to whom Escobedo had relinquished the immediate command, the army of the west under Corona, and the army of the centre under Régules and Riva Palacio,[1] the latter being among later arrivals.
With the usual mixture of veterans and hastily drilled and impressed recruits, and a sprinkling of foreigners, notably Americans, these forces presented as fair an average as those of the imperialists, whom they exceeded in number by nearly two to one, already at the outset.[2] The northern army was the best in organization, and the troops from Sinaloa excelled in good arms, while those from Michoacan appeared the most neglected of all, although infused with the indomitable spirit of their energetic leader, Régules.[3]
- ↑ Treviño had two infantry divisions under Rocha y Arce, and a large body of cavalry under Aguirre. A third division under Aranda was placed with Corona, who also controlled the Sinaloa division under Vega, that of Jalisco under Manuel Marquez, and Régules' Michoacan forces. Arias, Reseña, 151-6.
- ↑ The estimates vary from 15,000 to 18,000. Although this number was more than doubled in the course of the siege, yet desertion and withdrawal reduced it to about 32,000 by the close, with 100 cannon. Hans, Quer., 83.
- ↑ Hans intimates that the cavalry was imposing chiefly in number; but this expression may be due to the general feeling of contempt which one side sought to infuse against the other. Salm-Salm, Diary, i. 108, 265-6, speaks of maltreatment and neglect among the republicans, as reported by the men. They received only now and then a half of the promised pay of one real a day; their food was the invariable tortillas and frijoles, with thin coffee and cheap sugar; meat came rarely. Before battle a real and a glass of liquor served to cheer them. Those who complained were flogged, and close watch was kept to prevent desertion. While superior officers paraded in glittering uniforms, with heavy gold chains, subalterns stooped to importune prisoners and citizens for gifts, glad to accept even small coins.
Emil Graf Kératry, Kaiser Maximilian's Erhebung und Fall. Original-correspondenzen und Documente in geschichtlichem Zusammenhange dargestellt. Leipsic, 1867, 8ᵒ, pp. vi., 328. The greater part of this work was first published in Paris in the Revue Contemporaine. Several documents, not allowed to appear in that periodical, were inserted in the Leipsic editions — for it was also published in French at that city in the same year in 12ᵒ form. The volume contains a history of the intervention from the first causes down to the evacuation, and is a clear exposé of the unfortunate expedition. It is replete with valuable documents, and in his preface the author assures his readers that the greatest reliance can be placed on such as are in strange contradiction to public opinion, and at variance with political utterances. This assertion, he says, is guaranteed by the high reputation of the Revue Contemporaine for conscientious investigation and impartiality in regard to foreign matters under the management of Vicomte de Colonne. These documents bear on the relations that existed between Maximilian and Bazaine, and include correspondence with the U. S. government relating to the withdrawal of the French troops. Count Kératry, who was an aide-de-camp of Bazaine, speaks in complimentary terms of the army, which, he says, had little chance of displaying brilliancy of action in so vast a field. His language with respect
