Mexican and American War

 

The Mexican and American War started with a disagreement between the United States and Mexico concerning the boundary between Mexico and Texas. Another source of contention was the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845. The Mexicans believed the boundary started at the Nueces River while the U.S. decided the Rio Grande served as the border. President Polk, a strong believer in “Manifest Destiny,” pushed for the union to go to war with Mexico. On many occasions, the U.S. was more prepared and had better artillery. Disease took more lives than the actual battles, even though some of the battles were exceptionally brutal with lots of bloodshed. When the war was over, Mexico lost approximately a third of its territory. The U.S. was victorious  in the acquisition of approximately 500,000 square miles of Mexican territory which included New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, and western Colorado.

            A multitude of circumstances occurred throughout the history of this country in which Native Americans lost their lives as a result of land acquisition. The Mexican/American War tells a different story. The Comanche, Kiowas, Navajo and other tribes were in control of the land in Northern Mexico (present day Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico) during the 1830s and 1840s. Northern Mexico was lightly populated by Mexicans. The Native Americans conducted a lot of raids and killed many Mexicans, took over their property and abducted their women and children. The purpose of the raids according to historians was revenge and to gain resources for their tribal communities. The land in Northern Mexico was originally inhabited by the Comanche, Kiowa, Navaho and other tribes, not Mexican people. To the white settlers the raids appeared to be random. Consideration was not given to the ability of the Comanche to organize multiple tribes to join forces with them  in their effort to hold onto their homelands.

The Indian warriors attacked the Mexicans, not because they were mighty, because the Mexican people were weak according to one source. Other sources depict the tribal people as fierce, especially the Comanches while they fought to maintain control or gain control of their land holdings. Many areas in Northern Mexico resembled ghostly deserted wastelands after a few years of raids. After the Americans settled into the Texas area, there were constant battles over boundaries. The Comanche had set boundaries clearly delineating their settlement and hunting grounds. However, the Texans violated their boundaries and continued to trespass onto their land. A common violation committed by white settlers on an on-going basis was their efforts to take over their land holdings (DeLay, 2010).

            Many questions were asked during the time of the Mexican/American War while the Mexicans in northern Mexico struggled against Indian enemies. “Who was a Mexican? What did Mexicans owe local, state, and national governments, and what did these governments owe them? What did Mexicans owe each other? These remained open questions throughout the 1830s and 1840s, and fierce disagreements, even armed rebellions, failed to settle them… by 1846, northerners found themselves divided, exhausted, and embittered in the face of another, very different kind of invasion” (DeLay, 2008, pg. xvii).

A different kind of invasion involved the American military and the take over the northern Mexico. At first the northern Mexicans and various tribes such as the Comanches were evenly matched and the attacks occurred simultaneously from the Mexicans attacking the Indians to the Indians returning the attacks. Then the Indian warriors gained the upper hand and raided the Mexican settlements on a regular basis. The raids, violent and destructive, happened when they were least expected.  The Indian warriors killed the men and abducted women and children and they were turned into slaves. The Mexicans, who lived in the north, lived in fear of taking care of their fields of crops and domestic animals (cows and sheep) because they would be out in the open fields. Fear of being attacked left them struggling to put food on their tables. If they left to find a safer location, they had to leave their domestic animals behind so they did not attract attention, realizing that their property and animals may be confiscated or destroyed. Settlements in all eight northern states were raided by the indigenous. The Mexican government did not come to their aid which created resentments.

By the time of the American invasion, northern Mexico’s economy was stagnated and much of the countryside was depopulated. Even though they were taking their lives in their own hands, many of the Mexicans who lived in northern Mexico decided to leave and move to a hopefully a safer area. One report indicated that the Apache by 1848 had caused the abandonment of ninety ranches, thirty haciendas, and twenty-six mines in the state of Sonora (DeLay, 2008).

            The American soldiers sunk to acts of cruelty when they were ambushed by guerilla forces which stemmed from the pockets of northern Mexicans. The soldiers decided to punish Mexican settlements by massacring many civilians.

