High Is the Eagle by Al Lacy

Author:Al Lacy [Lacy, Al]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-56140-4
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2013-04-25T00:00:00+00:00

On Tuesday, July 24, a naval officer came to the president’s office in the early afternoon and told him that the boat sent back to the naval base by Captain Alexander Mackenzie carried a message for the president. Captain Mackenzie wanted the president to know that all went well with Santa Anna and that Mackenzie’s ship and the naval escort ships would be leaving Havana for Mexico with Santa Anna on board the first week of August.

The next morning, at a brief special session in the congressional auditorium, Vice President George Dallas and Congress were pleased to hear this report from President Polk.

Upon leaving the capitol building, the president returned to the White House and entered his office. When he sat down at his desk, he opened a drawer, looking for some papers that needed his attention. His White House staff had been facing some problems with visitors who would appear at the vestibule, wanting to meet the president, vice president, or some other government official.

Noting that the papers weren’t in the drawer he thought he’d left them in, President Polk closed the drawer and opened the one just below it. When he saw the folder that contained the desired papers, he picked it up. At that moment, his eyes fell on another folder that was quite familiar. He remembered putting it there several months previously.

Laying aside the first folder and picking up the second one, he laid it before him on the desk and opened it. A bitter taste came to his mouth as he looked at a number of newspaper clippings he had put in the folder regarding Generalissimo Antonio López de Santa Anna’s open hatred for the defenders of the Alamo and how he gleefully led in the slaughter of every man in the Alamo on March 6, 1836. With those clippings were others disclosing the vile hatred Santa Anna had shown to American forces when he led the Mexican troops in the battle at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

A sick feeling came over Polk. Suddenly, everything was fresh again. Santa Anna was a hate-filled, bloodthirsty killer of Americans.

Polk’s brow furrowed, and an arrow of fear pierced deep into his heart. “Ohhh,” he said in a half-whisper, “I hope I’ve made the right decision about transporting Santa Anna back to Mexico.”

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