In his last essay, the writer described the military campaigns of the War with Mexico in Texas, New Mexico, and California. In the present essay, he will describe the military campaigns of that war in Mexico. The description of these campaigns will include an emphasis on that war as a training ground for the War Between the States. Just as the French and Indian War served as a training ground for the Revolutionary War and some who fought together in the British army in the former war ended up fighting on opposite sides in the latter war, so those who fought together in the United States army in the Mexican War ended up fighting on opposite sides in the War Between the States. And as Major General Edward Braddock was particularly impressed with the abilities Lieutenant George Washington in the French and Indian War, so was Major General Winfield Scott particularly impressed with the abilities of Captain Robert E. Lee in the Mexican War.
At the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, the Class of 1846 was about to graduate when the War with Mexico began. Among its ranks were many future War Between the States generals, including Thomas J. Jackson (who would earn the sobriquet “Stonewall” at the First Battle of Manassas), A.P. Hill, George E. Pickett, Dabney H. Maury, Cadmus M. Wilcox, George B. McClellan, Jesse L. Reno, Darius N. Couch, and George Stoneman. They were to get their first taste of war immediately after graduation.
When war was declared, Congressman Jefferson Davis of Mississippi resigned his seat in the House of Representatives to join the Mississippi volunteers. He was a West Point graduate who had previously served in the Black Hawk War. The primary weapon which was used at that time was the flintlock musket. The percussion rifle was newly invented and Davis wanted the Mississippi volunteers to use it. However, the General-in-Chief of the Army, Major General Winfield Scott, would not authorize its use because he considered it to be untested. Before leaving Congress, Davis traded some votes which Polk wanted in order to enable his regiment, the 1st Mississippi Regiment, to use the new rifle. He was made a Colonel in command of the Mississippi Rifles, which the regiment became known as. His new commander, Major General Zachary Taylor, was his former father-in-law. Taylor had refused Davis permission to marry his daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor, because he did not want his daughter to marry an army officer, so Davis left the army and married her anyway. However, shortly after their wedding, they both contracted yellow fever. Jefferson recovered from it, but Sarah did not.
As railroads were first used on a large scale during the War Between the States, steamships were first used on a large scale during the Mexican War. Steamships transported troops in much less time than it would have taken them to march overland. It was also the first war to be widely reported in the newspapers. Tennessee was asked for 3,000 volunteers and responded with more than 30,000, earning the state the nickname the Volunteer State. The most popular song among U.S. troops in the war was a love song called “Green Grow the Lilacs.” When Mexicans heard them singing the song, they did not understand what the English words meant, and hearing the first two words, “Green grow” led them to call the Americans gringos. The name has stuck ever since. The United States Navy performed a blockade of Mexican ports. Three officers serving in the blockade who were later to serve in the War Between the States were Commodore David Glasgow Farragut and Lieutenants Raphael Semmes and David Dixon Porter.
With the volunteers arriving, the next months were spent training and organizing the army. Matamoros, Mexico was captured immediately after the victory at Resaca de la Palma, Texas and Taylor’s army first moved there and then to Camargo. The latter became a main training area. Disease claimed more lives in that war than in battle. Mexico was rife with such diseases as yellow fever and malaria. More U.S. soldiers died of disease percentage wise in the Mexican War than in any other war. The Tennessee volunteers were reduced by more than half before they even met the enemy in battle. Medical conditions in the army were not yet as advanced as they were to become during the War Between the States. Anesthesia had been discovered just before the Mexican War, but it was still untested and under suspicion, so it was not yet used.
By the end of August, 15,000 U.S. soldiers had been assembled at Camargo. In September, Taylor moved his army south. He had heard that a Mexican army under General Pedro de Ampudia was at Monterrey and he moved to meet him. Lieutenant George Gordon Meade, the future victor of Gettysburg, was with the advance party and he said of the Mexican civilians he encountered, “The poor people were loud in their denunciations of their own solders.” Their towns had been plundered by the retreating Mexican soldiers. Major Joseph K.F. Mansfield, who was later to meet his death at the Battle of Sharpsburg commanding the XII Corps of the Army of the Potomac, went forward with his engineer officers to reconnoiter the city and its defenses. Most of the Mexican army was positioned within the city, which was a virtual garrison. The streets were narrow, soldiers were stationed within the stone-walled houses, and there were masked artillery positions. The city was on the north bank of the Santa Catarina River. There were several fortifications around the city. Directly north of it was an unfinished cathedral known as the Citadel. The Mexicans were manning it and the Americans called it the Black Fort. On Independence Hill on the west side was a redoubt called Fort Libertad and a fort called the Bishop’s Palace. On the east, there were two forts called Fort Teneria and Fort Diablo, or the Devil’s Corner. On the south side of the river was Federation Hill, on which stood Fort Soldato. Taylor set up his headquarters at a place north of the city which the Americans called Walnut Springs.
