Note 12 — XXII VERA CRUZ February–March, 1847

Conner had reckoned upon the starvation method; but (1) the amount of supplies in the town and castle was not certainly known and, as we shall find, was too large for this method; (2) fishing was a resource of unmeasured value (even from the mole great quantities of fish were caught: Delta, Oct. 16, 1847); (3) it was possible that on some night the American line might be temporarily broken, and thousands of cattle be run into the city; (4) as British observers agreed, the Mexicans were capable of bearing privations for a long while; (5) Scott rested under an imperative obligation to remove his army from the coast in time to save it from the vómito; and (6) he had to count on reducing Ulúa after capturing the city.