Soldiers of Conquest by F. M. Parker Read Free Book Online Page A

of the wet Atlantic horizon and its rays had turned the calm waters of the harbor of Anton Lizardo a deep crimson. Every vessel of the American fleet of warships and transports seemed to be anchored in a pool of blood. He recalled the old sailor’s adage that went something like “a red sun in the morning was a sailor’s warning” of bad weather soon to come. He hoped this sunrise wasn’t forecasting a storm that would hamper the landing.
    General Scott, Captain Carmichael, skipper of the Massachusetts, and Colonel Totten, Commander of Engineers were talking near the starboard railing forward. Not wanting to approach the senior officers unless invited, Lee walked to the opposite side of the ship. He looked west at the Mexican mainland and found it covered with a dense gray fog that hid everything except the faraway inland mountains with the fifteen thousand foot, snow crowned Mt. Orizaba, “Mountain Of The Stars” the dominant feature.
    Lee had his orders. Once Worth and his regulars had driven the enemy from Collado Beach and the surrounding area, he was to go ashore and ride with Scott while selecting a siege line to encircle Veracruz, and then guide Worth’s men in the task of clearing the dense brush from the first third of the line. Beauregard guiding Patterson’s volunteers would prepare the second third. McClellan with Twiggs regulars would complete the siege line to the sea north of the city. Then Lee and Beauregard, with labor from the infantry, would immediately begin constructing sites for the artillery batteries.
    From the deck of the flagship, Lee watched the day swiftly brightened and the true blue-green of the sea return. The fleet came alive. Signal flags were hoisted to mastheads. Dispatch boats dashed about carrying messages. Other small craft ferried officers from their billets on the larger ships to their stations with their troops. Shouted orders of the naval officers preparing their ships for sea, came rolling clearly across the water to Lee.
    At the sight of the American Navy and Army preparing to go into battle, Lee’s heart beat a pleasant tattoo against his ribs. Finally it was to happen. In but a matter of a few hours, the opportunity would arrive to prove himself worthy of his famous ancestors.
    Lee’s attention was caught by the three score surfboats with a naval officer in charge and rowed by eight sailors which were spreading out through the troopships. The surfboats were constructed of wood, flat bottomed for stability, and were capable of carrying sixty men with their arms. They would take on board the soldiers and ferry them to the naval ships for transport to Mogambo Bay and the landing on Collado Beach.
    By mid-morning, Worth’s two brigades of twenty-four hundred men were loaded onto the Raritan and Potomac, both steam driven side paddle-wheelers. The remaining soldiers were put onto smaller vessels of the naval squadron. The decks of he ships were massed with troops, with their polished muskets and bayonets flashing bright silver sun arrows.
    After unloading their cargo, the surfboats congregated at the stern of the Princeton, the first American propeller driven naval steamboat. There they were tied into two long lines for towing. Throughout the fleet, ships were made ready to move, with steam being fed to the pistons, or sails unfurled and drawn down and sheeted home.
    Lee heard Captain Carmichael shout down to the lower deck where a lieutenant waited with six sailors near the windlass, “Mr. Shultz, hoist anchor, if you please.”
    â€œAye, captain,” replied the lieutenant. Turning to his men, he called out, “Round you go boys. Bring it aboard.”
    The measured metal clank, clank of the pawls of the capstan sounded as the men tramped round and round. Foot by foot the anchor chain came crawling out of the sea up through the hawsehole and down into the chain locker.
    Conner’s flagship Mississippi with its red