Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress
Mr. Romero to Mr. Seward
My Dear, Sir: I remit to you for your information a printed copy of the official report which General Escobedo, commanding in chief the army of the north of the Mexican republic, sent to the minister of war and marine from San Felipe on the 7th of February last past, of the important victory he obtained on the 1st at San Jacinto, against the rebel forces which attempt to sustain the usurpation of the ex-archduke of Austria, Don Fernando Maximilian, whose forces were commanded by Don Miguel Miramon.
I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
[Supplement to No. 11.—Translation.]
The shadow of Zaragoza.
To satisfy public desire, and to avoid errors and false appreciations, we publish this day the general report of the battle that took place at San Jacinto, on the 1st instant. To appreciate the worth of the labors undertaken in that hasty campaign, it is necessary to explain some of the difficulties that preceded it, and to manifest, in passing, the hopes and sentiments of which the soldiers of the republic find themselves possessed.
As soon as the city of San Luis was occupied by a division of the corps of the army of the north, while portions of it camped at different distant points, and at the time that the head-quarters with the reserve division were moving towards the interior, news was brought of an expedition of traitors, who proposed to invade the States already occupied by the independent forces; this made it necessary to move the headquarters to San Luis, leaving the artillery in the rear, with munitions, armaments, and equipage to be used to meliorate the condition of the suffering and valiant troops that, for long months filled with privations and in incessant fatigue, had no stimulus but patriotism, nor more consolation than that of giving liberty to their fellow-citizens.
Four days had scarcely passed after General Escobedo’s arrival in this capital, when it was found that the enemy was advancing upon it with one of his divisions, under the command of Don Severo Castillo, and that another, under Don Miguel Miramon, was marching in the direction of Zacatecas. The 90 or 100 hours that had passed after the arrival of the commander and his staff did not afford time to concentrate and reorganize the different sections of the northern army corps, which, as I have already said, were scattered at divers points; so it was found necessary to arrange the campaign with the force disposable in those moments, stationing one division in front of Castillo, another in the town, and a third in observation of the enemy on the road to Salinas, and the last destined to give aid to Zacatecas.
In these rapid combinations and movements we do not know which to admire most, the activity of the chiefs, who doubled their energy, or the discipline and perfect organization. The result to them could not be doubtful. Miramon was caught, whipped and routed, according to the custom which he acquired in the last battles given in favor of the constitution and reform; and Don Severo Castillo, in his disastrous retreat, is the most efficacious proof that the intrepid soldiers of the republic will now have hard work to find an enemy with whom to fight.
Thus closes this day the campaign of the insensate Miramon, who, as facts demonstrate it, in his voyage to Europe, so far from learning how, forgot how to fight; losing what little [Page 538] self-esteem and dignity was left him at the same time; and now the republican forces, under the powerful nucleus of the northern army corps, will have ample time and means to reorganize. And in fact, at this hour, the united troops of the States of New Leon, Coahuila, and San Luis Potosi, Durango and Zacatecas, Aguas Calientes, Guanajuato and Queretaro are actually in motion, and very soon, with a total of more than fifteen thousand men of which they are composed, will undertake their march towards the profaned city of Mexico, to plant there in a manner imperishable the labarum of national independence. This flourishing army, formed of ail the valiant, who without truce have contended against the French and traitors, trusting not so much to the number and supreme quality of their arms as to the irresistible impulse with which they have known how to reconquer liberty for the oppressed people.
In regard to the northern army corps, we are pleased to say that, from its intrepid leader to its lowest soldier, they all long to see the city of Mexico, to make it the field of honor for the supreme national government, that ought to be received and guarded there by public opinion and the love of freemen. Thus the severe watchword being given to this army corps, whose spirit is communicated to all the forces that join it from the different States of the republic, it expects to rest only a few instants in camp, then to march with the same valor, with the same abnegation, and in better harmony, if possible, wherever the supreme government may think its presence necessary to consolidate public order once forever, contribute to the reorganization of the country, and plant its standards on the frontier and in the ports, where the best soldiers will be left to serve them for a guard, and the rest, returning to the quiet labors of the field and arts, will remain there as an example and basis of republicanism and of free democracy.
MEXICAN REPUBLIC—NORTHERN ARMY CORPS—GENERAL-IN-CHIEF.