The white settlers took over parcel by parcel of land in Texas and the surrounding areas. Moses Austin, a banker from Missouri, received the first land grant given by the Mexican government. He died shortly after he moved to Texas. His 29-year-old son, Stephen F. Austin, inherited his father’s land grant.  Driven to take over the Mexican land, he led 300 families into Texas.

The number of new white settlers grew to 38,000 people by 1834 with only 8,000 being Mexican citizens. Mexico believed slavery must be abolished. Part of the Mexican rule mandated that the new settlers were to not own slaves. It didn’t take long before that ruling was thrown out the window by the unruly settlers. One of the goals of Mexico when they permitted white settlers to reside in Texas was for them to gain control of the land from the Comanches, Kiowas and other tribes. Northern Mexico, sparsely populated by Mexicans, lay prey to the Indian tribes.

            White settlers moving to Texas and other parts of northern Mexico fell into Polk’s plan of what he desired for the union which was to take over all the land from the east coast to the Pacific Ocean. In 1833, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, announced that he did not want to tolerate the U.S. settlers and their unruly behavior. Austin did not take the Mexican president’s threats to lightly. He ordered the settlers to arm themselves to prepare for a possible fight. Meanwhile, the settlers armed the Comanches and Kiowas and sent them to raid the Mexicans that resided in Mexico, north of Texas. They were seen wearing peace medals given to them by the U.S. government which meant they agreed to work peacefully with the Americans (DeLay, 2010).

            On February 23, 1836, Santa Anna commanded 1500 soldiers and the regiment headed to the Alamo. Only 200 Texans defended the fort. They held out for 13-day siege, struggling to not surrender. Well-known people held down the fort such as David Crockett and Jim Bowie. All but two were killed when the Mexican soldiers stormed the walls of the fort. The slaughter of American soldiers raised the hackles of the Americans and they vowed to seek revenge.

            The battle of San Jacinto in 1836 ended badly for the Mexican army. Texan General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna’s army in a battle that only lasted 18 minutes. The Texans shouted “Remember the Alamo!” 700 of the Mexican soldiers were killed while only nine Texans died. Santa Anna, captured, decided to draw up a peace treaty, after being in captivity for three days. The treaty outlined the people of Texas’ independence and the Mexican army left Texas. According to the treaty, the Rio Grande served as the boundary between Texas and Mexico instead of the Nueces River. Santa Anna was released and he went back on his word regarding maintaining peace with the U.S. He started plotting his revenge.

Santa Anna warned the United States that if they annexed Texas and made it part of the U.S., that action would lead to war. Mexico, not in a position to make such a threat, stumbled into a quagmire of problems. In the 1840s Mexico was a divided country. Mexico’s leaders were usually military generals and most of the money was in the hands of the wealthy aristocrats. The wealthy managed large plantations. Most of the Mexicans were poor. Many were farmers, merchants and Indian people who lived off the land. The governmental system, unstable at best, changed hands many times. When General Santa Anna became president in 1840, many of the common folk such as the merchants and farmers did not notice. They went about their business of providing for their families by living off the land. The Mexicans did not join together to fight a common cause like the Texans did (Bauer, 1974).

            The U.S., on the other hand, became a bustling country by participating in the Industrial Revolution which resulted in the development of large cities, railroad companies, and factories. Farming was also a way of life for many young Americans. The U.S. was a divided country, also. The two primary political parties of the time were the Whigs and the Democrats. They disagreed as to whether a war with Mexico was appropriate. The Whigs thought the Democrats wanted to acquire more land and add additional states to the union to increase the number of states who held slaves. The Whigs from the north supported industrialization and building up a vast industrial empire while the southern Democrats desired larger land holdings to establish large plantations. The Democrats fought to prove the need for expansion.

