Complete history of the late Mexican war/Expedition to Tehuacan
EXPEDITION TO TEHUACAN,
NARROW ESCAPE OF SANTA ANNA.
The detachment, consisting of 350 men and officers, under the command of Gen. Lane, left Mexico on the 18th of January. Maj. Polk, Col. Hays and Capt. Crittenden, accompanied it. Passing Chalco and Rio Frio, the band, took a circuitous route to Puebla, where it arrived on the 21st.
Leaving Puebla at dark the same day, the company took the road to Vera Cruz as far as Amazoque, where General Lane took a road entirely unknown to any one but himself and the guide. It was little better than a mule path over rocky hills, and after a forty mile march, the troops arrived next morning at the hacienda of Santa Clara. They were then informed that their object was to take Santa Anna, who was then at Tehuacan, distant forty miles, with 150 men. In order that the Mexican chieftain might not obtain information of the presence of our troops in this section of the country, the General ordered every Mexican in the hacienda and every one found on the road during the day, to be arrested and kept close until they left in the evening.
After leaving the hacienda at dark, they came upon a party of mounted Mexicans, with a carriage whose occupant bore a passport from General Smith to travel to Orizaba. He was permitted to pass, with his attendants.
At dawn our army were within half a mile of Tehuacan. The report of a solitary gun of the enemy, gave hope that the bird was about to be caged. Our dragoons and riflemen dashed to the right and left, closing every outlet; while the rangers, with cocked revolvers, galoped toward the Plaza to secure their prey: but their amazement and mortification may be imagined, when they learned that, two hours before, the object of their search had fled to Oajaca, with seventy-five men. With chagrin, they also learned, that the Mexican, whose coach was stopped the evening before, had despatched a messenger across the mountain, to inform Santa Anna, that the American troops were on the road, with the probable intention of making him prisoner. Had it not been for this treachery, the surprise would have been complete.