The Mexican-American War
By: Genevieve Desrosiers
November 27, 2017
Blam! Blam! Guns fire off in front of you as you hide behind the barricades. You are in the U.S. army and are firing your guns at the first battle of the Mexican-American war. How did it all come to this? Where did this awful war come from? Let me start from the beginning. As the U.S. is striving to move westwardly, something stands in their way. That is Mexico. They have land all over in parts that are now California, New mexico, Texas and Arizona. The tension was tight between the U.S. and Mexico, and it won’t hold for much longer.
The History Behind the War
There was trouble in Mexico too though. They had just won their independence from Spain and gained land throughout the U.S. Now though, they needed people to move there, and people in Mexico just weren’t biting. So when Stephen Austin brought up a proposal to populate Texas, the Mexican government gladly agreed. His proposal said that if Mexico offered cheaper land, he would start a colony of U.S. citizens there.
Mexico also set a few rules. The people coming there had to speak Spanish, be Catholic, and bring no slaves. People did come, but they were getting angrier and angrier at Mexico. People didn’t want to learn a whole new language just to get cheap land. Also, people felt strongly about their faiths and beliefs and they didn’t want to give those up. Finally, slavery was already an issue in most states, and people wanted to get another place they could use slaves.
This soon became a HUGE issue, and people were not happy about it. The Mexican government thought at first that it didn’t matter, because they could never take the land from Mexico right? Think again. There were actually even more U.S. citizens in Texas now then Mexicans. So making a bold move to keep their land, the Mexican government outlawed the U.S. citizens.
People Take Action
People wouldn’t stand for this though, and on February 23, 1846 the battle of the Alamo started. The Alamo was led by William Travis on the Texan’s side. On the Mexican’s side, Santa Anna was the main General. The Texans fought hard in the battle, but it just wasn’t enough. On March 6, 1836 at 4:00 am, Mexican’s stormed San Antonio (where the Texas barricade was) and killed the last of the Texans.
They didn’t give up though, and April 21, 1836 the battle of San Jacinto started. The Texans captured Santa anna and threatened him to death if he didn’t call off all Mexican troops and claim Texas independent. This battle was led by Sam Houston, who became the president of the newly independent Texas. Nine years later though, Texas joined the Union in 1845 as the 28 state.
On July 7, 1846, Polk sent troops to protect the Texas border, and somehow a battle got started. Polk decided that he was going to declare war on Mexico because they had “shed American blood on American soil.” The Mexican-American war had begun.
The War
Now we are back to present time. The battle of Palo Alto. You are in the very first battle of the actual Mexican-American war. It is May 8, 1846. In this battle the general for the U.S. was Zachary Taylor, an experienced Military general that doubled as Polk’s political rival. Taylor got together 2,400 U.S. troops while the Mexican’s had 3,400 troops. At a Mexican city called Palo Alto, the troops met. There were many horse-riding gunmen that were on the U.S. side forced the new general of Mexico, general Arista, back across the Rio Grande river. The battle didn’t end there though. The Mexicans gathered all of their troops back again at Resaca De La Palma the next day, but the U.S. drove them off of their post. The U.S. officially won that battle. You are now just waiting for your next chance to attack.
California
Moving the focus of the war to a different part of the U.S. A general named Stephen Kearny was getting prepared to fight for a new part of the U.S. he wanted to gain, California and New Mexico. Kearny gathered many U.S. troops and marched forth to New Mexico, where they expected a harsh battle. They were quite surprised when they reached New Mexico though, because there was no fight at all. In fact, New Mexico was eager to join the Union, and now the U.S. had the New Mexico territory, which later became the states of New Mexico and Arizona.
It wasn’t so easy to get California though, they had a battle called San Pasqual on December 6, 1846. The people of California fighting to keep it part of Mexico were called Californios. They had one the first battle they had, but finally on December 29, 1846, Kearny defeated the Californios and almost the entire westward territory belonged to the U.S.
The Battle of Buena Vista
Turning our focus back to the other part of the war, a new battle was about to begin. The next battle was in Buena Vista. It was on February 22, 1847. It was named the battle of Buena Vista It left the U.S. in control of Northern Mexico.
The Battle of Veracruz
Now it comes down to you and your troops. Polk is planning an attack on Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. He wanted to have Taylor lead the attack again, but because he was his political rival, he didn’t want him to be too much of a war hero. So Polk got a new general to lead the battle, general Winfield Scott. He was another respected war general that helped out in the war of 1812 and in chasing Native Americans out of Georgia, so he was the most ideal candidate. Luckily for the U.S., he agreed.
Scott’s idea was to invade Mexico by sea and land at the Collado beach. He gathered up all of his troops and separated them into 3 divisions. He got some other generals to help him out, William Worth, David Twiggs, and Major general Robert Patterson. He gave each of the generals a division.
The plan was that once they landed at the Collado Beach, they would force the small group of lancers that would probably be waiting for them off of their posts. Then they would march forth through Veracruz to Mexico City. This plan was good because they would invade at a place that was not expected. They planned to land at 1:00 am so that the Mexican troops would be off their guard.
