THE BORDER EAGLES
CHAPTER THREE
THE BORDER EAGLES
CHAPTER THREE
BRAVE RIFLES
Part one.
Author's Note: Although in general agreement with the actual events of the war I've created some fictional battles and skirmishes and some different unit assignments in this AU story.
Vera Cruz Mexico 11, March 1847.
Captain Richard Rodgers of the United States Mounted Rifles sat on his horse watching the army get organized. He and his regiment had Landed with General Scott's army of twelve thousand men, horses' wagons and supplies two days ago.
The regiment had lost half its' horses in a storm as they'd crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Rodgers was fortunate that his horse and tack were not among them. The colonel had quickly reorganized the regiment so that half the companies were mounted. Rick's company c was among the mounted companies. He watched as hen men went into camp as the Mexicans had retired defenders in the city replied inside their walls. Their force of thirty-four hundred men had no chance in open battle against twelve thousand.
General Scott had no intent of wasting his men in an assault against a fortified city so, the siege of Vera Cruz began. Vera Cruz was defended by Mexican General Juan Morales with thirty-four hundred men
Mortars and naval guns under Commodore Matthew C Perry began a bombardment to reduce the city walls and on March 24th opened a large gap in the city walls. The Mexicans replied with their artillery, but the extended barrage broke the will of the Mexicans, who faced a numerically superior surrendered the city after only a twelve-day siege. The Americans suffered eighty casualties while the Mexican forces suffered one hundred eighty killed or wounded. Hundreds of Mexican civilians were killed. Rodgers' company was among the first America troops entering the city. He was appalled at the number of civilian casualties. Somehow until this point, he had only expected the troops to suffer. He realized what General Sherman would say during the civil war. "War is Hell."
Vera Cruz Mexico 31 March 1847
General Scott was going to begin his advance westward on April second. Rodgers' C Company and C troop of the Second Dragoons were being sent out in advance on a reconnaissance. Rick had been commissioned captain two weeks prior to the dragoon captain, so, he commanded the detachment by seniority. General Santa Ana was from Vera Cruz so he was familiar with the terrain. General Scott had to get that information and find out where Santa Ana's forces were.
As they were preparing to move out, Rick's brother came up.
"I'm glad I found you before you left. I've got a section of two guns set to go All we have to do is limber up. We'll be an hour behind you. We're to provide artillery support if needed. Be careful, Brother."
"I will. You too." The two men embraced and then Rick mounted up.
It was one hundred seventy- one miles to Puebla. They could cover that distance in four days, although the infantry would be slower. They made it, found out Santa Anas general location, sent a messenger back then set up camp where it was unlikely for Mexican forces to find them.
They sat up camp in a canyon with a large grove of oaks in the bottom. There was enough room under the trees for the riflemen and the dragoons to be well concealed from observation yet keep pickets on the rim of the canyon with a clear view of the terrain around them Rick sent a rider back to meet Robert and his artillery detachment and guide them down off the road into the camp. A detail then went back and wiped out the tracks. A skilled tracker could find the evidence of their passage but he would have to be looking for them and so far, the Mexican's had no idea they were in the area.
Santa Ana had chosen Cerro Gordo as the place to engage Scott's army of eighty-five hundred healthy men. His original twelve thousand having been whittled down by the troops left to garrison Vera Cruz and by yellow fever and other tropical diseases.
Santa Ana had chosen Cerro Gordo as he felt that the terrain favored the Mexican forces. Santa Ana set up in a canyon surrounding the main road, entrenched and prepared fortifications. He had around nine thousand men. He had artillery trained on the road where he expected Scott to come.
Scott had sent a force of twenty-six hundred dragoons ahead. They reached the pass on April twelfth. the Mexican artillery opened fire prematurely, giving away their positions and beginning the Skirmish.
Cerro Gordo Mexico, 12 to 18, April 1847.
The dragoons were skirmishing steadily with their counterparts keeping Santa Ana's focus on the main road.
Rick had read a lot about General Scott and he doubted that he would march straight ahead into the face of entrenched positions and massed artillery. He Sent scouts back to find Scott's main body and found that his instincts were correct. The army had left the road and trekked through the rough country to the north. Scott set up his artillery on the high ground, flanking Santa Ana's position.
Rick's half battalion was ordered to remain on detached duty as a mobile reserve force.
The American field artillery had a major advantage over the Mexican artillery. Although both sides used a six pounder, the American guns could fire explosive shells that the Mexicans could not.
Although now aware of the American positions the Mexicans were not prepared for the severe attack that followed. In the battle of eighteen April. The Mexican army was routed. American casualties numbered four hundred, the Mexicans lost over one thousand, with three thousand taken prisoner. The Americans expected a quick collapse of the Mexican forces. Santa Ana, however was determined to continue fighting and part of Santa Ana's army was able to regroup as they fled west.
