1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 462 Shame

In the wilderness of Tamaulispa, Mexico.

The Arkansas regiment, which was singing songs and driving their fellow Mexicans all the way south, was unaware of the mobilization of the Mexican army.

After sacking a small village called Hidalgo, more than a thousand soldiers of the Arkansas Regiment continued their march south singing with their regiment leader, Colonel Christopher.

Their target is Victoria City in the southeast!

Many Arkansans have begun to fantasize about taking over Victoria and becoming rich overnight.

This is their motivation to join the war.

Soon, the increasingly loud sound of horse hooves interrupted the fantasy of these old Arkansas buddies.

The Mexican cavalry slowly appeared on the distant skyline.

Dozens of cavalry, hundreds of cavalry, two to three hundred cavalry, five to six hundred cavalry, up to thousands of cavalry.

More and more Mexican cavalry appeared in the sight of the Arkansans.

"We are surrounded by Mexican cavalry!"

Upon seeing this, Colonel Christopher immediately drew the Colt revolver from his waist and directed the Arkansans to line up and fight back.

The cavalry is an elite symbol in any country, including countries like Mexico.

The veterans of the Arkansas regiment scolded the helpless recruits under their command.

"Damn! You new recruit, do you want to die?!"

"Why are you so dazed?! Quickly stand in line for me!"

"Where's the gun?! Where's your gun?!"

"Reload, reload now! Damn it, are you going to use the fire stick in your hand to deal with the Mexican cavalry?!"

For infantrymen, especially new infantrymen, the shock and fear brought to them by encountering thousands of cavalry in the wilderness is obvious.

The veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time can still maintain their sanity, facing the collapse of the cavalry, there is only one way to die.

Their only way to survive was to line up against the Mexican cavalry and wait for the arrival of friendly forces.

It's a pity that there are too few veterans in the Arkansas Regiment.

On average, one veteran needed to lead at least five new recruits, which was the lowest ratio of veterans among almost all the southern armies participating in the war.

This kind of troop configuration is acceptable for low-intensity downwind battles, but it will be difficult to make a difference once a strong enemy is encountered.

The new recruits of the Arkansas regiment quickly lost control. Their desire to survive outweighed their fear of the veterans.

Many new soldiers fled northward before engaging the enemy.

After the veterans forcibly killed more than a dozen deserters, the Arkansas regiment managed to stand up in formation with the efforts of the veterans, formed a loose and curved line like a squirming earthworm, and reluctantly attacked the Mexican cavalry.

Sporadic shooting responded.

The soldiers of the Arkansas regiment were mainly equipped with old muskets, and their counterattack did not cause much loss to the Mexican cavalry.

When they were only forty or fifty yards away, the Mexicans took out their rifles and shot at the hurried Arkansas soldiers.

Immediately, the Mexicans took out their sabers, mounted their horses and brandished their sabers, and charged straight at the Americans.

Mexican youngster Gonzalez took the lead and set his sights on Christopher, who was wearing a double-breasted gray fur coat.

Christopher's clean double-breasted coat and colonel's medals on his shoulders stood out among a group of grey-faced Arkansas soldiers wearing shabby short jackets.

Christopher quickly noticed the young Mexican officer rushing towards him. He pointed the muzzle of his gun at Gonzalez, continuously pulled the trigger and pressed the hammer.

Facing Christopher's gun, Gonzales nimbly buried his head on the horse's neck, deftly dodged Christopher's shot, and then continued to rush towards Christopher.

After three consecutive shots missed, Christopher pulled the trigger again.

Only this time, what reached Christopher's ears was not the deafening sound of gunshots, but the crisp sound of metal collision.

Unknowingly, he had emptied the bullet in the cylinder.

Upon seeing this, Christopher threw away his pistol and was about to draw his sword to fight when a white light flashed in front of his eyes and then he lost consciousness.

After completing the first round of attacks, the Mexican cavalry did not hesitate to fight, but quickly retreated to make room for the following infantry.

After the Mexican cavalry withdrew, the Mexican soldiers who had been lying in wait for a long time appeared in front of the two wings of the Arkansas regiment, as if growing out of the ground.

As for the road heading north, it was blocked by the Mexican cavalry.

The Mexican army is determined to eat them.

At this time, even many veterans of the Arkansas Regiment fell into despair. Their commander died in battle. Facing a Mexican army with three or four times their own number and cavalry, unless a miracle happened, they would definitely die.

Miracle

If they did not go deep alone and kept a certain marching distance from the Virginia regiment behind them, there might be a miracle, and maybe the Virginia regiment would have enough time to rescue them.

It's a pity that they are far away from the main force now, so there won't be any miracles.

Now that I think about it, their idea of ​​rushing ahead and taking the first prize over Victoria City was very ridiculous.

This is not about grabbing the first prize. This is clearly about rushing to death.

After a brief resistance, facing the heavy encirclement of the Mexican army, the remaining soldiers of the Arkansas regiment chose to surrender to the Mexicans with a white flag and surrendered their military flag.

