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

swallow tail pennant, followed by Scott’s Massachusetts with its blue flag, broke from the pack of ships and started north for the nine mile run to Mogambo Bay. Cheers erupted from thousands of throats. The regimental band struck up “Hail Columbia”.
    The steamers Raritan and Potomac fell into line behind Scott’s ship. Then came the Princeton towing the surfboats. The remaining naval ships carrying troops; a frigate, several sloops, brigs and schooners, came next. The hospital ship with its surgeons and their instruments and medicines fell into line, followed by the two munitions ships. The ships transporting the cavalry mounts, commissary and quartermaster supplies, and those with the wagons would sail to Mogambo Bay as soon as the naval vessels could unload and sail out of the restricted waters. The fleet left Anton Lizardo behind, the great spread of white canvass of the sailing ships catching a slow wind that blew them north.
    *
    Lee, on the quarterdeck of the Massachusetts with Scott, Totten, Beauregard, and McClellan, watched the mighty fortress of San Juan de Ulua grow ever larger as the wind drove them into the open water between Isle de Sacrificios and the mainland. He was glad they weren’t attacking the forbidding fort. The landing upon the beach would be difficult enough.
    Under a cloudless sky and on the sun-burnished waters of Mogambo Bay, Captain Carmichael halted the Massachusetts and dropped anchor with a rumble of chain. He ordered the ship’s cannon ranged on the beach, and then came to stand beside Scott and his staff.
    â€œGeneral, my ship is ready and I await your orders,” Carmichael said.
    â€œThank you. Everything seems to be going according to plan.”
    â€œLet’s hope it continues so,” Carmichael said in a voice one would use for a prayer.
    Lee glanced at Carmichael and wished he hadn’t spoken in that tone. Then he returned to observing the ships. Conner’s gunboats, the Vixen and the Spitfire and five armed schooners, had run swiftly in to form a line some ninety yards from the beach and within easy gun range. Each was armed with a single weapon, either a 32-pounder or an 8-inch Paxihan mortar. The sailors were clearing the guns to be ready to sweep the beach with grapeshot to support the infantry. The naval ships that had ferried the troops from Anton Lizardo were moving into position for unloading. The decks of every ship were jammed with blue clad troops.
    Lee turned from the activity on the bay and checked the city and fort, and the actions of the foreign ships in the harbor. The British, French and Spanish warships were lying south and east of Ulua, far enough away to be out of range of either American or Mexican stray cannon balls. Near them were merchantmen carrying army contractors such as wheelwrights, blacksmiths, and wagon drivers. And then there were the ships of the less desirable camp followers; the gamblers, the whoremasters and their whores, and the loan sharks.
    The decks and rigging of every ship were black with men waiting for the Americans to charge the beach. A British packet had arrived since Lee was last on the bay. It was tied up to one of the British ships for protection. On its deck men were watching, and ladies with binoculars and parasols were equally intent. Farther away at Veracruz, the rooftops of the houses and the great city wall were black with people straining to see the coming battle.
    â€œAny second now,” Beauregard says beside Lee.
    â€œYes,” Lee agreed. He would soon have his first view of Scott’s strategy and generalship. To be defeated here would mean professional ruin for Scott, and a huge black mark on all the officers connected to the campaign.
    Scott spoke, as much to himself as to his aids. “If the roles were reversed, I could sweep the beach with five hundred cavalrymen and a thousand riflemen and prevent our force from reaching land. General Morales has twice that number