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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33568-8.txt b/33568-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdbd321 --- /dev/null +++ b/33568-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6386 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the War Between Mexico and the +United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1, by Brantz Mayer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1 + +Author: Brantz Mayer + +Release Date: August 29, 2010 [EBook #33568] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICAN WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Ant. Lopez de S^ta Anna] + + + + +[Illustration: BATTLE +of +PALO ALTO +8^th. May 1846. +Lith. by E. Weber & Co. Balto.] + + + + +[Illustration: BATTLE +of +RESACA DE LA PALMA +9^th May 1846. +Lith. by E. Weber & Co. Balto.] + + + + + HISTORY OF THE WAR + + BETWEEN + + MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES, + + WITH A PRELIMINARY VIEW OF ITS ORIGIN; + + BY + + BRANTZ MAYER, + + FORMERLY SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES LEGATION IN MEXICO, + AND AUTHOR OF "MEXICO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS." + + + + Ne dites ŕ la posterité que ce qui est digne de la posterité.--VOLTAIRE. + + + VOLUME I. + + + NEW YORK & LONDON. + WILEY AND PUTNAM. + + MDCCCXLVIII. + + + + + Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by + + BRANTZ MAYER, + + in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the District of Maryland. + + + + +BOOK FIRST: + +PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE ORIGIN + +OF THE WAR. + + + + +HISTORY OF THE WAR + +BETWEEN + +MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES. + + + + +BOOK I. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Introductory views of Mexico--The people and government. + + +The war which broke out between the United States of North America and +the Mexican Republic, in the spring of 1846, is an event of great +importance in the history of the world. Profound peace had reigned among +Christian nations, since the downfall of Napoleon; and, with the +exception of internal discords in France, Belgium, Poland and Greece, +the civilized world had cause to believe that mankind would henceforth +resort to the cabinet rather than the field for the settlement of +international disputes. The recent conflicts between the French and the +Arabs in Algeria, and between the British and Indian races, have been +characterized by ferocity and endurance. But, it will be recollected +these encounters took place between nations unequal alike in religion, +morals, law, and civilization. The temper or character of Mahomedans was +not to be measured by that of Christians nor had we just reason to hope +for a pacific or temporizing spirit in people whose savage habits have +ever rendered them prompt to return invasion by a blow, and make war the +precursor of negotiation. It was, thus, reserved for the Mexicans, whose +blood is mixed with that of an Arab ancestry, to exhibit the spectacle +of continual domestic broils, and, latterly of a positive warfare +against a nation whose friendly hand was the first to summon them into +the pale of national independence. + +The disorganized condition of our neighbor for nearly thirty years, may, +partly account for and palliate this fault. With administrations +shifting like the scenes of a drama, and with a stage, at times dyed +with blood, and at others imitating the mimic passions and transports of +the real theatre, it may be confessed that much should be pardoned by a +forbearing nation whose aggregate intelligence and force are not to be +compared with the fragmentary and impulsive usurpations in Mexico. To +judge faithfully of the justice or injustice of this war, and to +comprehend this history in truth and fairness, we must not only narrate +in chronological order the simple events that occurred between the two +nations; but the student of this epoch must go back a step in order to +master the scope and motives of the war. He must study the preceding +Mexican history and character; and, it will speedily be discovered that +when he attempts to judge the Spanish republics by the ordinary +standards applied to free and enlightened governments, he will signally +fail in arriving at truth. He must neither imagine that when the name of +Republic was engrafted on the Mexican system, that it accommodated +itself at once to our ideal standard of political power, nor that the +dominant faction was willing to adopt the simple machinery which +operates so perfectly in the United States. There are many reasons why +this should not be the case. The Spanish race, although it has achieved +the most wonderful results in discovery, conquest, colonial settlement, +diplomacy, feats of arms, and success of domestic power, has proved +itself, within the present century, to be one of the few opponents of +the progressive principles of our age. A Castilian pride of remembered +greatness, and a superstitious reluctance to cast off the bondage of the +past, have made the Spaniards content to cling devotedly to their +ancient edifice without bestowing on it those repairs or improvements +without which governments, must evidently crumble and decay. Spain +believed that what had produced national power and greatness in one age +must ever continue to effect the same results, and, thus, she was +content to bear the evils of the present time rather than disjoint a +fragment of her ancient temple, lest the whole should fall in +indiscriminate ruin. The blindness of national vanity was made more +profound by the universal glare of progressive civilization that +surrounded this doomed country, whilst superstitious influences clogged +every avenue to progress which might have saved and regenerated both the +parent and her colonies. + +It may be urged by the apologists for Spain, that, being nearly as deep +in moral, political and social degradation as France was at the period +of the revolution, she naturally contemplated such an event with horror, +especially when she remembered the sensitive and excitable race that +peopled her vallies and sierras, and the likelihood that the bloody +dramas of Paris would be frightfully exaggerated in Madrid. But I still +believe that the true cause will be found more deeply seated, in the +nature of the people; and that Spain,--made up as she is of many +nations, incompetent for self-government, uneducated and bigoted,--will +ever be content to find her ideal future in her traditionary past. + +Spain and the Spaniards have few more zealous admirers than the author +of this history. The nation contains individuals who in patriotism, love +of liberty, and devotion to science, literature, and art, are +unsurpassed by any people of the world. As Americans we owe a debt of +gratitude to the noble discoverers and conquerors of this continent. In +deeds of bravery, in chivalrous enterprise, and in intellectual power, +with what people may they not be matched in their perfect period. But +their golden age has passed, and manifold corruptions in church and +state have preyed upon the country with paralyzing influence. + +For a long time we received from England with the submissive credulity +of children, all her traditionary ignorance and abuse of Spain, much of +which was owing to political animosity, as well as to the rivalry that +grew up between that country and the rest of Europe during the reign of +Philip the second. But the study of her language, history and +literature, has unveiled the legendary falsehoods with which we were +cheated. Whilst a large portion of her past history should be admired +and lauded, her present downfall should be regarded with compassionate +censure and sympathy. We should endeavor, in writing history, to make +ourselves men of the times and nations we describe, and it is in this +manner alone, that we can establish the spiritual sympathy between +ourselves and foreign countries, which will enable us to enter into +their feelings and motives, and thus become not only merciful but true +and discreet judges. + + * * * * * + +The two great impressions made on this continent by the Spaniards were +in Mexico and Peru. Avarice and ambition induced the conquest of the +latter, while that of Mexico may also be attributed to the same motives, +although the hero who added the Aztec empire to the Spanish dominions, +modified his victories by personal qualities which were infinitely +superior to those of the conqueror of Peru.[1] Yet, in neither of these +great adventures do we find any of the fruits of peaceful acquisition, +or of those well regulated advances in civilization which always mark a +people whose conquest is undertaken under the immediate direction and +legal restraints of government. The conquests in America were, in truth, +chiefly individual enterprises, and, of course, could not be conducted +in a spirit of temperance and justice. The exploits of Cortéz and +Pizarro, especially those of the latter, are characterized by ferocity +and barbarism which would place them in the category with freebooters +and buccaneers, were they not saved from it by the splendor of their +successful results. The Indians of the countries they subjected to +Spain, were utterly vanquished; yet, unlike the hardy and warlike +aborigines of the north, they remained on their native soil, content to +serve or mingle with their conquerors.--Wherever the white man came at +the north, the Indian retreated to his congenial wilderness;--he could +not inhabit the same country or breathe the same air with the +intruder;--but, as the Spaniard advanced at the south, the +semi-civilization of the enervated native, induced him to linger near +the homes of his ancestors, and, with a tame heart, to obey his +conqueror rather than to resist him or enjoy the fierce independence of +the forest. + +The territory thus seized by violence was held by fear.--Loyalty can +never be the tenure of conquerors, and, especially, of the conquerors of +an inferior race. The Spaniard and Indian lived together in a spirit of +lordly dominion on the one hand, and of crushed dependence on the other, +whilst the Castilian derived from the native nothing but his habits of +savage life, and the Indian, in turn, learned nothing from the Castilian +but his vices. + +A conquest thus achieved, an empire founded in blood and terror, would +naturally seem to have a doubtful destiny. It is unquestionably true +that Spain made humane laws, and that Charles the Fifth passed a decree +by which his American possessions were declared to be integral parts of +the Spanish kingdom. It is true, moreover, that he sought to abolish the +special grants to discoverers and conquerors by which they were invested +with almost absolute authority; and, by mitigating the system +_repartimientos_[2] or of vassalage among the Indians, to raise them to +the dignity of Spanish subjects. But, at the same time, these humane +laws were badly administered in a country so difficult of access as +America was at that period from Spain; and viceroys and governors acted +as they pleased, with but little regard to the people or the country, +except for their individual interests. Whilst this system of +maladministration made the royal and beneficent laws nugatory, Spain +seems to have been engaged in creating a colonial system which was +calculated to paralyze the energies of Mexico and Peru. She taught them +to look exclusively to mining for wealth, and to their Indians for +labor. All the laws relative to the natural development of a new +country were disregarded, and civilized existence in America began on +artificial principles. The example of the last fifty years has proved +that America is capable of producing all the necessaries, and most of +the luxuries of life quite as abundantly as Europe. Yet, Spain denied +her colonies the privilege of an effort. For instance,--she resolved at +the outset not to allow them to be independent in agriculture, commerce +or manufactures. She would not permit them to cultivate the soil save +for the merest daily necessaries. Wine and oil were to be made in the +old world. Cotton and wool were not to be woven into the beautiful +fabrics for which the ancient Peruvians were so celebrated. The church +aided the strong arm of government by the weight of her exactions and +the power of superstitious control. The Inquisition put its veto on the +spread of knowledge by restraining the sale and publication of books. +Foreigners were not allowed to navigate Spanish seas or enter American +harbors. And these distant shores were only visited at stated seasons by +national vessels, carrying such produce at exorbitant prices, as Spain +might think proper to despatch from Seville or Cadiz.[3] + + * * * * * + +I have thought it proper to state in my introductory chapter, thus much +of the laws and system under which Mexico began her national +existence;--for laws modify the character whenever they are not +self-imposed. Let us now, for a moment consider the population which was +subjected to the bad administration of such laws; and we shall then +understand better the character of the belligerents. + +The blood of the Spaniards, even at home, is a mixed blood. But when we +remember the various races that have overrun, resided in, ruled, and +incorporated themselves with Spain, we cannot be surprised at detecting +so many and diverse characteristics in Mexico. The Celti-gallic, +Celt-Iberian, Carthagenian, Roman, Vandalic, Visigothic, and Moorish +blood have mingled again in Mexico and Peru with the Indian, and in some +cases have been dashed even with the Negro.[4] Mexicans are thus, as I +have observed elsewhere, grafts rather of the wild Arab on the American +Indian, than of the Spanish Don on the noble Aztec.[5] + +When Mexico was completely conquered and emigration began to fill up the +land, the soil was divided, in large estates, among the adventurers and +the Indians, by a system of _repartimientos_, were apportioned to the +land holders.[6] This created an absolute vassalage, and bound the +Indian, virtually and forever, to the spot where he was born. As it +became wearisome to the planters to dwell in the seclusion of these vast +and lonely estates, they left them and their Indians to the care of an +_administrador_, and retreated to the chief cities of the provinces or +to the capital. Thus all the intelligence and cultivation of Mexico +became compacted in the towns, whilst the original ignorance and +semi-civilization remained diffused over the country. It is, therefore, +not at all surprising to find that out of a population of seven +millions, four millions are Indians and only one million purely white, +while more than two millions, of the rest, are zambos, mestizos and +mulattos. Nor is it singular that of this whole population of seven +millions, not more than six hundred thousand whites and eighty thousand +of other castes, can read and write.[7] + +Indeed it may be said with truth,--as agriculture has received but +little attention beyond the ordinary wants of life, and as the great +proprietors of estates have chiefly devoted their attention to the +_raising of cattle_,--that the ancient nomadic habits of the Indian and +half-breed, have remained unchanged, and, consequently, that the great +body of this semi-civilized people is quite as much at home on horseback +with sword and lance as in the _corral_ or _hacienda_.[8] + +The RANCHERO, who has played so conspicuous a part in this war, +is the natural offspring of such a state of society. This class of men +is composed of individuals, half Spanish half Indian, who resemble the +_gauchos_ of the South American Pampas. Gaunt, shrivelled and bronzed by +exposure, though hardy and muscular from athletic exercise, they are, +indeed, the Arabs of our continent. Living half the time in their +saddles, for they are matchless horsemen, they traverse the plains and +mountains, with lasso[9] in hand, either searching for, or tending their +herds. The slaughter of beasts and preparation and sale of hides is +their chief means of livelihood, varied occasionally by the cultivation +of a small patch of ground, or by taking part in the civil wars that are +always waging. Their costume generally consists of a pair of tough +leggings of skin and leathern trousers, over which is a _serape_ or +blanket, with a hole in the centre large enough for the head to pass +through, whence it falls in graceful folds over the chest and shoulders, +leaving room for the play of hands and arms. Add to this a broad +_sombrero_, and the _lasso_, hanging ready for use at his saddle bow, +and the reader will have a picture of the _ranchero_ as he appears in +peace or in the ordinary pursuit of his occupation. Join to this garb a +long sabre, a horse as savage and untamed as himself, and a belt +plentifully studded with pistols and _machetes_, and the _ranchero_ +presents himself ready either to join a troop of banditti, or to serve +in a body of cavalry. + +Cowardly as they generally are in the open field when encountering +regular troops, yet, in ambuscade, a sudden fight, or, as _guerillas_, +they are both a formidable and cruel foe. Their power of endurance is +inexhaustible. Fatigue is almost unknown to them, and a scanty meal, +each day, of jerked beef and corn or plantain, is sufficient to sustain +them on the longest marches. + +Such are the _rancheros_, who, by discipline, might be rendered the best +light troops in the world. These are the men who form the material of +the Mexican cavalry; and they bear the same relation to the armies of +that republic that the Cossacks do to the Russians;--ever on the +alert,--easily lodged,--capable of supporting fatigue or hunger,--and +untiring in pursuit of an enemy, when even the most trifling plunder is +to be obtained.[10] + + * * * * * + +Another large and formidable body in Mexico is that of the _Indians_, +amounting, as we have seen, to four millions; whose knowledge of their +governors' language is generally confined to such phrases as will enable +them to buy and sell, or perform the ordinary functions of life. +Formerly they lived, and usually still live, in narrow huts built of +mud, thatched with straw or palm leaves, and which have scarcely the +merit of being picturesque. In these miserable lairs, they nestle with +their families, their domestic animals, and a table or altar on which +they erect a cross or place the figure of a patron saint. Their food is +mostly maize, and their dress corresponds with this grovelling +wretchedness. Five out of every hundred may perhaps possess two suits of +clothes, but their general vesture consists of a large cotton shirt, a +pair of leathern trousers, and a blanket. Even the Indian women, who +elsewhere, like their sex in civilized countries, are always fond of +personal adornment, exhibit no desire to appear decent or to rival each +other in tasteful ornaments when they go abroad. They are as foul and +ill-clad on their festivals at church, as in their hovels at home, so +that few things are more disgusting to a foreigner than to mingle in an +Indian crowd.[11] It is impossible to imagine such a population capable +of becoming landed proprietors; and, consequently, we find them +contented with the annual product of their small fields, amounting, +perhaps, to thirty or fifty _fanegas_ of corn. When they live on the +large estates of Mexican proprietors, they are, in reality, vassals, +although free from the nominal stain of slavery.[12] On these +plantations they are beaten when they commit faults, and, if then found +incorrigible, are driven beyond their limits,--a punishment deemed by +them the severest that can be inflicted, and which they bear with as +much difficulty as our Indians do their banishment from the "hunting +grounds" of their forefathers. When they have gained a little money by +labor, they hasten to squander it by making a festival in honor of their +favorite saint, and thus consume their miserable earnings in gluttony, +gambling, masses, fire works, and drunkenness. When it is not absolutely +necessary to toil for the necessaries of life,--especially in the +_tierras calientes_, or warmer portions of Mexico,--they pass their time +in utter idleness or sleep. Zavala declares that in many portions of +the country, the _curates_ maintain such entire dominion over the +Indians, that they order them to be publicly whipped whenever they fail +to pay their _ovenciones_, or tributes, at the regular time, or commit +some act of personal disobedience. But the degradation of this class +does not stop even here, for the same author alleges that he has +frequently seen many Indians and their wives flogged at the village +church door, because they had failed to come to mass upon some Sunday or +festival, whilst, after the punishment, these wretches were obliged to +kiss the hand of the executioner![13] + +It will be seen from this sketch and description that the vicious +colonial system of Spain formed only two great classes in America,--the +proprietor and the vassal,--and that, in the nature of things, it was +utterly impossible for the latter to amalgamate with the former except +by creating an inferior race, whose sympathies were with the Indian +rather than the Spaniard, and whose type is the nomadic _ranchero_. This +fact was proved in the revolution which broke out in Spanish America. +The war cry was against the Spaniard[14] and his pure descendants. The +_creole_[15] rose against the _gachupin_,[16] and the ferocity with +which the soldiers of old Spain carried on the war against the natives +confirmed their hereditary animosity. + + * * * * * + +The struggle for domestic power commenced as soon as the independence of +Mexico was achieved, and the people began to establish a system of +government upon a republican basis after the downfall of the Emperor +Iturbidé. The Spaniards had taught a lesson of privileged classes which +was never forgotten; so that, when the revolution took place, THE +PEOPLE were only used to effect national emancipation rather than +to establish general political liberty. + +The nobles or great proprietors, and the clergy, had, in the olden time, +formed the influential class of society which ruled the land. The theory +of republicanism was marvellously captivating so long as there was an +European foe to subdue. But, when the last remnant of Spanish power +disappeared, the men who had governed during the revolution were loath +to surrender power and subside into the insignificance of mere +citizenship. In such a country as Mexico, and in such a war as had just +occurred, this controlling influence in public affairs was, of course, +to be chiefly found in the army; so that when the nation looked around +for men to direct her at a period when Spain had not yet recognized her +independence and might again assail her, she naturally turned to the +military chieftains whose valor sustained her cause so bravely. Thus it +was that in her first moments of peace, the army obtained an important +ascendancy, which it has ever since contrived to retain during all +administrations. + +It is not just to the Spanish colonies to blame them for such a +procedure, especially when we remember that even our republic is +beginning to manifest a marked partiality for military men. The great +deed rather than the great thought,--the brilliant act rather than +beneficent legislation,--arrests and captivates the multitude. In +republics, where an eager strife for wealth, distinction or power, is +constantly going on, the notice and position that each man obtains must +be won either by intrigue or by the irresistible power of talents and +achievements. Ambitious parties sometimes even compromise for the +weakest, rather than yield the palm to superior merit of which they are +meanly jealous. The great mass of the country has no time to pause in +the midst of its earnest labor to meditate wisely on the political +abilities and moral claims of individuals. They cannot weigh them in the +golden scales of justice;--but, by a more rapid and easy process, they +yield their suffrages promptly to those whose manifestations of genius +or power are so resistless as to compel admiration. Thus is it that the +brave soldier, performing his noble exploit on the field of battle, +speaks palpably to the eye and ear of the greedy multitude. His is, +indeed, the language of action, and each new deed makes national glory +more distinct, and national vanity more confident. But the more quiet +and unobtrusive statesman, with a field infinitely less glaring or +attractive, exacts from his judges a suspension of party feeling, an +investigation of motive and merit, a calm and forbearing justice, which +the impatient masses have seldom the time or talent to bestow. It is, +therefore, by no means surprising to find in history, that the sword has +commonly been mightier than the pen, and that military chieftains become +the natural heads of republics which are created by long and bitter +revolutions. + +It must be remembered that the army in Mexico is not what armies are +generally understood to be in other countries. In Europe they are +designed to restrain the aggressive ambition of rival powers, to act as +military police, and, by their imposing skill, discipline and numbers, +to preserve the balance of national power. But in Mexico, whilst the +members of an immensely rich hierarchy constitute a distinct _order_ in +society, the army forms another.--The policy of the existing military +chieftains was to sustain, foster and increase their individual power +and patronage. The mere domestic police of the country could surely +never require, in time of peace, so large a numerical force under arms +as that which has always been supported in it; yet the military +presidents, at once, sought to establish an _army of officers_, and by +the enlistment of a body of commanders, entirely disproportionate to the +number of rank and file, they immediately created a _military order_ +upon whose support they could rely so long as they possessed the means +of patronage. The officers thus became armed and paid politicians, +whilst the common soldiers formed a military police;--the one an +element of all political revolutions, the other a tool by which those +revolutions were effected. The great practical idea of government, it +will be perceived, was derived from _compulsory force_. The church +wielded the spiritual power, whilst the army held the physical; and, +between the two, _the people_,--composed of merchants, professional men, +farmers, proprietors, and artisans,--were refused all participation in +authority, or progress in civil order which might have placed Mexico +among the foremost nations of the world. In this manner a central despot +has always found means and instruments to suppress federalism;--for +whilst near _thirty_ revolutions have occurred in Mexico since her +independence, every one of her presidents has been a military +chieftain.[17] + +Macaulay, in his essay on the life of Lord Bacon describes the condition +of England when she was governed by warriors whose rude courage was +neither guided by science nor softened by humanity, and by priests whose +learning and abilities were habitually devoted to the defence of power. +The description of that age in England is by no means inapplicable to +Mexico in the nineteenth century. "On the one side," says he, "the +Hotspurs, the Nevilles, the Cliffords, rough illiterate and +unreflecting, brought to the council-board the fierce and impetuous +despotism which they had acquired amid the tumult of predatory war or in +the gloomy repose of the garrisoned and moated castle. On the other side +was the calm and placid prelate, versed in all that was considered as +learning; trained in the schools to manage words, and, in the +Confessional, to manage hearts;--seldom superstitious, but skilful in +practising on the superstitions of others; false as it was natural for a +man to be whose profession imposed on all who were not saints the +necessity of being hypocrites;--selfish as it was natural that a man +should be who could form no domestic ties and cherish no hope of +legitimate posterity;--more attached to his order than to his country, +and guiding the politics of England with a constant side glance to +Rome."[18] + +And so it was in Mexico. The sojourner in her capital is continually +warned of this double dominion over the soul and body of the people. The +drum and the bell resound in his ears from morning to night fall. +Priests and soldiers throng the streets; and, whilst the former enjoy +the comfortable revenues which are derived from the one hundred millions +of property owned by the church, the latter live upon the labor of the +people, whom they are paid to control and transfer from one military +despot to another. + +The Mexican revolution,--like the revolutions of England, but unlike +that of France,--was political rather than social. The great foundations +of society were therefore undisturbed, and the priest and soldier took +the ranks of the ancient privileged classes, whilst the mixed people and +the native Indians remained what they had ever been--the subjects of +government. + +Of all the officers who have commanded the army and enjoyed the +presidency, Santa Anna has occupied the most distinguished position +since the death of Iturbidé, and it is with him and the nation thus +described, that we shall deal in the following pages. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] See Prescott's Conquest of Peru, 2nd vol. pages 199: 245. + +[2] The word _repartimiento_ means, division, partition, distribution, +or apportionment. In the old Spanish historians and English books, such +as Zaraté, Garcilasso de la Vega, Fernandez, Robertson, it is uniformly +used to denote the well known allotment of lands and vassal Indians +(_genuine adscripti glebć_) granted to the first conquerors in reward of +their services. In some later writers, this word is applied to the +_monopoly of sales to the Indians_ exercised by the _corregedores_, +under pretext of protecting the Indians from imposition, by the official +distribution of goods. N. A. Review, vol. xx. p. 287. + +"Indeed the Spanish court made no scruple of regarding the Indians in +the same light as the beasts and the soil, disposing of them as the +rightful property of the crown; for it was not till 1537, nearly fifty +years after the discovery, that the Pope issued a mandate declaring them +to be really and truly men,--"_ipsos veros homines_,"--and capable of +receiving the Christian faith." N. A. Review, vol. xix. p. 198. + +[3] The American trade was confined to Seville until 1720, when it was +removed to Cadiz, as a more convenient port. On the subject of these +oppressions and misgovernment, see Zavala's "Revoluciones de Mexico," +Introduction;--and North American Review. vol. xx. p. 158. + +[4] The subjoined list shows the varieties of parentage and blood +forming the castes throughout Spanish America: + + PARENTS. + 1. ORIGINAL RACES. + WHITE. European _whites_ are called _gachupines_ or chapetones. + _Whites_, born in the colonies, are called creoles. + NEGRO. + INDIAN. + + PARENTS. CHILDREN. + 2. CASTES OF WHITE RACE. + White father and Negro mother Mulatto. + White father and Indian mother Mestizo. + White father and Mulatta mother Quarteron. + White father and Meztiza mother Creole, (only distinguishable + from the white by a + pale brown complexion.) + White father and China mother Chino-blanco. + White father and Quarterona mother Quintero. + White father and Quintera mother White. + + 3. CASTES OF NEGRO RACE. + Negro father and Mulatta mother Zambo-negro. + Negro father and Meztiza mother Mulatto-oscuro. + Negro father and China mother Zambo-chino. + Negro father and Zamba mother Zambo & Negro (perfectly + black.) + Negro father and Quarterona mother dark Mulatto. + Negro father and Quintera mother dark Mulatto. + + 4. CASTES OF INDIAN RACE. + Indian father and Negro mother Chino. + Indian father and Mulatta mother Chino-oscuro. + Indian father and Mestiza mother Mestizo-claro (often very + beautiful.) + Indian father and China mother Chino-cholo. + Indian father and Zamba mother Zambo-claro. + Indian father and China-chola mother Indian (with short, frizzly + hair.) + Indian father and Quarterona mother brown Meztizo. + Indian father and Quintera mother brown Meztizo. + + 5. MULATTO CORRUPTIONS. + Mulatto father and Zamba mother Zambo (a miserable race.) + Mulatto father and Zamba mother Chino (rather clear race.) + Mulatto father and China mother Chino (rather dark.) + +Besides these specified castes there are many others not distinguished +by particular names. The best criterion for judging is the hair of the +women which is infinitely less deceiving than the complexion. The short +woolly hair, or the coarse Indian locks may always be detected on the +head or back of the neck. This tabular statement exhibits at a glance +the mongrel corruptions of the human race in Spanish America, and forms +an interesting subject for students of physiology. See Tschudi's Peru, +p. 80, Am. Ed. + +[5] Preface to 3d Ed. of Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 12. + +[6] Zavala's "Revoluciones de Mexico," vol. 1. p. 15, gives an account +of the manner in which estates are divided in Mexico. + +[7] See Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 301. + +[8] _Corral_ signifies cattle yard; _hacienda_, plantation; _rancho_, +small farm. + +[9] _The lasso_ is a long rope, with a running noose at the end of it. +The Mexicans learn to fling this with great accuracy so as to catch a +bull, a horse, or a man with equal facility. All classes have some skill +in the use of this weapon, and I have seen children, with cords, +attempting to _lasso_ chickens and even butterflies! + +[10] See Head's Rough Notes of a Journey over the Pampas. The Mexican +ranchero is somewhat superior to the _gaucho_ of the Pampas. + +[11] Mexico as it was and is, p. 144. + +[12] Id. p. 201; and see Stephens' Travels in Yucatan,--where, he says, +the maxim is that "los Indios no oyen sino por las nalgas,"--the Indians +only hear through their backs. + +[13] Zavala Revoluciones de Mejico, vol. i, pp. 15, 16. "Este escandalo +estaba autorizado por la costumbre de mi provincia." Zavala was one of +the wisest and most illustrious patriots of Mexico. His History was +published in Paris in 1831. + +[14] It will be recollected that the outburst of the Mexican revolution +was not in favor of republicanism; but only against misgovernment. It +was not against the _form_ of rule, but against the _men_ who ruled. +Even the plan of Iguala offered the crown of Mexico to Ferdinand, as a +separate kingdom. See Robinson's Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution. + +"It is related that Hidalgo, the celebrated priestly leader of the +revolutionary movement, was accustomed to travel from village to village +preaching a crusade against the Spaniards, exciting the _creoles_ and +Indians; and one of his most effective tricks is said to have been the +following. Although he had thrown off the cassock for the military coat, +he wore a figure of the Virgin Mary suspended by a chain around his +neck. After haranguing the mob on such occasions, he would suddenly +break off, and looking down at his breast, address himself to the holy +image, after the following fashion: 'Mary! Mother of God! Holy Virgin! +Patron of Mexico! behold our country,--behold our wrongs,--behold our +sufferings! Dost thou not wish they should be changed? that we should be +delivered from our tyrants? that we should be free? that we should slay +the gachupines! that we should kill the Spaniards?' + +"The image had a moveable head fastened to a spring, which he jerked by +a cord concealed beneath his coat, and, of course the Virgin responded +with a nod! The effect was surprising--and the air was filled with +Indian shouts of obedience to the present miracle."--Mexico as it was +and as it is, p. 230. + +[15] The term _creole_ is a corruption of the Spanish word _criollo_, +which is derived from _criar_, to create or foster. The Spaniards apply +the term criollo not merely to the human race, but to animals born in +the colonies, if they are of _pure European blood_. + +[16] See Robinson's Memoirs Mexican Revolution, page 15. The term +_gachupin_ has been always used by the creoles and Indians as a word of +contempt towards the Spaniards. Its origin and exact signification are +unknown; but it is believed to be an Indian, and perhaps Aztec, term of +scorn and opprobrium. + +[17] A _federal_ government, similar to our own, was established in +Mexico in 1824, and overthrown in 1835, to yield to a _central_ +constitution. In the meanwhile, the centralists were almost always at +war, openly or secretly, against the _federalists_. + +[18] Macaulay's Essays, vol. 2d, p. 356, Bost. Ed. