The American Military - A Narrative History

by Brad D. Lookingbill

  While praising the gallantry of Americans in uniform, Polk pledged to secure “ample indemnity” for their prolonged struggle in Mexico. Once again, he attempted to bestow supreme command upon Benton with another defense authorization bill. In early 1847, the commander-in-chief commissioned the senator as a major general. Irrespective of the doubts about his military competence, he could not go to Mexico unless Scott and Taylor were recalled from duty. Moreover, Senator Sam Houston of Texas announced that he – not Benton – deserved the commission. Given the rancor in Congress, Benton decided to decline the president's offer.

  Foiled by congressional sniping, the president assembled his cabinet to select a special emissary to negotiate peace with Mexico. Secretary of State Buchanan seemed a logical choice, but he asserted that administrative duties in Washington D.C. required his full attention. To join Scott in Mexico, he suggested appointing the chief clerk of the State Department, Nicholas P. Trist. Buchanan's most trusted deputy possessed impressive credentials, including honors from West Point and fluency in Spanish. On April 10, Trist agreed to sail immediately for Mexico with the working draft of a treaty in his hands.

  Whereas the partisan press clamored for peace with Mexico, an outpouring of romantic literature deepened America's attachment to the war. Herman Melville, a young novelist, crafted a series of satirical articles about the indefatigable Taylor known as “Authentic Anecdotes of Old Zack.” The aging James Fenimore Cooper penned a suspenseful novel titled Jack Tier (1848), which recounted a plot among traitors attempting to supply Mexicans with gunpowder. In a collection of poems called Lays of the Palmetto (1848), William Gilmore Simms scribbled odes that compared a South Carolina regiment to chivalrous knights. Though evoking a racist tone, the Boston abolitionist James Russell Lowell wrote verses called The Biglow Papers (1848) that irreverently lampooned the clash of arms. A variety of theatrical melodramas played to cosmopolitan crowds, who cheered the depictions of the exotic landscapes as well as the action heroes of the war.

  The news of the war stirred the passions of writer Henry David Thoreau of Concord, Massachusetts, even while living in a cabin at Walden Pond. Enraged by the call for volunteer soldiers, he went to jail for refusing to pay his state taxes. His act of protest seemed futile to his peers, because the tax in question did nothing to underwrite “Mr. Polk's War.” A single night in jail inspired him to compose a provocative essay titled “Civil Disobedience,” which later broadened the appeal of non-violence to the American people.

  The Halls of Montezuma

  With U.S forces in control of northern Mexico, Scott planned a bold operation on the Gulf Coast. The 60-year-old took command of the largest amphibious assault ever attempted in history at that time. “Providence may defeat me,” Scott wrote to Taylor after arriving in Mexico, “but I do not believe the Mexicans can.”

  During the early months of 1847, Scott amassed close to 12,000 troops south of Tampico on Lobos Island. In New Orleans, Quartermaster General Thomas S. Jesup purchased and leased vessels, wagons, and animals for use by the Army. Commodore Conner maintained the blockade of the Mexican coastline from his headquarters at Anton Lizardo. U.S. brigs, barks, sloops, and schooners provided transportation across the Gulf of Mexico. Navy crewmen also operated specially designed surfboats, which ferried Army personnel and supplies from the ships to the shores. On March 2, Scott's flotilla sailed toward Veracruz.

  Scott's flotilla steered away from the island fortress opposite Veracruz named San Juan de Ulúa. While approaching Collada Beach to the south, they avoided the Mexican guns in addition to the neutral British and French ships offshore. On March 9, the troops disembarked on the undefended beach with remarkable speed. Proceeding inland, they formed a trench line about 2 miles below the city. Scott sent several divisions around the landward defenses to invest a perimeter, which stretched as far north as Vergara. They also blocked the water supply for 15,000 residents and 3,360 Mexican soldiers.

  The Mexican batteries shelled the American dispositions, while Scott toured his forward lines. Spotting his men exposed to fire, he bellowed: “Down – Down, men!” One of them crouched behind a parapet and shouted back: “But General, you are exposed.” He answered with a dramatic flair: “Oh, generals nowadays can be made out of anybody, but men cannot be had.”

