into the trenches as fast as they could shovel it out. Lee knew there was much truth in their complaints. He and the infantry officers that were helping him command the men were constantly moving among them prodding and ordering the shirkers and laggards to bend to their shovels.
The wind fell into a lull and the air became clear and Lee could see the lights of Veracruz. In the quietness he heard the sound of a band playing, as if no enemy waited just beyond the walls. On the previous day, Scott had notified Matson, the British naval commander that the traffic of small boats back and forth between the ships and the shore would soon be cut off, and to notify Consul Giffard of this fact. Further that Giffard should notify the consuls of the other neutral nations. The skirmishing between the Mexicans and the Americans was about to end and true war began.
*
In the dim night of the waning moon, the three hundred soldiers, divided into squads of thirty, labored and sweated in the sultry heat. They grumbled, but in a low voice for they knew the danger if they should be heard by the Mexicans. The enemy was awake and alert and now and again fired blindly into the night with their heavy mortars. The cannon balls bursting out of the darkness caused concern among the men for one might fall upon them regardless of where they sought safety.
Each squad pulled on one of the two long ropes fastened to the carriage transporting a 10-inch mortar to its prepared firing site. The loose sand made it impossible for the men to gain solid footing. Further multiplying the effort to move the guns, the iron rimmed wheels of the carriages cut deeply into the sand.
A sergeant walked ahead of each gun and led the way through the darkness lying thick as ink in the bottom of the sunken road. Periodically he called a rest period and the men flopped down on the sand to catch their breaths.
Lee led the procession of men wrestling the seven mortars through the sand. These guns would be the first weapons emplaced. Though he felt sad for the plight of the men, the order by Scott to use them as draft animals had been necessary. Scott had grown short tempered as the days passed with the wind blowing almost endlessly and often forcing the unloading of the ships to stop. When Lee and Beauregard reported the sites were ready for the emplacement of the cannon, Scott sourly recounted his problems. The War Department had failed him. He had but half of the soldiers he had been promised, none of the powerful siege weapons had arrived, and he must try to hammer down the enemyâs strong walls with light field artillery, and lastly not one of the big draft horses needed to move the artillery was on hand. The general was caught between two forces that could destroy his effort to defeat the Mexicans, the lack of men and proper weapons, and his greatest bugbear the rapid approach of the time of yellow fever. He had declared to his officers, âWe canât wait longer. Our soldiers must be the horses.â
Reaching the nearest prepared gun site along the sunken road, Lee directed the lead squad of soldiers how to position their mortar. The men finished the task, and then stumbled away along the backside of the sand hill and fell down to rest in the darkness. Lee moved to the next site and waited for the next mortar to arrive.
*
âThree minutes remaining,â Lee said and snapped shut the front of his watch. He felt his nerves tighten up a notch. He had counted forty-two Mexican cannons that were within range of the American batteries. Also there were the big guns of Fort San Juan de Ulua that could reach them with their shells. The Mexicans didnât yet know the location of the American guns, but when they did, all hell would break loose.
Captain Bouchard, artillery commander of the batteries, nodded agreement with Leeâs comment without taking his eyes off Veracruz. Lee noted the manâs face was strained with thoughts of the coming artillery
The wind fell into a lull and the air became clear and Lee could see the lights of Veracruz. In the quietness he heard the sound of a band playing, as if no enemy waited just beyond the walls. On the previous day, Scott had notified Matson, the British naval commander that the traffic of small boats back and forth between the ships and the shore would soon be cut off, and to notify Consul Giffard of this fact. Further that Giffard should notify the consuls of the other neutral nations. The skirmishing between the Mexicans and the Americans was about to end and true war began.
*
In the dim night of the waning moon, the three hundred soldiers, divided into squads of thirty, labored and sweated in the sultry heat. They grumbled, but in a low voice for they knew the danger if they should be heard by the Mexicans. The enemy was awake and alert and now and again fired blindly into the night with their heavy mortars. The cannon balls bursting out of the darkness caused concern among the men for one might fall upon them regardless of where they sought safety.
Each squad pulled on one of the two long ropes fastened to the carriage transporting a 10-inch mortar to its prepared firing site. The loose sand made it impossible for the men to gain solid footing. Further multiplying the effort to move the guns, the iron rimmed wheels of the carriages cut deeply into the sand.
A sergeant walked ahead of each gun and led the way through the darkness lying thick as ink in the bottom of the sunken road. Periodically he called a rest period and the men flopped down on the sand to catch their breaths.
Lee led the procession of men wrestling the seven mortars through the sand. These guns would be the first weapons emplaced. Though he felt sad for the plight of the men, the order by Scott to use them as draft animals had been necessary. Scott had grown short tempered as the days passed with the wind blowing almost endlessly and often forcing the unloading of the ships to stop. When Lee and Beauregard reported the sites were ready for the emplacement of the cannon, Scott sourly recounted his problems. The War Department had failed him. He had but half of the soldiers he had been promised, none of the powerful siege weapons had arrived, and he must try to hammer down the enemyâs strong walls with light field artillery, and lastly not one of the big draft horses needed to move the artillery was on hand. The general was caught between two forces that could destroy his effort to defeat the Mexicans, the lack of men and proper weapons, and his greatest bugbear the rapid approach of the time of yellow fever. He had declared to his officers, âWe canât wait longer. Our soldiers must be the horses.â
Reaching the nearest prepared gun site along the sunken road, Lee directed the lead squad of soldiers how to position their mortar. The men finished the task, and then stumbled away along the backside of the sand hill and fell down to rest in the darkness. Lee moved to the next site and waited for the next mortar to arrive.
*
âThree minutes remaining,â Lee said and snapped shut the front of his watch. He felt his nerves tighten up a notch. He had counted forty-two Mexican cannons that were within range of the American batteries. Also there were the big guns of Fort San Juan de Ulua that could reach them with their shells. The Mexicans didnât yet know the location of the American guns, but when they did, all hell would break loose.
Captain Bouchard, artillery commander of the batteries, nodded agreement with Leeâs comment without taking his eyes off Veracruz. Lee noted the manâs face was strained with thoughts of the coming artillery
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