The news first reached Victoria City.

In the Governor's Palace in City Victoria, Mexican President Santa Ana was dressed in military uniform and pacing back and forth restlessly.

Santa Ana sometimes talked to himself, sometimes prayed to God, asking God to bless Mexico, hoping that Gonzalez could return victorious.

"We won!"

When the report of the battle ahead reached the Governor's Palace in Victoria City, Santa Ana danced happily regardless of the image of the president of a country.

Mexican teenager Gonzalez became famous with this battle.

The whole country of Mexico was excited.

Since the first Mexican-American War, Mexico has been losing more than winning.

Even if there are a few victories, they are just small victories that cannot be mentioned on the stage.

In this ambush, the Mexican army actually annihilated an entire US military regiment and captured the other party's military flag.

This is a great victory that has never been seen in the history of Mexico. It is an unprecedented victory!

The Mexican army, which was originally in low morale, could not help but feel boosted in morale.

Americans are just like this, and they are not invincible.

But to the south of the US military, it's a different story.

After learning that the Arkansas regiment had been wiped out, General Jackson, the commander of the Confederate army, once doubted whether there was a problem with his hearing. After confirming that there was no problem with his hearing, he repeatedly asked the reliability of the news.

After confirming the authenticity of the news, Jackson was stunned on the spot and could not react for a long time.

Soon, the news of the annihilation of the Arkansas regiment spread from Mexico to Texas, and from Texas to the southern states, to Washington, and to the northern free states.

This news quickly caused an uproar in the United States.

The Northern Free States were not very enthusiastic about this war. The Confederate army suffered a setback in Mexico. One regiment was completely wiped out, and the Mexicans even captured the military flag.

Those anti-war factions will naturally not let go of such a big deal.

The "Theory of Ten Victories and Ten Defeats", which was originally widely circulated among the people and had many fans, was also whipped and slapped in the face by the anti-war faction.

The argument in the article that the United States has ten victories and Mexico has ten defeats was changed by the anti-war faction to "The United States has ten defeats and Mexico has ten victories" to ridicule those southern war-fighters.

There were even voices in Congress calling for a timely stop of losses and an early apology to Mexico for a truce.

Faced with this discordant bluntness, Fillmore could only forcefully suppress these opposing voices in Congress.

He was one of the instigators of the declaration of war on Mexico. An armistice at this time would be a major failure in his political career, and his resignation is inevitable.

Furthermore, there is no reason why a war machine that has finally started to move can be stopped if it encounters a slight mechanical failure.

An unseemly ceasefire will only intensify domestic conflicts. This is contrary to Fillmore's original intention of starting the war.

For this reason alone, Fillmore would never allow a hasty armistice.

A ceasefire now? Are you going to make people laugh?

Fillmore can temporarily suppress the anti-war voice in Congress, but there is one voice that Fillmore cannot avoid no matter what.

That was to dismantle the Arkansas regiment and change its commanders.

Secretary of War Scott asked to personally take command of the next battle.

Fillmore accepted the offer to cancel the Arkansas Regiment.

After all, the Arkansas regiment lost so disgracefully that even the flag was surrendered by the Mexicans, and the enemy could take the flag away from the troops. Naturally, there was no need for the troops to exist.

However, in order to appease the mood of the South, Fillmore still had a hand in allowing the Arkansas Regiment to rebuild as long as the flag could be regained.

As for the request to change coaches, Fillmore did not agree. Although he did not have any military background, he also knew that changing generals on the spot was taboo.

What's more, Scott is a northern general. Letting a northern general command an army composed entirely of southerners will only make the military morale more and more chaotic.

Furthermore, Jackson just suffered a defeat, a defeat that was observed by the whole country with a magnifying glass, and the consequences were infinitely magnified.

If public opinion had not deliberately amplified this defeat, it would have been a failure at the tactical level at best. It could not even be considered a defeat at the operational level.

Fillmore's head was still clear, and the initiative in the Mexican battlefield still rested with the United States.

Considering Jackson's previous brilliant results in the Mexican battlefield, Fillmore had no reason to change coaches.

Even though Fillmore sternly rejected Scott's request for a coaching change, the War Department, which was composed of northerners, remained unyielding.

The War Department's attitude was very tough, demanding that Jackson must be held responsible for the defeat. Jackson could continue to serve as commander, but the overall commander of the Mexican war must be replaced.

This time, the candidates for the commander-in-chief given by the War Department were Robert E. Lee, a southern general who was very popular among northerners, and Liang Yao, a famous Californian general.

Fillmore could not bear the pressure and sent a report to the front, asking Liang Yao if he was interested in serving as the commander-in-chief and coordinating the operations on the east and west fronts.

Washington's reaction to this defeat was beyond Liang Yao's expectation.

Liang Yao realized that due to the irreconcilable contradictions in the United States, the domestic tolerance for failure will only become lower and lower.

After receiving the telegram, pressure came to Liang Yao's side.

(End of chapter)