In a letter to his son from this place, he says: “I thought of you, my dear Custis, on the 18th in the battle, and wondered, when the musket balls and grape were whistling over my head, where I could put you, if with me, to be safe. I was truly thankful you were at school, I hope, learning to be good and wise. You have no idea what a horrible sight a battle-field is.”
From Cerro Gordo, they went on fighting battles until they came to the large and rich city of Mexico.
On this march, Captain Lee was always at the front to guide the men. Once, when one part of General Scott’s army had lost its way, General Scott sent _seven_ engineers to guide it into the right road. They had to cross a huge, rough bed of lava and rock. _Six_ of them went back to camp, saying that they could not get across; but, Captain Lee pressed on in the dark, alone and on foot, and brought the men out in safety. General Scott once said that it was the greatest feat done by any _one man_ during the war.
There were many battles fought, but at last the city of Mexico was taken by General Scott. In after years, this great man was heard to say that his great success in Mexico was largely due to the skill and valor of Robert E. Lee, and that he was the _best soldier_ that he ever saw in the field.
In the midst of all this fighting, his boys were ever in his thoughts. This is a part of what he wrote to his son Custis on Christmas-Eve, 1846:
“I hope good Santa Claus will fill my Rob’s stocking to-night; that Mildred’s, Agnes’s, and Anna’s may break down with good things. I do not know what he may have for you and Mary, but if he leaves you one-half of what I wish, you will want for nothing. I think if I had one of you on each side of me, riding on ponies, I would be quite happy.”
Not long after, he wrote to his boys thus:
“The ponies here cost from ten to fifty dollars. I have three horses, but _Creole_ is my pet. She is a golden dun color, and takes me over all the ditches I have yet met with.”
When the war was at last ended, in 1848, Captain Lee went home for a short rest, after which he was sent to West Point, as the Superintendent of the Academy from whose walls he had gone forth twenty-three years before. His duty was to watch over the studies and training of the boys who would one day be officers in the army.