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Origin of the war considered--True objects of contemporaneous history + --Motives for war--No single act caused it--Difference between war + and hostilities--Mexican revolution--Federalism and Centralism-- + Operation of the Constitution of 1824--History of our commercial and + diplomatic relations--Bad conduct of Mexico in regard to our claims, + compared with that of other nations--Commission--Award of umpire-- + Subsequent course of Mexico--History of the seizure and surrender of + Monterey, on the Pacific, by Commodore Jones in 1842--Secretary + Upshur's censure of his conduct--Ill feeling in Mexico towards the + United States in consequence of this seizure. + + +An artist in portraying a face or delineating a landscape, does not +imprint upon his canvass, each line and wrinkle, each blade of grass or +mossy stone, yet a spectator recognizes in the complete painting, those +broad characteristics of truth which establish a limner's fidelity. So +it is with the historian. Whilst seeking for accuracy in all his +details, he aims, chiefly, at exactness in his ruling principles and +general effect, but he leaves the minute inelegances and tasteless +incidents to those whose critical fervor delights in detecting them. + +It is not alone in the detail of facts that the historian is liable to +incur censure, especially when he writes a contemporaneous narrative. It +is almost impossible to suppose that he will divest himself so +completely of party feeling, as to compose an unprejudiced work. Some +critics have even declared that a historian should possess neither +religion nor country, and would thus force us to believe it utterly +impossible to be impartial unless an author were an infidel or a +cosmopolite. + +The age is so characterized by political rancor and so little by true +statesmanship, that it is not surprising to hear such opinions even from +experienced and patient scholars. Yet I have always thought that a +writer who undertakes the task of delineating national annals in no +sectarian spirit but with broad and Christian tolerance,--honestly +seeking to do justice in politics and religion to all,--may so far +separate himself from the strifes of the day as to pronounce opinions as +honest, though perhaps not as learned, as those that issue from the +bench. + +There is, too, a great advantage which should not escape our notice in +recording contemporaneous history and fixing permanently the facts of +the time as they occur. He who describes events or periods long since +past, is forced to throw himself back, if possible, into the scenes of +which he writes, whilst he remains free from sympathy with their +factions and parties. But if a writer of the present day will place +himself on the impartial ground of religious and political freedom, and +make himself what Madame de Stael has so felicitously styled +"contemporaneous posterity," I think he will be better able than those +who come after us to narrate with vivid freshness the story of this +sanguinary war. + +The impression of public feeling both in Mexico and the United States is +still distinct in our recollection; the political motives influencing or +controlling both the great parties in our country, have not yet ceased +to operate; and the errors that may innocently creep into a narrative +may be corrected by intelligent men who took part in the war as soldiers +or civilians. A history thus dispassionately written, must, it seems to +me, have the truth and value of a portrait taken from life, rather than +of a sketch made from memory whose coloring lacks all the freshness of +vitality. + + * * * * * + +The very threshold of this history is embarrassed by the party +controversies to which I have alluded. The origin of the war was +attributed by the president and his adherents to the wrong doings of +Mexico, whilst the opponents of the executive did not hesitate to charge +its unnecessary inception and all its errors directly on the cabinet. +Documents, messages, speeches, essays, and reviews, were published to +sustain both sides of the question, and the whole subject was argued +with so much ability and bitterness, so much zeal and apparent +sincerity, that an impartial mind experiences extraordinary difficulty +in detecting the actual offender. That grievances existed in the conduct +of Mexico against us during a long series of years cannot be denied; +but, it is equally true, that, between governments well administered and +entirely reasonable on both sides, none of those provocations justified +war. Yet, when offended power on one side, and passion on the other, +become engaged in discussion, it requires but little to fan the smallest +spark into a flame, and thus to kindle a conflagration, which the +stoutest arms may fail to suppress. It frequently occurs in the affairs +of ordinary life, that neighbors are the bitterest enemies. Men often +dislike each other at their first interview, especially if they belong +to families in which mutual prejudices have existed. They find it +impossible to assign reasons for their aversion; nevertheless it exists +in all its marvellous virulence. A slight disagreement as to limits +between neighboring landholders, a paltry quarrel among servants, the +malicious representation of innocent remarks, a thousand vain and +trifling incidents, may effectually create a degree of ill feeling and +cause them never to meet without scornful looks and quickened pulses. +At length, this offensive temper is manifested in personal annoyance or +insulting language, and blows are struck in the first encounter without +pausing to debate the justice of an assault. It is with nations as it is +with persons. The boasted discretion of statesmen, and the provident +temper of politicians have, in all ages, failed to control the animosity +of mankind; and we thus find as much littleness in the conduct of +governments as in the petulance of men. + +I have therefore, in studying this subject carefully, been led to the +opinion that no single act or cause can be truly said to have originated +the war between the United States and Mexico; but that it occurred as +the result of a series of events, and as the necessary consequence of +the acts, position, temper, passions, ambition and history of both +parties since our international relations commenced. + +The reader will observe that I draw a distinction between the _war_ and +_hostilities_. I shall discuss the latter question in the portion of +this volume which relates to events on the Rio Grande.[19] + + * * * * * + +In the preceding chapter I have glanced at the character of the people +of Mexico, and I trust that the sketch I gave will be continually +remembered as illustrating the people with whom we are dealing. When our +first envoy, Mr. Poinsett, was despatched, he found Mexico pausing to +recover breath after her revolution. The bad government of Spain had +been followed by the turmoil and bloodshed of the rebellion, and that, +in turn, was succeeded by the anarchy of a distracted republic. +Revolution has followed revolution so rapidly since then, that the +historian, at a loss to discover their causes, can scarcely detect +their pretexts. For twenty years past we have been so accustomed to hear +of a new military outbreak in Mexico that the familiarized act seems to +be only the legitimate order of constitutional change. Passion, +ambition, turbulence, avarice, and superstition, have so devoured the +country, that during the whole of this period, Mexico, whilst presenting +to foreign nations, the external appearance of nationality, has, in +fact, at home, scarcely ever enjoyed the benefit of a real or stable +government that could make an impression upon the character of the +people or their rulers. It is true that, at first, she sought to adopt +our federal system; but the original difference between the colonial +condition of things in the two countries, made the operation of it +almost impossible. The British provinces of North America, with their +ancient and separate governments, very naturally united in a federation +for national purposes, whilst they retained their freedom and laws as +independent States. But the viceroyalty of Mexico, when it +revolutionized its government, was forced to reverse our system,--to +destroy the original central power, and, subsequently to divide the +territory into departments, or states. Until the year 1824, nothing of +this kind existed in Mexico. The whole country from the Sabine to its +utmost southern limit, was under the central rule of a viceroy, with the +same laws, religion, priests, judges, and civil as well as military +authorities. The constitution of 1824, for the first time broke up the +consolidated nation into nineteen states, and then, by the same +legislative act, recomposed them in a federative union. The +constitutions of these nineteen states, consequently, were creative of +differences that never existed before, and the unity of power, will, and +action, which previously existed was destroyed forever. This was, +naturally the origin of jealousies, parties, and sectional feeling; and +the result was, that the revenues of the country became wasted whilst +their collection was impeded, and that a people unused to freedom and +chiefly composed of illiterate _creoles_, were confounded by a scheme of +government whose machinery was too intricate.[20] + +The state and municipal governments of Mexico were, consequently, always +quite as incompetent for self-rule as the central authority. In addition +to this, they were cordially jealous of the national powers. This arose +from the state fears of consolidation; and, as it was with these +municipal authorities, as well as with the corrupt government officers, +that our citizens were chiefly brought in contact in the ports, it is +not at all wonderful to find them soon complaining of oppression and +burthening the records of our legation with their grievances. When our +ministers sought to obtain redress, the Mexican government was reluctant +to undertake the investigation of the subject; and, when it did so, +continually encountered delay and equivocation on the part of the local +authorities. The distant peculator was anxious to escape the penalty of +his fault by procrastination, and the Mexican secretary of state, ever +willing to uphold his national pride by concealing or not confessing the +villainy of his subordinate, was ready to sustain him by an interminable +correspondence. + +The history of the diplomatic and commercial relations between the +United States and Mexico, as exhibited by congress in all the published +volumes of national documents, presents a series of wrongs, which the +reader will find ably recapitulated in a report[21] made by Mr. Cushing +in the year 1842. Our claims, arising from injuries inflicted by Mexico, +were no ordinary demands founded on mere querulousness, or contrived +with a view to obtain money fraudulently from that republic. They were +brought to the notice of the ministry of foreign affairs by all our +envoys, and their justice urged with ample proof; until, at length, upon +the return of Mr. Powhatan Ellis to the United States, in the year 1837, +after demanding his passports, they became the subject of a message from +President Jackson in which he alleges that all his efforts of pacific +negotiation had been fruitless and that he found it both just and +prudent to recommend reprisals against Mexico. This serious aspect of +our difficulties immediately commended the subject to the notice of +committees in both houses of congress, and whilst they sustained the +president's opinion of the character of our wrongs, they recommended +that a forbearing spirit should still characterize our conduct, so that, +"after a further demand, should prompt justice be refused by the Mexican +government, we might appeal to all nations not only for the equity and +moderation with which we had acted towards a sister republic but for the +necessity which will then compel us to seek redress for our wrongs +either by actual war or reprisals."[22] + +"Shortly after these proceedings"--says President Polk--"a special +messenger was despatched to Mexico, to make a final demand for redress; +and on the 20th of July, 1837, the demand was made. The reply of the +Mexican government bears date on the 29th of the same month, and +contains assurances of the anxious wish of the Mexican government 'not +to delay the moment of that final and equitable adjustment which is to +terminate the existing difficulties between the two governments;' that +nothing 'should be left undone which may contribute to the speediest and +most equitable termination of the subjects which have so seriously +engaged the attention of the United States,' that the 'Mexican +government would adopt, as the only guides for its conduct, the plainest +principles of public right, the sacred obligations imposed by +international law, and the religious faith of treaties,' and that +'whatever reason and justice may dictate respecting each case will be +done.' The assurance was further given that the decision of the Mexican +government upon each cause of complaint, for which redress had been +demanded, should be communicated to the government of the United States +by the Mexican minister at Washington. + +"These solemn assurances, in answer to our demand for redress, were +disregarded. By making them, however, Mexico obtained further delay. +President Van Buren, in his annual message to congress of the 5th of +December, 1837, states that 'although the larger number' of our demands +for redress, and 'many of them aggravated cases of personal wrongs, have +been now for years before the Mexican government, and although the +causes of national complaint, and those of the most offensive character, +admitted of immediate, simple, and satisfactory replies, it is only +within a few days past that any specific communication in answer to our +last demand, made five months ago, has been received from the Mexican +minister;' and that 'for not one of our public complaints has +satisfaction been given or offered; that but one of the cases of +personal wrong has been favorably considered, and but four cases of both +descriptions, out of all those formally presented, and earnestly +pressed, have as yet been decided upon by the Mexican government.' +President Van Buren, believing that it would be vain to make any further +attempt to obtain redress by the ordinary means within the power of the +executive, communicated this opinion to congress, in the message +referred to, in which he said that 'on a careful and deliberate +examination of the contents,' of the correspondence with the Mexican +government, 'and considering the spirit manifested by the Mexican +government, it became his painful duty to return the subject, as it now +stands, to congress, to whom it belongs, to decide upon the time, the +mode, and the measure of redress.' + +"Instead of taking redress into our own hands, a new negotiation was +entered upon with fair promises on the part of Mexico. This negotiation, +after more than a year's delay, resulted in the convention of the 11th +of April, 1839, 'for the adjustment of claims of citizens of the United +States of America upon the government of the Mexican republic.' The +joint board of commissioners created by this convention to examine and +decide upon these claims was not organized until the month of August, +1840, and under the terms of the convention they were to terminate their +duties within eighteen months from that time. Four of the eighteen +months were consumed in preliminary discussions on frivolous and +dilatory points raised by the Mexican commissioners; nor was it until +the month of December, 1840, that they commenced the examination of the +claims of our citizens upon Mexico. Fourteen months only remained to +examine and decide upon these numerous and complicated cases. In the +month of February, 1842, the term of the commission expired, leaving +many claims undisposed of for want of time. The claims which were +allowed by the board and by the umpire, authorized by the convention to +decide in case of disagreement between the Mexican and American +commissioners, amounted to _two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred +and thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents_. There were pending +before the umpire when the commission expired additional claims which +had been examined and awarded by the American commissioners, and had not +been allowed by the Mexican commissioners, amounting to _nine hundred +and twenty-eight thousand and twenty-seven dollars and eighty-eight +cents_, upon which he did not decide, alleging that his authority ceased +with the termination of the joint commission. Besides these claims, +there were others of American citizens amounting to _three millions +three hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven +dollars and five cents_, which had been submitted to the board, and upon +which they had not time to decide before their final adjournment. + +"The sum of two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-nine +dollars and sixty-eight cents which had been awarded to the claimants, +was an ascertained debt by Mexico, about which there could be no +dispute, and which she was bound to pay according to the terms of the +convention. Soon after the final awards for this amount had been made, +the Mexican government asked for a postponement of the time of making +payment, alleging that it would be inconvenient to pay at the time +stipulated. In the spirit of forbearing kindness towards a sister +republic, which Mexico has so long abused, the United States promptly +complied with her request. A second convention was accordingly concluded +between the two governments on the thirtieth of January, 1843, which +upon its face declares, that, 'this new arrangement is entered into for +the accommodation of Mexico.' By the terms of this convention, all the +interest due on the awards which had been made in favor of the claimants +under the convention of the 11th of April, 1839, was to be paid to them +on the 30th of April, 1843, and "the principal of the said awards, and +the interest accruing thereon," was stipulated to "be paid in five +years, in equal instalments every three months." Notwithstanding this +new convention was entered into at the request of Mexico, and for the +purpose of relieving her from embarrassment, the claimants only received +the interest due on the 30th of April, 1843, and three of the twenty +instalments. Although the payments of the sum thus liquidated, and +confessedly due by Mexico to our citizens as indemnity for acknowledged +acts of outrage and wrong, was secured by treaty, the obligations of +which are ever held sacred by all just nations, yet Mexico violated this +solemn engagement by failing and refusing to make the payment. The two +instalments due in April and July, 1844, under the peculiar +circumstances connected with them, were assumed by the United States and +paid to the claimants. But this is not all of which we have just cause +of complaint. To provide a remedy for the claimants whose cases were not +decided by the joint commission under the convention of April the 11th, +1839, it was expressly stipulated by the sixth article of the convention +of the 30th of January, 1843, that 'a new convention shall be entered +into for the settlement of all claims of the government and citizens of +the United States against the republic of Mexico which were not finally +decided by the late commission which met in the city of Washington, and +all claims of the government and citizens of Mexico against the United +States.' + +"In conformity with this stipulation, a third convention was concluded +and signed at the city of Mexico on the 20th of November, 1843, by the +plenipotentiaries of the two governments, by which provision was made +for ascertaining and paying these claims. In January, 1844, this +convention was ratified by the senate of the United States, with two +amendments, which were manifestly reasonable in their character. + +"Upon a reference of the amendments proposed to the government of +Mexico, the same evasions, difficulties, and delays were interposed +which have so long marked the policy with that government towards the +United States. It has not even yet decided whether it would or would not +accede to them, although the subject has been repeatedly pressed upon +its consideration. + +"Mexico thus violated a second time the faith of treaties, by failing or +refusing to carry into effect the sixth article of convention of +January, 1843."[23] + +The allegations made in this message are unquestionable. They rest upon +the evidence of documents which are accessible to all in the published +papers of the government.[24] The outrages of Mexico consisted in +seizure of property, illegal imprisonment of citizens, deprivation of +just rights, interference with our lawful commerce, forced loans, +violations of contracts, and arbitrary expulsion from the territory +without trial. All these misdeeds formed the exasperating burthen of our +complaint, and their perpetration was in fact proved beyond the +possibility of cavil by the awards in favor of our claimants made by the +Baron von Roenne, who, as Prussian minister, was umpire between the +Mexican and American commissioners. + +It must not be forgotten that we had claims also against Spain, France, +England, Denmark and Naples, which were adjusted by negotiation and +liquidated in strict accordance with treaties. These, demands, however, +originated during the wars in Europe which followed the French +revolution, so that it remained for Mexico to peculate on our commerce +and persecute our people during a period of entire international peace, +and without any excuse save the direct villainy of her government, or +the corrupt ignorance of her subordinate officers. + + * * * * * + +We must now retrace our steps, in order to narrate an event of interest +in the series of causes that originated this war. + +It appears that the Mexican government, in anticipation of some attack +on its distant territories of California, had, in the summer of 1842, +sent a number of troops thither, under the command of Don Manuel +Micheltorena, who was appointed commandant general and inspector of both +the Californias. These troops arrived at San Diego, the southernmost +port on the Pacific side of California, in the middle of October, and +were on their way to Monterey, the capital, when the occurrences in +question took place. + +Monterey, on the Pacific, is a small village founded by the Spaniards in +1771, at the southern extremity of a bay of the same name, near the 36th +degree of latitude, about a hundred miles south of the great bay of San +Francisco, and about three hundred and fifty miles north from the town +of Angeles, where the Commandant Micheltorena was resting with his +troops when the events in question occurred. + +Whilst Commodore Jones was visiting the port of Callao, in September, +1842, he received from Mr. John Parrott, our consul at Mazatlan, a copy +of a Mexican newspaper of the 4th of June, containing three official +declarations against the United States, which he regarded as "highly +belligerent."[25] He also obtained a newspaper published in Boston, +quoting a paragraph from the New Orleans Advertiser of the 19th April, +1842, in which it was asserted,--upon what the editor deemed authentic +information,--that Mexico had ceded the Californias to England for seven +millions of dollars. These documents reached our sensitive commodore at +a moment when his suspicions were aroused by other circumstances. For, +on the 5th of September, Rear-Admiral Thomas, a British commander, +sailed from Callao in the Dublin having previously despatched two of his +fleet with sealed orders just received from England. The whole fleet, he +believed, was secretly on its way to Panama to embark reinforcements of +troops, from the West Indies, to take armed possession of the +Californias in conformity with the allegation of the Boston and New +Orleans editors.[26] + +Commodore Jones immediately hastened from the port of Callao to Lima, +where, in a conversation with the American chargé d'affaires, Mr. +Pickett, he formed the decided opinion that there would be war not only +with Mexico but with Great Britain also.[27] Accordingly, he lost no +time in preparing for sea, and on the 7th of September, sailed for the +coast of Mexico. + +On the 19th of October, Jones arrived at Monterey, in the frigate United +States, accompanied by the Cyane, Captain Stribling. They did not +communicate with the shore or endeavor, in any authentic way, to +ascertain the state of our political relations; but at four o'clock in +the afternoon, Captain Armstrong, the flag captain of the United States, +landed, and delivered to the acting governor, Don Juan Alvarado, a +letter from Commodore Jones, requiring the immediate surrender of the +place, with its forts, castles, ammunitions and arms, to the United +States, in order to save it from the horrors of war, which would be the +immediate consequences of a refusal to submit. Alvarado, upon this +summons, consulted the military and civil authorities; and, finding that +the garrison consisted of only twenty-nine men, that the artillery was +composed of eleven pieces, entirely useless from the rottenness of their +carriages, and that the whole number of muskets and carbines, good and +bad, did not exceed a hundred and fifty, he surrendered the place, which +was taken possession of by the Americans early on the 20th of October. +The articles of capitulation signed on the occasion provide, that the +Mexican soldiers shall march out with colors flying, and shall remain as +prisoners of war until they can be sent to Mexico, and that the +inhabitants shall be protected in their persons and property, so long as +they conduct themselves properly, and do not infringe the laws of the +United States. Commodore Jones at the same time issued a proclamation to +the Californians, declaring that "he came in arms as the representative +of a powerful nation, against which the existing government of Mexico +had engaged in war, but not with the intention of spreading dismay among +the peaceful inhabitants," and inviting them to submit to the authority +of a government which would protect them forever in the enjoyment of +liberty. + +The evening and night of the 20th passed quietly; but, on the next day, +the commodore seems to have reflected on the results of a bloodless +conquest which was even more easily won than the victories of Cortéz and +Pizarro three hundred years before. Learning that there was late and +pacific news from Mexico, and, forthwith despatching his private +secretary and chaplain to seek for it, they discovered, in the office of +the Mexican commissary, several packages containing unopened files of +gazettes, as late as the 4th of August. "The general tone of the +articles,"--says the commodore,--"relating to the United States, in +these papers, was pacific, whilst the certainty that Mexico had not +commenced hostilities against us, up to the 22d of August, was +established by private commercial letters from Mazatlan." Thus, it +seemed to him, that the crisis had passed; that his victory was barren, +that the reported cession of the Californias to England was untrue and +could not have been prevented even by his valor. The war which had been +recklessly undertaken upon surmises or newspaper articles, and +stimulated by the sailing of an English fleet with sealed orders, came +to an end as it began--by Mexican journals. + +Accordingly, on the 21st of the month, Commodore Jones addressed another +letter to the acting governor, Alvarado, announcing that information +received since the capture of the place, left him no reason to doubt +that the difficulties between Mexico and the United States had been +adjusted; and that, being anxious to avoid all cause of future +controversy, he was ready to restore the place, with its forts and +property, to the Mexicans, in the same condition in which they were +before the seizure. Monterey was therefore at once evacuated by the +Americans, and reoccupied by the Mexicans, whose flag, on being +rehoisted, was saluted by our ships. + +If the commodore of our squadron had prudently despatched his secretary +and chaplain on a pacific mission of inquiry under a flag of truce, +immediately upon his arrival, it is extremely probable that they would +either have discovered on the 20th the newspapers they found on the +21st, or have received the commercial letter which terminated the +capture. This would have prevented an angry diplomatic correspondence; +it would have allayed the irritation of national sensibility, and, +whilst it saved us from the imputation of attempting to intimidate a +weak power, would not have subjected our forces to the mortification of +mistake upon such grievous subjects as peace and war. The Mexican +papers, of course, viewed the matter as a national insult; and the +government gazette, published in the capital, unequivocally asserted +that Commodore Jones attacked Monterey, agreeably to orders from his +government, with the view of conquering California, but that finding the +country in a state of defence, (for which thanks were due to President +Santa Anna and his efficient minister of war,) he was obliged to abandon +his plan and invent a story for his justification.[28] + +It is scarcely possible for a citizen of the United States to take a +different view of the subject without a full knowledge of the facts; for +it could hardly be believed that the commander of a naval station, +during a period of profound peace, would venture to summon towns to +surrender, to land forces, take prisoners, and hoist our national flag +on friendly soil, without the authority or connivance of his +government.[29] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] This river is known by various names in different authors. By some +it is called Rio Bravo, by others, Rio del Norte, and by others, again, +Rio Grande. I shall adhere to the latter throughout this work. + +[20] See the Natchez Daily Courier of 18th January, 1843, for an +excellent article on Mexico, signed EGO ET ALTER. + +[21] Report No. 1096 to the H. of R., 27th congress, 2d session. + +[22] See senate documents of that session. + +[23] President Polk's annual message to congress, 8th Dec. 1846, p. 6. + +[24] See Doc. No. 139, 24 cong. 2d sess. H. of R.--Senate Doc. No. 320, +2d sess. 27 cong.--Doc. No. 57, H. of R. 27 cong. 1st sess.--Senate Doc. +No. 411, 27 cong. 2d sess.--Doc. No. 1096, H. of R. 27 cong. 2d +sess.--Doc. No. 158, H. of R. 28 cong. 2d sess.--Doc. No. 144, H. of R. +28 cong. 2d sess.--Senate Doc. No. 85, 29 cong. 1st sess.--Senate Doc. +No. 151, 29 cong. 1 sess. + +[25] This paper contained the circular of the Mexican minister of +foreign relations to the diplomatic corps, dated 31st May, +1842,--(answered by Mr. Thompson on the 1st of June,)--relative to +public meetings in the United States favorable to Texas; the aid +furnished Texas by _volunteers_ from the United States; and the trade in +arms and munitions of war with Texas. Doc. No. 266, H. of R., 27th +congress, 2d session. + +[26] See doc., No. 166, H. of R., 27th congress, 3d session, page 85. + +[27] Id. pages 15, 68, 73. + +[28] Diario del Gobierno--Mexico, 1842. + +[29] A correspondence relative to this seizure of Monterey took place at +Washington between Mr. Webster, secretary of state, and Gen. Almonté, +the Mexican minister; and, in Mexico, between Seńor Bocanegra, minister +of foreign affairs, and Mr. Waddy Thompson, our diplomatic +representative. Mexico complained bitterly of our insulting descent on +her territory, and our ministers apologized gracefully for the +unauthorised act. The correspondence between the governments and with +Commodore Jones will be found in document No. 166, H. of R., 97th +congress, 3d session, 1843. + +The recall of Commodore Jones by the secretary of the navy is the +following words: + +"NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 24, 1843. + +"SIR: Although no official intelligence of the recent occurrences at +Monterey has reached this department, yet the leading facts have been +communicated in a form sufficiently authentic to justify and render +necessary my immediate action. In the opinion of this government it is +due to the friendly relations subsisting between the United States and +Mexico, and to the respect which every nation owes to the rights of +other nations, that you should be recalled from the command of the +squadron in the Pacific. + +"In adopting this course it is not designed to prejudge the case, _nor +even to indicate any opinion as to the propriety or impropriety of your +conduct in the matter alluded to_. That will of course be made the +subject of proper inquiry after you return to the United States, when +full justice will be done as between yourself and your own country. The +present order has reference only to the just claims of Mexico on this +government for such a disavowal of the attack on Monterey as will fully +recognize the rights of Mexico, and at the same time place the conduct +of this government in a proper light before the nations of the world. +Commodore Dallas will relieve you as soon as he can conveniently reach +the station and you will return to the United States in such mode as may +be most convenient and agreeable to yourself. + + "I am respectfully yours, + + "A. P. UPSHUR. + + "Com. THOS. AP. C. JONES, commanding Pacific squadron." + +I believe that the commodore was not tried by a court of inquiry or a +court martial after his return, but that the affair has slumbered since +the date of the above letter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The origin of the war--History of the pacification between Spain and + Holland in 1609--Spain and Mexico should have followed the + example--The Texas question--Origin of the Texas revolution-- + True history of it--Resistance to the Central despotism of Santa + Anna--Mexican war against Texas--Independence of Texas--Santa + Anna's retraction in 1846 of his anti-federative opinions. + + +The student of Mexican history, at this period, will derive instruction +from a narrative of the connexion which once existed between Spain and +the Netherlands and its fatal rupture. + +After the fall of the duke of Burgundy in 1477, his daughter Mary +brought the low countries to Austria by her marriage with the Emperor +Maximilian; and his grandson, Charles V, united these provinces with +Spain. During the reign of Charles, their ancient liberties were +carefully respected, and the country prospered whilst the Protestant +religion spread throughout it in spite of stern opposition. But when +his successor, Philip II, mounted the throne, all prudence in the +government of the Belgic and Batavian provinces seems to have been +abandoned, and unbridled persecution was let loose on the civil and +religious rights of the people. Granvella and the bloody duke of Alva +were the monarch's instruments in this sad misgovernment, which resulted +in a total renunciation of allegiance to the king of Spain. Long and +bitter was the rebellion,--continuing from the middle of the sixteenth +century to the year 1609,--when the Spanish claim to the sovereignty of +the new republic of Holland was virtually resigned under the form of a +truce for twelve years between the belligerents.[30] + +The independence of the united provinces was thus, in fact achieved, and +it was recognized by all the great powers of Europe except Spain; still +Holland went through the thirty years war, before her nationality was +secured by the peace of Westphalia. + +From this sketch it will be perceived that Spain, although willing to +forego the continuance of war, and to save the point of honor between +herself and the rebellious provinces when it was impossible to recover +her dominion over them, nevertheless, clung with stupid pride to her +abstract right of reconquest for a long period after she had +substantially acknowledged their freedom. The dismemberment of Spain +was, of course, an event which the monarch could not behold without +regret, for it was natural that he should seek to transmit his dominions +to posterity uncurtailed of their fair proportions. Yet, in the adoption +of a diplomatic _ruse_,--in the truce of twelve years,--there was a +degree of wisdom which it would have been well for Spain to recollect +when it became evident that the revolt of her American colonies was +about to terminate in their independence. The passions between the +belligerents would have had time to cool. The common ties of blood and +language might gradually have bound up the wounds made by war. The +intervention of friendly powers would have obtained concessions from the +discreet parent,--and thus Peru and Mexico might still have shone as the +brightest jewels in the Spanish crown. No quarrel ever terminated in +perfect re-establishment of amity without tolerance or retraction on the +part of one of the disputants. Superior force may overawe into silence +or crush by its ponderous blows, yet the non-resistance and taciturnity +which ensue are but the repose that precedes the hurricane, in which the +elements seem gathering strength to pour forth their wrath with +irresistible fury. + +So was it with Spain and her American colonies. Instead of soothing and +pacific measures, tending to allay resentment and bring back the rebel +to allegiance, the utmost violence was at once adopted both in deeds and +language, and scenes of barbarity were enacted by Calleja and his +myrmidons from which the heart recoils with horror.