The village of San Pablo e San Pedro, fifty miles east of Puebla, 28, April 1847.
The small village sat alongside the main road but didn't usually attract much attention, it was mostly the market place for the surrounding farms, That, was about to change. They received no warning at all, when at dawn a mounted force of Americans took the town.
They came in almost silently catching the militiamen who were supposed to be on guard, asleep, one of them drunk on pulque.
There were only twenty militiamen in the whole town, poorly armed with surplus British Brown Bess muskets almost seventy-five years old and indifferently maintained. The men were all caught in their beds.
All the weapons were collected and destroyed. The militia unit was commanded by a regular army lieutenant who was sixty years old if he was a day. He was old and tired and hadn't been paid in a year. He had no interest in training the militia, if the government wasn't going to pay him. Therefore, his men had no training beyond how to load and fire their muskets and no incentive to be anything approaching real soldiers.
. All the townspeople were gathered. in the square
In fluent Spanish, the commander said;
"I am Captain Richard Rodgers of the U.S. Mounted Rifles. We want this time to be as peaceful as possible but anybody resisting will be shot and any guerrillas captured will be hung. We will not be here long, but while we are here, anyone trying to leave the village will be shot.
"Do as I tell you to do and no one will be hurt."
The villagers accepted the orders without protest. After all, if their officer didn't care, why should they?
Rick's command was on detached duty with the mission to locate and harass, delay or defeat, if possible, any Mexican units marching to join Santa Ana. Rick's far- ranging scouts had located a Mexican force moving up the highway about eight hours march away an infantry regiment preceded by a troop of lancers. Rick smiled the kind of smile a shark might have worn. He had eight hours to prepare a really nasty reception.
As was common in this area the highway passed through a canyon before opening up to the village.
Rick had the men take axes and shovels from the village and felled trees and build a barrier of tree trunks across the road, inside the canyon and fronted with rocks and dirt. He had Robert place one of his guns on either side of the road screened by bushes and cut brush. He had the dragoons position themselves across the road in plain view. and the riflemen to either side and slightly behind the cannons, out of easy sight. The dark blue uniforms blending with the shadows under the trees. All was as set as it could be so rations were broken out and a meal cooked, the men eating in place. Rick had given strict orders that there would be no foraging. If any food was obtained from the locals, it would be paid for. One thing that the village had a surplus of was beans. The Mexicans were quite happy to sell beans for silver. It beat them being taken by force which is what the Mexican army often did. A few chickens and a couple of scrawny pigs were also sold.
Coronel Eduardo Escobar rode at the head of his regiment. Or what passed for a provincial regiment in the Mexican army about eight hundred men, Regulations called for about twelve hundred. The weary men had been marching since early morning and it was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. They'd had a meager breakfast of tortillas, beans and salt pork and had not stopped for a noon meal, just eating cold beans and tortillas on the march. The Men wore white canvas uniforms with red collars and cuffs, a tall black shako that carried a brass hunter horn insignia and a tri-color cockade. Shoes belts and cartridge boxes were supposed to be black leather, but many men had plain brown shoes and accoutrements The men were armed with surplus British Brown Bess muskets with bayonets and short swords.
The officers wore dark blue swallow-tail coats with a light blue plastron and collar with gold bullion fringed epaulettes, white trousers, black boots and sword belts. Their shakos had the national crest of Mexico in place of the hunter's horn. All of them had swords and some of the officers carried flintlock pistols.
In addition to his infantry regiment, he had a troop of provincial lancers, they wore leather and canvas trousers, brown boots with large rowled spurs gray canvas short jackets, varicolored serapes and sashes and wide sombreros, they were armed with a short sword, a lance one or more large pistols about ten carbines per troop.
One of the lancers, acting as a scout, rode up and reported to his captain.
"Mi Capitan, the road is blocked by Norte Americano soldiers. It is about one quarter of a mile from the village."
"What color were their uniforms could you see?"
"I am not sure Mi Capitan, there was much shadow, but they looked dark."
"Go tell El Coronel what you have seen. I will go forward with my spyglass to see if I can tell."
Colonel Escobar halted his forces until Captain Fuentes could report back. About half an hour later Captain Fuentes rode up.
"Report Capitan."
"Mi Coronel, I would estimate a troop of dragoons. I could see the orange bands on their caps."
"Only a troop?"
"I cannot be certain Mi Coronel but that is all that I could see. There may be more in the village. They have to have taken it."
"Move your troop forward until you are five hundred yards away, then halt and wait for the regiment to arrive. We will halt three hundred yards behind you." *
The Mexican troops marched into view and halted as ordered.
Rick said;
"Remember your orders. Wait for the cavalry to reach two hundred yards then all fire a volley. Then the dragoons skedaddle behind the barricade and reload."
Colonel Escobar rode forward.
"Give the Norte Americano dogs a chance to surrender. If they do not, ride them down."