On September 21, Lieutenant John Pope bore a message from Major Mansfield for the army to come forward. The division of Brigadier General David Twiggs, who was later to become a Confederate general, was the first to do so. It consisted of regulars and the Battalion of Baltimore and Washington Volunteers. They immediately came under fire from the Citadel and Fort Teneria as well as from the houses. They and other troops then went into the city with the assistance of Captain Braxton Bragg’s artillery. The fighting in the streets was desperate., but Fort Teneria was captured by the Tennessee volunteers, Jefferson Davis’ Mississippi Rifles, and the 4th U.S. Infantry, which included Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant. The Ohio volunteers then attacked Fort Diablo. When the Baltimore-Washington Battalion was breaking, they were successfully encouraged to go on by Colonel Albert Sydney Johnston, who was to be killed at the Battle of Shiloh commanding the Army of Tennessee. Lieutenant Colonel William H. Watson, who commanded the Battalion, was killed in the Battle of Monterrey. Captain John R. Kenly, who commanded Company E, succeeded him in commanding the battalion and was to become a Union general. He also wrote a memoir of his Mexican War experiences. Mexican lancers lanced more than 50 wounded Americans. The 4th Infantry then moved toward Fort Diablo. The Americans wanted to gain control of Saltilo Road because it led south.
Lieutenant Meade rode alongside General William J. Worth to move toward the west side of the city. In the early hours of the next morning, they went up Independence Hill making their way through thick bushes and rocks in pelting rain. At sunrise, there was a thick fog which continued to conceal their movements. They made their way to Fort Libertad just as the fog lifted and drove the Mexicans from there to the Bishop’s Palace. The Americans disassembled a twelve-pound howitzer, carried the pieces up the hill, reassembled it, and fired into the Bishop’s Palace. Following the strategy of West Point military theorist Dennis Hart Mahan, they sent pickets out and kept the main force concealed behind them. The Mexicans responded by sending out a force of infantry and lancers. When they came forward, the U.S. pickets fell back toward the main force, which then came forward. This caused the Mexicans to turn tail and run. The Bishop’s Palace was captured by 3:00 P.M. At the same time, General Worth sent Lieutenant Meade forward at Federation Hill and he found that the Mexicans had abandoned Fort Soldato. Davis’ Mississippi Rifles also found that the Mexicans had abandoned Fort Diablo on the east side of Monterrey. Ampudia had withdrawn its troops to make a stand in the city. The rest of the battle was bloody street fighting. The Mexicans were in positions in and on top of houses and other buildings. The battle continued for two more days, but the Americans finally carried the day.
On the morning of September 24, General Taylor sent a note to General Ampudia proposing that he surrender and withdraw from the city. Ampudia agreed and commissions were set up on both sides to discuss terms of capitulation. Taylor sent Generals Worth and James P. Henderson and Colonel Jefferson Davis. Davis served as secretary for the Americans. Terms were agreed to that night and the Mexicans withdrew during the next few days.
There is a monument in Baltimore to the Maryland soldiers of the Mexican War called the Maryland Soldiers Monument. Bronze plaques on its sides record the names of those killed in battle. The monument is topped with a statue of Lieutenant Colonel William H. Watson, its commander who was killed at Monterrey.
One thing which was revealed after the battle was that the percussion rifles of Davis’ Mississippi volunteers had inflicted heavier casualties on the Mexicans that had the flintlock muskets used by the other troops. The percussion rifle was to become the primary weapon used in the War Between the States.
After the Battle of Monterrey, a new strategy was agreed upon. Mexican unwillingness to either negotiate or capitulate caused U.S. authorities to conclude that the capture of the Mexican capitol was necessary to accomplish getting them to do so. It was 900 miles from Monterrey to Mexico City. Three centuries before, Hernando Cortes had conquered Mexico by landing at Vera Cruz on the Gulf coast and moving his forces to Mexico City from there. That distance was 200 miles and Cortez had built a road from Vera Cruz to Mexico City called the National Road. It was broken down in some places by that time, but it was still the best way to get to the Mexican capitol. It was decided that Taylor would continue to hold northern Mexico while an attack on Mexico City from Vera Cruz would be launched with the objective of moving to take Mexico City from there. Word of this was delivered to Taylor by Lieutenant Lewis A. Armistead, who was to meet his fate at Gettysburg. Major General Winfield Scott, who was the General-in-Chief of the United States Army, was to command the campaign.
Like Taylor, Scott was a Virginian and had been appointed to the Army by President Thomas Jefferson in 1808 with the rank of Captain. He had distinguished himself in the War of 1812, in which he had served as a Brigadier General of Regulars, had been badly wounded in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, and had been brevetted Major General. He would continue to serve as General-in-Chief until the beginning of the War Between the States. An army under Brigadier General John E. Wool had been sent from San Antonio, Texas to occupy Chihuahua, but it was decided by this point that this occupation was no longer necessary. He was sent to join Taylor. Tampico, on the Gulf coast, which was occupied with the help of the navy. Some of Taylor’s and Wool’s forces were to march there to serve with Scott’s new campaign. Wool had risen to the rank of colonel in the War of 1812 and was to hold Fortress Monroe for the Union during the War Between the States. Serving under Wool were Lieutenant William B. Franklin, who was to command the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the War Between the States, and Captain Robert E. Lee of the Corps of Engineers. Scott was to take all of the regulars with him and leave Taylor with nothing but volunteers.
