American Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott captured the port city of Vera Cruz on March 27, 1847, and immediately prepared to leave it behind. Scott had seized the port as a base of operations for his daring campaign against Mexico City during the ongoing war with Mexico. Springtime along the Gulf Coast of Mexico, however, brought with it the seasonal scourge of yellow fever. The disease, referred to colorfully if accurately as “King Death in his yellow robe,” was considered “frightfully destructive” at that time of year. Scott needed to move inland 75 miles to escape the pestilent region. General Antonio López de Santa Anna had a genuine opportunity to hem the American army into the danger zone, using the mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental to block the route inland to Mexico City. Bermúdez de Castro, the Spanish minister to Mexico, wrote, “Without great labor and preparation an invading force can be destroyed.” If the Mexicans could stall Scott’s drive, the American army would be trapped in the tierra caliente with no ready means of escape.
Scott suffered an embarrassing shortage of transportation and draft animals. He struggled to find adequate resources near the coast but thought the chances would be “much better” inland at the city of Jalapa. The city reportedly had everything Scott needed, and the people allegedly harbored some sympathy for the Americans. “Jalapa,” Scott wrote, “is the first point, from the coast, which combines healthiness, with the reasonable prospect of obtaining some of the heavier articles of consumption for the army.” He reasoned that the Mexicans could not mobilize or interfere with his advance before he reached Perote. The American vanguard started inland on April 2. Brig. Gen. David E. Twiggs’s 2nd Division started for Jalapa on April 8. Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s division, minus Brig. Gen. John A. Quitman’s brigade, followed the next day. Brevet Maj. Gen. William J. Worth’s division remained behind to garrison Vera Cruz and await additional transportation.