[31] + +Severe as was the lesson taught by the conduct of Spain to Mexico, that +republic, nevertheless, resolved not to profit by it when she, in turn, +saw one of her States discontented with her misrule and usurpations. If +Texas had been soothed; if justice had been speedily done; if the +executive had despatched discreet officers, and reconciled the +differences between the North American emigrants and the Spaniards, not +only in civil and municipal government, but in religion and +temper,--Texas might not have been lost to Mexico,--but, invigorated by +a hardy and industrious population, would have poured commercial wealth +into her coffers, and furnished her factories among the mountains with +an abundance of that staple which the native Indians are as unused as +they are unwilling to cultivate. Had Mexico been even as wise as Philip, +in 1609, and saved her punctilious honor by a twelve years truce, she +would only have postponed the settlement of her difficulties, until her +internal affairs became sufficiently pacific to enable a firm government +to act with discretion and justice. + + * * * * * + +Since the year 1843 the Texas question has been so much a matter of +party dispute in the United States that the true history of the revolt +seems to be almost forgotten. I shall not hesitate therefore to recount +some of the events connected with it, because they are relevant to the +issue between us and Mexico, as well as necessary to the elucidation of +the justice of her quarrel. + +It is an error that the Texan rebellion was conceived in a spirit of +sheer fraud upon Mexico; and writers who seek to stigmatize it thus are +entirely ignorant of its origin. + +The contest that arose between the central and federal parties in Mexico +immediately after the establishment of independence has been narrated in +a preceding chapter. The first _federal_ constitution is an almost +literal copy of our own; but its equitable and progressive principles +did not suit the military despots who, whilst they commanded the army, +held the physical power of Mexico in their hands. The consequence was +that during the administration of the first president, Victoria, there +were _pronunciamientos_ against federation and in favor of centralism, +by _Padre Arénas_, and at Tulancingo, under the "plan of Montayno." +Quarrels in the party lodges of the Yorkinos and Escossceses--the +liberalists and centralists--next arose;--and, finally, the revolution +under the "plan of Toluca," destroyed the cherished constitution of +1824, by striking a death blow at the federative principle. This plan +vested the power in a central government, abolished State legislatures, +and changed those States into departments under the control of military +governors, who were responsible to the chief authorities of the nation +alone. These principles were embodied in the new constitution of 1836, +and were, of course, distasteful to every friend of genuine liberty.[32] + +Meanwhile, the beautiful province of Texas had not been an unconcerned +spectator of events. Bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, and stretching +along our Southern boundary, it contained an extensive territory, fine +rivers, wide prairies, and a soil capable of maintaining near ten +millions of people.--Such a country naturally attracted the attention of +the people of the United States, numbers of whom are always ready, with +the adventurous spirit that characterises our race, to seek new lands +and improve their fortunes by emigrating from the crowded places of +their birth. The project of colonizing Texas, had, therefore, struck an +intelligent citizen of our country; and, on the 17th of January, 1821, +Moses Austin obtained permission from the supreme government of the +eastern internal provinces of New Spain at Monterey, to settle a colony +of emigrants in Texas. Accordingly, in the following winter, his son, +Stephen F. Austin, who undertook the enterprize in obedience to a +testamentary request of his father, appeared on the Brazos with the +first Anglo-American settlers. + +In January, 1823, a national colonization law, approved by the Emperor +Iturbidé, was adopted by the Mexican congress, and, on the 18th of +February, a decree was issued authorizing Austin to proceed with the +founding of his colony. This decree, after Iturbidé's abdication and the +downfall of the Imperial government, was confirmed by the first +executive council in accordance with a special order of the Mexican +congress. + +In 1824, the federal constitution was adopted and proclaimed as the +established polity of the land;--and, at this period, the character of +Texas begins for the first time to assume an independent aspect, for, by +a decree of the 7th of May, it was united with Coahuila, and, under the +name of Coahuila and Texas, formed one of the constituent, sovereign +States of the Mexican confederacy. Up to this period, whilst all was +proceeding well in the capital, the scheme of emigration, seems to have +met with no discouragement. By an act passed in August, 1824, another +_general_ colonization law was established;--and, by a _State_ +colonization law of Coahuila and Texas, foreigners were invited to +settle within the limits of that especial jurisdiction. Thus it was that +State sovereignty first accrued to Texas and Coahuila under the federal +system,--a system similar to the one under which the colonists had +formerly lived in our Union and under which, by the adoption of their +own State laws, they signified their willingness to become members of +the Mexican confederacy. This State sovereignty was never resigned, but, +on the contrary, was always distinctly asserted. The federation existed +precisely for the same purposes that the union of our States was formed; +and, as soon as the constitution was destroyed by intrigue and +revolutionary violence in 1835, the several States were remitted to +their inherent rights, independent of any military despot who succeeded +in seizing the central power. Meanwhile our people had flocked to Texas +under the belief that a constitution which was a transcript of our own, +would secure peace and prosperity to settlers. Accustomed to find laws +observed and the constitution indestructible, they expected to encounter +the same regularity and firmness in that virgin State. They were +industrious in their pursuits, and willing to abide the settlement of +all quarrels in the capital; nor was it until long after the federal and +centralist disputes commenced, that they began even to notice the +political convulsions which were so ominous of disaster. The quiet and +orderly conduct of our emigrants was, nevertheless, not regarded so +favorably by the Mexicans. The rapidly growing strength of the Texans +and their strict devotion to republicanism, attracted the jealousy of +the supreme government; and when a Mexican begins either to fear or to +doubt, the provocation is quite enough to convert him into an oppressor. +Accordingly, on the 6th of April, 1830, an arbitrary law was passed by +which the future immigration of American settlers to Texas was +prohibited. Military posts of _surveillance_ were established over the +State, and ignorant and insolent soldiers of another race, began to +domineer over a people whom they regarded as inferiors. At length the +civil authorities of Texas were entirely disregarded, and the emigrants +hitherto unused at home or abroad to an armed police, or to the sight of +a uniform except on parade days, suddenly found themselves subjected to +the capricious tyranny of military rule.[33] + +On the 26th of June, 1832, the colonists took arms against this despotic +interference with their constitutional freedom and besieged and captured +the fort at Velasco. The garrison at Anahuac and that at Nacogdoches, +were next reduced; and, in December of that year, when hostilities were +suspended between Santa Anna and Bustamante, the colonists were again +restored to the enjoyment of their rights guarantied under the +constitution. + +In May 1824, Texas had been promised a separate State constitution as +soon as she was prepared for it, but upon application to congress in +1833, after framing a suitable instrument in general convention at San +Felipe, her request was denied. In 1835 the crisis at length arrived. +The federal constitution fell. The resistance of several States to this +despotism was suppressed by force. The legislature of Coahuila and Texas +was dispersed at the point of the bayonet. Zacatecas, a brave stronghold +of federalism, was assaulted by the central chiefs and her people +butchered. And, finally, the whole republic, save Texas, yielded to +Santa Anna. + +As this state at once resolved to maintain her sovereignty and +federative rights, corresponding committees of safety and vigilance were +promptly formed in all the municipalities. An immediate appeal to arms +proclaimed the people's resolution to adhere to the constitution; and at +Gonzales, Goliad, Bexar, Conception, Sepantillan, San Patricio, and San +Antonio, they were victorious over the centralists. In November, 1835, +the delegates of the Texan people assembled in "general consultation," +and declared that "they had taken up arms in defence of the federal +constitution of 1824, and that they would continue faithful to the +Mexican confederacy as long as it should be governed by the laws that +were framed for the protection of their political rights; that they were +no longer morally or politically bound by the compact of union; yet, +stimulated by the generous sympathy of a free people, they offered their +assistance to such members of the confederacy as would take up arms +against military despotism. This patriotic manifesto declaring at once +the freedom of Texas and offering to other parts of Mexico a defensive +alliance in favor of constitutional liberty, found no response from the +overawed States, and thus Texas was abandoned to the mercy of a military +president, who signalized his campaign of 1836 by acts of brutality +which must forever consign his name to infamy."[34] Notwithstanding +Santa Anna's successes at San Antonio and his frightful massacres, +General Houston, the commander of the Texan forces, met and conquered +the Mexicans on the 21st of April, 1836, in the brilliant action at San +Jacinto, and thenceforth, in the emphatic language of an American +statesman "the war was at an end."[35] + +"No hostile foot found rest" within her territory for six or seven years +ensuing this event, and Mexico, by confining her assaults to border +forays practically abstained from all efforts to re-establish her +dominion.[36] In this peaceful interval the country rapidly filled up +with emigrants; adopted a constitution; established a permanent +government, and obtained an acknowledgement of her independence by the +United States and other powers. It was then supposed that nearly one +hundred thousand people occupied the territory; and, in 1837, they +sought to place themselves under the protection of our confederacy. But +our government declined the proposition made through the Texan +plenipotentiary, upon the ground that the treaty of amity and peace +between the United States and Mexico should not be violated by an act +which necessarily involved the question of war with the adversary of +Texas.[37] + + * * * * * + +This brief history of the Texan revolt against centralism seems to place +the authorities of that country on a firm basis of natural and +constitutional right. In the constant conflicts that have taken place +throughout Mexico between the federalists and centralists, or rather +between democracy and despotism, Texas attempted no more than any of the +liberal States of Mexico would have done, had not the free voice of +educated patriots been elsewhere stifled by military power. The only +difference between them is, that in Texas there was an Anglo-American +population bold and strong enough to maintain republicanism, whilst in +Mexico, the mongrel race of Spaniards and Indians was too feeble to +resist effectually. + + * * * * * + +From 1836 to 1846 Santa Anna diligently persevered in the support of his +central usurpation. But in the latter year the principles of the Texan +revolution obtained a decided victory over military despotism, and even +Santa Anna himself, who had been the originator of all the revolutions +of his country, the disturber of its peace, and destroyer of its +political morality was forced to make a humiliating confession of his +errors. + +It will be remembered that he was exiled from Mexico in the year 1845, +and resided in Havana until the summer of 1846, when a revolution +against the government of Paredes prepared the way for his return. On +the 8th of March, 1846, in writing to a friend a letter which has since +been published he declares that: "the love of provincial liberties being +firmly rooted in the minds of all, and the democratic principle +predominating every where, nothing can be established in a solid manner, +in the country, which does not conform with these tendencies; nor +without them can we attain either order, peace, prosperity, or +respectability among foreign nations. To draw every thing to the centre, +and thus to give unity of action to the republic, as I at one time +considered best, is no longer possible; nay more, I say it is dangerous; +it is contrary to the object which I proposed for myself in the +unitarian system, because we thereby expose ourselves to the separation +of the northern departments, which are the most clamorous for freedom of +internal administration."[38] + +In this remarkable retraction of Santa Anna's despotic principles, Texas +finds a perfect vindication of her revolt. It would have been well for +Mexico had her military president been willing to make the same +concessions before the memorable battle of San Jacinto! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[30] Arnold's third lecture on modern history. + +[31] Robinson's Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution, pages 20, 22, 24. + +[32] Mexico as it was and as it is, pp. 336, 339. Foote's History of +Texas. + +[33] Document No. 40, H. of R. 25th cong. 1st sess. p. 4. + +[34] A full account of this campaign will be found in a work entitled +"Primera Campańa de Tejas," published in Mexico in August 1837, by Don +Ramon Martinez Caro, who was Santa Anna's military secretary during the +campaign. He treats his former chief with unsparing severity, and very +clearly attributes to him all the ferocious acts of the war. In +Thompson's "Recollections of Mexico," a conversation of the ex-minister +with Santa Anna will be found, in which his exculpation is attempted, +pp. 68, _et seq._ + +[35] Mr. Webster's letter to Waddy Thompson, 8th July, 1842. + +[36] Webster to Thompson _ut antea_. + +[37] Letter of Mr. Forsyth to General Hunt, 25th Aug. 1847. Doc. No. 40, +H. of R., 25th congress, 1st session. + +[38] Translation of a letter from General Santa Anna, in Mexico as it +was and as it is.--4th edition, page 414. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Origin of the war continued--Proposed annexation of Texas to the United + States by treaty--Efforts of several administrations to recover + Texas after the Florida treaty--President Tyler's objects--Mexican + opinions--British intrigue--British views relative to Texas--Defeat + of the treaty in the senate--French opinions. + + +There is no doubt that although the government of the United States was +anxious to preserve a strict neutrality between the belligerents in +1837, and, thus, to avoid assuming the war with Mexico by annexing an +insurgent State, it, nevertheless, refused the proffered union with +regret. From the earliest period, our statesmen contended that, by the +Louisiana treaty, we acquired a title to Texas extending to the Rio +Grande, and that we unwisely relinquished our title to Spain by the +treaty of 1819 which substituted the Sabine for the Rio Grande as our +western boundary.[39] But, divested as we were by solemn compact with +Spain, of what may have been our territory under the treaty with France, +it was idle to regard Texas as a proper subject for restoration to the +Union whilst active hostilities were waged by Mexico. Nevertheless, such +was the evident value of the province, and such the anxiety to regain +our ancient limits that before the outbreak of the revolution, Mr. Clay, +as secretary of state under the administration of Mr. Adams, in March of +the years 1825 and 1827, directed Mr. Poinsett, our envoy in Mexico, to +negotiate for the transfer of Texas. This direction was repeated by Mr. +Van Buren to our minister in August, 1829; and was followed by similar +instructions from Mr. Livingston on the 20th of March, 1833, and by Mr. +Forsyth on the 2d of July, 1835. President Jackson, however, was not +contented with negotiations for that province alone; but, looking +forward, with statesmanlike forecast, to the growth and value of our +commerce in the Pacific ocean as well as on the west coast of America, +he required the secretary of state, in August, 1835, to seek from Mexico +a cession of territory, whose boundary, beginning at the mouth of the +Rio Grande, would run along the eastern bank of that river to the +thirty-seventh degree of latitude, and continue thence, by that +parallel, to the Pacific. This demand, if granted by Mexico, not only +secured Texas, but would have included the largest and most valuable +portion of California together with the noble bay of San Francisco, in +which our navy and merchantmen might find a safe and commodious +refuge.[40] + +Our anxiety to reannex Texas by peaceable negotiation was not met, +however, by a correspondent feeling upon the part of Mexico. + +Mr. Poinsett, on his return from Mexico, informed Mr. Clay that he had +forborne even to make an overture for the repurchase of Texas, because +he knew that such a negotiation would be impracticable, and believed +that any hint of our desire would aggravate the irritations already +existing between the countries.[41] The events which subsequently +transpired in Texas, during the period when emigration increased from +the United States, to that of the actual outbreak of hostilities, +prevented the formation, in Mexico, of any party favorable to such an +enterprise; and, after the war began, all hope of negotiation between us +was dispelled. + +"A leading member of the Mexican cabinet once remarked to me," says Mr. +Thompson, in his Recollections of Mexico,[42] "that he believed the +tendency of things was towards the annexation of Texas to the United +States, and that he greatly preferred such a result either to the +independence of Texas or any connection or dependence of Texas upon +England; that if it became an independent power, other departments of +Mexico would unite with it either voluntarily or by conquest, and that +if there was any connexion between Texas and England, English +merchandize would be smuggled into Mexico through Texas to the utter +ruin of Mexican manufactures and revenue. + +"In one of my last interviews with Santa Anna," continues the American +minister, "I mentioned this conversation. He replied with great +vehemence that he would 'war forever for the reconquest of Texas, and +that if he died in his senses his last words should be an exhortation to +his countrymen never to abandon the effort to recover the province;' +and, added he: 'you know, sir, very well, that to sign a treaty for the +alienation of Texas would be the same thing as signing the death warrant +of Mexico, for, by the same process, the United States would take one +after another of the Mexican provinces, until they possessed them all.'" + +Such were the feelings of Mexico in regard to annexation, and such the +anxieties in cabinets of all parties in the United States to restore +our ancient limits, when the presses of our country intimated, in the +year 1844, that President Tyler was negotiating a treaty of union with +Texas as an independent power. It was on the eve a presidential canvass; +and whilst the incumbent of the executive chair sought very naturally to +present himself to the people with the successful results of a popular +and beneficial negotiation, there were other candidates who opposed the +measure both on principle and policy, as well as on account of the mode +in which it was to be effected. + +I might very properly in this historical sketch pass over the narrative +of annexation, and, deal with the union, ultimately effected between +Texas and the United States as the only important fact. Texas, bound to +the North American confederacy by a solemn act of congress,--the +indisputable constitutionality of which is implied in its passage,--is, +indeed, the only subject which the historian is compelled to regard. +Whatever results ensued, whether they were perceived and predicted by +the statesmen of the time, or, were entirely latent until developed +during the last two years, must be entirely attributed to the act of +congress which consummated annexation and reposed in the hands of a +president the executive power of solemnizing the union. Nevertheless, I +believe it due to impartial history that I should state concisely the +causes which seem to have provoked annexation, and, indeed, rendered it +almost necessary at the time when it occurred. + +We have seen that active hostilities by Mexico against the insurgents +had either ceased for nearly seven years, or had been confined to such +border forays as resembled predatory incursions rather than civilized +hostilities. Statesmen, in all parties, regarded the war as ended; for +Mexico, impoverished by the thriftless administrations that ruled and +plundered her during the short intervals between her revolutions, was +in no condition to carry it on with reasonable prospects of success. +France, England, Belgium and the United States, had acknowledged Texan +independence and established diplomatic relations with the republic. +Emigrants settled the interior, and invited accessions. The constitution +and laws of the nation were fixed upon a firm basis, while the +government was conducted with ability. A lucrative commerce from foreign +countries began to pour into the territory. New towns sprang up every +where, and Texas exhibited to the world every evidence of an orderly, +well regulated government, with infinitely greater strength and +stability than the military republic from which she was divorced. +Mexico, nevertheless, refused to recognize her independence +notwithstanding her inability to make any effort for reconquest. The +leading men of Texas anxiously desired that their national independence +should continue, and the moral sense of the world, in contrasting the +superior progress of the Anglo-American race with the anarchy and +feebleness of Mexico, was naturally solicitous to behold the infant +colony successful rather than to see it fall a prey to the passions of a +people with whom it had no sympathy, and, in whose victory, they might +witness the outpouring of a pent up wrath which would never cease in its +vindictive persecutions until the province was entirely desolated.[43] +This was not alone the common feeling in the United States, but it +prevailed in Europe also. The British minister of foreign affairs, Lord +Aberdeen, and that zealous partizan of liberty, Lord Brougham, took +occasion in the house of peers in August, 1843, to express their +solicitude as to the prospects of Texas. Lord Brougham characterized it +as a country as large as France, possessing the greatest natural +capabilities, but, at the same time he perceived in it an embryo state, +(a large portion of whose soil was adapted to cultivation by white +labor,) which might become a boundary and barrier against the slavery of +the United States of America. If, by the good offices of England, Mexico +could be induced to acknowledge Texan independence upon the condition of +abolishing slavery, he suggested the hope that it would lead to the +extinction of slavery in the southern States of our Union. + +Lord Aberdeen replied to Lord Brougham, that England had not only +acknowledged her independence, but had also negotiated with Texas a +treaty of commerce as well as one for the abolition of the slave trade. +He did not believe that there was any importation of slaves into Texas +by sea, but, he alleged, there was a large influx of slaves from the +United States to that country. As soon as negotiations were commenced +with Texas, the utmost endeavors of England had been used to end the war +which prevented the full recognition of the independence of Texas by +Mexico; but all their endeavors had been met by difficulties, although +he was happy to declare that an armistice had been established between +the two powers which he hoped would lead to the absolute acknowledgment +of her independence. In the existing state of negotiations between the +parties, however, he thought it would not contribute to an useful end to +express any opinion as to the state of those negotiations, nevertheless +he assured his noble friend that the matter would be pressed by every +means in the power of her majesty's ministers. + +The answer of Lord Brougham to this conversational speech of the +minister of foreign affairs, was brief but ominous. Nothing, he +declared, could be more satisfactory to him, whilst the statement of his +lordship "would be hailed with joy by all who were favorable to the +object of anti-slavery societies."[44] + + * * * * * + +I do not design in this history to discuss either the slavery question +or the British project of propagating seditious opinions upon negro +servitude by means of diplomacy on this continent. But, when we remember +the guaranties of our constitution and the preponderance of the black +population in our southern States, it must be conceded that it requires +no great degree of sensibility to alarm the white inhabitants of that +section and to render them anxious to counteract the avowed machinations +of Great Britain. The abstract question of the right of slavery is +altogether distinct from slavery as it exists in this Union, and as the +foundation of property, population, labor, and, even, existence in the +south. + +For many years past the fanaticism of freedom has been warring against +slavery, until it has created in our country a fanaticism of slavery +which was quite as relentless in its obstinacy. It was therefore, +natural that individuals who had refused our own congress the right to +interfere with slavery, by denying the privilege of petition for the +abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, should resist most +ardently the jesuitical propagandism of a foreign power. + +This was a question of grave importance to the south. It was an avowal +of European policy that struck a death blow at American property; nor +was it therefore at all surprising to see Mr. Calhoun, our secretary of +state, who was a native and inhabitant of that part of the union, at +once seize upon the project of prompt annexation as the only means of +counteracting the evils of British diplomacy. If expressions, similar to +those used by Lords Aberdeen and Brougham in the English parliament, had +been casually uttered in the warm debates of our congress, perhaps but +little attention would have been paid them by reflecting men; yet the +most trifling observations of British statesmen always deserve notice, +because they are well pondered and deliberately made. The opinions of +Lord Brougham, assented to by the silence of Lord Aberdeen, had +consequently an emphatic significance; and although the British minister +of foreign affairs, as well as the envoy at Washington, subsequently +disclaimed any attempt to interfere with the internal system of the +United States, yet there can be no doubt that they wished to modify the +condition and laws of a southern neighbor so as to effect indirectly +what prudence taught them to avoid openly.[45] "Great Britain," said +Lord Aberdeen, in a despatch to the Hon. Mr. Pakenham, on the 26th +December, 1843, "does not desire to establish in Texas, whether +partially dependent on Mexico or entirely independent, any dominant +influence. She only wishes to share her influence equally with other +nations. Her objects are purely commercial, and she has no thought or +intention of seeking to act directly or indirectly, in a political +sense, on the United States through Texas." + +It cannot be expected--for it is not the nature or policy of +governments--that statesmen should disclose to each other, with perfect +frankness, all their international ambitions, projects or hopes. A wise +diplomacy conceals these things whilst in progress. But all governments +take means to obtain secretly, as far as they are able, an insight into +the views of each other. The diplomacy of the United States, although +generally very frank, is nevertheless employed sometimes in this way, +and, I believe our records will show, that wherever it became necessary +for our departments to get information upon projects touching the +interests of our country, they have always found means to discover the +truth. + +It is fortunate for the history of this annexation question that the +commercial designs alluded to by Lord Aberdeen have been revealed to us. +Some of the statements are made anonymously, yet, from the very nature +of such disclosures whilst negotiations were pending, it cannot be +expected that the names of informants would be revealed. Their value and +character must be vouched for alone by the officers who communicate them +to the world, and deem them sufficient to authorize the action of +government. The authorities, to which I allude, were communicated to +congress by President Tyler in May, 1844, and were submitted to him by +Mr. Calhoun, as secretary of state, on the 16th of that month.[46] + + * * * * * + +By a convention, concluded in London on the 14th of November, 1840, +between Her Majesty's government and the republic of Texas, it was +agreed that the queen should tender her good offices to Mexico as +mediator between the belligerents. Mexico, however, saw fit to reject +this offer. But Texas, still animated by a desire for peace, sought to +obtain a triple mediation of the three great powers,--the United States, +France and England,--with the hope that under their auspices a +settlement might speedily be made. To this arrangement, the governments +of France and the United States assented with alacrity; while the +government of Great Britain, though expressing an ardent desire to do +all in its power by private mediatorial efforts, inclined to the opinion +that it would be better, on all accounts, for each party to act alone, +though similarly in point of tone and argument, in urging the Mexican +government to recognize the independence of Texas. + +This suggestion was communicated through Lord Cowley the British +ambassador in Paris, to the French government, by whom it was +approved.[47] + +By this act of the British cabinet, it preserved its independence of all +others, and abstained from combined action which would, necessarily, +have disclosed its motives as well as its conduct. The objects of the +ministers in retaining their independence of all other cabinets will now +become more manifest. + +If an abstract love of liberty is, indeed, the true cause why England +seeks to abolish slavery throughout the world and has set the example of +emancipation in her West India colonies, she may really deserve the high +commendation of philanthropists. But it cannot be denied that whilst she +diffuses a spirit of individual freedom, she does not regret to behold +national dependence on herself established by interest and necessity. We +find among the documents transmitted to congress by President Tyler, a +number of private letters, in which it is alleged that the primary +object of Great Britain's interference was to prevent absolute +annexation to the United States. Indeed, Lord Aberdeen, in May, 1844, +declared to Mr. Everett that he "shared with Lord Brougham the hope and +belief that the treaty for annexation would not be ratified by our +senate."[48] + +If the independence of Texas could be secured on the only probable +ground upon which Mexico would acknowledge it,--a pledge that she would +not subsequently join the United States;--and if so desirable a +result,--which appealed directly to the ambition and vanity of the +leading men of Texas, could be effected by the secret negotiations of +her ministers, England foresaw that she would obtain a decided advantage +over us in future negotiations, without a positive treaty stipulation to +that effect. Texas, with every element of prosperity in her people and +territory, was war-worn, and suffering from pecuniary embarrassments in +which her revolution plunged her. For an agricultural and commercial +people, peace and stability, under almost any liberal government, are +all that is requisite to insure progress. England, a free, maritime and +manufacturing country, deeply interested in Mexico as a purchaser, and +in the United States as a rival, was precisely the nation to secure +these advantages for Texas, especially as that republic offered a _point +d'appui_ which she could not find elsewhere on this continent. + +The "free trade" policy of Great Britain was consequently addressed to +the cupidity of Texas as a bewitching allurement; and this was, perhaps, +secretly coupled with pecuniary offers which would enable her to +struggle against adverse fortune during the first years of independence. + +This liberal system, while it attracted to England the cotton of Texas +in British vessels, would necessarily raise the national duties of the +republic to the highest standard on American produce and provisions, at +the same time that it introduced the manufactures of England without +imposts. The schemers who had achieved emancipation in the British West +Indies[49] imagined that the same result might be produced in Texas by +sufficient inducements, and that white labor or _apprentices_ would +supply the place of slaves, thus striking an indirect blow at slavery +in the southern States of our Union. Besides this, England would find a +market for her manufactures which might temptingly address itself to the +cupidity of the United States and of Mexico as well as of Texas. For, +with such an extent of frontier on all sides, and with wastes between +us, inhabited by a sparse or reckless population, the greatest +inducements would be offered to convert Texas into a smuggling ground +not only for our Union but especially for Mexico, whence British fabrics +are almost excluded by exorbitant tariffs. The policy of England would +thus affect simultaneously our manufactures as well as our commerce. +Instead of sending her merchandize to New York, she would find in +Galveston a readier market to supply our southern States through the +medium of contraband.[50] Her goods would naturally have been carried in +British vessels, and thus the labor and commerce of the United States +would be directly injured by England until we could afford to navigate +and manufacture at cheaper rates.[51] + +The impolicy of permitting our carrying trade and home market, in such a +country, to pass out of our hands into those of a commercial rival, and +the dangers of counteracting or creating a contraband system which would +almost immediately ensue, commended this annexation promptly to the +notice of President Tyler. He perceived in British supremacy in Texas a +multitude of evils. Collisions would arise which must endanger our +peace. The power and influence of England would be intruded, +geographically, on territory lying between us and Mexico. A large +increase of our military forces would be necessary, not only to protect +the United States from daily disputes with Texans, but to guard the +border inhabitants against hostile inroads from Indians. Texas, he was +authoritatively told, would seek the friendship of other nations if +denied the protection of ours; and, in a condition of almost hopeless +abandonment, would naturally fall an easy prey to any power that would +protect her, should we refuse our alliance.[52] + +Such were some of the reasons that induced the president, in 1844, to +direct Mr. Upshur, who was the secretary of state, to negotiate a treaty +of annexation between the United States and Mexico, and thus, in his +emphatic language,--"to break up and scatter to the winds the web of +European intrigues."[53] + +This treaty was transmitted to the senate on the 22nd of April, 1844, +and immediately became the topic of discussion throughout the country. +It was opposed and defended by some of the most distinguished men in the +country. General Jackson pleaded that the golden moment might not be +lost, and that we should not throw Texas into the arms of England.