Taylor moved his reduced army to Saltillo, which was his next objective after Monterrey. In the meantime, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had once again become President of Mexico and reorganized the army formerly commanded by Ampudia at San Luis Potosi. As Santa Anna marched his army to meet Taylor, Taylor moved his army from Saltillo to a ranch called Buena Vista. On February 21, an advance scouting party under Major Ben McCulloch, a future Confederate general, spotted Santa Anna’s army. The next day, Santa Anna sent a messenger under a white flag to Taylor’s army. He told them that they were surrounded by 20,000 men and commanded them to throw down their weapons and throw up their hands. He gave them an hour to decide. Taylor replied, “begging leave to say that I decline acceding to your request.” That sentiment was later to be shortened to “NUTS!” at Bastogne in World War II. Santa Anna had more than that number and 21 pieces of artillery while Taylor had less than 5,000 men. Santa Anna had promised his men that they could loot the corpses of the Americans and take possession of their belongings. Wool had selected the field of battle. It contained a network of gullies which hindered the passage of troops and was bounded on the west by high hills. Santa Anna disliked it for that reason. In one of these gullies, called the Narrows, Wool had a small ditch and a parapet dug and had it closed with two wagons loaded with stones.
The first major attack was made against the left center of Taylor’s line. Mexican artillery had circled around the U.S. lines and planted batteries on top of the hills, from which they bombarded the U.S. lines. The U.S. guns opened fire on the advancing Mexican infantry. The U.S. lines fell back and the Mexicans advanced, sending in lancers. In one of the gullies, Colonel Jefferson Davis had been shot in the heel and the musket ball had driven pieces of his brass spurs through his boot and into his foot. He had the wound briefly treated while sitting in his saddle and then continued fighting. He got his 1st Mississippi to join with the 3rd Indiana in establishing a V-shaped formation. He also got Captain Braxton Bragg to place his artillery in the gap between the two. As the Mexican lancers poured in, they were devastated by fire on both sides from the two regiments and by artillery fire. This turned the tide of the battle and put the Mexican right flank in retreat. It was said that Scott said to Bragg at this point, “A little more grape, Captain Bragg.” It is disputed whether he actually said that, but Bragg became famous for it. It also inspired a lithograph depicting the incident and a popular song with the quotation as its title.
Mexican General Francisco Perez then launched another attack of infantry and cavalry. It was met by two Illinois regiments and the 2nd Kentucky supported by artillery, one gun of which was commanded by Lieutenant George H. Thomas, later to be known as the “Rock of Chickamauga.” This put Santa Anna’s army in full retreat. In his book “For God’s Sake, Forward!”, Michael A. Riley records:
“Later that day [Lieutenant] Abner Doubleday found [Lieutenant John F.] Reynolds leaning on a cannon near the spot of the attack, and asked him his thoughts when all of those Mexican soldiers began coming his way. Reynolds replied that he did ‘not think to allow myself to think on that subject, for I might have thought wrong.’ He later wrote that ‘this has been the greatest battle yet, I thought that at Monterrey I had been in a pretty tight place but it was nothing to this…We are pretty used up, both men and horses…’”
After the battle, Davis was taken to a field hospital in a wagon with Lieutenant French, who had also been wounded in the same battle. Davis’ wound was so severe that he was on crutches for two years after that. It took him out of the rest of the war and even the slightest misstep caused him greatest pain for ten years thereafter. The 1st Mississippi had been one of the regiments Taylor had requested to keep when some of his troops were assigned to Scott’s army. Taylor held a ceremony for the Mississippi Rifles upon Davis’ departure. It had started the war as a 1,000 man force. It now numbered 376. With tears in his eyes, he said to Davis on that occasion, “My daughter, sir, was a better judge of men than I was.” That ended all major campaigning in northern Mexico. From that point on, Taylor’s army dealt with guerilla activities.
Troops from Tampico and the Brazos went by ship to Lobos Island, where they were organized into an army. Vera Cruz needed to be taken before yellow fever season. This operation was to be the largest joint operation before D-Day at Normandy in 1944.
The “Mosquito fleet” taking the first men ashore was commanded by Commander Josiah Tattnall, who was later to command the CSS Virginia. Opposite the city of Vera Cruz, there was an old Spanish fortress called San Juan de Ulua, which stood on San Juan de Ulua Island. It was so well fortified that the U.S. troops were debarked south of the city so as to avoid this fort. The first landing troops were Pennsylvania and Tennessee volunteers from Bregadeir General Gideon J. Pillow’s brigade and South Carolina volunteers from Patterson’s brigade as well as some Marines. Pillow was a former law partner of James K. Polk and a future Confederate general. They were followed by regulars from Brigadier General David E. Twiggs’ brigade and some artillery. The city they faced was ringed by nine forts on the mainland. The total garrison of the city had 200 guns. As Scott’s army set up operations, two big problems were northers, which blew sand everywhere and blew ships off course, and sand fleas which made life unpleasant for the soldiers. When the winds stopped, siege work continued. Scott offered the city the opportunity to surrender on March 22, but the offer was declined. With the artillery were Thomas J. Jackson, A.P. Hill, John B. Magruder, Abner Doubleday, and Joseph Hooker.
U.S. artillery opened fire, as did ships under Tattnall’s command. This opened breaches in the walls of the enemy forts. The city finally surrendered on March 29. The Mexicans who surrendered had to lay down their arms before leaving. Lieutenant Thomas J. Jackson had so distinguished himself in the siege that he received a promotion. The city was established as a base of operations and civil order was established. Meade complained that he had not been given anything to do. Lieutenant Meade had done an excellent job for Taylor, but he was sent back to Washington, thus ending his Mexican War career.
