The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1846-12-26
san Juan de Ulloa.

We have had SO many and such formidable
accounts of the impregnable strength of the
above fertilization, that most people are inclin-
ed 20 believe il cannot be taken at all; but we
believe it is at present an admitted axiom in,
warfare that any place can be taken, no matter
how strongly fortified When the French be-
sieged Cadfz they could os'obtain nearer ae-
cess to it than from the opposite side of the
bay, which was beyond the range of ordinary
shells; but this was no obstacle to the genius
Of Soult, who Immediately ordered to be cast
at the royal foundry at Seville, battery of
enormous brass mortars, nine feet long, and
throwing fourteen inch shell. These shells
were made Of great weight by being charged
with lead, and with much less than the usual
quantity of powder, but still with sufficient to
explode them with dreadful effect. The Bate
ry with these enormous implements Of war was
erected at the Trocadero, and from thence al
most every shell that was fired fell into the
city, though the distance on straight line was
upwards of three miles If the city of Vera
Cruz was first captured by our troops-and we
presume there is no doubt that could be effected
without requiring any very extra energy or
force-there would be no difficulty as to dis
lance, nor would any other than the ordinary
large sized mortars be required, and which
might be planted in the rear of the town and
protected from all annoyance from the guns of
the castle by having the town between them;
or, if the enemy thought proper to batter down
their own city, why let them do 81; but if
from any military or other cause it should be
considered unadvsable to attempt taking the
city until the castle was first in our possession,
| (when the town would fall to US as matter of
course) similar mortars, either of brass or iron,
to those we have. alluded to at Cadiz, could be
promptly cast, and six or eight small, but very
strong and substantial vessels prepared, each
capable of sustaining one of these mortars;
and they could be anchored at a distance, far
out of the range of any cannon shot from the
castle, and from whence they could lombard
it with impunity; and if, (Which is not at all
improbable,) the castle should be provided with
mortars capable of throwing shells on as great
a range, the chance of any of them dropping
on so small an object as one Of these little yes
sells, would be very remote, par,ic ularly as they
could be anchored separated, in different di-
rections from the castle, with a considerable
distance between each. The advantage of this
sized she'll loaded with lead would be, that
none of the ordinary bomb-proof powder ma
gazines could resist the descending momentum
of such body, weighing as they would five
to six hundred pounds each; and of course it
would only be necessary for one of them to
take effect in that mode to insure our success
But, independent of that chance, the garrison
| itself could not long hold out under constant
bombardment from such force, which would
soon produce a mass Of ruins-for each she'll
that fell into the fortifcaton would either make
Its way down to the solid rock on which the
castle is founded, or by previous explosion
scatter death and destruction above.
We have visited Cadz since the period of
the seige, and among the curiosites Of the
place that are pointed out, are the effects Of
some Of Soults iron messengers, and which
are almost incredible, except to eye witnesses
in one massive tower, six stories high, and
each floor of arched masonry. shell passed
downwards through the whole Of them with
as apparent ease as If they had been Of inch