ceeds of the second loan. They were commanded by British and American officers; to coöperate with them a squadron of gun-boats was formed, under command of Post-captain Pedro Saenz de Baranda, a native of Yucatan. The siege was now closely pressed;[1] all communication between the fort and the shore was cut off, and the garrison found itself reduced to great straits. Food became scarce, and disease was decimating the men. Unless relief came immediately, the fort would have to surrender.[2] A Spanish fleet arrived from Cuba with troops and supplies to relieve the fort, but its commander, not considering himself sufficiently strong to attack the Mexican blockading squadron, returned to Habana.[3] Coppinger thus found himself compelled to sign a capitulation on the 18th of November,[4] 1825, under which the Spanish garrison was allowed to depart with the honors of war, being conveyed to Habana at the expense of the Mexican government. The latter received with the fortress all the artillery and other arms and ammunition existing therein.[5] Both
- ↑ As early as Sept. 1823 a Mexican flotilla had taken the island of Sacrificios, though the possession was disputed by the fort. In Dec. 1824 the Spanish garrison was strictly confined within the walls of the fortress, and suffered for want of many of the necessaries of life. Méx. Mem. Marina, 1824, 6-7.
- ↑ Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 820, assures us that at this crisis Victoria despatched his friend and minister of the treasury, José Ignacio Esteva, to Vera Cruz, to push the operations of the blockade, or as it was generally understood, 'para que la gloria de la rendicion recayese en él,' thus depriving Barragan of the part that rightfully belonged to him. This must be taken with reserve. Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 42, without detracting from Barragan, gives Esteva much credit for the success obtained.
- ↑ The delay in sending relief to the fort has been attributed to a Col Montenegro, said to have been a friend to the American cause, who had a position near the captain-general of Cuba. El Veracruzano Libre, 1828, June 8, 3, in Pinart, Coll.
- ↑ Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 43, and Zavala, Revol. Méx., i. 252, commit the error of giving the date of surrender on the 15th of September. The preliminaries of the capitulation 'en fuerza de las imperiosas circunstancias' in which the Spaniards were situated was signed in the city of Vera Cruz on the 17th by Miguel Suarez del Valle and Domingo Lagrú, commissioned therefor by Coppinger, and on the 18th ratified by Barragan and the Spanish commander. Mex. Gaz. Extra., 1-3; Gaz. de Mex., Prim. Ép. Fed., i. 1825, no. 184, 1-3.
- ↑ Including also several launches, barges, boats, and a small schooner, also medicines, and the silver and other paraments of the church. Alaman, Hist. Méj., v. 820-1; Pedraza, Manif., 27-8; Liceaga, Adic. y Rectif., 614-15;