  With only light artillery for the initial siege, Scott requested assistance from Conner's successor, Commodore Matthew C. Perry. The Navy provided six big guns – three 32-pounders and three 8-inch Paixhans – for emplacement ashore behind the dunes. From March 24 to March 26, the heavier cannons bombarded the Mexican defenses. After the U.S. batteries ceased firing, General J. J. Landero agreed to surrender. Americans suffered only 80 casualties overall. To restrain soldiers and civilians at Veracruz, Scott imposed martial law with General Order 20.

  With a base for operations secured, Scott wasted no time savoring his victory. He expressed concern about an outbreak of yellow fever, which locals referred to as el vómito. In order to escape the deadly hot season of the coast, he marched his troops westward to the highlands. He selected the National Road, which the Spanish conquistadores used as a route into the interior centuries earlier. Although Worth expected to assume the “position of honor,” Scott placed another division under General David E. Twigg on the vanguard.

  Twigg advanced toward Jalapa, a city nearly 75 miles from Veracruz. His column included 2,600 infantry as well as several units of dragoons and artillery, but they moved slowly toward the city. His scouts reported the dispositions of Mexican soldiers along a mountain called Cerro Gordo, which some referred to as El Telégrafo. With close to 12,000 troops and 32 cannons covering the National Road, Santa Anna vowed to block the Americans at the key pass.

  The Americans encamped by Plan del Rio, where Scott brought up reinforcements to raise his numbers to 8,500. Among his most trusted officers, Captain Robert E. Lee scouted the thick woods to locate the best path to reach the enemy's rear. He directed the engineers to clear a trail past Cerro Gordo without detection. On April 17, Twigg's infantry clashed with Mexican troops at a hill named La Atalaya. The blue-clad soldiers hauled a 24-pounder to the elevated position and began blasting the Mexican fortresses on the hilltops the next morning. Unable to protect his flanks, Santa Anna ordered his men to fight hand-to-hand. Twigg sent his division on a furious assault, while General Gideon Pillow commanded a brigade that hit the Mexican batteries on the left. The Battle of Cerro Gordo resulted in 417 American casualties, including 64 dead. Before falling back, the Mexican army lost more than 1,000 men. Santa Anna left behind his spare wooden leg, which a volunteer regiment from Illinois claimed as a prize.

  While Santa Anna attempted to rebuild his decimated army, Scott marched his victorious one to Jalapa. However, the one-year term of enlistment for seven of his volunteer regiments neared expiration. Most departed for home that May, which reduced U.S. forces to 5,820 effectives. Because Mexican guerrillas along the National Road thwarted supply lines, the depleted units faced the prospect of living off the land. Scott soon advanced to Puebla, the second-largest city in Mexico, but the national capital remained 170 miles away.

  For three months, Scott's army simmered in Puebla. Upon receiving news of Trist's appointment, the U.S. commander fumed that the Polk administration intended “to degrade me.” He sent a hasty letter to the War Department begging “to be recalled from this army,” though Marcy ignored the request at the time. In spite of his mortification, Scott devised a system for gathering supplies and intelligence while reinforcements matriculated into Puebla. That August, General Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire arrived with 2,400 soldiers for the final push to Mexico City. Scott's army became “a self-sustaining machine” of 14,000, which he reorganized into four divisions commanded by Worth, Twigg, Pillow, and Quitman. While training at Puebla, they prepared to confront more than 36,000 Mexicans under Santa Anna.

  At the same time, Trist made contact with Santa Anna through a British agent in Mexico City. The Generalissimo d
emanded a bribe of $10,000 to begin negotiations and at least a million dollars upon the ratification of a treaty. Drawing upon available funds for his army, Scott procured an advance for Trist to make a payment as requested. However, Santa Anna pocketed the bribe while claiming that the Mexican Congress prevented him from treating with the Americans.

  Beginning on August 7, the Americans departed from Puebla to enter the Valley of Mexico. Before them stretched the ancient realm of the Aztecs, which included a prehistoric lake bed surrounded by snow-capped volcanoes. With each division separated by a half-day's march, they met no opposition along the National Road. Standing on a ridge at the base of Popocatépetl, Scott saw “the gorgeous seat of the Montezumas” beyond the marshes and canals. Causeways sprawled from Mexico City like the spokes on a wheel, which seemed to invite him to attack. Santa Anna prepared to defend the national capital at El Peñon, but Scott moved around Lake Chalco to the Acapulco Road at San Agustín and advanced from the south. While harassing Twigg's division at Ayotla, the Mexicans established a new defensive line behind the Churubusco River.

