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Updated: June 11, 2025
An uphill charge from this point gave the Americans command of all the minor hills, leaving to the Mexicans only the height of Cerro Gordo, with its intrenchments and the strong fortress on its summit.
The battle of Buena Vista was probably very important to the success of General Scott at Cerro Gordo and in his entire campaign from Vera Cruz to the great plains reaching to the City of Mexico. The only army Santa Anna had to protect his capital and the mountain passes west of Vera Cruz, was the one he had with him confronting General Taylor.
Captain Truman Seymour, twice brevetted for gallantry at Cerro Gordo and Chernbusco, was an excellent artillery officer, full of invention and resource, a lover of poetry, and an adept at music and painting. First Lieutenant Jefferson C. Davis, brave, generous, and impetuous the boy-sergeant of Buena Vista won his first commission in the regular army by his gallantry in that action.
The whole island may be said to form a continuous network of sierras, hills, and heights. The following are the four highest mountains, with their heights above the sea level: Yunque, in Luquillo, 1,290 yards; Guilarte, in Adjuntas, 1,180 yards; La Somanta, in Aybonito, 1,077 yards; Las Teras de Cerro Gordo, in San German, 860 yards.
Sixty miles from Vera Cruz the American forces came to the mountain-pass of Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, awaited the invaders with an army of thirteen thousand men. The heights overhanging the road bristled with guns, and the lofty hill of Cerro Gordo was strongly fortified, rendering the place almost impregnable to an attack from the direction of Vera Cruz.
It was soon to be plainly understood that, whenever that army should march, it would do so as a sort of human machine, ready to perform any military work which its commander might require of it. "Grant," said Captain Lee, "what did Crawford say to you about that Cerro Gordo road? I want to know all I can." "Well, Captain Lee," replied Grant, "here he is, to speak for himself.
It was afterward said that General Scott's written orders for the battle of Cerro Gordo, and for others which followed, would answer very well for full reports of them after they were won. The whole American army, except the garrison of Vera Cruz and small parties posted here and there along the road, had now escaped from the tierra caliente and the yellow fever.
It was not by such subordinates as these that General Santa Anna was assisted in his engineering or other military operations. That day, however, and for a few days more, he felt perfectly sure of his really well-chosen position among the rocks and chasms of the Cerro Gordo.
April 18 he stormed the heights of Cerro Gordo. There Scott staid till August 7, when he again pushed westward, and on the 10th saw the city of Mexico. Never before in the history of the world had there been made such a march.
No doubt she read the worship in my eyes, but her attitude was that of an older sister. Cora, being nearer my own age, awed me not at all. On the contrary, we were more inclined to battle than to coo. Her coolness toward me, I soon discovered, was sustained by her growing interest in a young man from Cerro Gordo County. We were a happy, noisy gang, and undoubtedly gave poor Mrs.
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