At headquarters of the army corps under my command, established in the city of San Luis Potosi, I received notice that the enemy had evacuated the city of Queretaro in two strong columns, one under the command of Don Miguel Miramon, and the other under the command of Don Severo Castillo, by distinct roads, and both in the direction of the line formed by the place where I find myself and the city of Zacatecas. It may be the enemy feigned a march on Zacatecas, in order to oblige me to give up my headquarters to aid that city, and at the same time to make an advance on me with one of his columns and to attack me in flank with all his forces, while I was weakened by assistance sent to Zacatecas. He might likewise march upon this place with one of his columns, pretend to attack San Luis Potosi with the other, and go to join the other column, by way of Ojuelos, Campos, and Cienega Grande, to attack Zacatecas with his entire force before mine could come up; and he might, in fine, with both columns, march upon both of the said places. Anticipating these events, I took the precautions to be ready for all eventuality. I ordered General Rivera, with his brigade of 600 cavalry, to station in this town; the cavalry brigades of 1st Coahuila and 2d Nuevo Leon, with forces both of 600 men, in the hacienda of S. Bartolo; and General Rocha, with 1,000 of the three arms of the 2d division of this army corps, at San Francisco. I appointed the citizen General Leon Guzman, governor of the State of Guanajuato, to the chief command of all these forces, giving him instructions to place General Rivera in front of Castillo’s column, to observe its movements, and, if it took the road to San Luis Potosi, to attack its rear, General Guzman falling back, with all the other forces, to wait for a battle in the town of San Luis; that the same should be done if the enemy took the road by Gallinas to said town, and if he kept on to Zacatecas General Rivera should give notice of his movements to that city, and the forces of these headquarters on his right flank, and that General Guzman, with the other forces, should harass him in the rear. The town of San Luis, thus covered from any surprise, the manner of annoying the column of Don Severo Castillo being arranged, in case he should go to the aid of Don Miguel Miramon, and learning from my explorers that the latter would certainly march on the town of Zacatecas, I ordered my second and general-in-chief of said division, C. Geronimo Treviño, with 2,500 men of the three arms of the 1st division of this army corps, to go to the aid of that place. In the town of Mesquitic, five leagues from San Louis Potosi, I ordered to be stationed the section of this cuartel general, composed of 1,000 men, and commanded by the citizen General Francisco Arce, so that he might opportunely go where wanted, whether to defend the plaza of San Luis or re-enforce General Treviño. I learned. by a message sent me by this chief from the Salinas del Pinon that the city of Zacatecas had fallen into the power of. Miramon, and I set out instantly to put myself at the head of his forces, forcing on one day’s journey as far as Espiritu Santo, with the forces I had stationed in Mesquitic, and I went on to Salinas del Piñon Blanco, where I overtook the citizen General Treviño. I left the town of San Luis under the care of the commanding general of the artillery of this army corps, citizen General Francisco Paz, thinking to advance myself rapidly on Miramon, to prevent him from getting supplies, which, if he had time, he could get from Zacatecas, or hinder his union with Castillo, in which case I would not be able to beat him in detail.
At Salinas del Piñon I waited for the forces I had brought as far as Espiritu Santo. From there I went a day with all of them to the haciendo del Carro, taking this road as the central of the three that lead to Zacatecas, so that if Miramon left the town to avoid a fight and join Castillo’s column, he could not do it without meeting me, or encountering me in some of the [Page 539] cross-roads. At that hacienda I organized the entire force, consisting of 1,500 horse and 2.000 foot, with one battery of artillery, in the following manner:
The infantry, in command of the citizen General Francisco Arce, was divided into three columns, forming the 1st of the 1st and 6th battalions, under its chief, the citizen Colonel Montesinos; the 2d of the 2d and 7th battalions, its chief, the citizen Colonel Edelmiro Mayer, and the 3d, the supreme power battalion, and the 1st light of Saltillo, at the orders of the citizen Colonel Macias. As an infantry reserve the 1st light battalion of Leon, commanded by the citizen Colonel Miguel Palacios.
The cavalry was divided into four columns, commanded by the citizen Colonel Pedro Martinez, and composed the 1st of the corps of the northern legion, its chief the citizen Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Olivares; the 2d of the corps of Parras, its chief the citizen Colonel Emiliano Laing; the 3d of the 2d corps of Zaragoza, its chief the citizen Lieutenant Colonel Antonio de Leon; the 4th of the 1st Zaragoza corps, its chief the citizen Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Martinez; and, as a reserve, the corps of Galeana hunters and 1st Durango, at the orders of the citizen Lieutenant Colonel Hipolito Charles. Don Juan Villanueva, the citizen battalion commander, captain of the 1st of this force, was chief of the artillery. The command of the entire division was intrusted to the citizen general 2d in chief of the army corps, Geronimo Treviño.
