with his brigade; and Colonel Clarke was afterwards detached to Cuernavaca, in former times the favorite residence of Cortés,[1] with his brigade, consisting of the 1st and 15th infantry, the Georgia cavalry, and Lieutenant Lovell's light battery.
Occasional disturbances took place in the capital, instigated chiefly by Mexican officers and soldiers, in disguise, and more especially those who were connected with the guerilla bands; but they were promptly put down. Inflammatory articles also appeared in the Mexican journals that were allowed to be published, which were only prevented by the positive orders of General Scott to suppress them, unless a different course was pursued.[2] On the 10th of January, 1848, he received information that a general rising was in contemplation in the city. During the day previous to the night on which the insurrection was to take place, he directed preparations to be made to prevent an outbreak, and the designs of the enemy were thus frustrated.[3]
- ↑ Although Cuernavaca is but sixty miles from Mexico, it is surrounded by fields of coffee and sugar-cane, which yield an abundant crop. It is also famous for the splendid groves of mulberry trees in its vicinity. The American artillery occupied the palace of Cortes, now nearly gone to decay. "The Conqueror's palace," says Madame do Calderon, (Life in Mexico, vol. ii. let. 31,) "is a half-ruined barrack, though a most picturesque object, standing on a hill, behind which starts up the great white volcano.'
- ↑ Newspapers were established in all the principal towns occupied by the American troops, under their auspices, which exerted a favorable tendency in the restoration of peace. It was a novel idea, which could certainly never have entered the brain of Johannes Faust, that the press and the sword should thus go hand in hand together.
- ↑ Father Jarauta and General Salazar, the latter so notorious for his cruelty to the Texan prisoners, (See Kendall's Santa Fé Expedition,) were prowling round the city about this time, and were supposed, not without reason, to have been concerned in the contemplated movement.