Scott attempted to acquire draft and pack animals needed for his march. Many which had been brought by ship had been lost in the northers. The nearby coastal towns of Alvarado and Tuxpan were also taken, the latter with the assistance of Commander Franklin Buchanan, the future commander of both the CSS Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads and the CSS Tennessee at the Battle of Mobile Bay. Scott took action to move the army to Jalapa before yellow fever season began and, on April 8, started marching his army up the National Road.
Santa Anna raised a force to meet him. The Americans first encountered the Mexicans at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. The name means Big Hill, and the Mexicans had fortified it. Half a mile further was another hill called Atalaya and beyond that still another one called Telegraph Hill, both of which were also fortified. The Mexican front had to be reconnoitered. Among those Scott sent out were Lieutenant P.G.T. Beauregard and Captain Robert E. Lee. Captain Joseph E. Johnston of the Topographical Corps had been shot and wounded in an earlier attempt. Johnston’s reconnaissance had indicated that there may be a secondary path around the Mexican lines. Lee needed to find out if there was one because the Mexicans had the approaches along the National Road fortified. The Mexican right rested on a river called the Rio del Plan. Lee would have to find ravines on the U.S. left for the army to attack the Mexicans.
Lee set out in the morning. The ground was thick with vegetation and stream beds, which made the going slow. When he came between Atalaya and Telegraph Hill, he found a spring and stopped to drink. Then, he suddenly heard Spanish speaking voices and laid down behind a log out of sight. As soon as he did, a squad of Mexican soldiers came there for a water break. Lee lay motionless. One group of Mexican soldiers after another came there for water. As they did so, they sat on the same log that he was hiding behind. Lee was fluent in both Spanish and French and also knew some German, so he could understand what the soldiers were saying. They had fought with Santa Anna at Buena Vista and were exhausted from the march from there to Cero Gordo. Lee also learned that bronchial and digestive illnesses were rampant among them and that many of them thought that Scott’s army was unbeatable. Lee lay there all day until night, when the last of the Mexican soldiers left. He then left and returned to the U.S. lines. He had inadvertently discovered the path that the Americans needed to reach the Mexican rear. When Lee returned, Scott asked him why he had been away for so long, but after Lee told him why and what he had found, Scott sent Lee out to widen the path so that it could be used by an entire army, including horses and cannons. Lee did this under cover of night so the Mexicans would not know. Scott then sent Lee to show the way for a division of soldiers. This was the first time Lee led troops into battle.
Early on the morning of April 17, Lee led Twiggs’ division down his mountain road. They hoped to block the National Road to prevent Santa Anna’s army from escaping. Keeping silence, they moved into position, then attacked the enemy and drove him off to Atalaya. By the early afternoon, they were firing on the Mexicans on Telegraph Hill, where they were able to see Santa Anna. Lieutenant Jackson was one of the artillery specialists who helped to haul the guns to the top of the hill. Lieutenant Dabney H. Maury, a future Confederate general, had his left arm shattered by a musket ball. The next day, Lee led a brigade of soldiers from Twiggs’ division to find the way to the National Road. While the attack on Telegraph Hill from Atalaya was under way, Shields followed a path similar to Lee’s to seek to find the Mexicans. Pillow’s forces moved along the wrong route but ended up moving on the Mexican rear. These forces ended up cutting off the Mexican escape route along the National Road. Bregadeir General James Shields, a future Union General, was wounded and succeeded in command by Colonel Edward D. Baker, who had just been succeeded in his seat in Congress by Abraham Lincoln. Baker was to be killed in the Battle of Balls Bluff in the War Between the States. Captain John B. Magruder, another future Confederate general and Jackson’s commander, had the Mexican guns turned upon the fleeing enemy. The Mexicans retreated and the battle was over by 10:00 A.M. The enemy had to flee so fast that Santa Anna left his carriage behind, which was captured by the 4th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In it, they found $18,000 in gold, his chicken lunch, and his prosthetic leg. The leg was on display in the Illinois State Capitol Building in Springfield for many years. It is now on display at the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield. This incident also inspired a song to the tune of “The Girl I Left behind Me” called “The Leg I Left behind Me.” It goes like this:
“At Cerro Gordo my hopes were dashed, my scattered troops remind me.
“‘Twas there I got so soundly thrashed that I left my leg behind me,
“I dare not go to view the place, lest Yankee foes should find me,
“And mocking shake before my face the leg I left behind me.”
And another song entitled “Along the Plains of Mexico” had this line:
“Santa Anna had a wooden leg…
“Those Illinois boys, they took it away.”
Santa Anna’s army disintegrated after the Battle of Cerro Gordo and Scott’s army advanced to Jalapa. Polk also decided to raise the blockade and to open Mexican ports to commerce requiring payment of duties to be worked out by the Treasury Department and to be collected by navy and army commanders. The Volunteer regiments were under one year enlistments which were about to expire. Therefore, new regiments had to be raised before the campaign could continue. Scott then advanced his army to Puebla, then the second city of Mexico, to await reinforcements. The quartermaster was assigned to purchase food for the army from local farmers. One of the officers in this detail was Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant.
Scott tried to reach out to the Mexicans to negotiate peace, but on July 27, Mexican General Gabriel Valencia arrived from San Luis Potosi in Mexico City with his Army of the North. Their presence caused the Mexican officials to reject all peace overtures. At the same time, reinforcements were on their way from Vera Cruz, consisting of volunteer regiments, a battalion of 300 marines, and a force of regulars under the command of Brigadier General Franklin Pierce, a future U.S. President who was to defeat his commander, Winfield Scott, in the 1852 Presidential election. They had to repair two destroyed bridges and repel five attacks along the way, but they arrived at Puebla on August 6.
