374 MEXICAN DEFENCES AND MILITARY DISPOSAL THERE. 



own eye, resolved to fortify it for the reception of the Americans. 

 The brigades of General Pinzon and Ranjel ; the companies of Ja- 

 lapa and Coatepec, commanded by Mata ; and the veterans of the 

 division of Angostura arrived also about this period, and their last 

 sections reached the ground on the 12th. Meanwhile all was ac- 

 tivity in the work of hasty fortification. Robles constructed a para- 

 pet at the edge of the three hills, but failing to obtain all requi- 

 site materials for such a work, his erection merely served to mark 

 the line of the Mexican operations, and to form a breast-work 

 whence the artillery and infantry might command the ground over 

 which, as the defenders supposed, the Americans would be obliged 

 to advance. Colonel Cano had already cut off the access by the 

 road at the point where it turned on the right slope of the Tele- 

 graph, by placing a heavy battery. He also formed a covered way 

 leading to the positions on the right, while General Alcorta con- 

 structed a circular work on the summit of the eminence and estab- 

 lished within it a battery of four guns. In the centre of this the 

 national flag was hoisted, and off to the left nothing was seen but 

 thick, thorny dells and barrancas, which were regarded by Santa 

 Anna as impassable. 



Such was the Mexican line of defences extending on the brink of 

 these precipices for nearly a mile, and, throughout it, the com- 

 mander-in-chief hastened to distribute his forces. The extreme 

 right was placed under the command of General Pinzon, the next 

 position under the naval captain, Buenaventura Aranjo, the next 

 under Colonel Badillo, the next under General Jarero, the next 

 post, at the road, under General La Vega, and finally the extreme 

 left, at the Telegraph, under Generals Vazquez, Uraga and Colonel 

 Palacios. The forces thus in position, according to the Mexican 

 account, amounted to three thousand three hundred and seventy- 

 men with fifty-two pieces of ordnance of various calibre. The re- 

 mainder of the army, with the exception of the cavalry, which re- 

 mained at Corral Falso until the 15th, was encamped on the sides 

 of the road at the rancheria of Cerro Gordo, situated in the rear of 

 the position. In this neighborhood was placed the reserve, com- 

 posed of the 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th light infantry, comprising 1,700 

 men; and the 1st and 11th regiments of the line, with 780 men, 

 together with their artillery. It is said that the army was badly 

 provided with food and suffered greatly from the climate and the 

 innumerable insects which infest the region. 



As Scott advanced against this position the dangers of his enter- 

 prize became manifest, and he caused a series of bold reconnois- 



