CHAPTER XII.
CONTRERAS AND CHURUBUSCO.
Route from Puebla — The Valley of Mexico — Fortifications — Turning Lake Clialco — Affair at Oka Laka — March of Major Lally from Vera Cruz to Jalapa — Arrival of the American army at San Augustin — Attempt to reach the San Angel road — Crossing the Pedregal — The Night Bivouac — Storming the Intrenchments at Contreras — The Enemy driven from San Antonio — Battle of Churubusco — The Victors at the Gates of the Capital.
General Scott left Puebia, in person, on the 8th of August, and on the same day overtook, and then continued with, the leading division under General Twiggs. The different corps of his army moved forward, en echelon, being at no time beyond five hours, or supporting distance, apart. The city of Mexico is something more than ninety miles from Puebla. The road ascends gradually through a fertile rolling country, checquered with beautiful gardens and hedges of cactus, with fields of maize and plantations of the aloe, until it reaches the tierra fria, or cold region, "the third and last of the great natural terraces into which the country is divided."[1] Here the feathery palm gives place to the evergreen, and the fruits and vegetation of the tropics, make room for those usually found in more northern climes. Leaving Cholula to the south, on the third day of their march the Americans arrived at the pass of Rio Frio, ten thousand feet above the level
- ↑ Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, vol. i. p. 8.
