392 RELATIVE POSITION OF AMERICAN AND MEXICAN ARMIES. 



fortification we have described. Beyond Churubusco the highway 

 leads straight to the gate of San Antonio Abad, whence a work had 

 been thrown north-westwardly towards the citadel. The city of 

 Mexico, built on the bed of an ancient lake, was on a perfect level, 

 nor were there any commanding or protecting elevations of import- 

 ance around it within two or three miles, and the first of these, be- 

 yond this limit, were chiefly on the north and west. 



Thus, General Santa Anna, in front, on the main road to the city, 

 at the massive fortified hacienda of San Antonio, blocked up the 

 highway in that direction, protected on his right by the barrier of 

 the Pedregal; and by the lake of Xochimilco, the field works, and 

 the flooded country on his left. General Valencia had been placed 

 by him with his troops at San Angel, on the western edge of the 

 valley, and at the village of Coyoacan, a little further east in the 

 lap of the valley, on roads communicating easily with his position 

 at San Antonio, while they commanded the approaches to the city 

 by the circuitous path of the Pedregal around the edge of the val- 

 ley from San Agustin de las Cuevas, through Contreras or Padierna. 

 Valencia and Santa Anna were consequently within supporting dis- 

 tance of each other; and in their rear, in front of the city, were the 

 fortifications of Churubusco. General Scott, with the whole Ameri- 

 can army was, therefore, apparently hemmed in between the lakes 

 and the Pedregal on his flanks ; the Mexican fortifications and army 

 in front ; and the steep mountains towards Cuernavaca in his rear. 

 He was obliged, accordingly, either to retreat by the defiles through 

 which he had advanced from Chalco, — to climb the steeps behind 

 him and pass them to the tierra caliente, — to force the position in 

 front at the hacienda of San Antonio, — or to burst the barrier of 

 the Pedregal on his left, and, sweeping round the rim of the valley, 

 to advance towards the capital through the village of San Angel. 

 Such were some of the dangers and difficulties that menaced Scott 

 on his arrival at San Agustin. He was in the heart of the enemy's 

 country, in front of a capital aroused by pride, patriotism and de- 

 spair, and possessing all the advantages of an accurate knowledge 

 of the ground on which it stood, or by which it was surrounded. 

 Scott, on the other hand, like the mariner in storm on a lee shore, 

 w T as obliged to feel his way along the dangerous coast with the lead, 

 and could not advance with that perfect confidence which is ever 

 the surest harbinger of success. 



The reconnoissances of the American engineers which had been 

 pushed boldly, in front, on the main road, to the north, by the haci- 

 enda of San Antonio, soon disclosed the difficulty in that direction. 



