CAPITULATION AND CONDITION OF VERA CRUZ. 371 



Mexicans, General Landero, the commander, made overtures for a 

 capitulation, which being satisfactorily arranged, the principal com- 

 mercial port, and the most renowned fortress in Mexico were sur- 

 rendered, together with four hundred guns, five thousand stand of 

 arms and as many prisoners who were released on parole. 



General Scott had endeavored to mitigate the dangers of this ter- 

 rific attack upon Vera Cruz by the employment of such a force as 

 would honorably satisfy the inefficient garrison of the town and 

 castle that it was in truth unable to cope with the American forces. 

 He delayed opening his batteries to allow the escape of non-com- 

 batants ; he refrained, moreover, from storming the town, a mode 

 of assault in which multitudes would have fallen on both sides in 

 the indiscriminate slaughter which always occurs when an enemy's 

 town is invaded in hot blood and with a reckless spirit of conquest 

 and carnage. Yet, weak and badly provided as was the garrison 

 of both strongholds, the walls of the city, its batteries and its 

 guardian castle held out for sixteen days, during which time it is 

 estimated that our army and navy, threw into the town about six 

 thousand shot and shells, weighing upwards of 463,000 pounds 

 On the side of the Mexicans the slaughter was exceedingly great. 

 Nearly a thousand fell victims during the siege ; and, among the 

 slain, numerous unfortunate citizens, women and children, were 

 found to have perished by the bombs or paixhan shot which de- 

 stroyed the public and private edifices, and ruined many important 

 portions of the city. 



When this new disaster was reported in the capital and among 

 the highlands of Mexico, it spread consternation among the more 

 secluded masses who now began to believe that the heart of the 

 country was seriously menaced. They had doubtless trusted to the 

 traditionary, proverbial strength of San Juan de Ulua, and believed 

 that the danger of disease and storm on the coast would serve to 

 protect Vera Cruz from the attack of un acclimated strangers, during 

 a season of hurricanes. Indeed, it was fortunate that our troops were 

 landed from the transports and men-of-war as early as they were in 

 March, for almost immediately afterwards, and during the siege, one 

 of the most violent northers that ever ravaged these shores raged 

 incessantly, destroying many of the vessels whose warlike freight 

 of men and munitions had been so recently disembarked. 



But if the people were ignorant of the true condition and strength 

 of Vera Cruz or its castle, such was not the case with the military 

 men and national authorities. They had made but little effort to 

 guard it against Scott, of whose designed attack they had been long 