[54] +Mr. Clay, whose nomination as a presidential candidate was expected to +be shortly made, and Mr. Van Buren whose name was also speedily to come +before a democratic convention assembled to select a candidate for the +chief magistracy, both published long and argumentative letters against +the project. The debate on the treaty in the senate was eager, and able. +The northern abolitionists regarded it as a measure frought with danger +to their cause, and as the basis of perpetual slavery, whilst the +southern slave owners hailed annexation as a boon, which, at least for a +season, would stay the aggressive arm that was raised against their +rights and interests. + +At length, the senate finally rejected the treaty; but President Tyler, +by a message to the house of representatives, dated the 10th of June, +transmitted the rejected document to the popular branch of the national +legislature, so that, without suggesting the mode of annexation, the +house of representatives might decide whether it should be accomplished +in any shape. + +At that moment, however, new elements of political commotion were +introduced in the nomination of Mr. Clay and Mr. Polk by the respective +party conventions held in Baltimore, and the project passed from the +national legislature to the people for discussion during the +presidential canvass. + + NOTE.--The opinions and arguments adduced by the + president in support of annexation have been singularly + fortified by disclosures subsequent to the union between + Texas and the United States. The British cabinet, mortified + by defeat, has been silent upon the subject, but singular + developments were made in debate in the French chambers. On + the 12th and 20th of January, 1846, a discussion took place + between Messieurs Guizot, Thiers, Berreyer and others, in + which the Texas question, and the position of France, in the + event of war between the United States and England, upon the + Oregon question, was warmly debated. The minister, Guizot, + alleged that in all the negotiations with Texas, France had + sought commercial relations in consequence of the advantages + offered of markets for French goods. He declared that it was + his policy to interpose _an independent State in the midst + of the United States_, and _that he believed it to be + advisable to multiply the number of secondary independent + States on our continent_, as the commercial and political + interests of France would suffer materially by the + foundation of a governmental unity in America. He watched + our progress with a jealous eye, and he considered the + policy of the United States in refusing to be the _ally_ of + any European power both right and wise in our view of the + question. + + M. Thiers, the former minister, replied to M. Guizot; and, + after asserting that Texas had been annexed to our Union "to + the great displeasure of England, and, as far as could be + discovered, to the great displeasure of France," he declared + that it was the true interest of his government to place + Texas under the patronage of a powerful nation like ours + rather than to abandon it to the influence of England. "You + are aware," said he, "that _Texas is of great importance to + the United States_, and that its possession was anxiously + desired by that power: _I will add that never was an + annexation made in a more regular manner_. For more than ten + years Texas had been separated from Mexico, and all the + powers, including France, had recognised it." He regarded + the union of England and France in diplomacy between Mexico, + Texas, and the United States, as adopted only to redeem the + faults of the French cabinet during the last five years, and + as a truckling peace-offering for its conduct on the + question of the "right of search." But, of all the French + orators and statesmen, none denounced the conduct of the + cabinet with more zeal than the eloquent Berreyer. He proved + by facts and documents that it was at the instance of + England, and in subservience to her, that the French + government interposed, (as will be seen in the following + chapter,) to maintain the separate independence of + Texas:--"We have not limited ourselves"--exclaimed he--"to a + wish and a counsel that Texas should retain her freedom, but + we have been led to take a part in that which I regret I am + compelled to regard as nothing else than an _intrigue_, + which, unfortunately for our national dignity has borne all + the marks of an _intrigue_, and has met, at last, its + humiliation."--Niles' Register, vol. 70, pp. 25, 26, 27, 28, + and vol. 68, p. 290. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] See Mr. Clay's letter on the Texas question, Raleigh, N. C., April, +1844. I shall discuss the boundary elsewhere in this volume. When Texas +offered herself in 1837 to the United States it was only two years after +Mexico had overthrown the federal constitution, and not even one after +the battle of San Jacinto. A great change however took place in the +general aspect of affairs between that period and the final annexation. + +[40] Executive document, No. 42, H. of R., 25th congress, 1st session, +contains the letters referred to. + +[41] Mr. Clay's letter on annexation, _ut antea_. + +[42] Recollections of Mexico, p. 238. + +[43] It was evidently the intention of Mr. Webster, whilst secretary of +state, to adopt some prudent scheme for the settlement of the war +between Texas and Mexico. In January, 1843, he addressed a despatch to +Mr. Thompson, who was then our envoy in Mexico, in which he directs him +to use his good offices with the Mexican secretary to mitigate the +animosity of the government. "Mexico," says he, "has an undoubted right +to resubjugate Texas, if she can, so far as other states are concerned, +by the common and lawful means of war. _But other States are +interested,--especially the United States, a near neighbor of both +parties, are interested,--not only in the restoration of peace between +them, but also in the manner in which the war shall be conducted if it +shall continue._ These suggestions may suffice for what you are +requested to say amicably and kindly to the Mexican secretary, _at +present; but I may add, for your information, that it is in the +contemplation of this government to remonstrate, in a more formal +manner, with Mexico, at a period not far distant, unless she shall +consent to make peace with Texas, or shall show the disposition and +ability to prosecute the war with respectable forces_. Executive +document, No. 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess., p. 69. + +For the opinions of French statesmen on this question see the debate +between Guizot, Thiers, Berreyer and others, reported in vol. 70, of +Niles' Register, p. 25, 26. + +[44] Debates in the British house of lords, Friday 18th August, 1843, +reported in the London Morning Chronicle of the 19th; and see executive +document, No. 271, H. of R., 28th congress, 1st session. + +[45] Ex. Doc. No. 271, H. of R., 28 cong., 1st sess. p. 48, _et +seq_:--In an interview between Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Everett, in +November, 1843, the secretary of foreign affairs told him that England +had long been pledged to encourage the abolition of the slave trade _and +of slavery_, as far as her influence extended and in every proper way, +but had no wish to interfere with the _internal_ concerns of +governments. In reference to Texas, he said that "the suggestion that +England had made or intended to make the abolition of slavery the +_condition_ of any treaty arrangement with her was wholly without +foundation."--id. page 38. The _direct_ interference of England in the +_internal_ affairs of other governments has often been very distinctly +manifested notwithstanding Lord Aberdeen's disavowal. There is scarcely +a country in Europe which has been unvisited by her arms or her +diplomacy, either when it became her interest to do so, or when she had +the necessary force to make success unquestionable. Her policy is, +perhaps, not so much one of ambition as of avarice or necessity. She +must feed her multitudes at home; and an extension of her wide spread +commerce, with co-extensive privileges in new countries, will open new +sources of wealth to her people. Nations are not to be blamed for +seeking such advantages; but the nearer neighbor should be equally +blameless for grasping, if possible, the benefit for herself, so as to +keep off a dangerous rival and secure the revenues which otherwise would +flow into that rival's coffers. + +The excursive _philanthropy_ of England was admirably depicted by the +Frenchman, who, according to the London Times remarked that: "Your +Englishman knows all about Timbuctoo, or Hindoostan, or the frozen +regions about the North Pole; but ask him about Ireland, the country +lying next his own, and he is perfectly innocent of any information on +the subject. Africa he investigates--Ireland he neglects. He weeps for +the suffering of the negro, but allows his Irish fellow subject to live +in ignorance and filth, and often to die of starvation." + +[46] Ex. Doc. No. 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. p. 101, _et seq._ + +[47] Id.--p. 70. Letter of Mr. Van Zandt to Mr. Webster. + +[48] Id.--p. 100. Washington, 24th January, 1843. + +[49] See Lord Brougham's speech, _ut antea_. + +[50] Any one who is familiar with the condition of our Canadian frontier +will understand the ease with which smuggling in British fabrics is +carried on between the countries. An extensive business has, doubtless, +always been sustained; and it is not unusual even for the ladies of +certain towns along the frontier, to _shop_ in Canada, with the +understanding that their purchases are to be _delivered at the risk of +the British vender, on the other side of the American line_! + +[51] Executive document, 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. Letter of +Mr. Allen to Hon. R. J. Walker, and other letters copied on pages 103 +and 105 of the same document. + +The government of the United States entertained such views of the +grasping policy of England for reasons which are clearly set forth in an +able despatch from Mr. Calhoun to Mr. King, our envoy at the court of +France. "The question," says the secretary of state, "is, by what means +can Great Britain regain and keep a superiority in tropical cultivation, +commerce and influence? Or shall that be abandoned and other nations, +suffered to acquire the supremacy even to the extent of supplying +British markets to the destruction of the capital already vested in +their production? These are the questions which now profoundly occupy +the attention of her statesmen and have the greatest influence over her +councils. + +"In order to regain her superiority she not only seeks to revive and +increase her own capacity to produce tropical productions, but to +diminish and destroy the capacity of those who have so far outstripped +her in consequence of her error. In pursuit of the former, she has cast +her eyes to her East India possessions, to Central and Eastern Africa, +with the view of establishing colonies there, and even to restore, +substantially, the slave trade itself, under the specious name of +transporting free laborers from Africa to her West India possessions, in +order, if possible, to compete successfully with those who have refused +to follow her suicidal policy. Her main reliance, however, is on the +other alternative, to cripple or destroy the productions of her +successful rivals. There is but one way by which it can be done, and +that is by abolishing African slavery throughout this continent; and +that she avows to be the constant object of her policy and exertions." +Senate doc. No. 1, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 44. + +[52] President Tyler's message to the senate. 22nd April, 1844. + +[53] Letter of President Tyler to the Richmond Enquirer in 1847. + +[54] President Jackson's letter 17th March, 1844, written in consequence +of a private mission to him from President Houston of Texas. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Change of public feeling as to annexation--Election of President Polk + --Mr. Clay defeated by the abolitionists--Almonté's threat-- + President Tyler attempts to soothe Mexico--His failure to do so + --Mexican projects of reconquest--Want of confidence in Santa + Anna--Loans--Downfall and disgrace of Santa Anna--His expulsion to + Cuba--Herrera made provisional president--Congress of United States + reconsiders annexation--Joint resolution passed with an alternative + of negotiation--President Tyler adopts the first clause, and why-- + European intrigues--France and England operating on Texas and Mexico + --Mexico offers independence provided Texas will not annex herself + to the United States--Defeat of the foreign scheme. + + +When Congress met in December, 1844, a remarkable change had come over +the political would in the United States. The extraordinary popularity +of Mr. Clay induced reflective men to believe, at the close of the last +session, that he would be elected president, and that the prospects of +immediate annexation would probably be blighted by that event. The great +body of his partizans opposed the project of President Tyler; but the +Democratic convention, assembled in Baltimore, in May, inscribed the +fortunes of Texas on its banner together with the name of that party's +candidate. The south immediately rallied around it, whilst the north +assumed strange grounds of objection to the course of Mr. Clay. The +Native American and Abolition parties in New York professed to vote with +the friends of that gentleman in consequence of his opposition to +annexation, and yet a sufficient number to defeat his election cast +their ballots in direct contradiction of their principles. This was but +another lesson of the danger of confiding in men or parties who have but +a single idea. The folly of fanaticism commonly leads to violent +inconsistencies, but perhaps a more palpable one was never exhibited +than in the result of the presidential election of 1844. + +When the project of annexation was first discussed in 1843 in the +gazettes of the day, and before any decided action by the president or +secretary of state, General Almonté, who was then Mexican envoy at +Washington, protested earnestly against the act, and even threatened, by +express order of his government, that on sanction being given to the +incorporation of Texas into the United States, he would consider his +mission as ended, seeing that the Mexican government was resolved to +declare war as soon as it received information of such a deed.[55] + +But Mr. Tyler, disregarding the irascible temper of the minister and his +government, despatched pacific and soothing instructions to our chargé +at Mexico, intimating a desire to act justly towards that republic, and +to settle all questions growing out of the treaty as well as of boundary +on the most liberal terms.[56] + +The Mexican government, however, would listen to no proposals of +accommodation. The Texan question, as we have seen, was always one of +great annoyance to the Mexican authorities; for although they +acknowledged, in effect, that their dominion was really lost over Texas, +yet their national pride and public feeling forced them to project, if +they did not attempt, its reconquest.[57] Besides this, darkness was +gathering around the fate of Santa Anna, who dared not undertake +negotiations upon a subject so unpopular. + +When a new congress assembled in Mexico in January, 1844, it was +disposed to aid the executive in his scheme of reconquest. Four millions +of dollars were therefore granted him; but when he claimed ten millions +for the same purpose, whilst it was notorious that the first grant had +not yet been collected, the members of congress absolutely refused to +sustain Santa Anna's measures for the recovery of the lost territory. +This refusal was not grounded upon any aversion of the Mexicans from +reconquest, but solely because they believed the money would be extorted +from the people only to be plundered by the president and his myrmidons. +The politicians and country had alike, lost confidence in him; and Santa +Anna, observing the rising storm, obtained permission from congress to +retire to his estate of Manga de Clavo near the sea coast at Vera Cruz, +whilst his friend Don Valentin Canalizo took his place in the capital as +president _ad interim_. + +Santa Anna hardly reached his estate when a fatal blow was struck +against his administration from the departmental junta of Jalisco. This +revolt was lead by General Paredes, and after a multitude of military +and diplomatic manoeuvres, resulted in Santa Anna's downfall on the +4th of January, 1845. The ex-president fled towards the sea-coast; but +was captured by a detachment of volunteers at the village of Jico, +whence he was transferred under a strong escort to the castle of Peroté. +It is difficult even to imagine the bitter wrath with which the Mexican +people assailed the captured chief. He, who but a few months before +exercised despotic sway over the land, was now a prisoner and at the +mercy of the mob. His friends interposed in this emergency to save his +life both from popular fury and judicial action which might make it the +penalty of his misrule. The strife was long and anxious, but, at length, +an amnesty was declared, under which Santa Anna departed for Cuba on the +29th of May, 1845, accompanied by his wife and daughter.[58] The fury of +the people against the exile may be imagined from the fact that they +exhausted every means by which they could manifest their hatred of his +deeds and memory. They thronged the streets singing ribald songs, and +hawking ridiculous caricatures;--they tore his pictures from the walls, +and hurled his statues from their pedestals; and, with the fiendishness +of hyenas, they even snatched from the grave the leg he had lost in +battle with the French at Vera Cruz, and tossed it about the streets of +Mexico![59] + + * * * * * + +The result of Santa Anna's downfall was the establishment of a +provisional government under General Herrera, president of the council. +This person is represented to have been a discreet officer, whose +judgment naturally led him to see the wisdom of a pacific course towards +the United States, but whose destiny was finally controlled by the rash +and unprincipled conduct of insurrectionary demagogues. + +Meanwhile the congress of the United States reconsidered the Texan +question, and after a long and ardent debate, finally passed a joint +resolution for annexation, with an alternative permission to the +executive to negotiate; provided he thought proper to adopt that course. +This was a solemn decision of the question by the representatives of the +people, and it was sustained by the president who did not permit himself +to be influenced by the threats of Mexico or the hostile preparations +made by that country. In fact, Mr. Tyler had been careful to guard +against military surprises, for, in consequence of the early menaces of +Mexico, he deemed it his duty, as a precautionary measure, to +concentrate in the gulf and its vicinity a large portion of the Home +squadron under the command of Commodore Conner, and, at the same time to +assemble at fort Jesup on the Texan border, as large a military force as +the demands of the service at other encampments would allow. + +Thus, the joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United States, with +its alternative power to negotiate, came to President Tyler and was +approved by him on the 1st of March, 1845. On the fourth of the same +month, James K. Polk, who had been chosen president of the United +States, at the last election, was to assume the reins of government. +President Tyler believed that the necessity for annexation was immediate +and urgent in consequence of the reasons he had already presented to +congress in his several messages. The only doubt therefore, that he +experienced in making his selection, arose from a point of delicacy to +his successor. The first section of the joint resolution authorized the +erection of a new State of our Union out of the republic of Texas under +certain conditions contained in the second section; whilst the third +authorized the president to negotiate with that republic for admission +either by treaty to be submitted to the senate, or by articles of +agreement to be presented to our houses of congress, as the president +might direct. + +Under these circumstances a cabinet council was summoned for the 2nd of +March, and the point was resolved by informing the president's +successor, Mr. Polk, of the proposed action, and, if he desired it, +submitting to his perusal the despatch to Texas. Mr. Calhoun, our +secretary of state, at the president's request, accordingly waited upon +Mr. Polk, explained to him Mr. Tyler's selection of the first and second +sections of the joint resolution, and expressed a readiness to exhibit +the despatch to Mr. A. J. Donelson, who had been appointed chargé to +Texas.[60] Mr. Polk courteously declined expressing an opinion +concerning the executive action, accompanying his remark with some +complimentary declaration; and, on that evening, a bearer of despatches +with the requisite documents, was on his way to Mr. Donelson.[61] + +This is a brief and accurate summary of the history of annexation so far +as the action of our government is involved, and as is necessary for +this narrative. The terms of annexation which were offered by the United +States were accepted by Texas, and the public faith of both nations was +solemnly pledged to a compact of union, which was finally consummated at +the following session of congress, when Texas became a member of our +confederacy. + +There were other circumstances, however, which properly induced the +prompt course of President Tyler in sending the joint resolution for the +action of Texas; but, in order to understand these perfectly, it is +necessary for us to direct our attention to the French and English +negotiations between that republic and Mexico. In 1840, as we have seen, +England preferred separate action on behalf of Texas, but she was now +willing to unite with France against the aggrandizement of the United +States. Monsieur de Saligny and the Hon. Mr. Elliott were the +representatives of these European courts in Texas, and to the former of +them was entrusted the active part of the diplomacy. Whilst the +discussions were going on in the United States Mr. Elliott was never at +rest. He was heard of in Charleston, in New Orleans, in Havana, in +Mexico, and, again, in Texas. The restlessness of the agent denoted the +anxiety of his government and of France. + +The rejection of the annexation treaty by congress, in 1844, had almost +deprived Texas of hope. She believed it impossible to expect a union +with the United States, and was prepared to receive the mediation of +France and England which would secure her independence. This was surely +gratifying to the emissaries of these powers and they eagerly undertook +the task of obtaining the coveted boon from Mexico. The Mexican +ministry, ever anxious to thwart the union with our confederacy, was +equally pleased to avert it by any diplomatic _ruse_ that would save the +point of honor, and place her erect before the world. Besides this, the +Mexicans relied on a hope that increasing difficulties between the +United States and England upon the Oregon boundary question, would make +us loath to undertake a war with a southern neighbor whilst our north +and our sea board were menaced by Great Britain. This hope of a +counter-menace from England inspirited the Mexican cabinet and made it +solicitous to resist us successfully. Herrera's ministry was composed of +discreet and patriotic men; but, in the first moments of their power, +they dared not oppose popular prejudices. The revolution which +overthrew Santa Anna was one of the few that sprang from the popular +branches of the nation, and originated neither in factions, the army, or +the church, but derived its success from the universal feeling that +existed against the oppressive misrule of the executive.[62] +Nevertheless popular feeling was against our country, and the cabinet +took its tone from its patrons. + +There can be little doubt of the fact, that the notion of probable +difficulties between the United States and England on the boundary +question, was studiously fostered by emissaries who were hostile to us. +Herrera's cabinet therefore hailed with delight the propositions which +were brought to Mexico by Mr. Elliott, and were presented by the Hon. +Charles Bankhead and Baron Alleye de Cyprey, the British and French +ministers. These propositions, Seńor Cuevas laid before the Mexican +congress on the 21st of April, 1845. The preliminary conditions offered +by Texas, under French and English mediation, and transmitted from that +republic by President Jones, on the 29th of March, were the following: + +1st. That Mexico shall consent to acknowledge the independence of Texas. + +2nd. That Texas shall engage and stipulate in the treaty _not to annex +herself to or become subject to any country whatever_. + +3rd. The limits and other conditions shall be matter of arrangement by +final treaty. + +4th. That Texas should be willing to remit disputed points _concerning +territory and other matters to the arbitration of umpires_. + +These spiteful stipulations, evidently aimed against the United States, +and bearing the marks of their European parentage, suited the taste of +Mexico precisely. Her congress, therefore, at once deemed it advisable +to entertain the Texan proposals, and to proceed to the celebration of a +treaty. But when the Baron de Cyprey announced this assent to the +president of Texas, on the 20th of May, it was already too late for the +success of European diplomacy. Our congress had passed the +joint-resolution, our president had approved it, and our minister, Mr. +Donelson, was in Texas preparing the cabinet to act favorably upon our +propositions. Accordingly when Mr. Elliott returned in June to Texas in +a French corvette, the public mind was already manifesting its anxiety +to accede to our liberal offers, which were finally sanctioned by the +Texan convention on the 4th of July, 1845. + +Had the resolution for annexation not been adopted at the preceding +session of congress, the pretensions of Mexico, instead of being +lowered, would have been raised still higher than they were on the +receipt of the propositions from President Jones. The mediatorial powers +of Mr. Elliott would, in all probability, have been employed in +negotiating truces and treaties until the foundation was laid for the +operation of those peaceful means by which Lord Aberdeen declared it his +intention to promote his philanthropic views. "Abandoned by the United +States, oppressed by debt, and wearied by the increasing burthens and +privations of war, Texas would have been at the mercy of Britain, and +her statesmen would have accepted almost any terms to secure +independence and peace."[63] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[55] Senate doc. No. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 95. + +[56] Senate doc. No. 1, 28th cong. 2d sess. p. 53. + +[57] General Almonté, the Mexican envoy, in a conversation in New York, +confessed to the writer, in the spring of 1843, that Texas was lost to +Mexico, but that all then desired by his countrymen was to save the +point of honor before they acknowledged its independence. + +[58] Mexico as it was and as it is, 4th Ed. Letter XXV. p. 367. + +[59] Id. page 382. + +[60] House of Rep., doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 125. + +[61] The election of the 1st and 2nd sections of the joint resolution +made by President Tyler was subsequently approved by President Polk, as +he declares both in his negotiations and in his message to congress of +the 2nd December, 1845. H. of R., Doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st session, p. +3. + +[62] Mexico as it was and as it is--p. 390, 4th ed. + +[63] Letter from Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, 2nd June, 1845, H. of R., +doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 52. I do not discuss the question of +the _mode_ of annexation, whether by treaty, joint resolution, or +negotiation, as that would require almost a volume by itself to present +a true sketch of the debate that occurred upon it. It is my purpose +rather to narrate events than to discuss all the various subordinate +questions arising from them. "Annexation," is made one of the great +motives or causes for war by Mexico, no matter in what way it is +effected or attempted. "_Mexico would never agree to annexation_;"--said +Seńor Cuevas, the Mexican secretary of foreign affairs, in April, +1845.--Mexico as it was and as it is. p. 391, 4th ed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +General Almonté demands passports and leaves--Shannon and Rejon and + Cuevas--Views of the Mexican cabinet and people--Animosity--Revolt + in Mexico--Political condition of Mexico--Her right of reconquering + Texas--Mr. Buchanan despatches Mr. Slidell as envoy--Rejection of + all accommodation between us--The reason why Mexico refused to + negotiate, after promising to receive a commissioner from the United + States--Subterfuges--Ill feeling in Mexico on the Texas question-- + Herrera overthrown by Paredes--Paredes and the monarchical party-- + Unpopularity of his scheme--Miserable state of Mexican affairs-- + Review of the Texas question. + + +In March, 1845, as soon as congress passed the joint-resolution, Gen. +Almonté demanded his passports and departed. A correspondence which took +place in Mexico between Mr. Shannon, our envoy, and Seńor Rejon, the +minister of foreign affairs, relative to the projected union resulted +fruitlessly; and, on the 2d of April, Seńor Cuevas, who had succeeded +Rejon in office, announced to our legation that his government could +neither continue diplomatic intercourse with ours, nor maintain +friendship with a republic that violated her obligations and usurped a +portion of Mexican territory. He declared, moreover, that the relations +between the two countries could not be re-established before a complete +reparation of that injury should be made.[64] + +This violent and denunciatory language, together with the hint to our +minister to depart, was of course not calculated to allay ill-feeling in +either country. The Mexican congress was not less bitter in its +animadversions, thereby spreading the animosity among the people. It +promptly seconded the wishes of the cabinet, and offered two projects, +both of which asserted the unalienated rights of Mexico over Texas, and +the national resolve to maintain them by force. + +Meantime, however, domestic discontent was again brewing. A certain Gen. +Rangel attempted to revolutionize the government, and is said to have +been favored by the partizans of the late administration. The insurgents +seized the palace, capturing the president and three of his ministers of +state; but they were speedily overpowered and the insurrection +suppressed. In June and July of this year all the Mexican papers were +loud in their clamors for vengeance. The minister of war, Garcia Condé, +wrote despatch after despatch; and, with the usual spirit of national +gasconade, denounced our "perfidy," and continually alluded to "the war +which Mexico waged against the United States," in consequence of our +"treachery." On the 16th of the latter month, he despatched to the +minister of foreign relations and justice a note detailing a plan for +covering the national frontiers, and asserted that Mexico would maintain +her rights by force, or fall in the struggle. "She will not consent," +says he, "to give up one half of her territory from the base fear of +losing the other!" + +Patriotic and stirring as are these declarations, they cannot but be +regarded otherwise than as the most inflated bombast when we recollect +that they were made in defiance of the United States, and after a +failure for seven years to reconquer even Texas, feeble as she was. What +just hope could distracted Mexico reasonably entertain of ultimate +victory? Several years before this period, her discreet statesmen and +reflecting citizens privately acknowledged that Texas was lost forever. +Pecuniary embarrassments, political misrule, and repeated revolutions +had still more impaired her national strength, and yet, an obstinacy as +inveterate as it was silly, forced her to make declarations of intended +hostilities which only served to kindle and spread the excitement among +the masses. + +It is just that we should concede to national pride and honor all they +reasonably demand of respect, yet I have greatly misunderstood this +spirit of our century, if it does not require nations to be as +reasonable in their quarrels as individuals. Empires, kingdoms, states, +republics, and men, are equally amenable to the great tribunal of the +world's common sense, and all are obliged, if they consult their +interests, to yield to the force of circumstances they cannot control. +What then becomes of the mere abstract and visionary "right of +reconquest" which Mexico asserted, even if she really possessed it after +the central usurpation, and destruction of the federal system in 1824? +What hope was there in a war with the United States, after a failure in +that with Texas? It is true that Mexico had the power to annoy us, and +procrastinate her fate; she might oppose and resist; she might develope +all the evil passions of her people and let them loose on our armies in +irregular warfare; but these, after all were nothing more than spiteful +manifestations of impotent malice, disgraceful to the nation that +encouraged them. The cause of genuine humanity, which, I believe, in our +age, truly seeks for peace, demanded the pacification of Texas. The +cruelty with which the war was waged, and the brutal treatment received +by some of the prisoners of the Santa Fé expedition in 1841 and 1842, +convince us that a strong power should have imposed peace on Mexico. +National propriety demanded it; for how long was the "right of +reconquest" to continue? England, the proudest nation on earth, +acknowledged the independence of the United States after a seven years +war. The great powers of Europe interfered to protect oppressed Greece. +England has several times interposed in the affairs of Spain and +Portugal; and our geographical as well as political affinity to Texas +clearly indicated that it was our national interest to establish a firm +and friendly government on our border. + + * * * * * + +There can be no doubt that when General Herrera was, almost unanimously, +elected president in August, 1845, he saw things in this light, and was +prudently disposed to bend to inevitable fate. Notwithstanding the +warlike despatches, speeches, and proclamations of the Mexicans in the +earlier part of the year, our secretary of state seems to have +sufficiently understood their gasconading habits, to disregard these +inflated productions. He therefore authorized Mr. Black, who remained in +Mexico as consul, upon Mr. Shannon's withdrawal, to propose that we +should send an envoy with full powers to adjust all the questions in +dispute between the two countries. Mexico, notwithstanding her open +bravado, secretly assented to our proposal, declaring that she would +receive "the commissioner of the United States who might come to the +capital with full powers to settle the present dispute in a peaceful, +reasonable and honorable manner." + +Accordingly, Mr. Slidell was hastily despatched so as to be sure of +meeting the same persons in power with whom the arrangement had been +made; for in Mexico, the delay of even a day may sometimes change a +government, and create new or unwilling negotiators. Nevertheless when +our minister presented himself in the capital early in December, having +travelled rapidly but unostentatiously, so as to avoid exciting ill +feeling among the Mexicans as to the purposes of his mission, he found +the secretary unprepared to receive him. It was objected that Mr. +Slidell's commission had not been confirmed by the senate of the United +States and that the president had no constitutional right to send him; +that Mexico agreed to receive a commissioner to settle the Texas +dispute, and not a resident envoy; that the reception of such an envoy +would admit the minister on the footing of a friendly mission during a +period of concord between nations, which would not be diplomatically +proper so long as our amity was in the least interrupted;--and, finally, +that the government had not expected a commissioner until after the +session of congress began in January, 1846. + +There may be some force in technical diplomacy, between the mission as +agreed on by Messieurs Black and Peńa, and the one despatched by Mr. +Buchanan, for the letter of credence declares that Mr. Slidell is "_to +reside_ near the government of the Mexican republic in the quality of +envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, and that he is well +informed of the president's desire to _restore_, cultivate, and +strengthen friendship and good correspondence between us." A point of +extreme etiquette raised at such a moment, when both parties were +confessedly anxious for peace, naturally excites some inquiry as to its +probable origin. Accordingly we find that it was a mere subterfuge, +urged by a tottering administration to avert its ruin. The violence of +the cabinet against annexation had done its work among the people. When +Herrera and Peńa accepted, in October, our proposal to treat, they hoped +the popular elections, as well as judicious overtures to the departments +and citizens, would so modify national opinion as to permit their +independent and liberal action. But such forbearance could scarcely be +expected from the watchfulness of Mexican intriguers. Herrera was a +federalist, but his failure to proclaim the federal system, and to throw +himself on that party as soon as he attained power, alienated a large +portion of it and made the rest but feeble supporters. The church and +the centralists soon coalesced in hostility to his government; and, +although his measures were moderate, and all his efforts designed to +correct abuses, yet every political symptom denoted his speedy fall. Of +all the popular clamors, probably none was louder in the mob and the +army, than that which arose in consequence of his effort to negotiate a +peace with our Union. General Paredes took advantage of this +unpopularity, and, at the head of five thousand of the soldiery, +pronounced against the government of the president. + +It will be perceived from this sketch how completely this Texas question +and the war with our country have been made electioneering and +revolutionary elements in Mexico: not, however, with patriotic hopes, or +reasonable expectations of reconquest, but with the contemptible anxiety +of usurping a temporary power which, for a while, enabled the aspirant +to govern the country without the least prospect of settling the +difficulty with us or of regaining Texas.