Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/266

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246
MAXIMILIAN'S VACILLATION.

the confidence of their sympathizers. The effort to procure a loan from the government at Washington had been rejected in congress,[1] but private coffers were opening more freely every day among bankers, traders, and others.[2] Arms and ammunition were obtained in any quantity,[3] and a large number of volunteers offered themselves, more indeed than it was thought needful or prudent to accept.[4]

In pursuance of the plan for withdrawing the French troops, Billot had retired on the 31st of January, 1866, from Chihuahua, leaving it in charge of a Mexican garrison, sustained by the Indian tribes which had pronounced for the empire and proved its stanchest adherents;[5] but erelong the whole country was in revolt. Chihuahua fell in March into the hands of Luis Terrazas, the Juarist governor. Allende, Batopilas, and other places revolted; and the posts still held at Parral, Cerro Gordo, and to the south had to be evacuated.[6] The province of Durango also responded, from the beginning of the year, to the liberation movement, especially as the French in July fell back on its

  1. Only by a small majority, however. See U. S. H. Jour., 353, etc., and H. Res., 80, 30th cong. 1st sess.
  2. Instance alone the advances reported by García, Libro Mayor, MS., from California, $15,500 from Wilman & Brothers, and $24,000 from General Vallejo and three other native Californians. In Vega, Doc., i.-ii., we find lists of loans and contributions from the same state, and in Legac. Jex., i.-ii., correspondence on loans generally, especially on pp. 03-103, 461-95.
  3. See Romero, Contratos en E. U. por Mex., 1-590, for a history of contracts for war material and other supplies, including money, obtained in the U. S.; also Vega, Depósito, MS., Doc., etc. Eldridge of San Francisco figured among the creditors for $64,000. See also notes on similar points for previous years.
  4. Col Green brought from San Francisco 27 American officers who had served in the union war.Gen. Vega followed with a larger number, and Major McNulty, from Texas, with more than a dozen, not to mention other parties of officers and private soldiers. Over threescore, serving under Aranda in Dec. 1866, were organized into a company, as the American legion of honor. García, Libro Mayor, MS.; Vega, Doc., iii.; Overland Monthly, vii. 445-8; S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 14, 1966; S. F. Times, Jan. 11, 1967; Legac. Mex., Circ., ii., passim; Caballero, Hist. Alm., 47-8; Edwards' Shelby's Exped., 22-5, 41-3, on confederate enlistments.
  5. Notably in the districts of Cusihuiriachic, Concepcion, Abasolo, and Guerrero.
  6. Maximilian almost commanded Bazaine in May to retake Chihuahua, and Castagny was actually ordered to prepare at Durango a new expedition, with the intention to push as far as Paso del Norte; but the new instructions from France caused the movement to be suspended. Niox., Expéd. du Mex., 580.