e plans were, and as his boat
was much faster than the "Potomac" he arrived in front of Alvarado
long before Captain Aulick. When the "Potomac" did come in sight, a
great commotion was noticed in the harbor. The "Albany," which had
been doing blockading service, came out and informed Captain Aulick
that Alvarado had been taken.

"By whom?" asked the Captain.

"By Lieutenant Hunter, in the 'Scourge,'" was the reply.

The "Scourge," it should be explained, was a very small steamer,
carrying one gun and forty men. Hunter went up pretty close and
observing indications of flinching, he fired three guns and dashed
boldly in and captured the place. The horsemen, the capture of whom
was the main object of the expedition, were frightened off before
General Quitman could intercept them. Having taken possession of
Alvarado, Lieutenant Hunter placed in the town a garrison consisting
of a midshipman and two men, and hurried his steamer up the river to a
place called Tlacotalpan, which he also captured. When General Quitman
arrived in Alvarado with his brigade and the place was gravely handed
over to him by Passed Midshipman William G. Temple (afterward a very
distinguished officer of high rank) he was greatly amused and laughed
heartily. But Commodore Perry was annoyed and angry. As soon as he
could get hold of Hunter--not an easy matter, as Hunter had gone on
his conquering way still further up the river with the intention of
taking all the rest of Mexico not subjugated by Taylor and Scott--he
placed him under arrest and preferred charges against him. When Hunter
was shortly tried by court-martial, he was sentenced to be reprimanded
by the Commodore, the reprimand to be read from the quarter-deck of
every vessel in the squadron.

The reprimand, prepared by Commodore Perry, was thought by pretty
nearly all the officers of the squadron to be entirely too severe. A
military offence had been committed, but it amounted to a mere trifle,
and the time was ripe for the people to laugh over such an occurrence.
In effect the reprimand was something like this: "Who told you to take
Alvarado? You were sent to watch Alvarado, not to take it. You have
taken Alvarado with but a single gun and not a marine to back you!"
Then the announcement was made that the squadron would soon move
against Tabasco, and that Hunter should not accompany it, but that he
should be dismissed the squadron. And he was sent home. In New York
the people made a hero