[65] + +This revolution commenced with the army of reserve stationed at San Luis +Potosi, and was seconded by the military men generally. On the 15th of +December, 1845, Paredes issued a bombastic proclamation[66] from his +headquarters; and, in the latter part of the month the revolutionary +forces reached the capital, when a portion of the garrison pronounced in +favor of the insurgent chief. This induced an early accommodation +between the parties, and finished the outbreak without bloodshed. Yet +Paredes, having overthrown Herrera, partly in consequence of his +friendly disposition for peace with us, could not now attempt +negotiations successfully. Mr. Slidell renewed his offers to the +cabinet, but was repulsed and left the country. The lame reliance of +Mexico upon bombastic proclamations was again adopted. Yet the people +were discontented with Paredes who soon began to manifest the despotic +tendency of his nature and education. The military life of this +chieftain naturally inclined him towards centralism, but he was +altogether unfit either by character or habits for civil authority. As +soon as he assumed the reins of government, a party which had long +drooped began again to lift its head. The monarchists, led by the +Archbishop Manuel Posada y Garduńo, and the wily Don Lucas Alaman, soon +got possession of the insurgent general. They were joined by a large +portion of the higher clergy, some influential men of fortune, a few +soldiers, and a number of silly citizens, who promised themselves a +futurity of progress and felicity by calling to the Mexican throne a +monarch from beyond the sea. This party of royalists was strengthened by +dissensions at home, and by the expected attack from the United States. +Many reflecting men cherished no hope of national progress so long as +the turbulent army was unrestrained by paramount authority. They desired +at once to crush freedom and domestic despotism by a foreign prince +supported by European soldiery, whilst they believed that the +continental sovereigns would greedily seize the opportunity of throwing +their forces into America so as to check the aggressive ambition of the +United States.[67] As soon as this scheme of Paredes was disclosed, his +unpopularity increased. His intemperate habits were well known and +destroyed confidence in his judgment. The financial condition of the +country was exceedingly embarrassed, and foreigners, who were the usual +bankers of the government, refused loans on any terms. Payment was +denied by the treasury to all employed in the civil departments, while +money was disbursed to none but the army. The freedom of the press +moreover was suspended; and, to crown the national difficulties, it was +at this very moment that Mexico dreamed of overthrowing the republic at +home and establishing a monarchy in its stead, whilst it simultaneously +encountered our armies abroad in order to reconquer Texas! With such +deplorable fatuity was Mexico misruled, and entangled in a double war +upon the rights of her own people and against the United States. It was +unfortunate that she fell at this crisis into the hands of a despot and +drunkard, whose mind, perplexed between ambition and intemperance, gave +a permanent direction to that false public sentiment, which Herrera had +been anxious to convert into one of peace and good will towards the +United States. + +I have thus succinctly narrated the events that led to the war between +the United States and Mexico. The annexation of Texas, without the +previous assent of Mexico, may have annoyed that government. It was +mortifying to patriotic pride, and we should laud the republic for +manifesting a proper sensibility. But true national pride is always +capable of manly and dignified opposition. It does not expend itself in +bravado, petulance or querulousness. It does not assail by threats, but +by deeds; and never provokes an attack until it is prepared to return +the blow with earnest force. It is silent as the storm until it bursts +forth in overwhelming wrath. All other kinds of resistance are nothing +but miserable exhibitions of mortified vanity, and invoke the world's +contempt instead of respectful compassion. + +Our government, from the beginning, desired and attempted to allay +excitement, whilst that of Mexico, revolutionary, disorganized and +impotent as it was at home, and as it subsequently proved itself to be +in the field of battle, did all it could to foment animosity between the +two countries. This sturdy resistance of Mexico did not arise from +prudence, patriotism or courage, but from intestine factions, +exasperated by rival usurpers. Our efforts to make peace and establish a +boundary upon the most liberal principles were rejected with +disdain.[68] The authorities, basing their refusal upon a frivolous +subterfuge of diplomatic etiquette, would not even hear our proposals, +or receive our minister. Our presidents were disposed to concede every +thing reasonable in negotiation that could have saved the honor of +Mexico and placed our future relations on the salutary foundation of +alliance.[69] Instead of meeting us with the pacific and compromising +temper of our age, her demagogue chieftains stimulated the passion and +vanity of the mob, until the stormy natures of an ignorant people became +so completely excited that they were unable to control the evil spirit +raised by their wicked incantations. + +Blundering onward and blinded by passion, this unfortunate nation +reminds us of that passage in the Ćnead wherein the sightless giant is +described:-- + + "Summo quum monte videmus + Ipsum inter pecudes vastâ se mole moventem + Pastorem Polypheum, et littera nota petentem; + _Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum!_ + + Ćnead, B. 3, v. 655. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[64] Mexico as it was and as it is--see original letter in 4th ed. p. +387. + +[65] See Mexico as it was and is, 4th ed. p. 396--and Slidell's +correspondence with our government. Senate doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st +sess. + +[66] See Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 400. + +[67] Tributo á la verdad, Vera Cruz, p. 3. + +[68] See Wheaton's Elements of international law. ed. of 1836, part 2d +chap. 1, pp. 88, 89, 90, 91. On the right of interference of governments +for the pacification of belligerent nations. + +[69] Mr. Slidell was fully empowered to negotiate on liberal terms. + + + + +BOOK SECOND: + +MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND ON + +THE RIO GRANDE. + + + + +BOOK II. + + + + +MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND ON THE RIO GRANDE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Boundary of Texas defined by Almonté--Description of Texas--Rivers of + Texas--Army of observation--General Taylor--Army of occupation--How + formed--Difficulty of landing in Texas--Aransas bay--Army lands at + St. Joseph's island--Kinney's rancho--Corpus Christi--State of the + army during the winter--Sufferings of the troops--Alarms of war-- + General Gaines's views--Necessity of ample preparation--Our first + aggressive war. + + +The scene of our observation is now about to change from the cabinet to +the field. The theatre of war properly attracts our attention, and the +spot of earth which was the chief cause of dispute between Mexico and +the United States, and where our armies assembled, justly demands our +first notice. + +Texas, until she attained the rank of an independent State, seems to +have been almost an unknown country even to the Mexicans. This was +natural for a people who are not essentially agriculturists, but pass +their lives as herdsmen, miners, or merchants, and whose central +government is far removed from its outposts. + +In the year 1834, General Almonté was deputed by the Mexican authorities +to visit this northern province, and prepare a statistical report upon +its extent and character. According to this valuable document, Texas +proper lies between 28° and 35° of north latitude, and 17° and 25° of +longitude, west from Washington. It is bounded on the north by the +territory of Arkansas; east by Louisiana; south by the Gulf of Mexico +and State of Tamaulipas; and west by Coahuila, Chihuahua, and New +Mexico. Almonté was informed, by the State government of Coahuila and +Texas, that instead of the Rio de las Nueces forming the boundary +between Coahuila and Texas, as the map denoted, the true limit commenced +at the embouchure of the Rio Aransaso which it followed to its source, +whence it continued by a direct line until it reached the junction of +the Medina with the San Antonio, and thence proceeded along the eastern +bank of the Medina to its source, terminating, finally, on the borders +of Chihuahua. The territory comprised within these limits is estimated +at near two hundred thousand square miles--a surface almost as extensive +as that of France.[70] But, since Texas receded from the Mexican central +government, these confines have been changed. By an act of her congress, +in December, 1836, the boundary was declared to begin at the mouth of +the Rio Grande, and thence to run up the principal stream of the said +river to its source; thence due north to the 42° of latitude, and +thence, along the boundary as defined in the treaty between the United +States and Spain, to the beginning.[71] + + * * * * * + +The great body of the territory of Mexico is rich in upland vallies, +extensive plains, noble mountains, fertile soil, beautiful groves, and +rich mines, but it is almost entirely deprived of rivers, whilst Texas +is singularly favored in this respect. On the east, the Gulf of Mexico +affords her an extensive sea coast indented by the mouths of the Sabine +river and lake, the Rio Naches, the Rio Trinidad, the Rio San Jacinto, +Galveston bay, the Rio Brazos, Matagorda bay, the Rio Colorado, the Rios +San Antonio and Guadalupe, Aransaso bay and the Rio Grande, besides +numerous smaller streams that drain her soil and almost cover it with an +interlacing network of water. + +Texas presents to the traveller three distinct natural regions. Along +the shores of the gulf from the Sabine to the Rio Grande, a flat country +extends from thirty to one hundred miles in the interior, widening, +towards its centre on the Colorado, and gradually diminishing towards +the Nueces. The sandy wastes and lagunes of the coast give place, at +some distance in the interior, to a rich alluvial country, diversified +by skirts of timber, insulated groves, and open prairies. A large +portion of this part of Texas is described as being singularly free from +those large collections of stagnant water, which, combined with a +burning sun and prolific vegetation, create malaria in our southern +States. + +Westward of this level skirt, begins the rolling region. The land +gradually swells in gentle undulations, "covered with fertile prairies +and valuable woodlands, enriched with springs and rivulets." Farther +westward still, these beautiful hills tower up into the steeps of the +_Sierra Madre_, that great chain of gigantic mountains, which, broken at +the junction of the Rio Grande with the Puerco, takes thence a +north-easterly course, and enters Texas near the source of the Nueces. +These elevations are of the third and fourth magnitude, and abound with +forests of pine, oak, cedar, and an extraordinary variety of shrubbery. +Wide vallies of alluvial soil, commonly susceptible of irrigation from +copious streams in the highlands, wind through the recesses of these +mountains and afford a delightful region for the purposes of +agriculture. The table lands beyond these ranges have been but little +explored, and still less is known of the northern region extending to +the 42° of north latitude, as well as of that portion lying between the +Nueces and the Rio Grande. But such, in brief, is Texas from the gulf to +the mountains;--a country adapted alike to the planter, the grazier and +the farmer, while it offers to commerce a wide extent of sea coast whose +harbors may be made perfectly secure by the skill of modern science.[72] + + * * * * * + +I have already stated that in 1844 President Tyler stationed an army of +observation under General Taylor, at fort Jesup, as soon as he +negotiated the annexation treaty.[73] This corps, but poorly sheltered +from the weather, and in an inhospitable climate, was, for a long time, +left inactive on the banks of the Sabine. In midsummer of 1845, after +the joint resolution was passed, and when our difficulties with Mexico +began to thicken, it was at length ordered to advance, under the same +commander, towards the southern frontier of Texas. The army then +consisted of but two regiments of infantry, one of dragoons, and a +single company of artillery, in all about fifteen hundred efficient men. +As the climate was known to the sickly, the war department despatched +only such an unacclimated force as was deemed absolutely necessary to +protect a tropical region in the month of July, awaiting the colder +months before its numbers were increased. This body was called the army +of occupation, whose appointments seem to have been extremely imperfect. +"The dragoon regiment had just been formed from a rifle corps; half of +its men were raw, undisciplined recruits, and many of them unable to +ride, while their recently purchased horses were small, weak and +undrilled. The infantry regiments were enfeebled by their long +exposure, in miserable tents, to the withering heats and drenching rains +of a low southern latitude; and the artillerists were without their +guns. Towards the end of June, 1845, a company of the last mentioned arm +of the service, equipped as infantry, at fort Moultrie, was ordered to +New Orleans. This body, armed only with muskets, sailed from Charleston +on the 26th of the month, and on its arrival in Louisiana on the 19th of +July, found that it was destined for service in Texas. The instructions +to the commanding officer informed him that his company was to be +mounted and equipped as flying artillery for the campaign under Taylor; +that horses would be sent him and a battery shipped from New York, upon +the arrival of which he was to join his general at the mouth of the +Sabine."[74] Fortunately for these troops they encountered General +Taylor in New Orleans, though they were obliged to depart without their +ordnance, which did not reach them for two months afterwards, while +their horses were even still longer in attaining their destination. + +The war in Texas, and the unsettled state of that country, had prevented +the preparation of an accurate map, or indeed, even of a survey of the +coasts or interior. It was difficult, therefore, to find any one in New +Orleans acquainted with the harbors and rivers of the new State, or who +was willing to incur the responsibility of directing the army's steps. +The topographical bureau at Washington had, with infinite pains and +ingenuity, constructed a map of the country from the scant materials in +its possession; but this chart has since been proved to be almost +entirely useless as a guide. + +However, after considerable difficulty, General Taylor procured a pilot +for large wages, who professed a thorough acquaintance with the Texan +waters, and a particular knowledge of his destination at Aransas bay. +This individual was immediately put in charge of one of the transports +loaded with troops, and under his lead, the commander in chief sailed +from New Orleans with three ships and two steamers in search of the port +of his disbarkation. The blundering pilot grounded his vessel among the +breakers where it would inevitably have been wrecked, had it not been +extricated by timely assistance, while the captain of another transport +coasted the low shores of the gulf for several days, in sight of land, +seeking an inlet, and when his ship was at length anchored off St. +Joseph's, he asserted that it was the island of Espiritu Santo.[75] + +This bay of Aransas was perhaps one of the most unsuitable for the +disbarkation of troops on the coast of Texas, and was selected in utter +ignorance of the country. Indeed we seem to have committed two great and +often fatal errors in warfare when we contemplated hostilities with +Mexico--first, in despising our foe; and secondly, in failing to inform +ourselves of his country's geography. + +Aransas bay lies between the south end of St. Joseph's and the northern +point of Mustang island, quite close to the latter, and almost at right +angles with the coast. It has a narrow but shifting sand bar at its +entrance, upon which the depth of water varies according to the action +of the winds. The bay is about twenty-five miles in length and twelve in +width, but is obstructed by a shoal and a range of islands that traverse +it.[76] + +On the third of August our whole army had landed on St. Joseph's island, +about thirty miles from the Rio Nueces, across which it was to pass to +its proposed encampment on Corpus Christi bay, near a smuggling village +known as Kinney's _rancho_. As Corpus Christi and Aransas bays are +connected by a shallow and winding channel, it was at once discovered +that steamers were altogether inadequate for the transportation of +troops from the islets to the mainland; and our forces would have +remained where they disembarked had not a few skiffs of light draft, +together with some sail and row boats, been obtained in the neighborhood +at considerable expense. In these frail vessels a detachment of forty +men, armed only with muskets, crossed the Nueces, and landed on the +stormy coast as pioneers in a country asserted to be Mexican. Had the +authorities of that republic been prepared to resist our landing, a few +field pieces might have presented the alleged invasion, as our general +was unable to protect the disembarkation of his troops by cannon. In +addition to these mistakes, the 2d regiment of dragoons was not +despatched from fort Jesup in time to co-operate with our forces when +they first landed at Corpus Christi; and, as the artillery had not yet +been forwarded from our arsenals, the campaign may be said to have +commenced with _infantry alone_. This was a novelty in military science, +and indicated an ignorance of war, an unpardonable imprudence, or a +conviction that the whole drama was got up only to intimidate an enemy +we despised. + + * * * * * + +It is impossible to narrate every circumstance of interest that occurred +during the encampment of our forces west of the Nueces, a position taken +by General Taylor with the concurrence of the war department. But a +history of this war would be incomplete were not the position as well as +the condition of our army accurately stated. Our government, relying +probably on the acknowledged feebleness of Mexico, and on the fact that +she had not yet declared war, imagined that the mere presence of +American troops would pacify Texas or prevent hostilities. This was an +unfortunate mistake, especially in the unsettled condition of things; +for in May, 1845, Mr. Donelson, our chargé to Texas, had warned the +government to be prepared for an immediate blow upon Mexico, if she +should unfortunately declare war against us, and that declaration might +have been expected at any moment. + +The details of the organization of our forces seem, nevertheless, to +have been sadly neglected. Sailing vessels, alone, were relied on to +convey despatches to General Taylor; and, from the wreck of one of them, +a drummer boy, strolling along the beach, on the 15th of August, rescued +a valuable package containing the proclamation of the Mexican government +in which the people were summoned to unite in an army for national +preservation, under the sonorous title of "Defenders of independence and +the laws."[77] The day after this despatch was received, the smugglers +along the coast reported that Arista was rapidly advancing to attack us +with three thousand choice troops. Without artillery to defend the camp, +or dragoons to act as scouts, our general could do nothing but order +entrenchments to be thrown up. Entrenching tools, however, had not been +furnished; and, with only a few old and broken spades the troops labored +briskly, and erected, in a few days, a solid field-work a few yards from +the beach, protected in the rear by the bay. But the battery had not yet +arrived, nor was Gen. Taylor able to obtain from the sloop of war St. +Mary's, which was on the station, any guns of a suitable calibre. +Fortunately, however, he procured three pieces, indifferently equipped, +and a small supply of ammunition, from the citizens of Corpus Christi. +These guns added materially to the strength of our position in case we +were attacked, but were entirely unsuitable for field service.[78] + + * * * * * + +The proclamation to which we have alluded, and the rumors of vigorous +hostility on the part of Mexico, produced great alarm in the United +States, especially along our southern frontier. In New Orleans, +indignation was openly expressed that our gallant men had been +despatched on this forlorn enterprize without the amplest means of +defence and attack, while our arsenals were filled with all the +munitions of war. A large force of volunteers was, therefore, ordered +out in the south, while two companies of artillery were immediately +despatched to Taylor's succor under the command of Maj. Gally. + +The report of Arista's progress, however, proved to be false, so that we +were fortunately saved from attack. Yet the sufferings of our army did +not cease with those military inconveniences. "Two thirds of the tents +furnished our soldiers were worn out or rotten, and had been condemned +by boards of survey appointed by the proper authorities in accordance +with the army regulations. Transparent as gauze, they afforded little or +no protection against the intense heat of summer or the drenching rains +and severe cold of winter. Even the dews penetrated the thin covering +almost without obstruction. Such were the tents provided for campaigners +in a country almost deluged three months in the year, and more variable +in its climate than any other region, passing from the extreme of heat +to that of cold in a few hours. During the whole of November and +December, either the rains were descending with violence, or the furious +"northers" which ravage this coast were breaking the frail tent-poles or +rending the rotten canvas. For days and weeks every article in hundreds +of tents was thoroughly soaked; and during these terrible months, the +sufferings of the sick, in the crowded hospital tents, were +indescribably horrible. Every day added to the frightfulness of the +mortality. At one time a sixth of the entire camp was on the sick list, +and at least one-half unfit for service, in consequence of dysentery and +catarrhal fevers which raged like a pestilence."[79] The camp was +without fires, and, being situated on the edge of a vast prairie +sparsely covered with muskeet trees, was but scantily supplied with wood +even for the most needful purposes. The quarter-master's department +furnished only the weak and stunted _mustangs_ of the country; and the +little and inefficient ponies, geared in the large harness made at the +north for American horses, looked as if they would jump through their +collars instead of use them for traction. With such teams only a +sufficiency of wood could be drawn for cooking, and none for camp fires +to comfort the sick and suffering soldiers. "As winter advanced, the +prairie became a quagmire, the roads almost impassable, and as the +_mustangs_ died in large numbers, wood enough for cooking even, could +not be procured. The encampment now resembled a marsh, the water, at +times, being three or four feet deep in the tents of whole wings of +regiments. All military exercises were suspended, and the bleak gloomy +days were passed in inactivity, disgust and sullenness. The troops, +after being thoroughly drenched all day, without fires to dry them, lay +down at night in wet blankets on the soaked ground, as plank for tent +floors was not furnished by the quarter-masters until the rainy season +was over. At times the men, at tattoo, gasped for breath in the sultry +night air, and, at reveille, found their moist blankets frozen around +them and their tents stiff with ice. A portion of the men were kept +without pay for six months, and the rest for four months, although the +law strictly requires payment every two months. + +"Officers and soldiers, destitute of funds, were compelled to borrow, +upon the strength of pay due, of their more fortunate companions, or of +the Shylocks, in search of victims, that polluted the camp. Sick +soldiers, directed by their surgeons to return to the United States, had +either to remain and die, or to submit to exorbitant exactions from +unfeeling villains in their pension certificates and pay accounts, +though the law requires the paymasters to cash them in specie. + +"On the first landing of the 3d and 4th infantry at Corpus Christi, +"Kinney's Rancho," though a lawless, smuggling town, under the vigorous +sway of its martial proprietor, was as quiet and peaceful as a village +in New England. But every fresh arrival of troops was followed by some +portion of that vast horde of harpies, that are ever to be found in the +train of all armies, ready to prey upon the simple and unsuspecting +among the soldiers. In a short time, hundreds of temporary structures +were erected on the outskirts of the "Rancho," and in them, all the +cut-throats, thieves, and murderers of the United States and Texas, seem +to have congregated. No sight could have been more truly melancholy than +that of their bloated and sin-marked visages, as they lounged through +the purlieus of this modern Pandemonium. The air, by day, was polluted +with their horrid oaths and imprecations,--and the savage yells, +exulting shouts, and despairing groans of their murderous frays, made +night hideous. But, not content with confining their hellish deeds to +their own worthy fraternity, they laid their worthless hands on the +troops. Many of the soldiers, enticed to their dram-shops, were drugged +with stupefying potions, and then robbed of their hard earnings, or +murdered in cold blood." + +General Taylor, looking to the probability of a movement against Mexico, +warned the department that a ponton train was indispensable in a country +wherein streams abounded and wood for bridges was scarce; but it was not +despatched until after the next meeting of congress. + +"Six months after the army had taken the field, there were not teams and +wagons enough to transport one half of the troops; so that, in case of +hostilities, had a forward movement been ordered, it could only have +been effected by detachments, and, in consequence, that most fatal of +all military errors would have been committed, of permitting the enemy +to attack and beat in detail. The few teams furnished, it is natural to +think, were the choicest to be found in the west. For, it had been said, +that though the "Army of occupation" was small, the great celerity of +its movements, from the superiority of the American horses, would +contribute, as well as the greater bravery of its men, to make it more +than a match for the largest Mexican force. Ninety yoke of oxen and +several hundred mustangs were therefore bought, but not a single +American horse! + + * * * * * + +"Three batteries of artillery were added to the one which, at length +reached the company from Charleston. Horses were sent with two of them, +to manoeuvre them rapidly on the field of battle, and to transport +them wherever the army might go. But the third came unprovided with +cavalry. + +"When the New Orleans volunteers left Corpus Christi, their artillery +horses were turned over to the company from Charleston. This company, +having always acted as infantry, had never even seen a flying artillery +drill,--half of the men could not ride,--many had never ridden at all, +and, in mounting for the first time, made Mr. Winkle's mistake as to +which stirrup to use. It was certainly an original idea, to convert, +_in a single day_, a company of foot into light artillery. However, as +horses had at length been given to the company from Charleston, it was +the ardent desire of the lieutenant commanding, to teach his men to ride +and drive, and the sabre exercise. This the loyal quarter-masters +resolved to prevent, and, at the same time, to show the world how +economical they were. They, therefore, refused to purchase any more hay +and told the dragoons and light artillery, that they, themselves, must +cut and haul the dry and sapless broom straw of the prairie, and forage +their horses on that."[80] + +Such is a picture of the sufferings of our army of occupation, drawn by +an eye-witness, and scarcely colored by the warmth of his feelings. If +the advice of military men, and the opinion of persons whose experience +as campaigners entitled them to respect, had been heeded, this war would +have been speedily ended. Ever since the rumor of annexation in 1843, +but, especially, since the inaugural address of President Polk in 1845, +in which he pronounced so emphatic an opinion as to our right to the +whole of Oregon, our political firmament had been clouded. Prudent men +thought it probable that there would be war with Mexico or hostilities +with England, and that the two sources of irritation, by distracting our +powers, would materially increase each other's virulence. + +At this time, General Gaines, a chieftain who has become venerable in +the service of his country, and whose skill and bravery on many a field +have manifested his character in actions that no citizen can ever +forget, commanded on our south-western frontier. The delicate character +of our foreign relations, to which allusion has just been made, +attracted his anxious attention in 1845; and his responsibility as +Chief on a long, exposed frontier, compelled him to give timely warning +to the department. It seemed to this officer, if we engaged hastily in +war with Mexico or England, at such a crisis, and with no preparations +either for an army or its instruction, that the conflict would be +disastrous or procrastinated, especially as the latter power had so far +surpassed us in applying steam to naval purposes. Long years of peace +had rendered us indifferent to war; and unvarying success in other +conflicts had made us confident. Accordingly, he recommended the +concentration of a large force of volunteers on the borders of the +probable theatre of war, where they should be trained in military +science, together with the regulars commanded by General Taylor, until +the spring of 1846. If war could not be averted before that period, we +might then be able to march against the enemy with a powerful and +disciplined army. He contended that the true policy of our country, in +such an assault, was to pursue with relentless energy the military +bandits who swayed the destinies of Mexico, whilst, on all sides, we +protected the persons and property of non-combatants; so that in pushing +onward to the capital we would leave throughout the country traversed an +indelible impression of our justice. Thus the confidence of the best +portions of Mexico would be secured, the _prestige_ of her army promptly +destroyed, and peace obtained before she was able to rally. On the other +hand, General Gaines believed that if we began war without large and +instructed forces, we might count on a protracted struggle, as in the +Seminole campaigns from 1836 to 1842. The precipices upon the doubtful +verge of whose summits we tottered during the war, prove the wisdom of +these suggestions. The faithful page of history admonishes that nations +as well as individuals who recklessly disregard the essential maxims +that prescribe their prudent duties, must sooner or later pay the +penalty of neglect. But politicians, uneducated even in the pleasant +discipline of militia trainings, do not view matters in the same light +as military men whose knowledge of detail, and of the responsibilities +of real service, make them unwilling to engage in war, or even to +threaten hostilities, without the amplest preparation to perform all +they promise. Without such true and earnest discipline warlike array is +but a military cheat. + +It is vain to predict what might have been the result had the advice of +the gallant and prudent Gaines been adopted; yet it cannot be doubted +that a well equipped body of twenty-five or thirty thousand men would +have marched to the city of Mexico and dictated peace at the cost of one +fourth the blood and treasure that were subsequently expended. A +lingering policy of hesitation together with the acknowledged +inefficiency of Mexico, may palliate the errors of our cabinet; but wise +politicians will not henceforth fail to be impressed with the necessity +of military preparation which this conflict has taught us. + +A war which was originally supposed to be one exclusively of defence, +was suddenly changed to an aggressive conflict, and is, perhaps, an +additional excuse for our unpreparedness. Most of the events in this +narrative derive peculiar interest from the fact that it is the first +and only offensive war into which we have been forced. With every known +principle of defence we had been long acquainted; for, in the school of +Washington, we acquired a sound, practical knowledge, which subsequent +experience, under the most perfect system of self-government, enabled us +to improve. But it is to be hoped that many years will elapse before our +volunteers will be again called from their peaceful duties to take part +in an aggressive war, and especially against a government whose theory +of rule is the same as our own. + + NOTE.--General Gaines, who commanded the western division, + was censured by the War department for having made a + requisition on the governor of Louisiana for State troops + to be sent to the army in Texas under Taylor's command, at + the moment of apprehended danger described in this chapter. + General Taylor, for more than a year previous to September, + 1845, commanded one of the brigades of Gaines's division, + and the latter never knew _by authority_ that the former had + been disconnected from him, except upon temporary service, + until advised by the secretary of war on the 13th of + September. He never received a copy of the authority given + to Taylor to go to Texas until after the date of his + requisition for Louisiana volunteers, on the 15th of August, + 1845; consequently he _then_ considered himself responsible + for the strength and support of one of his own brigades, and + bound to succor it speedily when he believed it to be in + imminent danger.--See Senate doc. No. 378, for his + correspondence, and especially p. 48. