The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982 Page: 31
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Jane McManus Storms
an American fleet was blockading the city and the press of both coun-
tries was filled with predictions of an American invasion."9
During the delay, Storms inspected Veracruz and mailed her ob-
servations to the Sun. Writing from the Mexican seaport on January
13, 1847, she predicted the city would resist the impending American
invasion, "or resistance will never be made by the Mexicans." She
continued, "The citizens will prove themselves better soldiers than the
regular army . .. for they are animated by a proud, inflexible Spanish
resentment against their invaders." She also returned to one of her
favorite topics-criticism of the U.S. navy. "The deplorable inefficien-
cy of the navy has added at least a year to the . . . war," she wrote.
United States commodore David E. Conner could easily have taken
the city seven months earlier, she claimed, "before the scurvey [sic]
decimated his men." 20
In earlier letters, regarding treatment of U.S. seamen, she had
charged, "The last refuge of despotic cruelty in our nation is in the
sea service; and there the most horrid, disgusting brutality reigns. If
our seamen were just black we would have anti-slavery societies and
crusading lecturers active in arousing the nation to extinguish the
wrong...." As for the U.S. Congress, its various factions and its failure
to build war steamers were causing the war to "continue the same use-
less and costly burden to the nation." 21
The party finally was allowed to proceed, and on January 24, 1847,
reached Mexico City. Beach immediately began a series of meetings
with government, banking, and church officials, while Storms con-
tinued her correspondence for the Sun.22
They had arrived at the Mexican capital at an unusual moment.
Antonio L6pez de Santa Anna, the main political figure in the country
because he had the support of the army, was in the north preparing
to fight American General Zachary Taylor's forces at Buena Vista. The
political blocs in the capital were in a state of flux. As part of the in-
19Picayune (New Orleans), Jan. 14, so, 1847; Beach, "Secret Mission," 138-139; Nelson,
"Mission to Mexico," 237. For an example of the invasion predictions, see New York
Herald, Nov. 1, 1846.
2oSun (New York), Feb. 12, 1847. Disease took a heavy toll on the U.S. Gulf fleet. See
Karl Jack Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines: U.S. Naval Operations in the Mexican
War (Annapolis, 1969), 125.
2lSun (New York), Jan. 16 (first quotation), Feb. 12 (second quotation), 1847. Other
Storms letters criticizing the navy were published in the Sun, Apr. 4, June 13, 1846.
22Nelson, "Mission to Mexico," 238; Justin H. Smith, The War with Mexico (2 vols.;
New York, 1919), II, 12.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 85, July 1981 - April, 1982, periodical, 1981/1982; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101208/m1/51/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.