Having thus organized the forces, without loss of time I left the Carro hacienda on the 31st of January last, and passed the night at Santa Elena, where I heard during the night that Miramon had left, with all his forces, on the evening of that day, in my direction, but not marking the road he had taken.
At 4 o’clock on the morning of the 1st day of February I continued my march. At the Estancia de Jarillas I found the enemy had taken the road to Aguas Calientes, and, making a short cut, I managed to overtake him at the hacienda of San Diego. I had been perceived, and he seemed to be waiting for me at that point. I made an exploration of the field, protected by rifles that General Treviño had ordered to deploy. On coming in sight of the enemy I sent the 1st, 2d, and 3d companies of cavalry, under its chief, the citizen Colonel Pedro Martinez, to my left, taking possession of a small elevation till I could weather the right of the enemy. I ordered an advance in the centre, the 1st, 2d, and 3d infantry taking the flanks, posting two pieces of artillery on the brink of a pond to protect it. The reserve cavalry was sent to the right, under the citizen General Miguel Blanco, who put himself at the front of it, telling me two days before he was a good Mexican, offering me his services in any way he could be useful, and I gave orders to this chief to double the position of the enemy, out of reach of his artillery, supported by the 4th column of cavalry, that was kept as a reserve. On perceiving these movements, the enemy suddenly fell back, concentrating at the hacienda to make a retreat, and notwithstanding the rapidity of my evolutions, I succeeded in sending several volleys of artillery among his columns.
Fifty carbineers of the 2d column of cavalry, protected by fifty others of the same arm, continued to harass him closely in his retreat. I gave orders to the citizen Colonel Martinez to continue his march on the left to the heights on the enemy’s rear; to the citizen General Blanco to continue to the right till he got as far as the same heights with Colonel Martinez, so as to shun, in this way, the ambushes the enemy might lay, and I ordered the citizen General Treviño to go forward with the parallel columns of infantry and the 4th cavalry, which was in reserve.
The resistance which the enemy offered to our riflemen was obstinate, and our men obstinately persecuted him as far as San Francisco de los Adames. Here I wanted to take advantage of good ground before the enemy could reach the strong position of Cuisillo ranch, where he might cause us great loss. I sent orders to the citizen General Blanco to conquer the obstacles that the ground presented to him, to advance his column in a trot till he doubled the position of Cuisillo; to Colonel Martinez to advance by the left till he should come to the main road, and to the citizen General Treviño to make the fourth column advance, following up the charge that I was to make in a few minutes, by aid of the infantry.
On entering the plain, my columns of cavalry marched to the heights designated. I arranged for Colonel Martinez to put himself at the head of the 4th column, which was to charge in the centre, and I formed a line of battle in front of the enemy, at the same time that he did the same.
Two sections of the northern legion supported the left of my line, and two sections of the Parras carbineers my right. The column of cazadores advanced to turn the position of the enemy. I ordered a charge, and notwithstanding the obstinate resistance made by the enemy, making use of artillery, ten minutes after my order was given the enemy was completely routed. A portion of our forces pursued him, another struck the tents, and the greater part of those that remained, not engaged in the fight, continued their march to encounter the Castillo column in the direction in which we heard it was coming to protect the chief whom we had just conquered.
By document number 1 you will be informed of the number of prisoners we took from the enemy; by number 2, of the artillery, armament, munitions, and supplies which were captured; by number 3, of the killed and wounded, by number 4, of the transports and pack-mules that the enemy left in our power. We also secured $21,936, which I have sent to the care of the commissary of this army corps.
[Page 540]On our side we have to lament the loss of two officers killed, sixteen men killed and seventeen wounded, all of the line, taking from the field the bodies of ninety-six French and forty six traitors.
All the citizen soldiers, who took part in this combat with an ardor worthy of the holy cause which they are sustaining with a great contempt of life, struggled with diligent rivalry to distinguish themselves as the first. All did their duty, and to their patriotism and valor the country owes another day of glory and a signal victory, the consequence of which can be nothing less than the early and felicitous termination of the war in favor of the cause of the republic.
Constantly occupied in business very important to the service ever since the day of the battle up to this time, and marching every day, it has not been possible for me to make a report till now.
I pray you to be so good as to give an account of it to the citizen President for his information and consequent ends.
Independence and liberty ! San Felipe, February 7,1867.
Citizen Minister of War, Zacatecas.