They did just as they planned and landed at Collado beach at 1:00 am. The group that Worth led invaded the beach and chased off the group of lancers. The one problem with invading Mexico city was that they had to march through Veracruz, which was heavily guarded by the forts Santiago and Concepcion. When they got to Veracruz the forts were waiting for them, and a twenty-day siege started on March 9,1847.
Eventually after the twenty days ended on March 29, 1847, the U.S. troops had continued on to Mexico City, and basically won the war on that day. You stand proudly as you have almost conquered Mexico, beaming with pride. The war finally officially ended on February 2, 1848, with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a peace treaty between Mexico and the U.S.
The War Finishes
Finally the U.S. had one the war with Mexico. It had a good side to it actually, because now the U.S. had almost all of the present-day territory it got, just Oregon was left in the West, and Hawaii and Alaska were the only other states that they needed to acquire.
Two years later in 1849, President Polk died and ended his term as President. The next president was Zachary Taylor, as I mentioned before, Polk’s political enemy.
California then joined the Union on September 9, 1850 after a heated debate on whether or not to let California join as a free state, or in other words, a state without slavery. This was made possible by the compromise of 1850, this was a compromise that let California join as a free state, while letting people in the south chase after their slaves that had escaped to the North.
Women in the War
Now besides you, a soldier in this great war, who else was important? Who else contributed to this war? Let’s start with a brave young lady named Sarah Borginnis. Sarah was a wife accompanying her husband who fought in the war. In fact, many women came along on their husband’s journeys at war, just they weren’t soldiers. Many women came as nurses, cooks, or laundresses. Sarah was a laundress at her husband’s camp. Often times during the battles, the wives would be sent back to the camps to make dinner for later, sew up patches in uniforms,wash clothes, or tend to the sick and injured at the camp. Sarah however, wanted to help more. She wished she could fight, and if the men let her she would’ve destroyed every one of those Mexicans. Unfortunately for Sarah, this was not allowed. She helped in a different way. She brought the injured soldiers off the battlefield and got hot coffee or more supplies to the ones still fighting. Few of the other women would do this, because they had the same chance of getting injured or killed as the men, but Sarah wanted to help. She was truly brave, and stood out against the rest of the women because of her bravery.
President Polk
Another important figure in the war was president James K. Polk. He was the 11th president of the U.S. His term started in 1845 and ended when he died in 1849. Polk was the person who started the war. He grew up in Rural, North Carolina at first and then moved to Tennessee. He was born in Pineville, North Carolina on November 2, 1795. Polk and Zachary Taylor, the main general in the war, were political rivals. Polk had gotten into the white house, but Taylor was a respected whig with popular ideas against slavery. As a democrat, Polk was for slavery, and feared that Taylor would get into office one day and ban slavery. Due to this rivalry between the two, Polk didn’t allow Taylor to lead the final battle in the Mexican-American war. He feared that Taylor would become an even more popular and respected person than himself, and in the next election, Taylor would be elected president. His fears came true however, and in the next election, Taylor became the 12th president of the U.S.
Zachary Taylor
A third figure in the war I mentioned in my previous paragraph, was one Zachary Taylor. Taylor was born on November 24, 1784 and lived until July, 1850. Taylor was a respected U.S. general and President. He was born in Barboursville, VA. He was elected president in 1848 and brought into office the next year. Before then, he was the main general in the Mexican-American war. He was nicknamed “old, rough, and ready” by his men. This was because of his straw hat and how old he was. He was always prepared for an attack as well. Also, he was known for the relationship he had with all of his men, and was a general and also sort of a friend to them all.
General Winfield Scott
In contrast to Taylor, the man who led the final battle of the Mexican-American war had no friendly relationship to his men. This man was general Winfield Scott. This was the man that Polk chose over Taylor to finish the war. He had helped in the war of 1812 and in chasing the Native Americans out of Georgia (which was followed by the Trail of Tears), so Polk dubbed him worthy of leading the army. He was born in Dinwiddie County, VA. he lived from 1786 to 1866. He was nicknamed “old fuss and feathers” by his men. This was because he was very strict and a “let’s get to it” kind of guy. Also because of the over excessive gaudy uniforms he and his men wore. He was always fussing over every little detail on the uniforms and making sure everything was absolutely perfect. He had no relationship with his men and was never talking to them about anything but strategy or telling them a command.
Stephen Kearny
The final general in the war was general Stephen Kearny. He lived from 1794 to 1848. He was born in Newark, New Jersey. He was very focused on expanding the U.S. even during the war. That is why he set off to get New Mexico and California. He was born in Newark, NJ and his birthday was August 30, 1794. He was important in expanding the U.S. and was very brave fighting the Californios.
Texas was the thing that set this awful war off. They wanted freedom though, and they would fight for it. Not alone though, some people were very important to the Mexican-American war and the U.S. might not have all of the land it has today. These people are role models for present day Americans because they are so brave. The war was a difficult time for so many soldiers and other citizens of Texas that I didn’t mention. These people put their life on the line to help the U.S. These people should be celebrated too. So many brave people died in the war and helped our country develop.
Bibliography
DiConsiglio, John. The Mexican-American War. Heinemann Library, 2012.
Hirsch, E. D. Pearson Learning Core Knowledge. Pearson Learning Group, 2002.
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