ing the enemy; and the battery would
necessarily be silent the next day, when the army battery would open its
fire.

The naval captain insisted that the embrasures should be cleared at
once, and the firing resumed.

I protested against his clearing the embrasures and told him that, but
for the appearance of the thing, I would leave the battery and take my
men with me if he persisted in carrying out his intentions. I added: "I
will remain here until regularly relieved, but will continue to
_protest_ against the course you propose to pursue".

He then told me that it was "the General's" order that he should open
fire that afternoon as promptly as possible.

I asked him why he had not told me of that order in the first place; and
added: "It is not customary for General Scott to give orders to engineer
officers through officers of the navy. But, if you had told me in the
beginning that he had ordered the battery to commence firing as soon as
possible after you reached it, I would have accepted his order--coming
to me through you."

To this he replied; "I did not say the order came from General Scott." I
asked: "Whom did you mean when you said 'the General.'" He told me that
he meant "General Patterson." To which I replied: "I receive no orders
in reference to this battery except from General Scott or the Chief
Engineer of the Army."

The naval captain finally said he would not open fire until next
morning; provided I would report the circumstances to General Scott. I
told him it was not usual for me to report my action direct to the
General-in-Chief: but, I would report all the facts to the Chief
Engineer as soon as I was relieved and had returned to camp, and he
would report them to General Scott.

When I commenced to make my report to the Chief Engineer he stopped me;
and said he was instructed to order me to report in person, to General
Scott as soon as I reached camp.

I obeyed the order; and was very coldly and formally told by "The
General": He had been informed it was my fault that the naval battery
had not opened fire against Vera Cruz that afternoon. I answered: "I did
prevent the fire being opened; but, that act was not a fault on my part;
and I can convince you of the latter fact if you will give me a
hearing".

He replied--still very coldly--"I hope you can do so". I then related to
him, in full, all that had occurred--as briefly stated above--between
the commander of the naval detachment and myself.