The term “Manifest Destiny” coined by John O’Sullivan, a New York publisher in 1845, expressed the need to possess the entire continent. Americans, who bought into the concept of Manifest Destiny, believed their democratic system was the best form of government in the world. They felt it was their God-given right and went as far as to say it was their duty, to expand the borders of the country. Polk rode on the shirt tails of the Manifest Destiny belief system. Other presidential candidates opposed annexing Texas. Abraham Lincoln was one of the decenters against the Mexican/American War. Polk labeled Lincoln as a traitor, which fit with his fight against slavery during the civil war.

            John Slidell, sent by President Polk to Mexico City to offer $30. million for what is today Texas, California and much of New Mexico. Slidell was sent his merry way by General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga after her refused the offer. One of Mexico’s greatest assets was land and they were not willing to sell any of it. Mexico consisted of a vast amount of land, 1.5 million square miles. Mexico defeated the mighty Spanish and reached sovereignty; they were upset that the U.S. wanted a large portion of their land. There was no swaying Mexican rulers, Polk became frustrated (Bauer, 1974).

            On December 29, 1845, Polk went against Mexico’s warning and annexed Texas and made it the 28^th state. He placed the U.S. on the inevitable path to war with Mexico.

            Sixty-two-year old General Zachary Taylor led Texan troops to the Rio Grande and stationed them on the Texas side while some of the Mexican soldiers were stationed on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande. By April of 1846, about 6,000 Mexico soldiers were stationed on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande. A letter was sent to Taylor by General Mariano Arista warning Taylor that his forces would cross the Rio Grande and wipe out Taylor’s Army.  Taylor remained stationed on the Texas side. Arista ordered an army of 2,000 men to take out Taylor’s guards. Only 70 men were stationed on the Texas side.  They were no match for the Mexican forces. Thornton, who was placed in charge of the soldiers at the border, and 16 other soldiers were slaughtered. This incident was referred to as the Thornton Affair and served as the last straw for the U.S. because their soldiers were killed on what they considered U.S. territory. The United States and Mexico were at war (DiConsiglio, 2012).                                                                                                     

            Polk addressed Congress and told them American blood was shed on American soil.

On May 13, 1846, Congress agreed with Polk and declared war on Mexico.

            War fever took hold of many in the U.S. At first the U.S. army only consisted of 9,000 soldiers. Congress authorized the president to seek at least 50,000 volunteers. They were given guns and uniforms and after a few days of training were sent to Mexico.  Hundreds of thousands of young men immediately set out to enlist.  The squadrons consisted of wealthy landowners’ sons, poor farmers, Irish immigrants and a few American Indians. Recruiting offices posted signs “Mexico or Death.” The response was so over the board that some needed to be turned away. Americans cheered on the soldiers as they departed and the Americans expected a quick takeover of Mexico.

            The Whigs still persisted on peace and no war. Abraham Lincoln argued that American blood was not spilled on American soil. He exclaimed “That soil was not ours.” Mexico believed the boundary was set at the Nuece River and not the Rio Grande where the American soldiers, who were killed, were stationed. The U.S. confirmed the Rio Grande as the boundary.

            Before the war was officially declared, the Mexican and U.S. military forces fought in the bushes and trees lining the Rio Grande. Palo Alto was the setting for the first battle on May 8^th,  1848.  Taylor led 2,400 troops to Fort Brown. General Arista’s 3,400 soldiers blocked the road. It was too much for the U.S. soldiers to charge into the Mexican army. Taylor tried a different technique. He ordered his soldiers to perform “flying artillery.” The soldiers rode horses fast through the thick brush in an attack and retreat manner. The soldiers, able to fire every 10 to 15 seconds with their light guns, were five times faster than the Mexican artillery. Artista’s army suffered lots of casualties which forced him to retreat across the river. The Mexicans were defeated at Resaca de la Palma in one of the battles. They thought they were hidden and had the advantage but Taylor’s army was victorious. The Mexicans had to abandon their post. The Mexican cook prepared a victory meal for the Mexican soldiers. The American soldiers enjoyed the meal instead (DiConsiglio, 2012).