  To the southwest of Churubusco, General Gabriel Valencia extended his lines between the towns of Padierna and Contreras. Scott sent Pillow, Twigg, and Worth on a narrow muddy road that skirted a large lava bed called the Pedregal. They came under fire from Valencia, but several brigades pressed ahead on the morning of August 20. In the Battle of Contreras, Americans lost 60 killed and wounded in action. They routed Valencia's troops in only 17 minutes, slaughtering hundreds and capturing 813 prisoners.

  Mexican troops commanded by Santa Anna kept their composure on the bridge at Churubusco, which stood 500 yards from the thick-walled San Mateo Convent. Among the most defiant soldiers at the river, the San Patrico Battalion included hundreds of Irish Catholic deserters from American regiments. That afternoon, they fired cannons and muskets at the advancing lines of their former comrades. U.S. forces prevailed in the Battle of Churubusco, because the bluecoats carried the works with a spectacular bayonet assault. Scott lost 1,053 casualties that day, while the dragoons galloped forward to the gates of Mexico City. Afterward, many of the San Patricos faced court martials and eventual execution. As the Americans gained momentum with each victory, Santa Anna lost a third of his army at Churubusco.

  Withdrawing to the capital, Santa Anna decided to explore a truce with Scott. Eager to avoid more bloodshed, the latter penned an effusive note to the former decrying this “unnatural war between the two great republics of the continent.” Accordingly, both sides agreed to halt military actions and to permit Trist to meet with a peace delegation. Nevertheless, Santa Anna rebuilt his defenses in violation of the truce. After dismissing an American ultimatum, the Mexican dictator vowed to “repel force by force” that September.

  On September 8, the Battle of Molino del Rey erupted. American intelligence reported that the old mill on the outskirts of Mexico City served as a foundry for the casting of cannons. Scott sent Worth's division to destroy the munitions, but Mexican resistance stiffened along a hill. After taking the stone buildings, U.S. soldiers overran the crumbling walls of the Casa Mata. However, Worth found no evidence of a working foundry. During two hours of bloody fighting, Scott's army lost 116 dead and 671 wounded.

  Scott's army marched along the western causeways toward Mexico City. The rank and file gazed upon the Castle of Chapultepec, which served as the home of the Mexican military academy – the Colegio Militar. It loomed atop a hill nearly 200 feet above the marshlands, while Mexican troops lined the walls.

  On the morning of September 13, Scott organized a feint by Quitman at the San Antonio causeway while sending Pillow's division directly against the hill. Their lines converged on the military objective with remarkable coordination. A heavy barrage by 24-pounders pummeled enemy dispositions at sunrise. Scaling parties that included 40 marines waded through the cypress marshes to enter the courtyard gardens. Nicknamed the “forlorn hope,” they climbed ladders to storm the castle. Lieutenant George E. Pickett of Virginia grabbed the Stars and Stripes from a wounded comrade, Lieutenant James Longstreet, and carried it to the top. The Americans slew the Mexicans unmercifully, though six cadets remembered as Los Niños Héroes plunged to their deaths rather than surrender their national flag. By 9:30 a.m., Chapultepec had fallen to U.S. forces.

  After suffering nearly 800 casualties in the Battle of Chapultepec, U.S. forces penetrated Mexico City. They seized the gates of Belén and San Cosmé by nightfall. Santa Anna's troops dispersed in haste, which prompted him to curse that even if “we were to plant our batteries in Hell, the damned Yankees would take them from us.” The next day, Scott paraded his columns through the Grand Plaza in triumph. Marines hoisted the U.S. flag over “The Halls of Montezuma,” that is, the National Palace.

  Occupation

  “They literally die like dogs,” observed Captain George B. McClellan, who lamented the agony of his comrades from Veracruz to Mexico City. While the U.S. lost 1,733 killed in action during the war, another 4,152 suffered wounds. The American death toll eventually reached a staggering 13,780, of which 11,550 perished from diseases. In other words, only one out of eight deaths for the American military derived from enemy blows.

