CHAPTER XVI.
1847.
At the termination of the armistice the position of the American forces was greatly changed from what it had been on the morning of the 20th of August. The occupation of San Agustin had been followed by that of Contreras, San Angel, Coyoacan and Churubusco in the course of that day, and on the next, Mixcoac and Tacubaya were taken possession of. Thus the whole southern and south-western portion of the valley, in front of Mexico, were now held by the Americans; and this disposition of their forces, commanding most of the principal approaches to the capital, enabled them, for the first time to select their point of attack.
In reconnoitering the chief outworks of the Mexicans by which he was still opposed, General Scott found that there were several of great importance. Directly north of his headquarters at Tacubaya, and distant about a mile, arose the lofty, isolated hill of Chapultepec, surrounded by its massive edifice, half castle, half palace, crowned with cannon. This point, it was known, had been strongly fortified to maintain the road leading from Tacubaya to the garita of San Cosmé on the west of the city. Westwardly, beyond the hill of Chapultepec, whose southern side and feet are surrounded by a dense grove of cypresses, and on a rising ground within the military works designed to strengthen the castle, was the Molino del Rey, or King's Mill, which was represented to be a cannon foundry to which large quantities of church bells had been sent to be cast into guns. Still further west, but near the Molino or Mill, was the fortified Casa Mata, containing a large deposite of powder.
