cans in making ready for the defence of the city. When it expired, Santa Anna was not quite ready and sought an extension, but the terms offered by General Scott were considered too onerous, and the campaign was renewed. Early in September the treachery of the Mexicans became apparent in a letter from Santa Anna to General Scott, and on the 7th of that month preparations for another conflict were under way.
The American forces were distributed as follows during the armistice: Worth occupied Tacubaya, Pillow was at Mixcoac, and Twiggs near San Angelo, while Quitman remained at Tlalpam. It had been suggested to General Scott that there was a cannon foundry in operation at Molino del Rey or the King's Mill. Worth was therefore instructed to take possession of it, which was thought to be an easy task. Afterwards, if successful there, he could try an assault on Chapultepec, the southern fort of Mexico. An examination of Molino del Rey showed that the proposed attack would not be successful without a reinforcement of artillery. The Molino consisted of a range of massive stone buildings with crenellated walls and parapeted roofs, commanded by the plunging fire of Chapultepec at a distance of three thousand feet. There was a smaller, but equally solid building, the Casa Mata, fifteen hundred feet to the west; it was surrounded by a bastioned field-work of a quadrangular shape. Between those two points was a battery of three small guns, and in front stretched a line of embankment with ditches. There were patches of maguey, which screened the Mexican force, numbering altogether more than four thousand fighting men, besides the cavalry corps of Álvarez, which was nearly four thousand strong.
Worth prepared for a vigorous assault on the Mexican centre, to be followed by attacks on either flank. To this end he assigned Major Wright to take the centre with five hundred men, Garland's brigade with two light pieces