Captain Fuentes tied a white cloth to one of his men's lances and the two rode forward. In Spanish, he said;
"You are heavily outnumbered. Surrender and you will be well treated."
Rick replied;
"If you want our guns, come and take them. We remember the alamo."
"Ride them down Capitan, they will run. They've never faced a fury like ours!"
Captain Fuentes raised his saber and bough it down. "Forward at the walk, trot, canter, they would gallop the last hundred yards. Their favored tactic to impale who they could with the lances then switch to pistols. They never got to use their favorite. At two hundred yards out, they met a storm of lead. The dragoon's smoothbores took their toll mostly among the horses. The riflemen taking out the riders. There was a terrible sight of downed and screaming horses and men. About half of the troop was down the rest stunned. A second volley finished them as a cohesive unit. Not all of them were dead, o course, many were wounded, some completely unscathed except for scraped and bruises from being thrown from their horses. Captain Fuentes was one of those. He lay on the ground, stunned.
He lay there for a couple of minutes, catching his breath. How? How did these Yankee diablos do this? My poor troop gone!
A tall officer pulled him to his feet. In fluent Spanish he said;
"Do not struggle, you are my prisoner." Fuentes didn't try to resist, the cacophony all around him, the moans and cries of wounded and dying men and the piteous screams of the wounded horses it was too much for a man to take. The riflemen collected all the enemy's pistols as they could and then they retreated behind the barricade
Colonel Escobar looked on in shock as the lancer company was destroyed in les than a minute. It came to him suddenly. There had to be riflemen over there! It did not matter there couldn't be more than two companies in that space. He had four times their strength. The town had to be retaken and Mexican honor avenged. He ordered;
"Battalion commanders have your men load muskets and fix bayonets."
When he saw that done, he drew his sword and moved front and center of his regiment. He commanded;
"The regiment will advance."
There was no time to clear the road of the dead and wounded. The Americans reloaded and waited. When the enemy reached six hundred yards they began to jog. At five hundred, both cannons fired, the exploding shell landing dead center of the regiment's formation The rifle men volleyed at the same time. Extreme range for the rifles but in a mass target, it hardly mattered. Many men went down, one of them, Colonel Escobar. Not killed, but wounded and his horse shot from under him.
To give them credit, they dressed ranks and started forward again, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Delgado.
While the Mexicans adjusted, the Americans reloaded, the cannons reloading with cannister The Mexicans advanced to four hundred yards when the cannons fired, the cannister rounds spewing a mixture of musket balls and scrap iron fragments. At the same time, the riflemen and dragoons volleyed together. Between the cannon and small arms fire, more than three hundred men ere killed or wounded, including Lieutenant Colonel Delgado and one of the two majors.
It was too many causalities, too fast. The remnants were routed, many dropping their weapons as they fled.
Rick wasn't under any illusions. It was a combination the artillery and the accurate rifle fire that had demoralized the Mexicans. He walked up to his brother.
"That was perfect timing and placement of your shots, Rob. It would have been damn close without you."
"Thanks, Rick. Your men sure did their part
Rick walked back over to where Captain Fuentes was standing, under guard. His uniform was different than that of his men. While he wore the same wide brimmed hat and the large spurred boots, His coat was parrot green with red collar and cuffs, his trousers light grey cloth with a red stripe along the outer seam. One of Rick's men handed Fuentes' sword to Rick. Rick looked it over then handed ii back and said;
"Take that and put it with my gear, please."
"Yes sir."
Rick decided to question Fuentes while he was still in shock.
"Who are you, Capitan?"
"I am Capitan Enrico Miguel Ortiz Fuentes, First Provincial Lancers of San Luis Potosi."
"Just your own troop out, Capitan?"
"Si, senor, we are on attached to the Second San Luis Provincial infantry Regiment."
Then he shook his head, coming out o his funk.
"I am an officer of Mexico. I will give you no more information."
"Very well. Corporal take this officer to the village and see that he has some water and something to eat, then tie his hands and turn him over to Sergeant Stone. Shoot him if he tries anything."
"Yes sir."
Of the one hundred men in the lancer troop, fifty-two were dead and another ten were mortally wounded and would die within the day.
Fifteen were seriously wounded and fourteen had minor wounds nine had only scrapes and bruises. Fuentes' brother Manuel, a sub-lieutenant was one of these.
There were so many dead that sanitation would be a problem if not dealt with immediately. Ricki had the villagers and the able -bodied prisoners with help from his men start to dig a mass grave, but the mayor of the village said;
"Senor, we don't have enough tools to do this quickly. But about a mile away is a very large cave. We can carry the bodies there and seal the cave with wood large rocks and mud."
Rick agreed and while it took all of the next day, it was done.
The main body of the army arrived early the following morning.
The village wasn't at a choke point or large enough to be important.
Rick's small command rejoined and the army moved on to P
* Mexico didn't start using the metric system until 1857
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