  Despite an unbroken string of victories during 1847, the American military lacked the logistical capabilities to effectively occupy the entire country. After 17 months of hard fighting, the troops appeared exhausted by maladies ranging from yellow fever to dysentery. One unit even dubbed themselves the “1st Diarrhea Rangers.” Some referred to their chronic ailments as “Montezuma's revenge.” Improper hygiene and poor healthcare diminished combat readiness, although for the first time military doctors began using anesthetics to treat patients. Owing to the parsimony of Washington D.C., Scott's army remained on foreign soil for several months without adequate food, clothing, and medicine.

  On the day that he entered the Palace of the Montezumas, Scott urged U.S. soldiers to remain “sober, orderly, and merciful.” One of his major challenges involved the acts of insubordination by those under his command, which led to court martials for Worth and Pillow. While establishing martial law and quelling mob violence, he appointed Quitman as the military governor of the capital. In an old Spanish palace near the Grand Plaza, the Americans gathered to form a fraternity named the Aztec Club. Even the most belligerent adopted elements of Mexican culture, such as chewing-gum, cigarettes, and mustaches. In spite of carousing and scandals in certain quarters, the occupation of Mexico City proceeded with relative calm.

  That November, the archbishop of Mexico, Juan Manuel, asked the U.S. commander to free Mexicans detained as prisoners. Before vacating power, Santa Anna ordered the release of convicts from the jails to encourage mob violence in the streets. In the absence of a legitimate civilian administration, Scott directed the marines to round up criminals. Furthermore, he collaborated with the clergy to protect the property of the Catholic Church. They established a parole process, whereby detainees swore an oath “before God our Lord and on this Holy Cross” not to take up arms. Within weeks, they worked out the release of the Mexicans in American hands.

  For months, Mexican soldiers under Santa Anna continued to roam the countryside. Briefly, he organized an unsuccessful siege of the American garrison at Puebla. Guerrillas thwarted supply and communication lines to Mexico City, but they also looted towns and villages. Marching from Veracruz, General Joseph Lane led 2,500 Americans against the resistance at Huamantla near the National Road. With his support across Mexico collapsing, Santa Anna departed for Jamaica later that year.

  Scott's army peaked at 15,000 effectives in Mexico, but for the most part they huddled inside the capital. Marcy authorized Scott to retaliate against the guerrillas with “the utmost allowable severity” while placing the burden of defense “to the utmost extent” upon the Mexican population. With the cost of the war approaching $100 million, he assessed a levy against Mexico for $3,046,498 as an “indemnity.”

  Polk requested increased milita
ry funding from Congress that December, which seemed to buoy the hopes of the “All Mexico” movement. O'Sullivan, the editor who coined the phrase Manifest Destiny, trumpeted in the press: “More, More, More!” Within the administration, most cabinet members expressed an interest in expanding the war effort. In fact, Mexican leaders in the Yucatan appealed to the U.S. for assistance in suppressing an indigenous uprising across the peninsula. However, congressional opposition stymied an appropriations bill that raised 10 new regiments and additional volunteers for deployment to Mexico.

  Disregarding the president's request for him to leave Mexico, Trist decided to resume peace talks at the urging of Scott and the British legation. After the Mexicans organized a new government, he attempted to deal with the commissioners. The main point of contention involved the borderline between the two nations. In early 1848, their negotiations culminated at the village of Guadalupe Hidalgo outside the capital.

  Signed on February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo set the final terms. Accordingly, Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the boundary with Texas. Moreover, it ceded all the lands that became the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada as well as portions of Wyoming and Colorado. In return, the U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $15 million and to assume responsibility for the unpaid claims by Americans against the Mexican government. With the stroke of a pen, the war in Mexico officially ended.

  A deputation of prominent citizens of Mexico approached Scott with an offer that he found difficult to refuse. After his recall by the War Department that February, the U.S. commander contemplated resigning his commission and accepting an appointment as the dictator of Mexico for four to six years. Likewise, he mused that the discharged veterans of his army might remain at his side if paid well by the elites. As the Mexican people learned “to govern themselves,” his transitional regime could manage the ports, arsenals, forts, and mines. He rejected the tempting offer, though, and soon returned to Washington D.C.