Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[50] for that strange capital is surrounded by a kind of mirage which dazzles all those whose cupidity it excites. But when free governments, acting under the influence of popular impressions, commit such errors, to which absolute powers are not less liable, they generally find in public opinion itself the means of rectifying them. Congress, in fact, in its session of 1846, had failed to vote the formation of ten new regiments of regulars which had been proposed at the last moment; and the President was not authorized to raise them until the time when they should already have been landed at Vera Cruz to reinforce Scott, who was condemned to inactivity on the table-lands of Puebla. But this want of foresight was soon followed by action. The smallest detachments of the regular army were called in from every part of the country to constitute cadres for the new regiments, which, thanks to the rapidity of enlistments, swelled to more than ten thousand men during the year; and as the question now was to sustain the national honor, the North furnished volunteers with as much eagerness as the South.

Finally, after a tedious inactivity of three months and a half, the American army found itself increased to the total of fourteen thousand five hundred men. This was not enough, however, to maintain communications with the sea while the principal column was marching upon Mexico. Scott resorted to a bold expedient: all the garrisons, except those of Vera Cruz and Perote, were gathered together in Puebla, where six hundred able-bodied men and six hundred convalescents were shut up with twenty-five hundred sick confided to their care.

The American general, having given up his base of operations, took up his line of march with ten thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight men, and every available means of transportation. The total amount of regular troops in this force was eighteen regiments, a number altogether unusual, some of which had been reduced, it is true, to less than five hundred men during the campaign; they comprised twelve regiments of the line, one of voltigeurs, one of dismounted rifles, and four regiments of foot artillery, taken from the various Federal fortresses, which performed infantry duty. The regulars formed three divisions, to which was added one division of volunteers, each comprising two