of the popular movement in defence of the northern fron- 

 tier. Accordingly, in December, 1846, he had already assembled 

 a large force, amounting to twenty thousand men, at San Luis 

 Potosi, the capital of the state of that name south of Monterey, on 

 the direct road to the heart of the internal provinces, and nearly 

 midway between the gulf and the Pacific. 



The news of this hostile gathering which was evidently designed 



