THE MEXICAN WAR

The Mexican War began in 1846 when President James K. Polk, elected in 1844 on a blatant Manifest Destiny platform, sent United States troops into territory disputed by the U. S. and Mexico. Texas had won independence from Mexico in 1836 and was annexed to the U.S. in 1845. The disputed territory was the area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. The U.S. and Texas claimed the southern boundary was the Rio Grande, while Mexico insisted the boundary was the Nueces River some 100 miles north of the Rio Grande. Instead of waiting for an international committee to settle the dispute, Pres. Polk provoked a war with Mexico.

General Zachary Taylor led the America troops sent into the disputed area. After several short, yet crisp engagements, includingthe Battle of Palo Alto, the Mexican forces were driven out of the disputed territory, but the Mexican War was on. Taylor would continue to press into northern Mexico, becoming one of the major campaigns in the war. Major battles were fought by this invading force including the Battles of Matamoros, Monterrey and Buena Vista. Taylor’ campaign secured the Rio Grande boundary, cleared northern Mexico of Mexican troops, and set up the American conquest of the American Southwest.

Another major force, led by General Winfield Scott, attacked into Mexico along the Gulf coast. Scott’s forces landed at Vera Cruz and fought their way to Mexico City following the route taken by the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez. Scott fought major battles at Cerro Gordo, Chapultepec, and captured Mexico City on September 14, 1847.

Meanwhile the American population in California had staged a “rebellion.” The California rebellion was aided by U.S. General John C. Fremont, the “Pathfinder” who just happened to be in California with a small force on a surveying expedition. The California “Bear Flag” Republic was supported by U.S. naval and army forces led by Commondores Robert F. Stockton and John D. Sloat. Colonel Steven Keanry who led a force overland from Leavenworth, Kansas, to California secured California for the United States. Keanry took Las Vegas and Santa Fe in August 1846, and secured control of the southwest for the U.S. Keanry then moved into California and removed all Mexican opposition to the American rebellion and occupation of California.

The United States dictated the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo to the Mexicans in February 1848. The Rio Grande became the boundary of Texas. Mexico was forced to cede the present day states of California, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming to the U.S. The United States had taken half of Mexico.

The United States now stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, as the proponents of Manifest Destiny preached God had intended. The war hero Gen. Zachary Taylor would be elected President in 1848 and John C. Fremont, the “Pathfinder,” would become the first Republican candidate for president in 1856. Jefferson Davis, who commanded a Mississippi Regiment during the Mexican War, would serve as Secretary of War and later be elected President of the Confederacy. Many of the Civil War generals had their baptism under fire in the Mexican War. Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, James Longstreet, Thomas J. Jackson, John B. Hood, and many other military leaders served as junior officers during the Mexican War.

History’s currents or current history? You decide.