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[70] Almonté's report. Kennedy's Texas, chap. 1. + +[71] Senate doc. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 56. + +[72] Kennedy's Texas, chap. 1. + +[73] Senate doc. No. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 76. + +[74] An account of the army of observation and occupation, written by +one of its officers, in the Southern Quarterly Review for April, 1846. + +[75] S. Q. Review, _ut antea_, p. 442. (April, 1846.) + +[76] Kennedy's Texas, chap. 2d. + +[77] Niles' Reg. vol. 68, p. 305. + +[78] S. Q. Rev. _ut antea_. Senate doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. +93. + +[79] S. Q. Rev. _ut antea_. + +[80] Southern Quarterly Review, _ut antea_. These statements are made by +an able and distinguished officer of our army, who was on the field, and +is perfectly versed in all the matters he discusses. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Our position at Corpus Christi--Instructions to Taylor as to the boundary + of the Rio Grande--Taylor's views--Review and history of the boundary + question--Letter from Mr. Adams--Santa Anna's agreements with Texas, + &c.--March to the Rio Grande ordered--Justification in a military + point of view of the occupation of the disputed territory--Anecdote + of Frederick the Great--War in Silesia and Austria--Madison's conduct + to Spain in 1810--Right of declaration of war--Justifiable causes of + war--Opinion of Sir J. Mackintosh--War and diplomacy contrasted. + +One of the most inclement winters in the Gulf of Mexico had passed in +the comfortless manner described in the last chapter. Our attempts to +negotiate with Mexico were repulsed, and although our minister had not +yet returned to the United States--having delayed at Jalapa with the +hope of finding Paredes more accessible than Herrera--every thing +indicated an ultimate defeat of diplomacy. + +Meanwhile our forces at Corpus Christi were gradually augmenting, under +the command of Generals Taylor and Worth. In October, 1845, the troops +amounted to near four thousand, and General Taylor made every +preparation, by reconnoissances between the Nueces and the Rio Grande +for the ultimate defence of soil which had been claimed by our +government as part of Texas.[81] + +As a military man it was not his duty to affix the boundaries that were +to be the subject of negotiation or war; but simply to ascertain +precisely the extent of defence required along a disputed territory, and +to dispose his troops accordingly.[82] + +In October, 1845, therefore, General Taylor reviewed the instructions +from the war department, and, seeing that he had been ordered to select +and occupy near the Rio Grande such a site as would consist with the +health of the troops, and was best adapted to repel invasion, he +ventured to suggest an advance of his army. This however, was done by +him whilst he felt great diffidence in touching topics that might become +matter of delicate diplomacy. Nevertheless, taking a soldier's view of +the topographical and not the diplomatic question, he informed our +government, that if it made the Rio Grande an _ultimatum_ in adjusting a +boundary, he doubted not that the settlement would be facilitated by +taking possession, at once, of one or two suitable points on, or quite +near, that river. At these spots, our strength would be displayed in a +manner not to be mistaken, while the position of our troops at the +remote camp of Corpus Christi, with arid wastes between them and the +outposts of Mexico, altogether failed to impress that government with +our readiness to vindicate by force of arms our title to the country as +far as the Rio Grande.[83] Moreover, General Taylor felt encumbered by +the orders from our war department of the 8th July, in which he was told +that Mexico held military establishments on the east side of the Rio +Grande, whose forces he should not disturb until our peaceful relations +were finally destroyed.[84] + +Accordingly, on the 13th of January, 1846, our commander-in-chief was +directed to advance with his troops to the Rio Grande.[85] This movement +was made in consequence of the anticipated failure of our negotiations, +clearly indicated by the conduct of the Mexican government immediately +upon the arrival of Mr. Slidell in the capital. But before these orders +were despatched to General Taylor, he had already in August, 1845, been +apprised of his duties in the event of hostile demonstrations on the +part of the enemy. In case of an invasion of Texas by the Mexicans, he +was directed to drive them back beyond the Rio Grande; and, although it +was desirable that he should confine himself as much as possible to +defensive measures, yet, in the event of such a repulse, he was +authorized to seize and hold possession of Matamoros and other places on +the soil of Mexico. + +This resolution of our government was made the subject of grave +complaint by persons who opposed the war. The order to advance from +Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande was alleged to be an act of invasion, +and consequently, that _hostilities_ were commenced by us and not by +Mexico. + +It may be pardoned if we pause awhile to consider a subject of such +vital importance. The solution of the question was placed by one party +upon the determination whether the Rio Grande was the boundary between +Texas and Mexico before the battle of San Jacinto; and, if not, whether +it has been made so since by competent authority. Up to that period it +was asserted to be a recognized fact that the Nueces was the western +boundary of Texas. Mr. John Quincy Adams, in his controversy with Don +Luis De Onis, upon the Spanish boundary question, in March, 1818;[86] +and Messieurs Pinckney and Monroe, in their argument with Cevallos at +Madrid in April, 1805,[87] claimed the Rio Grande as the true limit +between the United States and Mexico, by virtue of the ancient rights of +France and the treaties between that sovereignty and the Spanish +king.[88] It was asserted, therefore, that by the cession of Louisiana +all the rights of France over Texas, as an integral part of her +territory, accrued to us; and consequently that when the State of Texas +was united to this country it was only _re_-annexed with what were +_claimed_ to be its ancient limits. But this was not a true statement +of the controversy, for after our treaty with Spain the aspect of the +affair changed. The question then was no longer what had been the +boundary under the laws between France and Spain, or between Spain and +the United States,--but what were the limits either under the colonial +government of the Mexican viceroyalty, or under the laws of Mexico, when +she became an independent republic. It was asserted that no map or +geography existed since the establishment of the republic that did not +lay down the boundary north of the Rio Grande. The map of Texas, +compiled by Stephen H. Austin, the parent of Texan colonization, +published at Philadelphia in 1835, and setting forth all the Mexican +grants in Texas, represents the Rio Nueces as the western boundary. +General Almonté in 1834, as I have previously stated, alleged, upon the +authority of the State government of Coahuila and Texas that the +boundary between them was even east of the Nueces. This was probably in +accordance with the ancient Spanish division; for, in 1805 Cevallos +declared to our ministers at Madrid that the province of Texas, "where +the Spaniards have had settlements from the 17th century, was bounded on +the east by Louisiana, and contains the extensive country which lies +between the river Medina _where the government of Coahuila ends_, and +the post now abandoned." Authorities to this effect might be +extensively multiplied.[90] Brazos de Santiago was a Mexican port of +entry, which continued to be held up to the period of hostilities, and +Laredo was a small Mexican town, occupied by a Mexican garrison. If such +was the geographical division between Texas and Mexico on the lower Rio +Grande, near its mouth in the gulf, it was asserted that there could be +infinitely less right to claim it as a limit nearer its source, since +Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, had never been within the +jurisdiction of Texas, and since the boundaries of Chihuahua commenced +near the head waters of the Nueces. + +These were some of the arguments used by individuals who deemed the +march to Point Isabel an invasion of Mexican territory. It is just that +a few reasons should also be presented on behalf of those who believed +it to be lawful or expedient. + +When Santa Anna was captured after the battle of San Jacinto in 1836, +the leading men in Texas had great difficulty in rescuing him from +popular vengeance for the massacres he had committed. The victory over +the central chief--the despot and dictator of Mexico--was generally +believed to be a crowning measure of success, for the bitter persecutor +soon dwindled into the humble supplicant, and pledged his name and his +oath to secure the independence of the rebellious State. Accordingly, +with every appearance and promise of good faith and honor, he executed +contracts with the Texan authorities which deserve consideration in +discussing this question. On the 14th of May, 1836, at Velasco, two of +these documents were signed by Santa Anna, Burnet, Collingsworth, +Hardiman and Grayson,--the first being a public, and the second a secret +convention between the parties. The third article of the first paper +stipulates that the Mexican troops shall evacuate the _territory_ of +Texas, _passing to the other side of the Rio Grande_, while the fourth +article of the secret agreement declares that a treaty of amity, +commerce and limits shall be made between Mexico and Texas, _the +territory of the latter power not to extend beyond the Rio Bravo del +Norte, or Rio Grande_. In conformity with these contracts, Texas set +free the prisoner, whose "prompt release and departure for Vera Cruz," +according to their tenor, "were necessary for the fulfilment of his +_solemn oath_," to obtain a recognition of the independence of Texas, +and to dispose the Mexican cabinet for the reception of +commissioners.[91] + +Santa Anna returned to his country in disgrace after his disastrous +campaign, and lurked in retirement at his farm until the French attacked +Vera Cruz, when he threw himself again at the head of the departmental +forces. In the action he fortunately lost a limb, and by the skilful +display of his mutilation in defence of Mexico, he renewed his claims +to national gratitude. Instead, however, of using his influence to +obtain the treaty, promised as the boon for his life, he became at once +the bitterest foe of Texas, and pledged himself to fight "forever for +its reconquest." Texas, meanwhile, acting in good faith, and presuming +to adopt the spirit and letter of the convention with Santa Anna, whom +she naturally regarded as the dictator of Mexico, passed the act of +December 19, 1836, establishing the Rio Grande as her boundary from the +gulf to its source. Besides this, her congress created senatorial and +representative districts west of the Nueces; organized and defined +limits of counties extending to the Rio Grande; created courts of +justice; spread her judicial system over the country wherever her people +roamed, and performed other acts of sovereignty which we are compelled +not to disregard. It cannot be contended that these acts and agreements +were alone sufficient, under the laws of nations, to confer upon Texas +unquestionable rights over the soil between the Nueces and the Rio +Grande, for a contract with the captive president and general was not +legally binding; but it is equally clear that all these arguments of the +old authorities as to the original boundary, and all the new claims set +up by Texas, under her statutes, as well as stipulations with Santa +Anna, made that territory a disputed ground whose real ownership could +only be equitably settled by negotiation. The strong language of both +the contracts, just recited, seems to _concede_ the fact that the +president of Mexico regarded, at least the lower Rio Grande, as already +the real boundary between Mexico and Texas, notwithstanding the opinion +of Almonté in 1834; and consequently that it was neither the subject of +treaty or agreement at that moment, nor could it become so afterwards +when commissioners were appointed. + +When Texas was annexed to the United States she was received with these +asserted limits, though she did not join the Union with any specific +boundaries.[92] It was thought best by both parties to leave the +question of confines open between Mexico and our country, so as not to +complicate the national entanglements. After the congress of the United +States and convention in Texas had acted upon the joint resolution it +was impossible for us to recede. The course of our presidents, +therefore, was at once pacific and soothing towards Mexico. For although +they believed that republic had no right to be consulted as to the +annexation of Texas, a free and independent State, they nevertheless +admitted all her natural and just privileges in regard to boundary. Mr. +Tyler and Mr. Polk therefore despatched envoys to Mexico with the offer +of liberal negotiations as soon as a favorable opportunity presented +itself. But the chargé and minister of Mr. Tyler were scornfully +rejected, while Mr. Slidell, as has been already related, was refused an +audience upon frivolous pretences at a moment when the Mexican secretary +was secretly craving to receive him.[93] + +In such a juncture what was the duty of the United States? It is an easy +matter for speculative philosophers or political critics to find fault +with the conduct of statesmen and to become prophets of woe _after_ the +occurrence of events they deprecate. But such men are timid actors on +the world's stage, and especially in such a theatre of folly as the +Mexican republic. Governments have but two ways of settling +international disputes,--either by negotiation or war,--and, even the +latter must be concluded by diplomacy, for nations rarely fight until +one of them is completely annihilated. Negotiation, or the attempt to +negotiate, had been completely exhausted by us. Meanwhile Mexico +continued to excite our curiosity by spasmodic struggles in nerving her +people for the war, as well as by gasconading despatches which breathed +relentless animosity to our country for the annexation of Texas. +Nevertheless, this sensitive and vaunting nation would neither make +peace, establish boundaries, negotiate, nor declare war. Was it +reasonable that such a frantic state of things should be permitted to +continue? Could this perverse aversion to fighting or friendship be +tolerated? Were our countries to conclude an eternal compact of mutual +hatred and non intercourse? Was such childish obstinacy and weakness to +be connived at in our country? Was it due to common sense, justice, or +the preservation of a good neighborhood that we should remain supine +under insane threats and dishonorable treatment? We asserted that, upon +the Texas question, we had rightly no dispute with Mexico, except as to +the boundary involved in the territory our forces were then occupying or +about to cross. We did not design discussing our right to annex Texas. +That was an act accomplished and unalterable. It was, doubtless, +exceedingly convenient for Mexico to maintain this pacific state of +_quasi-war_ and to reject, alike, our amity and hostilities, as long as +she owed us many millions of dollars and refused either to pay principal +or interest, or to conclude a treaty for the settlement of unadjusted +claims. Whilst her government was able to enforce non-intercourse, it +was free from importunity and payment. But this adroit scheme of +insolvency was unjust to our citizens, and only served to augment the +liabilities of Mexico. What then remained to be done? The reply may be +found in a significant anecdote related by Mr. Adams in a speech in +congress on the Oregon question, on the 2d of January, 1846. + +"After negotiating"--said he--"for twenty years about this matter we may +take possession of the subject matter of negotiation. Indeed, we may +negotiate after we take possession, and this is the military way of +doing business. When Frederick the Great came to the throne of Prussia +he found that his father had equipped for him an army of a hundred +thousand men. Meeting soon after the Austrian minister, the latter said +to him: "Your father has given you a great army, but ours has seen the +wolf, whilst your majesty's has not." "Well--well!" exclaimed Frederick, +"I will soon give it an opportunity to see the wolf!" Frederick then +added, in his memoirs:--"I had some excellent old _pretensions_ to an +Austrian province, which some of my ancestors owned one or two centuries +before; accordingly I sent an ambassador to the court of Austria stating +my claim, and presenting a full exposition of my right to the province. +The same day my ambassador was received in Vienna, I entered Silesia +with my army!"[94] + +Such would be a prompt and impulsive answer to the manifold +prevarications of seditious Mexico. But the army we advanced and the +country we occupied, were neither the army of Frederick nor the pleasant +vales of rich and populous Silesia. A nearly desolate waste, stretched +from the Nueces to the Rio Grande, barren alike in soil and inhabitants, +and tempting none to its dreary wilderness but nomadic _rancheros_ or +outlaws who found even Mexico no place of refuge for their wickedness. +It was, surely, not a land worthy of bloodshed, and yet, in consequence +of its sterility, it became of vast importance on a frontier across +whose wide extent enemies might pass unobserved and unmolested. With the +entire command of the Rio Grande from its source to its mouth in the +hands of our enemy, and the whole of this arid region flanking the +stream and interposing itself between Mexico and our troops, it is +evident that our adversaries would possess unusual advantages over us +either for offensive or defensive war. The mere control of the +embouchure of the river was no trivial superiority, for, on a stormy and +inhospitable coast, it was almost impossible to support an effectual +blockade and thus prevent the enemy from being succored along his whole +frontier with arms and provisions from abroad. By seizing, however, the +usual points of transit and entrance on the lower Rio Grande many of +these evils might be avoided; and, if Mexico ultimately resolved on +hostilities, we should be enabled to throw our forces promptly across +the river, and by rapid marches obtain the command of all the military +positions of vantage along her north-eastern boundary. + +The foresight of Frederick the Great disclosed to him the military value +of Silesia in the event of a war with Austria, and it was probably that +circumstance, quite as much as his alleged political rights, that +induced him to enter it with an army on the day when he commenced +negotiations. He began the war with Austria by surprising Saxony, and, +during all his difficulties, clung tenaciously to the possession of +Silesia. Saxony was important as a military barrier covering Prussia on +the side of Austria, while Silesia indented deeply the line of the +Austrian frontier and flanked a large part of Bohemia.[95] Thus Saxony +and Silesia formed a natural fortification for Prussia, just as the +deserts of the disputed land, when in our rear, covered the undefended +confines of Texas at the same time that they gave us the keys to the +enemy's country at Point Isabel and Matamoros. + + * * * * * + +It may be asserted that, when vacant or nearly vacant territory is in +controversy between two nations, and forms the only subject of real +dispute between them, it would be better for both to refrain from an +attempt to occupy it, provided they are willing to arbitrate the +quarrel, or settle it by diplomacy. But, when both parties assert +claims, both have equal rights to enter it, when negotiation fails. The +decision is then to be made only by intimidation or war. There is no +alternative by which collision can be escaped, and it is the duty of the +wiser of the disputants to place his national forces in such an +advantageous position as either to defend his acknowledged territory or +force himself to be driven from the soil he claims. "I do not consider +the march to the Rio Grande to have been the cause of the war"--said a +distinguished statesman, "anymore than I consider the British march on +Concord or Lexington to have been the cause of the American revolution, +or the crossing of the Rubicon to have been the cause of the civil war +in Rome. The march to the Rio Grande brought on the _collision of arms_, +but, so far from being the cause of the war, it was itself the effect of +those causes." + + * * * * * + +The power of declaring war is expressly reserved by the constitution to +congress, and, though the president is commander in chief of the army +when called into actual service, he should be extremely cautious in +issuing orders or doing acts which may lead to hostilities resulting in +war. Our congress was in session in January, 1846, when Mr. Slidell was +rejected by Mexico, when our international relations were complicated as +I have described, and when the secretary of war, by the president's +direction, gave the order for Taylor's advance to the Rio Grande. This +was an act that brought the armies of Mexico and the United States in +front of each other; and although there can be no doubt that congress +would have authorised the movement of our troops under the military +advice of General Taylor,--provided the Rio Grande was to be made an +ultimatum in the ratification of a treaty by our senate,--it is, +nevertheless, to be profoundly regretted that the question was not +previously submitted to our national representatives. At that moment the +public mind was distracted between Mexico and England; but the Oregon +question nearly absorbed the apparently minor difficulties with our +restive neighbor. Congress contemplated the solemn probability of war +with one of the mightiest nations of our age, and even some of our +experienced statesmen,--as we have seen in the example of Mr. +Adams,--recommended the most stringent measures of armed occupation. At +such a crisis, and with a confidential knowledge of all our foreign +relations, it was the duty of the president to represent these matters +frankly to congress and to ask the opinion of his constitutional +advisers, as he subsequently did in the settlement of the dispute with +Great Britain. This prudent act would have saved the executive from +needless responsibility, whilst it indicated a sensitive devotion to the +behests of our constitution. Congress met whilst our troops were +encamped at Corpus Christi, as an army of observation, whose hostile, +though protective character, was unquestionable; yet our representatives +neither ordered its return nor refused it supplies. This denoted a +willingness to sanction measures which might either pacify Mexico, or +impose upon that republic the immediate alternative of war. It is not +improbable that congress would have adopted such a course, because, +according to the pretensions of Mexico, our troops had already invaded +her domains. This is an important view of the question which should not +be passed by silently. Mexico, it must be remembered, never relinquished +her right to reconquer Texas, but always claimed the _whole_ province as +her own, asserting a determination to regard its union with our +confederacy as justifiable cause of war. The joint-resolution, alone, +was therefore a belligerent act of the congress of the United States, +sufficient, according to the doctrine of Mexico, to compel hostile +retaliation. But, moreover, as the entire soil of Texas, from the Sabine +to the Nueces or Rio Grande was still claimed by Mexico as her +unsurrendered country, the landing of a single American soldier anywhere +south of our ancient boundary with Spain, was quite as hostile an +invasion of Mexican territory as the passage of our army from Corpus +Christi to Point Isabel. + +Occasions upon which the eminent right of self protection has been +adopted as a principle of action in the United States, are not wanting +in our political history. The circumstances in all, are of course not +precisely the same, but the policy is identical. The conduct of our +government in regard to General Jackson's invasion of Florida for the +suppression of Indian cruelties may be referred to. But congress might +have found a still more analogous case, in the dispute between Spain and +the United States as to the eastern limits of Louisiana. Spain alleged +that Florida extended to the Mississippi, embracing what was then a +wilderness, but, now, forms the populous States of Alabama and +Mississippi; while our government asserted that all the territory +eastward of the Mississippi and extending to the Rio Perdido belonged of +right to us by virtue of the treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of +April, 1803. By acts of congress in 1803 and 1804 the president was +authorized to take possession of the territory ceded by France, to +establish a provisional government, to lay duties on goods imported into +it; and, moreover, _whenever he deemed it expedient_, to erect the bay +and river Mobile into a separate district, in which he might establish a +port of entry and delivery. + +In 1810, President Madison believing that the United States had too long +acquiesced in the temporary continuance of this territory under Spanish +domain, and that nothing was to be gained from Spain by candid +discussion and amicable negotiation for several years, solved the +difficulty by taking possession of Mobile and Baton Rouge and extending +our jurisdiction to the Perdido. This possession, he took means to +ensure, if needful, by military force. Mr. Madison's conduct was +assailed in congress by the federalists who regarded it as an +unjustifiable and offensive demonstration against Spain, but it was +defended with equal warmth by the opposition,--especially by Mr. +Clay,--and the Rio Perdido has ever since continued to form the western +limit of Florida.[96] + + * * * * * + +When nations are about to undertake the dread responsibility of war, and +to spread the sorrow and ruin which always mark the pathway of +victorious or defeated armies, they should pause to contemplate the +enormity of their enterprise as well as the principles that can alone +justify them in the sight of God and man. Human life cannot be lawfully +destroyed, assailed or endangered for any other object than that of just +defence of person or principle, yet it is not a legal consequence that +defensive wars are always just.[97] + +"It is the right of a State," said that profound moralist and statesman, +Sir James Mackintosh, "to take all measures necessary for her safety if +it be attacked or threatened from without: provided always that +reparation cannot otherwise be obtained; that there is a reasonable +prospect of obtaining it by arms; and that the evils of the contest are +not probably greater than the mischiefs of acquiescence in the wrong; +including, on both sides of the deliberation, the ordinary consequences +of the example as well as the immediate effects of the act. If +reparation can otherwise be obtained, a nation has no necessary, and +therefore no just cause of war; if there be no probability of obtaining +it by arms, a government cannot, with justice to their own nation, +embark it in war; and, if the evils of resistance should appear on the +whole greater than those of submission, wise rulers will consider an +abstinence from a pernicious exercise of right as a sacred duty to their +own subjects, and a debt which every people owes to the great +commonwealth of mankind, of which they and their enemies are alike +members. A war is just against the wrongdoer when reparation for wrong +cannot otherwise be obtained; but is then only conformable to all the +principles of morality when it is not likely to expose the nation by +whom it is levied to greater evils than it professes to avert, and when +it does not inflict on the nation which has done the wrong, sufferings +altogether disproportioned to the extent of the injury. When the rulers +of a nation are required to determine a question of peace or war, the +bare justice of their case against the wrongdoer never can be the sole, +and is not always the chief matter on which they are morally bound to +exercise a conscientious deliberation. Prudence in conducting the +affairs of their subjects is in them a part of justice." + +These are the true principles by which Mexico should have judged the +controversy between us, before she rejected all our efforts to +negotiate, and forced our government to prepare for hostilities. + + * * * * * + +The idea of war, for mere conquest, seems now to be obsolete among +civilized nations. To political dominion, as exhibited in the various +governments of the old world, and in most of the new, geographical +limits are definitely assigned. This fact must, hereafter, greatly +modify the objects of war, by narrowing them to _principles_ instead of +_territory_. Principles, however, are always the fair subjects of +controversy for the diplomatic art. Yet such is the perversity of human +nature, that, although we are convinced of the propriety and possibility +of adjusting our disputes by reason, we nevertheless go to war for +these very principles, and, after having done each other an incalculable +amount of injury, at last sit down like cripples, to negotiate the very +matters which ought to have been treated and terminated diplomatically +at first. It is, perhaps, the folly of mankind to believe that there is +more wisdom in negotiators and diplomacy when nations are lame and +weakened by war than when they are full of the vigorous energy and +intelligence of peace! + + NOTE.--It may be useful to record the following proclamation + of General Woll, before annexation, in order to show, that + the agreements between Santa Anna and the Texans in 1836, are + not the only Mexican documents in existence which seemed to + open the boundary question between Texas and Tamaulipas. + + + "_Headquarters of the Army of the North, Mier, June 20, 1844._ + + "I, Adrian Woll, general of brigade, &c., make known: + + "1. The armistice agreed on with the department of Texas + having expired, and the war being, in consequence, + recommenced against the inhabitants of that department, all + communication with it ceases. + + "2. Every individual, of whatever condition, who may + contravene provisions of the preceding article, shall be + regarded as a traitor, and shall receive the punishment + prescribed in article 45, title 10, treatise 8, of the + articles of war. + + "3. _Every individual who may be found at the distance of + one league from the left bank of the Rio Bravo, will be + regarded as a favorer and accomplice of the usurpers of that + part of the national territory, and as a traitor to his + country; and, after a summary military trial, shall receive + the said punishment._ + + "4. Every individual who may be comprehended within the + provisions of the preceding article, and may be rash enough + to fly at the sight of any force belonging to the supreme + government, shall be pursued until taken, or put to death. + + "5. In consideration of the situation of the towns of La + Reda and Santa Rita de Ampudia, as well as of all the _farm + houses beyond the Rio Bravo_, I have this day received, from + the supreme government, orders to determine the manner by + which those interested are to be protected; but, until the + determination of the supreme government be received, I warn + all those who are beyond the limits here prescribed, to + bring them within the line, or to abandon them; as those who + disobey this order, will infallibly suffer the punishment + here established. + + ADRIAN WOLL. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[81] On the 15th of June, 1845, Mr. Bancroft, as acting secretary of +state, wrote to General Taylor as follows: + +"The point of your ultimate destination is the western frontier of +Texas, where you will select and occupy, on or near the Rio Grande del +Norte, such a site as will consist with the health of the troops, and +will be best adapted to repel invasion, and to protect what, in the +event of annexation, will be our western border." + +On the 30th of July, 1845, the secretary of war, Mr. Marcy, declared to +him that "the Rio Grande is claimed to be the boundary between the two +countries, and up to this boundary you are to extend your protection, +only excepting any posts on the eastern side thereof which are in the +actual occupancy of Mexican forces, or Mexican settlements over which +the republic of Texas did not exercise jurisdiction at the period of +annexation, or shortly before that event. It is expected that, in +selecting the establishment for your troops, you will approach as near +the boundary line--the Rio Grande--as prudence will dictate. With this +view, the President desires that your position, for a part of your +forces, at least, should be west of the river Nueces." + +This, and even more forcible language, was repeated in letters from the +same source on the 23d and 30th of August, and on the 16th of October, +1845. In the last letter the secretary of war states distinctly that the +western boundary of Texas is the Rio Grande. See Senate doc. No. 337, +29th cong. 1st sess. pp. 75, 77, 80, 81, 82. + +[82] That this was General Taylor's view of the question is proved by a +remark in his letter to General Ampudia on the 12th of April, 1846, on +being warned by that officer to break up his camp and to retire to the +other bank of the Nueces. General Taylor says: I need hardly advise you +that charged as I am, _in only a military capacity, with the performance +of specific duties, I cannot enter into a discussion of the +international question involved in the advance of the American +army_.