On the morning of April 17th, Lee began guiding Twiggs' Division along his rough trail to get into position for the next day's attack. It was difficult to bring up the artillery, because there were ravines with such steep sides that the cannon had to be let down on ropes and pulled up the opposite sides. Another problem was General Twiggs. According to historian Fairfax Downey, "He was called 'the Bengal Tiger', but though he could roar loudly, there the resemblance ended. Unlike the great beast that creeps up on its prey and pounces at the right moment, Twiggs pushed his column ahead without caution." (Downey, p. 113). He refused Lee's request to halt while pioneers made a brush screen at a gap in the trees that was open to enemy observation. Mexican pickets on top of Atalaya spotted the American troops and opened fire. Twiggs ordered Colonel Harney (acting commander of Smith's Bde.) to "Charge'em to hell!" And that is essentially what happened, as 1st Foot Arty. and the Rifles captured the summit of Atalaya and then impetuously pursued the Mexicans into the reinforced defenses of El Telegrafo. They were pinned down until finally Lt. Jesse Reno brought a mountain howitzer to the top of Atalaya, and provided some covering fire for a withdrawal. This blunder had cost 100+ casualties, besides losing the element of surprise.
Santa Anna still did not realize the threat to his rear, and thought that El Telegrafo was the objective of the 0utflanking movement. Therefore, he concentrated on its defense, leaving the 1st and 2nd Lt. Infy. and the 4th Line as reinforcement for the summit, and had a pair of 12# guns emplaced at the foot of the hill. The only thought given to flank protection was to assign the 11th Line to support the five gun battery near Cerro Gordo.
During the night, General Shield's men dragged two 24# howitzers and a 24# cannon (500 men per gun) to the top of Atalaya. Also, some New Yorkers hauled an 8-inch howitzer into a position across the river, where it could enfilade Jarero's defenses. Scott modified his attack plans, by assigning Harney's Bde. on Atalaya to attack El Telegrafo, while Riley's Bde. and Shields' Bde. were to turn the Mexican flank.
The battle began at 7:00 a.m. with a barrage from the 24#, mountain howitzers and rockets firing from the top of Atalaya. The bombardment inflicted many casualties on the Mexican troops massed atop El Telegrafo. The Mexican counter-fire did little damage as there was a depression at the top of Atalaya which gave protection to the American guns and infantry.
This barrage was a signal for Pillow's diversionary attack to begin. Pillow mishandled it from the start. He had not reconnoitered the route of his three mile approach march, which was via a narrow trail across the front of the Mexican position. The trail delayed the march, so that when the battle started, his troops had not reached their jump off positions. Pillow had no more stealth than Twiggs.
As they advanced through the tall brush, Pillow began bellowing orders and the alerted Mexicans opened fire. The plan had been to assault the fort nearest the river, but Pillow attacked the center fort, exposing his troops the fire of all three batteries! The thickets were almost as bad as the heavy Mexican fire, and the leading regiment, Col. Haskall's 2nd Tenn. was given back with nearly 80 casualties. Their support, Col. Wynkoop's 1st Penn., never got into position, and the other assault unit, Col. Roberts' 2nd Penn., never received its attack order, because Pillow was lightly wounded in the arm (he said he was "all shot to pieces" - Nevin, p. 149).
Meanwhile, Harney had spotted reinforcements climbing El Telegrafo (3rd & 4th Lt. Infy.) so he launched his attack. The slopes of El Telegrafo were so steep that many men had to use their muskets for support, but most of the defenders' fire passed overhead, while the American artillery had thinned the ranks of the defenders and demoralized them. The attackers managed to capture a light wood breastwork nearthe top. After pausing to catch their breath and fire a few volleys, Harney led his men against the 4 pounders and couple hundred defenders behind the rock breastworks at the top. Some of the Mexicans fled, but others stayed to cross bayonets with their assailants. General Vasquez was killed as he bravely led a counterattack. Captjohn Magruder's artillerymen manned the captured cannon, while a portion of Riley's Bde., attacking along the reverse slope, flanked the Mexicans, and forced them down the hill.
Santa Anna had exhausted his reserve, even the cuirassiers had been dismounted and sent into combat. General La Vega was also ordered to counter-attack, but he was half-hearted about it and Rangel's Bde. became disordered by the terrain and the fire from Atalaya. They retreated when they realized that Shields' troops were threatening to cut them off.
The Volunteers had appeared out of the brush and attacked the Cerro Gordo battery, but its fire and that of the crack 11 th line repulsed them and wounded Shields. Finally, Riley's Bde. took the battery in the flank, while Col. E.D. Baker (4th 111.) took command of the Volunteers and led another attack. Satna Anna ordered his cavalry to counter-attack, but they broke and fled. Santa Anna did likewise at about 10:00 a.m. Arteaga's Bde. had just arrived in time to be carried away by the rout.
When General Jarero realized he was surrounded, he ordered his men to surrender. General Worth's Division, the mounted troops and a few pieces of artillery pursued for 10 miles, to prevent the Mexicans from regrouping. There were 199 officers and 2,837 men taken prisoner, and an estimated 1,200 Mexicans killed or wounded. The Americans lost 63 killed and 368 wounded. This was a truly decisive victory. The Mexican army was so shattered that Scott was able to occupy Jalapa, the fortress of Perote, and Puebla without resistance.
UNIFORM NOTES
The Mexican National Guard units could be painted in different uniforms: the regulation bluewith red facings, grey frock coats, or white canvas uniforms. Their head gear could be shakos, barracks caps or even sombreros.
Not much is known about the uniforms of Scott's Volunteers. The 1st Pennsylvania dressed like the Regulars. The 1 st South Carolina was described as each company wearing a different shirt; red, blue, green, check and white. Two companies had uniforms which are not described. They wore the normal blue forage cap, except one company wore a leather cap with a brass comb and a horse-hair crest, like a French dragoon helmet. On the front was a brass palmetto tree and on the comb, a grenade. Perhaps this was a grenadier Co! (Katcher, p. 14; Bigham, pp. 10-11). Gregory Irwin shows a South Carolina soldier in the Regular uniform, except with wing style shoulder straps and pointed cuffs with white piping. The red sleeves of the undershirt are turned back over the cuffs. The palmetto symbol is on the forage cap and belt plates (Irwin, p. 71).
Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo Campaign 1847
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