These being his next known reinforcements to arrive, Scott set out the next day for the Valley of Mexico, in which Mexico City was located, with an army of 10,738 men. He left 1,800 sick and a garrison of 400 behind in Puebla. A practicable route to Mexico City had to be found. Assigned to find it was Major Robert E. Lee (he had been promoted for his service at Cerro Gordo), assisted by Lieutenants P.G.T. Beauregard, George B. McClellan, and Isaac I. Stevens. They found that the route leading around Lake Chalco to its east, which was the most direct route to the capitol city, was too heavily fortified at San Antonio and that it went through marshy ground. Twiggs’ division was moved to Ayotla as a diversion to give the appearance of an advance in that direction. The main army moved to San Agustin, which was nine miles from Mexico City. It was found there that Santa Anna, who now commanded the Army of the North, had placed his forces in such a position that they could be transferred to either road on either side of Lake Chalco. To the east of San Agustin was a lava field called the Pedregal. Major Lee decided that a possible route across this field, if there was one, was the solution. He left with Lieutenants Beauregard and McClellan to reconnoiter the area, but ran into Valencia’s pickets, whereupon they retired. Lee then began building a road east of the Pedregal, then brought up light batteries, one of which was commanded by Captain John B. Magruder, and the rocket outfit of Lieutenant Jesse Reno. They came under fire and Magruder’s artillery returned fire. Lieutenant Preston Johnston, nephew of Joseph E. Johnston, had his leg torn off by a Mexican cannon ball and he lost his life. Jackson also kept up his fire. Magruder said that he “kept up the fire with briskness and effect. His conduct was equally conspicuous throughout the whole day, and I cannot too highly recommend him.”
The Battle of Contreras then began. The Americans fired for an hour, then ceased because they were not accomplishing anything. Pillow viewed the scene from Zacatepec Hill in the Pedregal. Scott joined him there and viewed the Mexican positions. The Mexicans were behind a ravine which Santa Anna thought was impassible. Twiggs then came up and then Shields during the night. The Americans used the cover of night to go through the ravine, which was full of rocks and watery clay, and take position behind a low hill. In the morning, the Americans attacked and the Mexicans fled. The battle was over very quickly. During the battle, Pierce’s horse tripped into a crevice and fell, pinning Pierce underneath and debilitating his knee. He hobbled through the rest of the battle.
Valencia then took his forces to the west of the Pedregal to the Battle of Churubusco. Worth moved to meet him there. Stevens observed from a church tower that Santa Anna was moving forces there. The Mexican fortifications in the town included a convent and a fort. Worth attacked the Mexican right and the enemy stood their ground but was driven from the convent’s church in an hour. The bridge in front of the fort and some Mexican troops in a cornfield on the U.S. right were also attacked. Twiggs then came in and ordered Pierce and Shields to attack the convent and to cut off the Mexican retreat. While Scott wanted Pierce to stay behind the lines and rest because of his injury, Pierce insisted on going into battle. He went in strapped to his saddle and ended up fainting because of the severe pain he was in. While Mexican artillery took a toll on them, the Americans pressed on until the battle became had to hand. One third of Shields’ brigade were killed or wounded. A captured 6-pounder and a howitzer were used against some Mexican dragoons. Captain Philip Kearney led a charge against the enemy. He suffered a wound in the left arm which caused him to lose it. He would later lose his life in the Battle of Ox Hill in the War Between the States. The enemy once again retreated.
Scott then moved his forces to Tacubaya, which was only two and a half miles southwest of Mexico City. As he had defeated the Mexican army before its capitol, he was hoping for an armistice. Scott received a reply from Mexican foreign minister J.R. Pacheco that the Mexican authorities would be willing to meet to discuss negotiations. Both the commanding generals accepted the terms and the diplomatic representatives then met to discuss the basis for a broader and more enduring peace. Meetings between Nicholas Trist, the negotiator appointed by the State Department, and Pacheco then began and other Mexican commissioners were selected to participate. However, negotiations broke down because the Mexicans made unreasonable demands, such as that the United States pay for Mexico’s war expenses. Immediately upon the end of the armistice, Scott received information that the Mexicans were melting church bells into cannons. Clearly, they were preparing for battle. Scott prepared to meet them. The supposed cannon foundry was at Molino del Ray. 500 yards from it was a stone building called Casa Mata which was surrounded by bastioned entrenchments. Between the two buildings was a battery with infantry support.
The Battle of Molino del Ray began when Worth moved against this position at dawn. Captain Ephraim Kirby Smith commanded the light battalion and the infantry was supported by two 24-pounder siege guns on the right flank. As at Monterrey, the Mexicans fired down on the Americans from the roof of Molino del Ray. The first attack was soundly repulsed with heavy casualties, including most of the officers. But the Americans counterattacked. Major Edwin V. Sumner, who was later to command the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac, led the attack with his 270 men. Lieutenant Winfield S. Hancock fought at the front of his men of the 6th U.S. Infantry. The Americans broke through two gates in the foundry, one on the south side and the other on the northwestern corner. At the latter, Captain Robert Anderson, later to become the Union’s defender of Fort Sumter, was wounded leading the way in. As the Americans forced their way in, the Mexicans retreated, but did so slowly and put up great resistance as they did. Those on the roofs were cut off from retreat and surrendered. The Mexicans also lost their battery. Captain Ephraim Kirby Smith, the brother of Edmund Kirby Smith, lost his life in this battle.
