Clouds of Glory

107 “I reached here last night”: Robert E. Lee to Mary Lee, September 21, 1846, Debutts-Ely Letters, Library of Congress.

108 He was accompanied by his “faithful”: Robert E. Lee Jr., Recollections and Letters of Robert E. Lee (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1924), 5.

108 Connally took care: Ibid.; Reverend J. William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert E. Lee: Soldier and Man (New York: Neale, 1906), 50.

110 This was cautious, but unnecessary: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 208; Wikipedia, “Mexican-American War,” 8.

110 To Wool’s dismay: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 211.

113 Worth was a fiery hero: Ibid., 53.

117 “the largest amphibious invasion yet attempted”: John Eisenhower, So Far from God: The U.S. War in Mexico, 1846–1848 (New York: Anchor, 1990), 255.

117 His incredibly detailed plans: Ibid., 253–54.

117 They were “the first specially built”: K. Jack Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines: U.S. Naval Operations in the Mexican War 1846–1848 (Annapolis, Md.: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1969), 66.

120 Dust clouds in the distance: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 214.

120 Lee picked “the son”: Ibid., 215.

120 Lee’s cavalry escort: Ibid.

120 “on a hill not far away”: Ibid.

121 “This Mexican was the most delighted”: Ibid., 216.

121 Lee had ridden: Ibid.

121 The incident apparently: Ibid.

122 Although Scott couched his demand: Winfield Scott, Memoirs of Lieut.-General Scott, LL.D. Written by Himself (New York: Sheldon, 1864), Vol. 2, 403.

122 A second problem was that Scott: Ibid., 402.

122 “a great disappointment”: Ibid.

122 “I had now”: Ibid., 403.

123 For the moment: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 219.

124 From the sea Tampico: Ibid., 220.

124 Scott had been informed: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 413.

125 Lee was one of the few: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 221.

125 “a gently curving strip”: Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 77.

125 The landing was scheduled: Ibid., 78.

126 Lee witnessed the landing: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 419.

126 “were considered . . . to be among the strongest”: Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 83.

126 The wall around: Ibid.

127 As “Scott’s protégé”: Allan Peskin, Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2003), 155, 156.

127 “a lurid glare”: Ibid., 157.

128 “but hidden from its view”: Ibid.

128 Lee built the battery: Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 92.

128 Lee found the sailors: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 230.

129 “unconscious of personal danger”: Ibid., 231.

129 “No matter where I turned”: Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee (New York: Appleton, 1913), 36–37; Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 231.

129 The hellish exchange: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 158.

129 On March 25 the city’s: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 427; Eisenhower, So Far from God, 264.

129 Mexico’s “principal port”: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 428.

130 “It was awful”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 231.

130 As Lee looked: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 159.

130 Of these, the better road: Ibid., 162.

130 This road crossed: Ibid.

131 In Washington, President Polk: Ibid., 174.

131 Worth’s behavior: Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Fifty Years in Camp and Field (New York: Putnam, 1909), 130.

132 Two days out of Vera Cruz: Justin H. Smith, The War with Mexico (St. Petersburg, Fla.: Red and Black, 2011), 47; Peskin, Winfield Scott, 162.

132 The troops applauded: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 432.

133 “that indefatigable engineer”: Smith, The War with Mexico, 50.

134 “The right of the Mexican line”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 239.

134 One of Twiggs’s engineers: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 163.

134 there were Mexican troops: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 239.

135 More soldiers came and went: Ibid., 240.

135 “He did not reach”: Ibid., 241.

136 Worth was still sulking: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 149.

136 The spirit of the senior officers: Ibid.

136 It was a grueling: Smith, The War with Mexico, 51.

136 The intention had been: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 242–43.

136 “You infernal scoundrel”: Ibid., 243.

137 “Charge them to hell”: Ibid.

137 Twiggs had sacrificed: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 148.

138 “Her plaintive tone”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, 291.

138 The only part of Scott’s plan: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 167.

138 Over 1,000 Mexican soldiers: Ibid.; Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 246.

139 “Nor was he less conspicuous”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 248.

139 The landscape delighted: The Robert E. Lee Reader, Stanley F. Horn, ed. (Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1949), 58.

140 Lee busied himself: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 250.

140 “strongly occupied”: Ibid.

141 In desperation, Scott determined: Scott, Memoirs, Vol. 2, 460.

141 “the gorgeous seat”: Ibid., 466–67.

141 More important: Ibid., 469.

143 “passable for infantry”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 256.

143 Lee concluded that if the Mexicans: Peskin, Winfield Scott, 178.

144 Again serving as a kind of trailblazer: Ibid., 179.

144 Lee stayed with the artillery: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 260.

144 “screw [their] courage”: Shakespeare, Macbeth, I, vii, 59.

144 He was among the first to recognize: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 260.