           

The U.S. soldiers were at a definite advantage. The majority of the Americans had the privilege of being armed with rifles and muskets. The muskets, easy to load and fire, demonstrated range and accuracy. Many others possessed pistols, bayonets, and swords. Some of the Texas recruits armed themselves with many weapons. It was in the best interests of the American soldiers to travel light, carrying unnecessary gear through the dust and heat of the Mexican territory was not prudent. Extra weight made travel even more difficult to navigate. They also needed to carry water, blankets and a haversack (a soldier strap bag).

            The Mexicans, not as prepared as the Americans, carried weapons that were older, heavier and less accurate. The old flintlock musket called a Brown Bess was the weapon that most of them had in their possession. The British made these weapons a long time ago and they  were considered outdated. Their muskets were so heavy, they could not hold them up to their shoulders to shoot, they needed to shoot from their hips which would defer the weapon’s accuracy. A retreating regiment of Mexican soldiers left behind muskets and bayonets. Some of the American soldiers noticed how warn and old their weapons were and thought the weapons must have been labeled unserviceable by the British so they sold them to the Mexicans at a low price. Their weapons were no match to the American’s more modern and efficient pistols and muskets (DiConsiglio, 2012).

           

            General Taylor’s fighting skills were put to the test when his troops tried to take over the fortified city of Monterrey. Taylor had to wait while more troops and supplies were sent. Taylor’s troops amounted to 6,000 against 9,000 Mexican soldiers. When they entered the city, Mexican soldiers ambushed some of the American troops from behind the adobe homes in the city. He lost 11 West Point graduates, his finest soldiers. Taylor changed his tactics and conducted house to house raids using picks and crowbars. They punched holes in the adobe walls and fired 6-pound shells inside the homes. They fought hand to hand against the Mexican soldiers and as the Mexican soldiers poured into the city streets, Taylor’s canons fired at them, which became overwhelming for the Mexicans. 120 Americans were killed and the Mexicans lost 400 lives, which included civilians. Taylor allowed the Mexican troops to vacate the city with their guns and uniforms. Polk was furious. He believed Taylor’s job was to kill the enemy. He told Polk that his men had to regroup and regain their strength (DiConsiglio, 2012).

            In spite of Polk’s dislike of Taylor, Taylor gained massive popularity in Washington. The Whig party wanted him to run for president. Polk felt threatened and considered Taylor his rival to his party’s hold on the presidency.

           

            Hardships that needed to be considered during the Mexican/American War were numerous and took a lot of the lives of the soldiers. The medical practices led to many deaths. Sanitizing medical instruments was not conducted. Many of the soldiers needed amputations and the saws used were not cleaned after an amputation was conducted. Human waste, not handled in a sanitary method, posed a serious threat to the health of the soldiers. The food consisted of slabs of beef and pork with hard bread. The tents, in poor condition with holes, led to many of the soldiers sleeping in wet conditions. Illness ran rampant through the camps: yellow fever, malaria, dysentery, smallpox and measles. Approximately 13 percent of the American fighting force lost their lives to illness, 11,155 deaths altogether (Bauer, 1974).

 

            The Battle of Buena Vista proved to be the bloodiest battle during the war. Taylor was greatly outnumbered by Santa Anna’s army. The two countries fought over two days. The Mexicans surrounded the American soldiers and at one point it appeared that Santa Anna was winning the battle. He demanded Taylor’s surrender. Taylor refused. Santa Anna ordered a vicious assault on the Americans. The U.S. line was broken through. The legion of Mississippi volunteer soldiers led by Colonel Jefferson Davis managed to delay Santa Anna’s troops while Taylor’s soldiers regrouped.

            Heavy rain drenched the soldiers as they stood their ground. Taylor bravely rode through Mexican gunfire and ordered Captain Braxton Bragg to “Give them hell, Bragg!” This became his campaign slogan when he ran for the presidency in 1848. The battle ended with Taylor the victor. Santa Anna withdrew during the night. Taylor was in com-plete control of northern Mexico. Approximately 300 Americans lost their lives while the Mexicans had approximately 600 fatalities (DiConsiglio, 2012).