The next day, Scott held a council of war with the engineers to determine the best approach to Mexico City. Lee and the majority of the others agreed on an attack on the city from the south. However, Beauregard dissented and argued the idea of coming in from the west and was supported by Pierce. As there were not adequate roads and there was marshy land to the south, Scott agreed with Beauregard. The first step would be to capture Chapultepec. It had been built in 1785 as the home of Bernardo de Galvez. Galvez had been the governor of Spanish Louisiana, which included Texas, at the time of the Revolutionary War. His campaigns against and defeat of the British in the Gulf led to the relief of the French fleet there under Admiral Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse so that it could assist Lieutenant General George Washington’s army at Yorktown, Virginia. Since 1833, Chapultepec had been the Mexican Military College. It is now the National Museum of History. It had been built on a ridge of rock rising nearly 200 feet above the plain. On September 11, batteries were positioned to the south and southwest under Lee’s supervision by Captain Benjamin Huger, who was to become a Confederate division commander. Meanwhile, Twiggs made a demonstration against the southern gate of the city. The Battle of Chapultepec began the next day.
That morning, the artillery opened fire. When Mexican General Nicolas Bravo called for reinforcements, Santa Anna refused, not wanting to expose more of his troops to the fire. Two storming parties of 250 men each were organized under Twiggs and Pillow. They carried with them ladders, pickaxes, and crowbars. The next day, on September 13, there was a cessation in the artillery fire and the Americans advanced. Among those advancing were Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Johnston with the infantry and Lieutenants Thomas J. Jackson and Jesse Reno and Captain John B. Magruder with the artillery. The Americans were subject to fire from Chapultepec. Shields and Pillow were both wounded in the advance. As they reached Chapultepec, Lieutenant Louis A. Armistead of the 6th US Infantry was wounded. Not far behind Armistead, Lieutenant James Longstreet was wounded carrying the Stars and Stripes. He then handed the colors to Lieutenant George E. Pickett who continued carrying them. When Chapultepec was captured, Pickett lowered the Mexican flag over it and raised that same U.S. flag he was carrying in its place. Santa Anna was at the National Palace in Mexico City and saw that flag go up from there. When he saw it, he said to Ampudia, “If we were to plant our batteries in hell, the damned Yankees would take them from us.” Ampudia replied, “God is a Yankee.” This flag is now in the West Point Museum. Martin Dugard says in his book The Training Ground:
“Mexican muskets along Chapultepec’s walls and a Mexican gun battery defending the road now focused their fire on [Lieutenant Thomas J.] Jackson’s audacious charge. A ditch soon blocked his path, forcing Jackson to order his men to dismount and then push and pull the two 6-pounders to the other side by hand. They were fully exposed to Mexican fire. One gun was successfully dragged across, but Jackson’s men then lost their nerve and raced for cover ‘The horses were killed or disabled, and the men became so demoralized that they deserted the guns and sought shelter behind a wall or embankment,’ one American officer later wrote. ‘Lieutenant Jackson remained at the guns, walking back and forth, and kept saying, “See, there is no danger. I am not hit.”’
Dugard continues, “Jackson stopped for a moment and planted his feet. As he did so, a cannonball passed between his legs.
“One man, a sergeant, gamely stepped to Jackson’s side. With just one gun at their disposal, the two men strained to spin it around toward the enemy position. Turning the six-pounder, with a weight of 880 pounds, was no easy task, but Jackson would not be deterred. He and the sergeant successfully took aim at the Mexican lines, manning the gun by themselves when the rest of his troops refused to stand up and fight. The turning point was Captain John Magruder’s coming to Jackson’s aid – though on foot, after his horse had been shot out from under him. Jackson’s men finally rose and dragged the remaining cannon out of the ditch and destroyed the Mexican cannons that were blocking the road. Soon, the Eleventh and Fourteenth infantries moved forward, as planned.”
At the eastern end, Captain Silas Casey, who commanded a storming party and would become a division commander in the Army of the Potomac, was wounded. His command then fell to Captain Gabriel Paul, who would become a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac and would be blinded by a wound at Gettysburg. His storming party included Lieutenant Frederick Steele, who would command a division in Grant’s army at Vicksburg, and Lieutenants Daniel Harvey Hill and Barnard E. Bee, future Confederate generals, the latter of whom gave Jackson his sobriquet “Stonewall” at First Manassas, where he was killed. Chapultepec was taken in an hour.
The taking of Chapultepec did not end the fighting, however. Mexican troops advanced from the city and were met by Americans of Pierce’s 14th U.S. Infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Paul O. Hebert, a future Confederate general. The Americans fought all the way to Mexico City.
As the San Cosme Road was clogged with Mexican soldiers, Jackson had his artillery fire down it, which cleared it. Having fought for three days without sleep or rest, Major Lee fell faint from his horse. Fitz John Porter was wounded, as were future Confederate generals Beauregard, Earl Van Dorn, Mansfield Lovell, and Adley H. Gladden. Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant traveled beneath a city aqueduct which ran parallel to the San Cosme Road while Jackson’s artillery was clearing it. He had to stop at one point when he encountered Mexican artillery but was able to proceed after Jackson drove it back. When they reached the city gates however, the way was manned by Mexican troops. Grant noticed that a church overlooking the enemy positions had a belfry.