--id. p. 124. + +[83] See Senate Doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 99. + +[84] Id. p. 75. + +[85] Id. p. 82. + +[86] American State papers, vol. 4, p. 468. + +[87] Id. vol. 2, p. 662. + +[88] As it may be important that the reader should understand the title +to Louisiana under which the boundary of the Rio Grande was claimed, the +following is a summary of its history. Louisiana originally belonged to +France, but by a secret compact between that country and Spain in 1762, +and by treaties, in the following year, between France, Spain, and +England, the French dominion was extinguished on all the continent of +America. In consequence of the treaty between this country and England +in 1783, the Mississippi became the western boundary of the United +States from its source to the 31° of north latitude, and thence, on the +same parallel to the St. Mary's. France, it will be remembered, always +had _claimed_ dominion in Louisiana to the Rio Bravo or Rio Grande, by +virtue + +1st. Of the discovery of the Mississippi from near its source to the +ocean. + +2d. _Of the possession taken, and establishment made by La Salle, at the +bay of St. Bernard, west of the rivers Trinity and Colorado, by +authority of Louis XIV, in 1685_; notwithstanding the subsequent +destruction of the colony. + +3d. Of the charter of Louis XIV, to Crozat in 1712. + +4th. The historical authority of Du Pratz, Champigny, and the Count de +Vergennes. + +5th. Of the authority of De Lisle's map, and of the map published in +1762 by Don Thomas Lopez, _geographer to the king of Spain_, as well as +of various other maps, atlases, and geographical and historical +authorities. + +By an article of the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, in October, 1800, +Spain retroceded Louisiana to France; yet this treaty was not +promulgated till the beginning of 1802. The paragraph of cession is as +follows: "His Catholic majesty engages to retrocede to the French +republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the +conditions and stipulations above recited relative to his Royal +Highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony and province of Louisiana, with +the same extent that it already has in the hands of Spain, _and that it +had when France possessed it_, and such as it should be, after the +treaties passed subsequently between Spain and other powers." In 1803, +Bonaparte, the first consul of the French republic, ceded Louisiana to +the United States, as fully and in the same manner as it had been +retroceded to France by Spain in the treaty of San Ildefonso; and, by +virtue of this grant, Messieurs Madison, Monroe, Adams, Clay, Van Buren, +and Jackson contended that the original limits of the state had been the +Rio Grande. However, by the 3rd article of our treaty with Spain in +1819, all our pretensions to extend the territory of Louisiana towards +Mexico or the Rio Grande, were resigned and abandoned by adopting the +River Sabine as our southern confine in that quarter. See Lyman's +diplomacy of the United States. Vol. 1, p. 368, and vol. 2, p. 136. + +The following extract from a valuable letter with which the author was +favored by Ex-President Adams, who, as secretary of state, conducted the +negotiations with Spain, will explain his opinions and acts upon a +subject of so much importance. + + QUINCY, 7th July, 1847. + + * * * * * + + "Whoever sets out with an inquiry respecting the right of + territories in the American hemisphere claimed by Europeans, + must begin by settling certain conventional principles of + right and wrong before he can enter upon the discussion. + + "For example what right had Columbus to Cat Island, + otherwise called Guanahani? Who has the right to it now and + how came they by it? The flag of St. George and the Dragon + now waves over it; but who had the right to take possession + of it because Christopher Columbus found it,--the paltriest + island in the midst of the ocean. European statesmen, + warriors, and writers on what are called the laws of + nations, have laid down a system of laws upon which they + found this right. Have the Carribee Indians, in whose + possession that Island was discovered by Columbus, ever + assented to that system of right and wrong? + + "You remember that Hume, in commencing his history of + England by the Roman conquest says--"that without seeking + any more justifiable reasons of hostility than were employed + by the later Europeans in subjecting the Africans and the + Americans, they sent over an army under the command of + Plautius, an able general, who gained some victories, and + made a considerable progress in subduing the inhabitants." + Then, no European has ever had any better right to take + possession of America, than Julius Cćsar and the Romans had + to take possession of the island of Britain. + + "What then was the right either of France or Spain to the + possession of the province of Texas? To come to any question + of right between the parties upon the subject you must agree + upon certain conventional principles: where and when your + question of right must become applicable to the facts; and, + as between them, it was a disputed question, and had been so + from the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi river by + La Salle, and from his second expedition to find the mouth + of the Mississippi coming from the ocean, in which he + perished. + + "Spain had prior claims to the country, but the claim of + France was founded upon the last voyage of La Salle, and by + extending a supposed derivative right, from the spot where + La Salle landed half way to the nearest Spanish settlement. + + "Mr. Monroe and Mr. Charles Pinckney, in their + correspondence with Cevallos, assumed this as a settled + principle between European nations, in the discussion of + right to American territory. It was not contested, but was + not assented to on the part of Spain; and, having found it + laid down by Messieurs Monroe and Pinckney, I argued upon + it, and it was never directly answered by Don Luis De Onis, + who could not controvert it without going to the Pope's + Bull.[89] + + "As between France and Spain therefore, I maintained that + the question of right, had always been disputed and never + was settled, from which opinion I have not since varied. + That we had a shadow of right beyond the Sabine I never + believed since the conclusion of the Florida treaty, and, it + is from the date of that treaty, that Great Britain had not + a shadow of right upon the Oregon territory until we have + been pleased to confer it upon her." + + * * * * * + + "I am, dear sir, with great respect, your very obedient + servant, + + J. Q. ADAMS." + + To BRANTZ MAYER, ESQ., Baltimore." + + +[89] Alexander VIth's Bull of Donation. + +[90] See "Matthew Carey's general map of the world,"--29th +map--published 1814.--Kennedy's Texas, p. 4.--Mrs. Holley's +Texas.--History of Texas, by D. B. Edwards, preceptor of Gonzales +Seminary, Texas, 1836, p. 14. He says:--"Texas is bounded on the north +by Red river, which divides it from Arkansas, Ozark District, and New +Mexico; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio de las Nueces, +_which divides it from the States of Coahuila and Tamaulipas_; on the +east by the eastern branch of the river Sabine and the State of +Louisiana; on the west by the State of Coahuila and the territory of New +Mexico." + +Accompanying the work is a map of Texas with boundaries, as laid down +above. In a note on one corner of the map, speaking of the Rio Grande, +he says: "_If_ this river should ever become the western boundary of +Texas (as desired by the inhabitants) it will add a hundred miles to its +sea-coast and fifty thousand square miles to its superficies; the +southern section of the surface is sandy, barren prairie, almost +destitute of water; and its northern rocky, sterile mountains, nearly as +destitute of timber." + +[91] Primera Campańa de Tejas: by Ramon Martinez Caro, secretary of +Santa Anna, pp. 122, 125. + +[92] Mr. Donelson wrote to Mr. Buchanan on the 2d July, 1845, from +Washington, Texas, as follows: "_My position is_ that we can hold Corpus +Christi and all other points up the Nueces. If attacked, the right of +defence will authorise us to expel the Mexicans to the Rio Grande. It is +better for us to await the attack than incur the risk of embarrassing +the question of annexation with the consequences of immediate possession +of the territory on the Rio Grande. * * * The government left for treaty +arrangement the boundary question in the propositions for a definitive +treaty of peace. H. of R. doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. pp. 78, 79. + +[93] I am informed by Mr. Parrott, the secretary of legation who +accompanied Mr. Slidell, that no form of letters of credence--or +evidence of powers as "_commissioner to settle the Texan dispute_," +would have secured a hearing for our envoy. The mob, the army, and +Paredes were determined that no missionary of peace should be received +from the United States. + +[94] The _claim_ of Frederick the IInd to Silesia was considered +_plausible_. As Bohemia renounced not only the possession, but all its +rights to Silesia by the treaties of Breslau and Berlin and other +subsequent treaties, the kings of Prussia pretended, that by virtue of +the renunciation, they became sovereign dukes of the country and not +subject to the emperor in their new character. To this claim it was +replied that Bohemia being an imperial State, could not, of its own +authority, destroy the feudal tenure by which Silesia was attached to +it, and through it to the empire. The question was rendered more +intricate, for one party considered Bohemia feudal only as to the +electoral dignity, but as a kingdom free and independent of Germany. The +Germans argued that Silesia was part of the empire, the Prussians +considered it a separate and independent State. Frederick took advantage +of these "state right" doctrines to sustain his claim, as Texas took +advantage of her state right sovereignty when the central despotism of +Santa Anna overthrew the federal constitution of 1824. + +[95] Arnold's fourth lecture on Modern History. + +[96] Waite's State papers, 1809-11, p. 261; and Clay's speech on the +line of the Perdido. + +[97] Pufendorf, Lib. VIII, c. 6.--Note by Barbeyrac. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Army marches from Corpus Christi--Taylor prepares the Mexicans for his + advance--Description of the march--Beautiful prairie and desolate + sand wilderness--Rattlesnakes--Chapparal--The Arroyo Colorado--First + hostile demonstrations of the Mexicans--Expected fight--Cross the + Colorado--Worth and Taylor separate--True nature of discipline-- + Characters of Mexican and American soldiers contrasted. + + +On the 8th of March, 1846, the joyous news ran through the American +camp, at Corpus Christi, that the tents were at last to be struck. The +worn out soldiery had nothing to regret in quitting a spot where their +eyes were only relieved by looking from the dreary sea in front to the +desolate prairie in the rear. General Taylor had already taken means to +prepare the Mexicans for his advance, although he scarcely expected +resistance. Respectable citizens from Matamoros had frequently visited +his camp; and to all of those who were represented as possessing +influence at home he proclaimed the unhostile feelings of our government +towards their country, and that when our army marched southward it would +not pass the Rio Grande unless Mexico provoked war. He invariably +apprized these strangers of his resolution to protect the peaceful +inhabitants in all their rights and usages, as well as to pay for every +thing needed by his forces instead of plundering the country for +support. + +Accordingly, on the morning of the 8th of the month, the advanced guard, +composed of the cavalry and Major Ringgold's light artillery,--the +whole under the command of Colonel Twiggs, and numbering twenty-three +officers and three hundred and eighty-seven men,--took up its line of +march towards Matamoros. This corps was succeeded by the brigades of +infantry, the last of which departed on the 11th followed immediately by +the commander in chief with his staff. The weather was favorable; the +roads in tolerable order; the troops in good condition notwithstanding +the winter's hardships; while a general spirit of animation pervaded the +whole body, inspired as it was with the hope of adventure in the +neighborhood of an enemy. All, therefore, departed on this day from +Corpus Christi by land, except the command of Major Monroe, who was to +reach the Brazos de Santiago in transports under convoy of the United +States brig Porpoise and the Woodbury. This officer was to embark with a +siege train and field battery, in season to reach his destination when +the army would be in the vicinity of Point Isabel. + +The last adieus of our forces to their dreary winter quarter were by no +means tearful, as with colors flying and music playing, they crossed the +sandy hills that concealed it forever from their sight. The first day's +march passed through alternate patches of prairies and timber to the +Nueces; but, on the two next, these sad wastes were exchanged for +splendid fields blossoming with flowers of every hue. A delicious +fragrance filled the air, and the whole surface of the earth as far as +the eye could reach, seemed covered with a beautiful carpet. The edge of +the horizon, in every direction, was crowded with wild animals. On one +side thousands of mustangs curvetted over the gentle elevations of the +rolling prairie; on another herds of deer might be seen standing for a +moment filled with wonder at the unwonted sight of human beings, and +then bounding off until they were lost in the vast distance. Beautiful +antelopes, nimble as the wind, were beheld in countless numbers, while +pecarys and wild bulls rushed in droves across the path of our men. But, +on the fourth day of the march, this scene of enchantment suddenly +vanished. Uncultivated prairies and immense herds of savage beasts had +already testified the abandoned state of the country; yet the region our +forces now entered disclosed the frightful "nakedness of the land." The +water became exceedingly bad, and there was scarcely fuel enough for +culinary purposes. The blooming vegetation of the preceding days was +exchanged for sands through which the weary men and cattle toiled with +extreme difficulty. Salt lagunes spread out on every side. At each step +the fatigued soldier plunged ankle-deep in the yielding soil, while a +scorching sun shone over him and not a breath of air relieved his +sufferings. At times, a verdant forest loomed up along the heated +horizon, fringed by limpid lakes, and our wearied columns moved on +gaily, cheated, again and again, by the hope of shade and water. +Suddenly the beautiful groves dwindled into jagged clumps of thorns or +aloes, and the fairy lakes changed to salt and turbid lagunes. "The +wormwood star had fallen on every thing and turned the waters to +bitterness." The plant whose piercing spines and sword-like leaves have +entitled it to the name of the "Spanish bayonet," was the hermit shrub +of this dreadful Zaharah. Around its roots the snakes lurked and +crawled. Whenever the soldiers' path was unimpeded by these annoyances, +scarifying his limbs as he advanced, the ground seemed heated and +sinking like the _scorić_ of Vesuvius. Man and beast sank exhausted +and panting on the earth. The want and value of delicious water are +never known till we pass a day like this under the burning rays of a +tropical sun, toiling on foot over a scorched and arid soil without +refreshment! At length the word ran along the line that it was +approaching a lake whose waters were not salt. "Under the excitement of +hope the faint and exhausted infantry pressed onward with renewed life, +while, some miles ahead, the artillery were seen to halt enjoying the +luxury of _water_. As the soldiers reached it all discipline was +forgotten; their arms were thrown down, and they rushed boldly in, +thrusting their heads beneath the waves in their desire to quench the +thirst that was consuming their vitals."[98] + +Such is the natural aspect and character of the desolate region between +the Nueces and the Rio Grande,--a chequered wilderness of sand and +verdure,--fit only for the wild beasts that inhabit it, and properly +described in former days, as a suitable frontier between the great +republics of North America. + + * * * * * + +On the 21st of March, all our forces concentrated on the Arroyo +Colorado,--a salt stream or lagune nearly one hundred yards broad, and +so deep as to be scarcely fordable,--situated about thirty miles north +of Matamoros. Had the enemy attacked us here his assault would have been +formidable, wearied as were our troops with the distressing marches of +previous days. Bold, bluff banks, twenty or thirty feet high, hem in the +stream, whose borders, on both sides, are lined, for a considerable +breadth, with impervious thickets of _chapparal_. These thorny groves +are to be found in all sections of the south, varying in size from a few +yards to a mile in thickness, so closely interlaced and matted with +briers and bushes as to prevent the passage of animals larger than a +hare. They are the sorest annoyances of travellers in Mexico, and often +force the wayfarer to make a long circuit to pass their limits, though +they reward him for his trouble by supplying an abundance of the +_tuna_--a luscious fruit of the prickly pear,--which grows luxuriantly +on these natural and impenetrable walls. + +Such, with the barrier of the stream, was the fortification nature had +interposed for the safe guard of Mexico at the Arroyo Colorado. But the +inert natives seemed indisposed to take advantage of those rare +defences, though not without some hostile demonstration which the +resolute conduct of Taylor soon overcame. + +When our advanced corps encamped near the banks of the stream on the +19th, an armed _reconnoisance_ was sent forward to examine the country. +On reaching the river, our scouts discovered that the opposite side was +lined with a body of _ranchero_ cavalry, from whom they learned, +although no opposition was made to our examination of the ford, that we +should be treated as enemies if we attempted to pass it. Impossible as +it was to ascertain accurately the amount of the opposing force, our men +were prepared for the worst, and, at an early hour of the 20th, the +cavalry and first brigade of infantry were thrown in position, at the +ford, while the batteries of field artillery were formed so as to sweep +the opposite bank. All was now anxiety and eagerness among our gallant +men. Far along the borders of the river, above and below, the bugles of +the enemy were heard ringing out in the clear morning air. But the hope +of frightening our men by overwhelming numbers was of no avail. Our +pioneers worked steadily on the road they were cutting to the brink of +the river; and, when all was ready for the passage, the adjutant general +of the Mexican forces appeared on the ground for a final effort of +intimidation. With Spanish courtesy, he informed our general that +positive orders were given to his men to fire upon our forces if they +attempted to cross, and that our passage of the river would be +considered a declaration of war. At the same time he placed in Taylor's +hands a warlike proclamation issued by Mejia at Matamoros on the 18th, +containing unequivocal manifestations of the intention of the Mexicans +to molest us. + +Our commander-in-chief, however, was not to be deterred by these threats +from the fulfilment of the orders he had received to pass the Rio +Grande. He answered the officer that he would "_immediately_ cross the +river, and that if his hostile party showed itself on the other bank +after our passage was commenced, it would unquestionably receive the +fire of our artillery." In the meantime the second brigade, which had +encamped some miles in our rear, came up and formed on the extreme +right; and, as the road to the river bank was by this time completed, +the order to advance was given. + +It was a moment of intense excitement. What forces might not lurk behind +the dense walls of _chapparal_, ready to dash upon our ranks as they +deployed on the other side? Our artillerists stood to their aimed and +loaded guns. The Mexicans were doubtless eager and panting for +resistance in the rear of the bristling plants that lined the lofty +parapet of the river's bank. Every eye was strained upon the first +daring rank that was to plunge into the stream as a "forlorn hope." +Mexico would fight now if ever; for her mettle was as yet untried! For +an instant, profound silence reigned along the anxious line which the +next moment might be involved in the fire of battle. Suddenly the +gallant Worth spurred to the head of our troops, and dashing boldly into +the flood, waved them on to the further shore. But not a shot was fired +by the recreant foe, and as our men rose shouting from the water and +rushed up the steeps of the opposite bank they beheld the valiant +Mexicans in brisk retreat towards Matamoros! The fugitives were +unmolested;--a laugh of scorn and pity ran through our ranks;--and, +before nightfall, the first and second brigades of infantry, with a +train of two hundred wagons had crossed the stream and encamped three +miles from its banks. + +This was an important affair, as it was the first in which the Mexicans +showed themselves in a decidedly hostile attitude; and it furnished an +excellent opportunity to try the mettle of our men both in spirit and +discipline. Not a soldier faltered. + + * * * * * + +On the morning of the 23d of March, General Taylor departed with his +whole army from the camp near the Colorado. After a march of fifteen +miles he reached, on the 24th, a position on the route from Matamoros to +Point Isabel,--distant about eighteen miles from the former and ten from +the latter,--where he left the infantry brigades under the command of +General Worth, with instructions to press on in the direction of +Matamoros until a suitable position for encampment was obtained, at +which he might halt, holding the route in observation, whilst the +commander-in-chief proceeded with the cavalry to Point Isabel. At that +post General Taylor expected to meet the transports from Corpus Christi +with the force under Major Monroe, and to make the necessary +arrangements for the establishment and defence of a depot. + +As soon as the army left the Colorado a new object, of more interest in +natural history than military memoirs, presented itself to the notice of +our troops. The soil was covered with a long wiry grass among which +glided immense numbers of huge rattlesnakes, more appalling to our +soldiers than the Mexicans. The country literally swarmed with serpents. +From the Colorado to within a few miles of Point Isabel their warning +rattle was heard on all sides. They crept between the ranks as our men +marched through the long herbage, and at night coiled themselves +comfortably under their blankets for warmth. + + * * * * * + +Familiar as we are with the campaigns of Frederick and Napoleon, and +willing to record as classical the great deeds of the old world's +heroes, we are still often loath to do justice to the brave men in our +own country who have served the State so zealously in Florida and +Mexico. It is not simple bravery in battle that commends a soldier to +admiration, for few are cowards when the excitement of action hurries +them headlong among their foes amid the shouts and thunder of actual +carnage. But it is the preparatory discipline that tests a military +character. The camp and the march are the soldier's training. The dreary +winter-quarter passed in patient service, and the wearying advance over +burning plains or snowy mountains, are the real touchstones of courage, +and prove those powers of _endurance and subordination_ which make +resistance staunch and stubborn. These are the sources of discipline; +and it was with troops that had borne the winter hardships at Corpus +Christi, I have described, and made the short but arduous march to Point +Isabel, that Taylor felt sure of victory. They had encountered +extraordinary fatigue, and yet were ready at a moment's notice for +battle without flinching. With such schooling an army becomes a gigantic +instrument moving with the accuracy of clock-work, put in motion by the +general's genius. It can endure as well as perform all he requires, and +he knows that the result of a battle depends alone on his numbers, his +position, or his individual skill in military combination. The common +soldier and the officer thus react upon each other, and the electric +chain of mutual _confidence_ makes success an impulse. + +The American and the Mexican soldier are essentially different, though +both, according to the report of distinguished officers, are almost +equally brave. In the anglo-saxon race bravery is the balance between +prudence and courage, exercised with an indomitable resolution to +achieve a desired end. The American soldier is fearless, yet he values +life and seeks to protect it. His object is to subdue or slay his foe, +still he determines to avoid, if possible, a fatal catastrophe. This +renders him intrepid while it teaches the importance of discipline and +obedience to resolute and skilful officers. He perceives at once the +object to be secured or the thing to be done, and he marches on with the +mingled caution and spirit requisite for success. + +It may be said that a certain degree of timidity is necessary in every +balanced character in order to ensure reflection, for natural courage, +unaided by sensitiveness, would render it rash. But the Mexican soldier +seems to be guided by a different system, and to be brave without either +prudence or enduring discipline. He is trained in manoeuvres; and, +believing that when he masters his manual he is equal to all military +emergencies, he supposes that a battle is little more than a parade. As +Mexican troops are rather political engines, designed for the domestic +police of cities, than for actual service in the field, the soldier is +more of a plaything than a tool or weapon. Vague, ideal notions of Roman +patriotism, are infused into his mind by the demagogues of the army in +bombastic proclamations, and he imagines it better to perish than +surrender to his foe. But this murderous doctrine of "revenge or death" +serves rather to animate him _before_ battle than to carry him steadily +through its perils. He has the ability to perceive the beauty of +abstract virtue, but lacks the sustained energy, the profound +endurance, to realize it. He rushes onward without deliberation, or +regard of consequences. An international war is, in his estimation, a +personal not a political quarrel. A brutal ferocity marks every headlong +movement, and deprives him of the control of reason. Besides this, +_life_, has not the same value to a Mexican as to an American warrior, +for the objects and hopes of their lives are incapable of comparison. +One lives for practical liberty and progress, the other's existence is a +mere strife for bread under military despotism. A Mahomedan +fatalism--derived, perhaps, from his Moorish kindred--tinges the nature +of a Mexican, and the impulsive blood of a tropical climate subjects him +almost exclusively to his instincts. Hence Spanish wars have been long +and sanguinary butcheries, while their civil dissensions are the feted +ferment of corruption. + +The Mexican, hot and fretful in controversy, is ever quick and sometimes +secret, in ridding himself of his foe;--the American is equally prompt +with his pistol, but gives his insulting enemy an equal chance. A sudden +conflict with knives ends a Spanish rencontre or dispute; while periods +of deliberation and cool arrangements precede the fatal field between +our countrymen. The American officer is scientifically educated in +military schools and _leads_ his men to battle. The Mexican is ignorant +of all but ordinary drills, and either _follows_ his impulsive +squadrons, or, flies at the approach of personal danger. The one has +nerve and endurance, the other impulse and passion; hence, while the +Mexican strikes his blow and retreats to his lair if foiled, the +American, equally unchanged by victory or defeat, moves onward with +indomitable purpose until his object is successfully accomplished. The +one dwindles too often into the cruel assassin or relentless +persecutor,--the other, as frequently, attains the dignity of a clement +hero. + +These general observations apply, of course, only to the masses, for +truly brave and patriotic men exist in all countries, and nowhere are +the examples of heroic qualities more conspicuous than among the Spanish +races. The fault lies more in temperament than in soul. An equipoise +between intellect and passion is alone deficient in the nature of the +Mexican people, for the savage has not been entirely extirpated from the +mingled blood of Indian and Spaniard. + +When the remarkable energy of men, born in genial climates, is tempered +by self restraint, it produces that urbane and chivalrous character +which once made war the school of gentlemen. But the modern ideas of +liberty and patriotism have deprived standing armies of all exclusive +claim to national protection; and, as long as each citizen feels that +the defence of his native land or of his country's rights depends upon +himself, the volunteer as well as the regular will be prompt to +discharge his military duty with skill, alacrity and irresistible +resolution. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[98] Army on the Rio Grande, p. 13. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Character of Mexican diplomacy--Genius of the Spanish language--Paredes's + proclamation--Hostilities authorized by him--Taylor goes to Isabel-- + Description of the Brasos St. Jago and Point Isabel--burning of the + custom-house--Made a depot and fortified--Taylor and Worth unite and + plant the American flag opposite Matamoros--Worth's interview with + La Vega and Césares--Fruitless efforts of our generals to establish + amity--Description of the country round Matamoros--appearance of the + town. + + +The qualities which characterize the Mexican soldier, as described in +the last chapter, mark also the statesman of that country. Their loud +and vain-glorious professions of resolve; their bombastic proclamations; +their short, passionate and revolutionary governments; their personal +rivalries and universal anarchy, denote impulsive tempers utterly +incapable of sustained self-rule or resistance. To those who are +familiar with Mexican history, this is not a novel fact, yet it has been +astonishingly manifested in the war between our countries. It would be a +tedious task to recount the various manifestos and despatches that were +written to control and satisfy public sentiment in regard to the pending +difficulties. Diplomacy is the weapon of weak powers, and the pen is a +most important implement when defeat, inaction or incompetency are to be +excused to the Mexicans. There is something perhaps in the genius of the +Spanish language that renders it peculiarly appropriate to appease the +vanity of those who speak it. The natural vehicle of eloquence, its +magic words, its magnificent phrases and its sonorous sentences march +along in solemn and pompous procession, and compel the attention of +every listener. Simple sentiments, clothed in the expressions of this +beautiful tongue assume new and striking shapes, and the judgment is +charmed or swayed by sympathy with the ear. + +The statesmen of Mexico are aware of these extraordinary advantages, and +whether they have to account for a lost battle, tranquillize a +passionate mob, or satisfy an importunate _diplomat_, they are equally +ready to resort to the armory of their resounding language for defence. + +We have already seen that Paredes overthrew Herrera's administration by +means of the Texan question and opposition to negotiation with our +government. When General Taylor advanced towards the Rio Grande this +chieftain was still president and quite as unable to fulfil the promises +to repel us as his predecessors had been in 1844 and 1845. Feeling, +under the peculiar views of the controversy they entertained, that the +honor of their country required our expulsion from Texas, they had +announced and pledged this auspicious result to the people. But at the +moment when all these extraordinary boasts were made, they were, +doubtless, designed only to serve a temporary purpose, under the hope +that some fortuitous circumstance might occur which would exonerate them +from war. I have heretofore stated that the Mexicans were encouraged in +resistance by the belief of impending difficulties with England. In +addition to this, Paredes probably relied on foreign interference in +consequence of his monarchical schemes; nor was it until the spring and +summer of 1846, that all these prospects were blighted by the energetic +course of our senate and the discretion the British cabinet in regard to +Oregon. But it was then too late to retreat, for hostilities had already +commenced. + +Loud as were the Mexicans in their fulminations against our alleged +usurpation, I am inclined to believe they never seriously contemplated +the invasion of Texas, but hoped either to let the question sleep for +many years in the portfolios of negotiators whilst a rigorous +non-intercourse was preserved, or to solicit, finally, the mediatorial +influence of Great Britain and France in order to prevent war if our +congress intimated a disposition to declare it. This opinion is founded +upon the remarkable proclamation issued in Mexico on the 21st of March, +1846, by General Paredes.[99] His language is still decided in regard to +Mexican rights over Texas; but he asserts that "_the authority to +declare war against the United States is not vested in him_," and that +the congress of the nation, which is about to assemble, must consider +what is necessary in the approaching conflict. This proclamation was +issued in the capital after it was known that our army was advancing to +the Rio Grande, and on the very day when Mr. Slidell's passports were +sent him at Jalapa by the Mexican government. But between the 21st of +March and the 23d of April the provisional president's opinion of his +rights underwent a change, for, on that day, he published another +proclamation in which he asserts that he had "sent orders to the general +in chief of the division of the northern frontier to _act in hostility_ +against the army which is in hostility against us; to oppose war to the +enemy which wars upon us;" though, in conclusion, he announces that +still he "does _not declare war_ against the government of the United +States of America."[100] Thus, under the masked name of _hostilities, +the Mexican government authorised the first warlike blows to be struck_, +because, as it alleged, we had invaded the national domain by marching +to Matamoros. It was the forced realization of all those gasconading +manifestos, which for the last two years had breathed war and defiance +against the United States. Such, then, was the actual origin of the +collision, for the troops and officers of General Taylor religiously +abstained from acts of military violence, and confined themselves +exclusively to the defence of the territory they were directed to hold. +That mere _protection_ was the undoubted purpose of our government, will +not be questioned by the reader when he recollects the smallness of our +army, and its entire want of preparation to molest or invade a nation of +more than seven millions of inhabitants. + + * * * * * + +In the last chapter, General Taylor was left on his way to Point Isabel, +while Worth moved in the direction of Matamoros.[101] During the march +of our column towards the sea shore it was approached, on its right +flank, by a party of Mexicans bearing a white flag, which proved to be a +civil deputation from Matamoros desiring an interview with the +commander-in-chief. General Taylor apprised the representatives of +Tamaulipas that he would halt at the first suitable place on the road to +afford them a reception; but it was found necessary to pass on to Point +Isabel without delay in consequence of the want of water elsewhere on +the route. The deputation, however, declined accompanying our forces +towards their destination, and halting a few miles from the Point, sent +a formal protest of the prefect of the northern district of Tamaulipas +against our occupation of the disputed country. At this moment it was +discovered that the buildings of Point Isabel were in flames. The +retreating Mexicans had set fire to the edifices to prevent our +occupation; and, as General Taylor considered this a direct and +vexatious evidence of hostility, and was unwilling to be trifled with by +the tools of the military authorities of Matamoros, he dismissed the +deputation with the information that he would answer the protest when he +was opposite the city. + +The cavalry was forthwith pushed on to the burning town in time to +arrest the fire which consumed but three or four houses; yet the +inhabitants had already fled, and the officer, who committed the +incendiary act under the orders, it is said, of General Mejia, was +nowhere to be found. + +As our troops entered the village they were gratified to find that the +transports from Corpus Christi had exactly answered their land movement, +and that the steamers had arrived in the harbor with the convoy close in +their rear, only a few hours before our forces entered from the desert. +General Taylor immediately directed the engineers to examine the ground +with a view of tracing lines of defence and strengthening a position, +which he decided should form the great depot of our forces. + + * * * * * + +Point Isabel is approached from the sea through the Brazos de Santiago. +It is a wild and desolate sea coast, defended by bars and strewn with +wrecks. In former years, a small Mexican village and fort, containing a +couple of cannons, stood upon the Brazos Point, but during one of those +terrific storms which ravage the Mexican coast, the sea rose above the +frail barrier of shifting sand, and when the tempest subsided, it was +discovered that the village and fortification had been engulfed beneath +the waves. Few places are more inhospitable on the American coast than +the bar of Brazos. There is no friendly shore under whose protecting lee +ships may seek safety during the awful hurricanes that so often descend +upon them without a moment's warning. But when a vessel has fairly +passed the entrance, she moves along securely over the waters of the +bay, and anchors under cover of the sand hills to the left whilst her +passengers and freight are landed in boats or lighters. + +On a bluff promontory jutting out into the bay and sloping gradually +inland, stands the village of Isabel. Its houses denoted the character +of its people. The spars of wrecked vessels, a few reeds, and the +_debris_ of a stormy shore, thatched with grass and sea weed, formed the +materials of which they were built, while a vagabond race, fifty or +sixty in number, constituted the official but smuggling population, +which was prepared to protect the revenue of Mexico or receive bribes +from contrabandists, as their interests might dictate. A certain Seńor +Rodriguez was the captain of this important port at the period of our +occupation; and, being a person equally ready to take pay from importers +or exporters of goods as well as to receive further compensation for +concealing his roguery from the government, he deemed it his duty, as a +faithful officer, to destroy the custom house by the conflagration that +incensed General Taylor against the prefect of Tamaulipas.