            The Mexicans and Americans fought another battle at Veracruz, a seaport, in which the Americans were the victors. The first American battle in which the Americans arrived by boats. On March 29, 1847 after 700 deaths, 400 were civilians. The Mexican forces surrendered. Generals, who gained much more notoriety for the Civil War, served in this battle: Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Ulysses S. Grant (DiConsiglio, 2012).

            The Americans had one more hurdle to overcome before the war could be called to a halt, they needed to defeat Mexico City. General Scott marched his 10,000 soldiers toward the capital of Mexico, Mexico City. Surprisingly, the Mexicans did not deter the Americans on their journey.  Many Mexican soldiers deserted Santa Anna’s military forces. They could not withstand another U.S. attack. Santa Anna managed to pull together 12,000 soldiers to block the Americans’ path. General Scott’s men, headed toward a mountain pass, knew they were in store for an ambush.

Lee remembered a possible trail that by-passed the mountain pass when he previously went on a scouting mission. He led the troops through muddy ground around the pass. The men struggled over the rough terrain. They ended up on high ground above Santa Anna’s soldiers. Surrounded, the Mexicans surrendered. The Americans lost approxi-mately 350 men while Mexico lost more than 1,000. The Mexicans fled so quickly they left behind weapons, food, uniforms and even one of Santa Anna’s spare wooden legs (DiConsiglio, 2012).

The final battle occurred on August, 1847 in which Scott charged towards Mexico City. He headed toward the city via the muddiest path on the southwest section of the city, it was the least guarded. The U.S. soldiers were nine miles from the city. Scott encountered heavy fighting when they came across Santa Anna’s army. The depleted Mexican army hid in a fortified convent (a religious residence for the nuns). Scott’s artillery fired at the convent until the Mexicans surrendered. Santa Anna snuck away to a large castle style fort, surrounded by a high wall.

On September 12, 1847, the U.S. artillery fired heavily at the Mexican castle for more than a day until finally a massive amount of U.S. soldiers stormed the walls. Scott’s troops marched proudly into the main plaza. A small group of U.S. Marines took over the National Palace and the American flag was raised. 2,000 Mexicans lost their lives and there were 450 U.S. causalities. A song that stood the test of time “From the Halls of Montezuma” was in reference to the takeover of the National Palace. By September 14, 1847, the Americans occupied Mexico City. The U.S. Army occupied the capital until the Mexican government agreed to give up their northern territories. Santa Anna resigned as Mexico’s president and fled the country in disgrace before issue of the treaty was resolved. The agreement of the release of land to the U.S. was codified in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which also declared the end of the war.

             

            The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848. The treaty described the vast amount of land the U.S. acquired: Texas at the Rio Grande border, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. The tens of thousands of Mexicans remained on the territory of what was previously considered Northern Mexico (DiConsiglio, 2012).

            “The Mexican people are now receding before the Indian,” A Virginian senator observed, “and this affords a new argument in favor of occupation of the territory, which would otherwise fall into the occupation of the savages” (DeLay, 2010, para. 19).  The Americans believed they could do what the Mexicans could not concerning the Indian people which was to defeat the Indians and improve and industrialize the area that was previously northern Mexico. Article 11 of the treaty which ended the war included a commitment of the U.S. to restrain Indians residing north of the new border from conducting raids and also contained a stipulation that the U.S. would rescue Mexican captives held by Indians. The U.S. discovered it was difficult or next to impossible to carry out the aforementioned stipulations concerning the Native Americans in their newly acquired

territory. The raiding occurred more readily after the end of

the war in an effort to deter the white settlers from taking away their land. Land represented life and a means of providing for their families (DeLay, 2010).

The war with Mexico made the U.S. a world power and the conquered territory led to America’s prosperity. Many critics add that the war poisoned the democratic soul and stirred it towards a path of insatiable economic imperialism. Mexico, an enemy of the U.S., led the Americans to view the indigenous as indispensable to the redesigning of the country. However, after they served the purpose of eliminating a multitude of Mexicans for the Americans, they were again considered an enemy to be eliminated and a large portion of their land was taken from them.