With the energy that characterized Santa Anna throughout the Mexican
War, he had prepared for a desperate defence. Civil strife had been
silenced, funds raised, an army of twenty-five thousand men mustered,
and every precaution taken which genius could suggest or science
indicate. Nature had done much for him. Directly in front of the
invading army lay the large lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco. These
turned, vast marshes, intersected by ditches and for the most part
impassable, surrounded the city on the east and the south--on which side
Scott was advancing--for several miles. The only approaches were by
causeways; and these Santa Anna had taken prodigious pains to guard. The
national road to Vera Cruz--which Scott must have taken had he marched
on the north side of the lakes--was commanded by a fort mounting
fifty-one guns on an impregnable hill called El Penon. Should he turn
the southern side of the lakes, a field of lava, deemed almost
impassable for troops, interposed a primary obstacle; and fortified
positions at San Antonio, San Angel, and Churubusco, with an intrenched
camp at Contreras, were likewise to be surmounted before the southern
causeways could be reached.
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