turn to Mexico he was coldly received and retired to his estate. When Vera Cruz was attacked by the French fleet on 27 Nov., 1838, Santa-Anna offered his services to the government, was ap- pointed commander-in-chief, and prepared the city for resistance. Before daybreak of 5 Dec. a land- ing force of the French surprised his headquarters and captured his second in command, Gen. Arista, but he had time to escape, and, gathering his troops, he forced the French to re-embark. Near the port he was wounded by a cannon-ball, and it was found necessary to amputate his left leg. By his valiant defence he regained his popularity, and when President Bustamante left to suppress the revolution of Tamaulipas, congress appointed Santa- Anna his substitute. Notwithstanding that his wound had not yet healed, he was transported to the capital, and took charge of the executive from 17 Feb., 1839, till 11 July, when he retired to his estate. He was afterward made general com- mander of the coast department, but conspired against Bustamante till the latter's government was overthrown, and Santa-Anna was appointed by the consulting junta provisional president, 10 Oct., 1841. From that date till 6 Dec., 1844. either as provisional or constitutional president, some- times personally, sometimes through his substi- tutes, he exercised virtually a military dictator- ship. At the latter date there was a mutiny in the capital, the provisional president, Gen. Canalizo, was arrested, Santa -Anna was impeached, his statue was demolished, and his portrait was burned by the mob. His troops abandoned him, and on his flight toward the coast he was arrested, 15 Jan., 1845, near Jico, and imprisoned in the fort of Perote till the amnesty of May, when he re- tired to Havana. When the war with the United States began, and after the unfortunate battles of Palo Alto and Kesaca de la Palma, a mutiny under Gen. Mariano Salas deposed President Pa- redes and recalled Santa-Anna, who returned on
Aug., 1846, was appointed commander-in-chief,
and became president in December; but leaving the vice-president, Gomez Farias, in charge, he went to the north, organizing an army to oppose the invader. After a march, full of hardships, through the desert of Potosi, he attacked the American army under Gen. Zachary Taylor near the ranch of Buena Vista on 22 Feb., 1847. The battle continued the next day, but, as his cavalry could not operate in the narrow passes, and the American artillery occupied strong positions, he retired on the evening of the 23d with great losses. Hearing of the overthrow of Gomez Farias, he hastened to the capital, and occupied the execu- tive on 21 March ; but when Vera Cruz was taken by Gen. Winfield Scott, he left Gen. Anaya in charge, and took command of the forces in the state of Vera Cruz. He established his head- quarters at Cerro Gordo, where he was attacked on
April, and totally defeated on the 18th. With
the fragments of his army he retreated to Mexico, where he adopted stringent measures against his opponents, established a severe censorship of the press, and organized an army to defend the capital against the advancing American forces. He col- lected 20,000 men, for the greater part militia, and after the van-guard under Gen. Valencia had been routed at Contreras on 19 Aug., and Gen. Rincon at Churubusco on 20 Aug., an armistice was signed on the 24th. Hostilities began again on 7 Sept.. Jin- lino del Rey was stormed on the 8th and Chapul- tepec on the 13th, and on the 14th Mexico was occupied by the American army ; Santa-Anna re- signed the presidency and retired toward Puebla. He tried to retrieve his reputation by besieging t hat city, but was defeated, and retired to Tehuacan, soliciting from Juarez, then governor of Oajaca, permission to reside in that city, which was re- fused. When Tehuacan was captured by Gen. Lane, Santa-Anna barely escaped to the mountains, and from his estate obtained permission from the Mexican government and Gen. Scott to leave the country, sailing on 5 April, 1848, for Jamaica. In 1850 he established himself in Turbaco, near Carta- gena. In consequence of the revolution of 7 Feb., 1853. he was recalled, arrived in Vera Cruz on 1 April, and on the 20th took possession of the ex- ecutive. On 21 Dec. a congress of his creation ap- pointed him president for life, with the title of Most Serene Highness, and the power of nominat- ing his successor. His rule soon became so despotic that revolutions began everywhere, the principal one being that of Ayutla, directed by Gen. Juan Alvarez. After a severe struggle and many de- feats, he abandoned the capital on 9 Aug., 1855, and on the 16th sailed for Havana, and thence to Cartagena. He lived afterward for some time in Venezuela, and finally in St. Thomas, whence he appeared, after the French intervention, in Febru- ary, 1864, in Vera Cruz to offer his services to the regency. He was permitted to land only after sign- ing a pledge not to interfere in politics; but from Orizaba, where he had been assigned a residence, he published a manifesto, exciting disturbances in his favor, and Gen. Bazaine ordered him to leave thecountn 7 , sending him in the frigate " Colbert " to St. Thomas. Maximilian afterward made him grand marshal of the empire, but he rewarded the emperor by a conspiracy against him. and fled to St. Thomas again in 1865. In the following year he went to the United States, proposed to Sec. Seward to raise an army to overthrow the empire, and even offered his services to Juarez ; but no re- sponse was made. In June, 1867, he chartered the steamer " Virginias." and appeared before Vera Cruz, which was still occupied by the imperialists, to raise the banner of revolution ; but he was de- tained by the U. S. squadron of observation, and after the surrender of Vera Cruz, 4 July, was per- mitted to sail for New York. He tried to effect a landing at Sisal, was captured by the blockading squadron, imprisoned at San Juan de Ulua, and sentenced by a court-martial to death, but was saved by his counsel, Alcalde, who represented his attempt as the ridiculous enterprise of a decrepit old man. He was pardoned under condition of leaving the republic forever, and came to the United States, whence he fostered a revolutionary movement in Jalapa in 1870, headed by his son, Angel. After Juarez's death he took advantage of the amnesty that was given by Lerdo de Tejada, returning to Mexico, and after his request for reinstatement on the army list and back-pay had been refused he died amid general public indif- ference, his services being obscured and almost forgotten by the misfortunes that his subsequent conduct had brought upon his country.
SANTACILIA, Pedro. Cuban author, b. in Santiago, Cuba, in 1829. At the age of seven years his parents took him to Spain, where he was educated. In 1845 he returned to his native city, and began his literary career on the staff of a newspaper. He was banished in ISol on account of his liberal ideas, and in 1*5:! lie came to New York. He went to Mexico in 18fil, where he joined the Republicans in their struggle against the Conservatives and Imperialists. In 1863 he married one of the daughters of President Juarez, and filled several official posts in the republic. He
