ost prominent man in
Mexico. While the French were making their preparations in secret,
Farragut went on shore and called upon Santa Anna, who promised to care
for the persons and property of American citizens, adding: "Tell
President Van Buren that we are all one family, and must be united
against Europeans obtaining a foothold on this continent."

The following morning, before daylight, the French embarked fifteen
hundred seamen, accompanied by a few engineer soldiers, in the boats of
the squadron; and, being covered by a thick fog, landed at six o'clock
upon the beach before Vera Cruz. Formed in three divisions and unseen by
the enemy, they blew open the gates of the city and at the same time
stormed the forts which at the north and south terminate the seaward
wall. The Mexicans, taken wholly by surprise, retreated before the
assailants. The center division of the French, which had entered
by the gates, pursued rapidly toward the quarters of Santa Anna.
A short, vigorous resistance by a part of his guard enabled the
commander-in-chief to escape in shirt and trousers; but General Arista
was taken. Meanwhile the two flank divisions, having dismounted the guns
in the forts and chopped the carriages in pieces, moved along the walls
toward the gate. There they united with the center; and the whole body,
having accomplished its object in disarming the sea face of the town,
fell back upon their boats lying along the mole. Most had already
re-embarked when the Mexicans, led by Santa Anna in person, charged from
the gate and down the mole at double-quick. Admiral Baudin himself was
still on shore, waiting to see the last man off. Though scarcely
expecting this gallant return from a force that had been so badly
worsted and was much inferior in numbers, the French were not
unprepared. A six-pound gun on the extremity of the mole, belonging to
the Mexicans, had been turned so as to sweep the approach with grape;
and five of the boats of the squadron, mounting small carronades, were
also disposed to repel attack. The admiral ordered the six-pounder
fired, and entered his barge. The discharge swept away the head of the
Mexican column, and Santa Anna himself fell with three wounds, from one
of which he lost his left leg. Some of the broken column fell back upon
the town, from the loop-holes of whose walls a sharp fire of musketry
began, while others continued down the mole and opened vigorously upon
the retreating French, directing