with
5,000 men, had just defeated Santa Anna with 20,000 men at Buena
Vista, and two days later, that is, on the 24th of February, 1847,
General Scott gave his final orders to his fleet of transports which
was to take his army to Vera Cruz. Early in March the transports with
12,600 men arrived in front of Vera Cruz. Captain Parker, in his book
previously quoted, says: "No words can express our excitement as ship
after ship crowded with enthusiastic soldiers successively came in;
some anchoring near us and others continuing on for the anchorage at
Anton Lizardo. We had been so long on our ships, and for some months
so inactive, that we were longing for something to do. I cannot answer
for others, but the scene of that day--and I recollect that it was
Sunday--is so vivid, and the events so firmly fixed in my memory, that
I can almost see the ship "Diadem" as she grazed our spanker-boom in
her desire to pass near enough to speak us, and I can to this day
whistle the waltz played by an infantry band on board a transport
anchored near us that night, though I have never heard it since."

Indeed, the naval contingent was most anxious to be in some of the
heavy fighting, and the chance seeming near, all was enthusiasm aboard
the ships of the squadron. A few days after General Scott's arrival he
and Commodore Conner and a large number of principal officers,
including Captain Joseph E. Johnston, of the "Engineers," made a
reconnaissance to decide on the best place to land the army. They
selected the mainland abreast of Sacrificios Island.

On the 9th of March, the steamers "Spitfire" and "Vixen" and several
gunboats ran close inshore and shelled the sand-hills and chaparral in
which the enemy might be concealed. Only a few horsemen were made to
scamper away. The Government for this very landing had sent out a
number of surf-boats, flat on the bottom and sharp at both ends. Each
of these carried one hundred men with their arms and accoutrements.
They proved most admirable for the service, as the whole army was
landed with out a mishap, and, singularly enough, the Mexicans did not
molest the Americans in the least while this important movement was in
progress. By midnight of the 9th of March the whole of the army was
ashore. Landing the troops having been accomplished, the work of
taking the artillery pieces, the ammunition, and supplies was begun,
and this consumed a week, each day lasting from four in the morning
till ten at n