Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/182

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162
MAXIMILIAN IN MEXICO.

was the rule; notably in Jalisco, under Neri; in Guanajuato, where the republican governor, Gallardo, was driven out of the state; and in Guerrero, where the prominent port of Acapulco had surrendered June 3d.[1]

The campaign for the latter six months was directed essentially toward the north, beyond latitude 24°, below which the Franco-Mexican columns stood prepared for the advance. The eastern forces centred in those of Mejía, which were cantoned from Rio Verde to Tula and Catorce, supported on the right by Dupin's guerillas in Tampico, on the left by the brigade of Aymard at San Luis Potosí and Venado, and in the rear by Castagny's division, with headquarters at Querétaro, all of which were destined to sweep Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila. In Zacatecas the brigade of L'Hériller was about to enter Durango, and on the Pacific coast the squadron of Kergrist lay ready to coöperate with Douay in Jalisco, and support a movement into Sinaloa.[2]

Nevertheless the position of Juarez at the beginning of the second semester seemed not altogether alarming. His leading generals in the north, Negrete, Ortega, and Patoni, with Cortina and Garza in Tamaulipas, had still about 12,000 men under their orders, although somewhat scattered; and considerable means were flowing from the custom-houses of Manzanillo, Mazatlan, and Guaymas on the Pacific, of Piedras Negras on the Texan frontier, and Matamoros on the gulf. Add to this loans in the United States, forced contributions, church property, and other resources, and not least the moral support of the northern republic. Arms were all the time com-

  1. To French forces, owing to a lack of artillery, as Álvarez explains. Solis, the commander, surrendered 500 men and 81 officers. Gallardo and Neri are said to have had 1,500 and 2,000 men respectively. In Puebla some 1,500 republican guerrillas were still said to be hovering, indirectly encouraged by certain imperialist mistakes, such as the sacking of Huauchinango in Aug., as described in Lefêvre, Doc. Maximiliano, ii. 108-10.
  2. Castagny passed onward against Saltillo and Monterey, Mejía marching either against this place or Matamoros. Niox, Expéd. du Mex., 414.