Dugard writes again:
“Grant persuaded an artillery unit to dismantle one of their lightweight mountain howitzers….
“The gun was hauled up the belfry’s narrow wooden steps, piece by piece, then reassembled in the steeple. Grant then gave the order to open fire.”
“The results were immediate. ‘Shots from our little gun dropped in upon the enemy and created great confusion. Why they did not send out a small party and capture us, I do not know.’
“Grant and the artillery specialists kept right on firing.”
Other Americans imitated Grant and hoisted guns to the roofs of houses, among which were Lieutenants Reno, Henry Hunt, and Raphael Semmes. Major General John A. Quitman was so impressed with Grant that he sent one of his staff officers to bring Grant to him, whereupon Quitman expressed his gratitude to Grant for his service. That staff officer, who was also present with them at that meeting, was Lieutenant John C. Pemberton, who was to surrender Vicksburg to Grant on July 4, 1863.
As the Americans entered Mexico City, Santa Anna evacuated his army and fled to Guadalupe Hidalgo, which is north of the city. Scott’s army then occupied Mexico City. The U.S. flag was raised over Mexico’s National Palace and Scott slept there that night guarded by a squad of U.S. Marines. The National Palace is also known as the Halls of Montezuma, by which name it is immortalized in “The Marines’ Hymn.” Scott made Quitman Governor of the City of Mexico. This ended all major fighting, though Mexican guerilla activity continued until the peace treaty was ratified.
The United States army in the Mexican War was outnumbered four to one, yet it won every single battle except the opening one. The reason for this was because of the superior military training so many of its officers received at West Point. The Mexican War was the first war after the founding of the U.S. Military Academy to allow significant numbers of West Point graduates to participate. The War of 1812 came too soon after the Academy’s founding to allow for this. Superior weapons technology was also another important factor in the U.S. victory.
Winfield Scott was promoted to Brevet Lieutenant General for his services in the Mexican War. He was the only other person to receive the rank of Lieutenant General before the War Between the States besides George Washington. The Duke of Wellington proclaimed him “”the greatest living general” after his capture of Mexico City. Robert E. Lee said that “the great cause of our success [in Mexico] was our leader [Scott].” There were two generals in the War Between the States who were named after Scott: Winfield Scott Hancock, a Union general, and Winfield Scott Featherston, a Confederate general. Winfield Scott Schley, a rear admiral in the Union navy in the War Between the States and the U.S. navy in the Spanish-American War, was also named after him. There is an equestrian statue of General Scott at Scott Circle in Washington, D.C.
After the Mexican War, Scott said that Robert E. Lee was “the very best soldier I ever saw in the field.” He said that he regarded him as being worth 50,000 men and that Congress should insure his life for $5 million. At the beginning of the War Between the States, Scott recommended Lee to President Abraham Lincoln as the officer who should command the Union forces.
The following recollection appeared in Confederate Veteran magazine for September 1913:
“Abraham Lincoln once asked General Winfield Scott this question: ‘Why is it that you were once able to take Mexico City in three months with five thousand men, and we have been unable to take Richmond with one hundred thousand men?’
“‘I will tell you sir,’ said General Scott, ‘The men who took us into Mexico City are the same men who are keeping us out of Richmond.’”
The fact that Scott was a Virginian and stayed with the Union during the War Between the States cannot go without comment. Scott received his education at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia before West Point was founded. Thus, he did not study from A View of the Constitution of the United States of America by William Rawle, which was taught at West Point when future Confederate and Union military leaders attended there. This text taught that one’s first allegiance was to his state and that in the event of a choice between one’s state and the Federal Government, his first allegiance was to his state. Scott had been a general since the War of 1812 and General-in-Chief since before the Mexican War. His professional experience was with the army on the national level and he had lost contact with his native state. He was 74 years old when the War Between the States began. He was no longer able to mount a horse and had been suffering from gout, dropsy, rheumatism, and vertigo since before the war, but he was unable to retire because no pensions were paid at that time. When the war began, Congress ratified pensions for military personnel. This allowed him to retire, which he did three days after the First Battle of Manassas. He turned 75 before that battle and his state of infirmity prevented him from being able to be present at it. The newspapers of the day attributed the Anaconda Policy, which was the blockade of Confederate ports, to him and this has been repeated in the history books. However, more recent research in primary source materials has revealed that it was Gideon Welles, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, who was responsible for the policy, not Scott.
While the U.S. army occupied Mexico City, an organization of officers who served in that war was formed. It was called the Aztec Club of 1847 and many of its members were to become both Confederate and Union generals. At some point when Scott’s army was at Puebla and Grant’s job there was to purchase produce from local farmers, Lee had encountered Grant and dressed him down for his disheveled appearance. His wording was so harsh that Grant never forgot it, and he reminded Lee of it at Appomattox. But something else happened there. Soldiers from both sides began meeting in front of the Court House. Things which drew them together again after fighting on opposite sides for four years were that West Point classmates and soldiers of the old army met again. One conflict in particular which they remembered each other from as former comrades in arms was the Mexican War. Such friendships continued after the War Between the States.
