CHAPTER XXXII.
THE MARCH UPON THE CAPITAL.
[A. D. 1847.] From a fleet of one hundred and sixty-three transports, on the 9th of March, General Scott landed his army of twelve thousand men, just below the historic city of Vera Cruz. On the 18th he summoned the city to surrender, having placed his batteries in position, and upon its refusal opened upon it a heavy cannonade from shore and from the ships in the harbor. For eight days the heroic defenders of Vera Cruz withstood the siege, but at last the terrific fire of shot and shell compelled them to capitulate. Scott and his army marched in and took possession, on the 26th of March. Six thousand shot and shell had been thrown into the devoted city, many buildings were destroyed, and one thousand lives were lost. The famous fortress of San Juan de Ulua, built on the island where the Spaniards first landed in 1517, fell with the city.
It is a pestilential spot, this city of Vera Cruz, where fevers rage and hurricanes blow fiercely half the year. The yellow fever, the dreaded vomito, carries off its thousand victims yearly. General Scott did not care to remain long in such a plague-stricken locality, and, owing to the completeness of his magnificent preparations, he was enabled soon to leave the coast and march towards the highlands. Three centuries and a quarter before, Hernando Cortez had commenced his march towards the Aztec capital, an invader, like these Americans, but bent upon murder and