On Decoration Day, May 30, 1885, there was a commemoration at the Sharpsburg battlefield in Maryland. Major General George B. McClellan, who had commanded the Army of the Potomac in that battle, was the speaker. It was the first time he had visited the battlefield since he had commanded that army there in 1862. But in addition to his veterans who wore the blue, Colonel Henry Kyd Douglas, who had been a staff officer of Lieutenant General Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson, an 1846 West Point classmate of McClellan’s, was also there with other veterans of the gray. Douglas had McClellan come to his home in Hagerstown, Maryland afterwards. The commander of the Army of Northern Virginia in that battle, Robert E. Lee, had passed on fifteen years before.
What did McClellan say to those veterans of both sides as they came together in peace so many years later? He said, “Those who fought on either side; men who, clad in grey, followed the noble Lee….and we who wore the blue,” were both there with a common purpose, “to testify our reverence for the valiant dead.” He urged, “Let us bury all animosity, all bitter recollections of the past….I am glad, inexpressibly glad, that I have been permitted to live until the fame and exploits of these magnanimous rivals have become the common property of our people; when the ability and virtues of Robert Lee, and the achievements of the magnificent Army of Northern Virginia, as well as the heroism and renown of the proud Army of the Potomac, have already become a part of the common heritage of glory of all the people of America.” He said that he wished that he could just once more take Lee by the hand, “that splendid man and soldier,” as he had “in those long past days when we served together in the land of the Montezumas.”
Sources:
Robert Selph Henry, The Story of the Mexican War. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1950; reprinted, New York: Da Capo Press, 1989.
Justin Harvey Smith, The War with Mexico, 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1919.
John R. Kenly, Memoirs of a Maryland Volunteer: War with Mexico, in the Years 1846-8. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1873, reprinted, Michigan Historical Reprint Series, Ann Arbor: Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan University Library, 2006.
John G. Waugh, The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox: Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and Their Brothers. New York: Warner Books, 1994.
Martin Dugard, The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.
Douglas Southall Freeman, R.E. Lee: A Biography, 4 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934, Volume I, pp. 200-300.
Glenn Tucker, Hancock the Superb. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1960; reprinted, Dayton, OH: Press of Morningside Bookshop, 1980, pp. 36-44.
Michael A. Riley, “For God’s Sake, Forward!” Gen. John F. Reynolds, USA, Farnsworth House Civil War Commanders #4. Gettysburg, PA: Farnsworth House Military Impressions, 1995, pp. 10-16.
William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States of America, 2nd Edition, 1829, reprinted, ed. by James R. and Walter D. Kennedy, Wake Forest, NC: Scuppernog Press, 2020.
The views expressed at AbbevilleInstitute.org are not necessarily those of the Abbeville Institute.
I am heartened to read encomiums from George McClellan for his former fellow officers and enemies. It is a fact that the Myths of the Righteous Cause axis of Lincoln, Grant and Sherman treat McClellan little better than Davis, Lee and Jackson. He didn’t kill enough people, his own and Confederate, to satisfy Yankee blood-lust.
Interested reading leads to the knowledge that Mac actually commanded a fine campaign at Sharpsburg and had a better understanding of a successful grand strategy than his war department. After retreating to the James from near besiegement of Richmond in July 1862, he wished to remain staged from the river with unassailable protection of the Yankee navy, and tying the Confederate army down to protect Richmond. Lincoln insisted his own capital be protected, thereby answering Confederate prayers and allowing Lee two years of remarkable victories and near-misses in “Northern Virginia” and the near-North. Grant, finally, after failing to defeat Lee in combat, crossed the James to City Point and Petersburg. Weeks earlier Lee had warned of the event, It will be only a matter of time. Nine months. Perhaps it would have been only a matter of time two years earlier.
Lee, reportedly, when asked who his toughest opponent was, replied “General McClellan, by all odds.” Expert Yankees scoff at the answer.
“Lee, reportedly, when asked who his toughest opponent was, replied “General McClellan, by all odds.” Expert Yankees scoff at the answer.”
The modern media, talkies, etc, will often talk of the greatness of Grant, Sherman Sheridan while often adding what a timid, weak, slow-to-act dolt McClellan was. It is often from the usual suspects of this media who know little and speak as if it is so (that they know little)
I’ll defend anyone ‘needs defending. Even a Yankee. Little Mac because they use him, painting him as inept, to diminish Lee and his army. Meade the same, everybody from Lincoln to the Civil War Roundtable insisting Lee”was within your grasp” on the retreat from Gettysburg when, in truth the Yankees had been clobbered within an inch of defeat. Both were good soldiers and men… except for the war on the Southern states part.
Mr. Duskin, where can I find a transcript of George McClellan’s speech from May 30, 1885? I have found, online, only fragments, or citations of contemporary newspapers without access.
What a great and wonderful essay of grand American history! Mr. Duskin, thanks so much for all of the fine research and for publishing this. And thanks to the Abbeville Institute for sharing it with those who appreciate this nation’s history. I feel my response may be over-enthusiastic, but I am reminded of my 8th grade SC state history teacher, Mrs. Boynton. She really brought history to life for me such a very long time ago. I really wish that our schools would actually teach American history and instill in our children how awesome our ancestors really were.
Didn’t expect to learn this much about “The Training Ground for the War Between the States” from a blog comment section, honestly. Siemens PLC Supplier was a helpful companion read too.