[102] Such +was Point Isabel and its vagrant inhabitants, when abandoned to our +forces, and adopted as a depot. + + * * * * * + +While the engineers were engaged in fortifying a position, which was +soon to become of so much importance in the war, General Taylor rejoined +the division under Worth's command, and on the morning of the 28th of +March, the order was given for all the columns to advance towards +Matamoros. At half past six the movement began. The arms were closely +inspected, and every man was directed to be on the alert in case of +sudden attack. Yet no symptom of fear was exhibited in our ranks, while +the squadrons pressed on gaily, with merry songs and pleasant chat. +About a mile from the Rio Grande they saw the first house on their route +of more than one hundred and fifty miles from Corpus Christi. The dark +eyed Mexicans were lounging with apparent indifference about their +doors, and returned civil answers to our inquiries. Soon after, the city +of Matamoros came in sight; and, with bands playing, and regimental +colors flying to the wind, we arrived opposite the town at noon. From +the head quarters of General Mejia, the Mexican standard was displayed, +and, in a short time a temporary flagstaff, prepared by the eighth +regiment, under the superintendence of Lieut. Col. Belknap, was raised +aloft bearing the American ensign; but no other manifestation of joy was +given than by the national airs which were pealed forth from our +regimental bands. The moment our flag was displayed, it was saluted, +from Matamoros, by the _consulate_ flags of France and England; while +the absence of our own banner from the opposite shore denoted the +departure or restraint of the commercial representative of our +Union.[103] + +As soon as our colors were raised on the eastern bank of the Rio +Grande, General Worth and his staff descended to the water's edge, +bearing a white flag and a communication from the commander-in-chief, +announcing formally the purpose of our advance to the dividing stream. +General Taylor believed that this would be the means either of +establishing friendly relations between the posts, or of eliciting the +final decision of the Mexican government. As soon as Worth and his +companions were perceived from the opposite bank two cavalry officers +crossed with an interpreter. After some delay in parleying, it was +announced that General La Vega would receive our messenger on the right +bank of the river, to which he immediately passed, accompanied by his +aid-de-camp Lieutenant Smith, and Lieutenants Magruder, Deas, and Blake, +attached to his staff, and Lieutenant Knowlton as interpreter. + +On arriving at the Mexican quarters, General Worth was courteously +received by La Vega and introduced to Don Juan Garza, _oficial de +defensores_, and to the _Licenciado_ Césares, who represented the +authorities of Matamoros. La Vega informed General Worth that he had +been directed to receive such communications as might be presented, and +accompanied his tender with the remark that the march of the United +States troops through a portion of Tamaulipas was considered by his +country as an act of war. + +This was no time to discuss the international question, and Worth, +properly refraining from conversation upon so vexatious a topic, +proceeded, as an act of courtesy, to read the open document he bore, +which he afterwards withdrew inasmuch as it had not been received +personally by General Mejia the commander-in-chief at Matamoros. + +A demand to see our consul was refused by the Mexicans, and although we +learned that he was not under restraint but still continued in the +exercise of his official duties, all communication with that +functionary was peremptorily denied. Thus terminated, unsatisfactorily, +another effort on our part to employ diplomacy in the establishment of +harmonious feelings with the local authorities of Matamoros; and +notwithstanding General Worth was assured that "Mexico had not declared +war against the Union," and that "the countries were still at peace," he +returned to the American camp with gloomy forebodings for the +future.[104] + + * * * * * + +If there was little to hope from the people of Mexico, or little +attractive in the prospect of social intercourse between the camp and +town, there was much to gratify the eye of our fatigued soldiers in the +scenery that lay before them. On their long and toilsome march they had +been relieved from the dreary wastes of Texas as soon as they beheld the +blue haze hanging over the distant windings of the Rio Grande. The city +of Matamoros, as seen from the opposite side of the river, skirts the +stream for more than a mile with its neat and comfortable dwellings. As +the trade of this town is chiefly carried on with the interior, there +has been no need of encroaching with wharves and walls on the margin of +the river. Hence the city is somewhat removed from the banks, and +embowered amid extensive groves and gardens, from the midst of whose +luxuriant foliage its towers and dwellings rise in broken but graceful +lines. There is but little timber near the river, which traverses +beautiful prairies as it approaches the sea. The hand of culture has +taken these waving meadows under its protection; and, on all sides the +landscape is dotted with abundant vegetation. The grass covered banks +are screened by shrubbery or grazed by cattle; while the stream, winding +along in easy curves, is so narrow near the city that conversation may +be easily carried on from its opposite sides. "The rich verdure of the +shores,--the cultivated gardens scattered around,--the clustering fig +and pomegranate trees," contrasted with the desert through which our +troops had passed, converted this land into a scene of enchantment. The +fatigued soldiers were repaid for all their toils. Existence, alone, in +so beautiful a climate and with such delicious prospects, was sufficient +recompense for our men, and they gazed with delight at the hostile shore +as martial _don_ and gay _donzella_ poured out in crowds from the walls +of Matamoros to behold the foreign flag and the bold intruders clustered +beneath its folds. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[99] See Mexico as it was, &c., 4th ed. p. 407. + +[100] Diario oficial--April 24. + +[101] I desire it may be remembered that the important facts related by +me in regard to our military and diplomatic movements are all given upon +the authority of official papers published by congress. The reader who +wishes to verify them will do well to provide himself with the volumes +of executive documents, for I shall not deem it necessary to incumber +the margins of my pages with continual references. I have been +scrupulously accurate in all my quotations from American authorities, +and have observed the same course in regard to the Mexican reports, +proclamations and manifestos. See especially, (for this volume,) Senate +doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess.--H. of R. doc. No. 197, id.--Senate +doc. No. 378, id.--Senate doc. No 388, id.--H. of R. doc. No. 4, 29th +cong. 2d sess.--H. of R. doc. No. 19, id.--H. of R. doc. No. 42, +id.--Senate doc. No. 107, id.--H. of R. doc. No. 119, id. + +[102] Our army on the Rio Grande, chap. v. + +[103] Army on the Rio Grande, chap. ii. + +[104] See Senate doc. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. for a memorandum of +General Worth's spirited interview with La Vega and Césares. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Military and civil proclamations against the United States at Matamoros + in April, 1846--General Taylor's pacific policy--Desertion from our + army promoted by Ampudia and Arista--Shooting of deserters, seen + swimming the river, ordered--Construction of the fort opposite + Matamoros--Guerillas on the left bank--Ampudia and Arista arrive-- + Death of Colonel Cross--Expedition of Lieutenants Dobbins and Porter + --Death of Porter--Surprise and surrender of Captain Thornton's + party of dragoons--Ampudia and General Taylor on the blockade of the + mouth of the river--Fort capable of defence; left under the command + of Major Brown--Walker's men surprised on the prairie--Taylor goes to + Point Isabel--Cannonade heard from Matamoros--May with his dragoons + and Walker sent to the fort for tidings--Their adventures--Return to + Point Isabel--Taylor calls on Texas and Louisiana for reinforcements + --character and quality of the Texan Ranger. + + +The months of March and April, 1846, were fruitful in civil and military +proclamations at Matamoros, manifesting a hostile spirit against our +country, but General Taylor persisted in his pacific conduct and +directed all under his command to observe a scrupulous regard to the +municipal rights and religious usages of the quiet Mexicans whom they +found in the neighborhood of the Rio Grande. In order that no pretext of +ignorance might be pleaded by our adversaries, in this respect, his +orders were published in Spanish as well as English, and freely +distributed among the people. It is to be regretted that a similar +forbearance was not exhibited by our opponents. As soon as our forces +appeared in the vicinity of Matamoros they began to intrigue with our +subalterns. It was known that our army, made up at random from a +population of natives and emigrants, contained individuals born in +Europe; and, to the religious and political prejudices of this class, +the authorities addressed themselves.[105] + +In consequence of these seditious appeals, the evil of desertion +increased to an alarming extent, and the most effectual measures were +necessary to prevent the contagion from spreading. As our deserters, by +merely swimming the narrow river, were at once within the enemy's lines, +pursuit and apprehension, with a view to trial, were out of the +question. General Taylor, therefore, deemed it his duty, warranted by +the hostile attitude of the Mexicans, to order that all men seen +swimming across the river should be hailed by our pickets and ordered to +return, and, in case they did not obey this summons, they should be +shot. These stringent orders were verbally given to the several +commanders, about the beginning of April, and checked the practice, +though it is believed that only two men,--privates of fifth and seventh +infantry, from France and Switzerland,--fell victims to the fatal +command. Thus failed so dastardly an attempt to interfere by intrigue +with the _morale_ of our army. Taylor was undoubtedly justified in +resorting to the most efficient means to prevent the decimation of his +scant forces; and although some sensitive politicians in our Union were +scandalized by the severity of his orders, yet, when they learned that +the men who were induced to desert had been used in subsequent actions +against us by the Mexicans, their philanthropic clamor was drowned in +the universal voice of approval. + + * * * * * + +The manifestly warlike appearance of the Mexicans, and the attempts they +were making to fortify the right bank of the river, induced General +Taylor to strengthen the position of his camp on the opposite side. + +Accordingly on the 6th of April a battery for four eighteen pounders, +bearing directly on the public square and in good range for demolishing +the town, had already been completed and the guns mounted, whilst the +engineers were busy in laying out a strong bastioned field fort for a +garrison of five hundred men in the rear of the battery. But the +Mexicans did not leave us long in doubt as to their ultimate designs. +Their chief embarrassment seemed to consist in a want of troops and +efficient commanders, yet this was remedied by the arrival of +considerable reinforcements in the course of the month. Meantime, +however, the chapparals and lonely prairies of the left bank of the Rio +Grande, swarmed with ranchero cavalry, not authorized perhaps by the +powers in Matamoros to attack us directly, but whose predatory habits +and Arab warfare were encouraged against small bodies of our men until +the main army should be enabled to strike a decisive blow. + +On the 10th of April, Colonel Cross, a deputy quarter-master-general +mounted his horse and proceeded to ride, as usual, for exercise, but the +night passed without his return, nor was his fate known until ten days +after, when a skeleton, found on the plains, was identified as that of +the unfortunate officer. The mode of his death or the names of his +slayers have never been discovered. But it was generally reported and +believed that he had been captured by the lawless band of Romano Falcon, +a ranchero bandit, and, after being robbed of every thing valuable, was +shot with a pistol by the robber captain. + +With a view to check the depredations of these guerillas, Lieutenants +Dobbins of the third infantry, and Porter of the fourth,--two bold and +hardy soldiers,--were authorised to scour the country with a body of +picked men, and capture or destroy any such parties they might +encounter. It appears that they separated in quest of the enemy, and +that Lieutenant Porter at the head of his own detachment surprised an +armed troop, numbering nearly one hundred and fifty, engaged in jerking +beef. Upon the approach of our officer one of the Mexicans snapped a +musket at him, a salutation which Lieutenant Porter returned by the +discharge of his double barreled gun. Upon this the Mexicans fled to the +screen of the chapparal. Porter took possession of the horses and +blankets of the fugitives, and, mounting his men, started for head +quarters. At this moment, however, the rain began to pour down with the +violence that is only witnessed in tropical climates, and whilst the +Lieutenant and his party were passing through a dense copse of chapparal +they were fired on by the enemy from an ambush. Shot followed shot from +the secret foe in rapid succession, but our unfortunate men were unable +to sustain the contest, as their powder had been soaked by the sudden +shower. They wisely retreated, therefore, to the chapparal, and, +separating into three parties, found their way to camp; but the luckless +Porter, having been wounded in the thigh, was seized by the Mexicans as +soon as his men departed, and despatched with their knives whilst they +shrieked and yelled over his mangled body like a band of infuriate +demons. + +Acts like these, characteristic of the worst periods of border raids, +denoted the approaching storm. The country east of the Rio Grande +bristled with irregular troopers. It was unsafe to go beyond the hail of +sentinels, and the peaceful aspect of nature which had charmed our men +so greatly upon their arrival was changed for the stern alarums of war. +By the joyous peals of the church bells, the shouts of acclamation, and +the report of spies, we learned that General Ampudia had arrived in +Matamoros, and that, some days later, he was followed by Arista, who +immediately assumed the chief command and apprised General Taylor, in +courteous terms, that he considered hostilities commenced and was +resolved to prosecute them. + + * * * * * + +Among all these notes of warlike preparation, none perhaps were more +significant than the adventure which must be now recorded. On the 24th +of April a squadron of dragoons, sixty-three in number, under the orders +of Captains Thornton and Hardee, and of Lieutenants Mason and Kane, was +despatched by General Taylor to reconnoitre the river for thirty miles +above the camp in the direction of La Rosia. When the troopers arrived +within three miles of the post they learned that the enemy had crossed +and occupied the country in considerable force. This was about +twenty-eight miles from our camp, and as soon as the news was received, +the guide, by name Capito, refused to proceed any further. It appears +from all the documents I have been able to examine that Captain Thornton +exercised a wise precaution on the march and in the disposition of his +troops, by throwing out advance and rear guards although it was +impossible to avail himself of the advantage of flankers in consequence +of the nature of the road which was often a perfect defile, admitting, +at times, of the passage only of a single horseman. As he had reason to +doubt the fidelity of his guide, he resolved to advance without him, +redoubling, however, his vigilance, and increasing his van guard, under +the command of Lieutenant Mason, whom he ordered not to fire upon the +enemy unless assaulted. The rear was assigned to Captain Hardee, and, in +this order, the party cautiously proceeded until it reached a large +plantation bordering the river and hemmed in by a fence of lofty and +impenetrable chapparal. Captain Thornton endeavored to approach the +houses at the upper end of this enclosure by entering its lower +extremity, but failing to accomplish his object, he passed around the +thicket and reached the field across a pair of bars which served for +gateway. The edifice was situated about two hundred yards from this +narrow aperture in the bristling wall, and, towards it, the whole +command directed its steps in single file, without placing a sentinel at +the bars, or observing any other precaution to prevent surprise. It +seems that Captain Thornton, though a skilful and brave officer, as his +campaigns against the Indians in Florida had proved, was prepossessed +with the idea that the Mexicans had not crossed the river, and that even +if they had, they would not fight. It was a fatal mistake. Captain +Hardee, as has been stated, was charged with the rear guard and was +therefore the last to enter with his horsemen. As he approached the +dwelling he perceived the troopers who were already within the enclosure +scattered in every direction seeking for some one with whom to +communicate. At length an old Mexican was discovered, and, while +Thornton was conversing with him, the alarm was given that the enemy +were seen in numbers at the bars. This was a bewildering surprise. Yet +the gallant commander immediately gave the order to charge and +personally led the advance to cut his way through the Mexicans. But it +was too late; the enemy had already secured the entrance, and it was +impossible to force their serried lines. Cooped and hampered as were our +men within the impervious walls of chapparal and aloes, their flight was +almost hopeless. The Mexican infantry had been stationed in the field on +the right of the road while their cavalry lined the exterior fence, so +that our retreat was entirely cut off. Seeing this, Thornton turned to +the right, and skirted the interior of the chapparal with his command, +whilst the enemy poured in their vollies in every direction. By this +time disorder was triumphant. Hardee dashed up to Thornton and urged +that the only hope of safety was in concentrated action and in the +destruction of the fence; but, though the order was immediately given, +he could neither stop his men nor his horse. Our troopers, perfectly +ensnared, seem to have become frantic with rage, and consequently to +have lost the control of discipline. Like so many animals at bay, each +one sought safety for himself, by attempting to traverse or leap the +thorny boundaries of the farm. Yet all efforts were useless, for, by +this time, the enemy had gained on our men with great numbers, and, +completely surrounded as the plantation was, nothing remained but to +surrender according to the usages of civilized nations. General +Torrejon, who commanded the Mexicans, received the submission of +Captain Hardee; and, together with Lieutenant Kane, who had also been +captured, he was conducted to Matamoros on the 27th, where they were +lodged with General Ampudia and treated most graciously by Arista. +Forty-five of our cavalry were taken prisoners in this disastrous +affair, but the brave Mason was slain during the conflict. Sergeant +Tredo, a valiant soldier, fell in the first charge;--Sergeant Smith was +unhorsed and killed,--and the bodies of seven men were found on the +field of strife.[106] + +This was a disheartening event for the Americans, and a subject of +exultation for the Mexicans. It was neither a battle nor even an affray; +yet, bearing to warfare the same relation that trapping does to +sportsmanship, it nevertheless afforded material for Mexican gasconade. +"This,"--said Arista in his letter of acknowledgment to Torrejon,--"has +been a day of rejoicing to the division of the north which has just +received the joyous news of the triumph of your brigade. The delighted +country will celebrate this preliminary to the glorious deeds that her +happy sons will in future present her!" For some days it was supposed +that Thornton had been slain, but on the 29th his comrades were +delighted to hear that he had cut his way through the enemy, and after +running the gauntlet of his foes, had been captured only in consequence +of the fall of his horse. + + * * * * * + +As soon as Ampudia assumed the command he ordered all Americans to leave +Matamoros within twenty-four hours for Victoria, a town in the interior +of Tamaulipas; and on the twelfth of April he addressed a note to +General Taylor requiring him, within the same peremptory period of time +to break up his camp, and retire to the other bank of the Nueces, whilst +their respective governments were deciding their quarrel by negotiation. +He informed our commander that if he persisted in remaining on the +alleged soil of Tamaulipas, arms, alone, could decide the dispute, but +that the war, which would necessarily ensue, should be conducted, upon +the part of Mexico, conformably to the principles and rights established +by the civilized world. General Taylor did not delay his reply. On the +same day he answered the Mexican chief, that inasmuch as he was charged +with the military and not the diplomatic duties of the controversy, he +could not discuss the international question involved in the advance of +the American army, but that he would unhesitatingly continue to occupy +the positions he held at Isabel and opposite Matamoros in spite of all +menaces. The hostile declarations and alternative presented by Ampudia +induced Taylor to order the stringent blockade of the Rio Grande, so as +to stop all supplies for the city, and the naval commander at the Brazos +de Santiago was directed to dispose his forces accordingly. A body of +Texan rangers, under the command of Captain Walker, a tried and daring +soldier of the frontier, was stationed on the road to Point Isabel. +During the night of the 27th and 28th of April, the troops, at the +latter place, consisting chiefly of two companies of artillery, under +the command of Major Monroe, were in momentary expectation of attack in +consequence of rumors from the enemy, for it was known that large bodies +of Mexicans had crossed the river and were striving to interpose +themselves between Isabel and the fort opposite Matamoros in order to +cut off supplies for the garrison. Several teams that departed from the +depot for the fort were forced to return, and, on the morning of the +28th the camp of Walker was surprised on the prairie by a party of bold +rancheros who killed five of our rangers and dispersed the rest, while +the officer of the company and half of his command were absent on +detached service. + +By this time the works opposite Matamoros were well advanced, yet, owing +to the peculiar nature of the country and our deficiency in the proper +description of light troops, we were kept in ignorance of the enemy's +movements on the left bank. It was ascertained, however, with sufficient +certainty, that they were continuing to throw considerable forces on the +eastern shore, with the design of attacking our command; and General +Taylor received information, upon which he could rely, that Arista had +prepared to pass the Rio Grande, below Matamoros, in order to effect a +junction with his forces from above. It was not believed, however, that +he would assault the position opposite that city even with four thousand +men, and hence our commander-in-chief supposed that the depot at Isabel +was the object of his movement. This impression was strengthened by the +fact that since a rigid blockade of the river was maintained, provisions +had become exceedingly scarce at Matamoros; and, therefore, hastening +the completion of the field work, he was able by great exertions on the +part of our troops, to bring it to a good state of defence by the first +of May. The seventh infantry under Major Brown, Captain Lowd's and +Lieutenant Bragg's companies of artillery, together with the sick of the +army, were left in the work; and, on the afternoon of that day, General +Taylor moved with the main force under his immediate command in the +direction of Point Isabel. At eleven o'clock, the army, by a rapid +march, was enabled to bivouac on the prairie at a distance of ten miles +from the depot, and on the next day, it reached its destination without +encountering the enemy, though the scouts surprised and shot several +men belonging to the Mexican pickets. + +On the morning and during the day of the 3d of May, a heavy cannonade in +the direction of Matamoros announced to General Taylor that an attack +had probably been commenced on the American fort. This was a different +result from his anticipations, and made him extremely anxious for the +fate of the small but brave command that had been left, with slender +supplies of rations and ammunition, in the incomplete field work. + +Accordingly, on the evening of that day, a squadron of one hundred +dragoons under Captain May, accompanied by Walker and ten of his daring +rangers, was despatched to pass, if possible, through the hordes of +Mexican guerillas that lined the road. They were ordered to proceed +within a few miles of Fort Brown and reconnoitre the country on the left +towards the river; next to take a position on the edge of the chapparal, +and, if the commander heard no firing from our fort, he was then to +despatch a small command under Walker to communicate with Major Brown. +After this he was to await the return of the gallant rangers, and repair +to Point Isabel. + +May and his troopers, alert for such an adventurous enterprize, stole +onward towards Matamoros, under cover of night, and, about nine o'clock, +beheld the enemy's camp fires on the field of Palo Alto. Avoiding the +outposts and cautiously circling the Mexican front, he passed the foe, +and galloped towards the American fort, until, hearing no sound of +cannon in that direction, he halted with his command under the +protecting screen of an extensive chapparal, about seven miles from +Matamoros. Here he detached Walker and six of his rangers, best skilled +in woodcraft, to communicate according to orders, with Major Brown, +while he awaited their return in his concealed position. + +It was between two and three o'clock in the morning that Walker crept up +to the bastions of our fort and was hailed by the sentinel. As soon as +he was recognized his party was placed in a secure position, and the +bold ranger admitted by a ladder to the fort. Major Brown reported the +facts of the assault from Matamoros and the condition of his defences, +as speedily as possible, and Walker and his men, mounting fresh horses, +dashed off towards May so as to pass the enemy's lines before day-light. +But, as he approached the thicket where he left the command, he found +the troopers gone; and returning to the fort, which he reached before +_reveille_, he awaited the approach of night before he again attempted +to perform his dangerous service. + +Meanwhile May and his men had remained in their saddles until about half +an hour before day, when, from the protracted absence of the ranger, +they believed that the enemy's scouts had detected him. Walker had been +already away about six hours; and as May's force was unable to cope with +the supposed numbers of the Mexicans, and peremptory orders had been +given to retire to Isabel, he immediately passed down the enemy's lines +at a brisk gallop over the prairie. About twelve miles from our camp he +suddenly discovered a hundred and fifty lancers drawn up across the road +to dispute his passage, but speedily forming his line, he charged the +troop, and, driving it towards the Mexican camp, followed the fugitives +for three miles on his wearied horses. Fearing, however, that larger +forces might be lying in ambush in the fields, and perceiving that the +enemy's cavalry was fleeter than his own, he abandoned the pursuit and +reached Point Isabel about nine o'clock. + +But Walker was not to be defeated in his gallant effort to bear tidings +to Taylor of the fortunes of the fort. As soon as it was dark on the +4th, he remounted with his trusty band and concealed on his person the +despatch which Major Brown had prepared in the interval. Every copse and +thicket along the road, suitable for an ambush, was filled with foes +anxious to cut off his return to camp, for, as it was subsequently +ascertained, the Mexicans had obtained information of his purposes. But +Walker passed unhurt through all these impediments, and brought the +cheerful news that all was as yet safe in the staunch little fort. + + * * * * * + +Late in April, and while the events, related in this chapter, were +occurring, by which it became evident that serious hostilities were, at +length, intended, General Taylor prudently began to strengthen his army +by demands for reinforcements under the discretionary powers vested in +him by government. In March, he had already called the notice of the war +department to the necessity of sending recruits to fill up the regiments +even to the extent of the existing feeble establishment; but, in April +he authorized the raising of two companies of mounted men from Texas, +and called upon the governor of that State for four regiments of +volunteers, two of which were to act as cavalry and two to serve on +foot. As some delay might occur in collecting these troops, he, +moreover, desired the governor of Louisiana to despatch four regiments +of infantry as soon as practicable, and, with this auxiliary force of +nearly five thousand men, he hoped to prosecute the impending war with +energy, or to carry it, if needful, into the enemy's country. + +On the sixth of May, Lieutenant McPhail reached Point Isabel with some +recruits for the army; and, after filling up the permanent garrison with +the men who were still too raw to encounter the dangers of actual field +service, General Taylor determined to march on the following day with +the main body of the forces to open a communication with Major Brown and +to throw forward the needful supplies of ordnance and provisions. The +language of our chief did not betoken the fears which, at that moment, +were felt throughout the country for the fate of his brave command, +surrounded as it was believed to be, by an imposing army of Mexicans led +by their bravest generals. "If the enemy oppose my march, in whatever +force," said Taylor, "_I shall fight him_!" It was this little phrase +that inspirited the anxious heart of his country and denoted the +energetic character of the hero whose skill and genius were so soon to +be developed in active warfare. When he marched from the banks of the +Rio Grande on the 1st of May, the Mexicans believed that he fled to +secure his personal safety at Point Isabel, whilst he abandoned the +infantry and artillery in the fort opposite Matamoros as an easy prey to +their valiant arms. Accordingly, the bells of the city rang their merry +peals, and repeated bursts of military music denoted that it was a gala +day in the ancient city. At that moment the great body of the Mexican +army crossed the stream under the orders of General Torrejon, and these +were the forces that Walker and his rangers had eluded while bearing to +Isabel the cheering despatch from Major Brown. + + * * * * * + +At the close of this chapter, and while we are preparing for graver +subjects, it may not be uninteresting for the reader to obtain a careful +picture of those TEXAN RANGERS, whose services had already +proved so useful, and who were to play an important part in this bloody +drama. + +These were the bold and reckless children of the frontier, who lived +forever in warlike harness, prompt to suppress the savage raids of the +Indians and mongrel Mexicans who harrassed the settlements of western +Texas in the neighborhood of the Guadalupe, La Vaca and San Antonio. +Organizing themselves in regular companies for mutual protection along a +ravaged border, they were continually prepared alike for camp or battle, +and opposed themselves to the enemy at the outpost barriers of +civilization. + +It must not be supposed that men whose life is passed in the forest, on +the saddle, or around the fire of a winter bivouac, can present the +gallant array of troopers on parade, hence the Texan Ranger is careless +of external appearance, and adapts his dress strictly to the wants of +useful service. His first care is to provide himself with a stalwart and +nimble horse, perfectly broken and capable of enduring fatigue in a +southern climate. His Spanish saddle, or saddle frame, is carefully +covered with the skins of wild animals, while, from its sides depend +some twenty or thirty leathern thongs to which are attached all the +various trappings needed in the woods. No baggage is permitted to +accompany the troop and encumber it in the wilderness. A braided +_lariat_ and a _cabaros_ of horse-hair are coiled around his saddle bow, +the latter to be unwound at nightfall and laid in circles on the ground +to prevent the approach of reptiles which glide off from the sleeper +when they touch the bristling hair of the instrument, while his horse, +tethered by the long and pliant _lariat_ trailing along the ground, +wanders but little from the spot where his master reposes. + +Stout buckskin leggings, hunting shirt, and cap, protect the ranger's +body from the sharp spines of aloes, or the briars and branches of the +matted forest. His weapons, next to his horse, exact his attention. His +long and heavy rifle carries from fifty to sixty bullets to the pound; +around his waist is belted a bowie-knife or home made hanger, and +sometimes, a brace of revolving pistols is added to this powerful +armory. Across his right side are slung his pouch of balls and +powder-horn, and the strap by which they are suspended is widened or +padded over the shoulder to relieve the weight and pressure of his gun. +A practised shot, he can hit his mark unerringly in full career. He may +be called a "picked man," though not in the sense of the phrase as +ordinarily used in military affairs. Nevertheless he is a choice +soldier, for none but men of equal stamp and hardihood find their way to +the border and congregate naturally for the hazardous life they endure. + +From the period of the battle of San Jacinto to the year 1841, when they +formed themselves into regular squadrons of rangers, these were the +hardy woodsmen, who defended the frontier as independent troops, free +from the control of State or government. Whenever Indians or Mexicans +approached the settlements, runners were quickly despatched along the +streams to sound the alarm, and in a few hours the wild huntsmen were +roused for a campaign of months. All they needed for the foray was their +horse, their weapons, their blankets, their pouch with fifty balls, and +their bushel of parched and pounded corn. In hot weather or cold, in wet +or dry, they carried no tents, and required no fresh food save the game +of the forest. Such was the Texan Ranger at the outbreak of this +war,--light in heart, indomitable in courage, capable of vast endurance, +and sworn in his hatred of Indians and Mexicans. His life was one of +continual anxiety and surprises which made him alert and watchful. He +was neither a troubadour nor a crusader, yet his mode of existence had +charms for multitudes of adventurers. It was not disgust with society or +disregard of its comforts that forced these knights errant to the forest +and kept them in a state of continual excitement; but there was a +certain degree of romance in their wandering career that entitled them +to respect and consideration even from the more sentimental inhabitants +of cities. A life without restraint, except needful subordination when +on actual duty, is always attractive, and the forester realizes it +completely. Thinking much and speaking little, he considers his officer +of no more value or importance than himself. Hence he yields obedience +only because he knows the necessity of discipline in a hazardous +service, while, off of duty, he is as familiar with his commander as +with a private. + +Thus the Ranger's existence has ever been a scene of fierce +independence; and though approaching the _ranchero_ in some of his +restless habits, he has, nevertheless, always been distinguished from +that vile compound of ferocity, treachery and cruelty, by the remnants +of civilization he has borne to the solitudes of the wilderness. He was +destined to be of infinite value to the regular army in a country where +it was important to obtain information by reckless means among an almost +Arab population. Subsequent events proved that no scouting service was +so severe, no adventure so dangerous, that he would not risk his life +and exercise the cunning of his craft in performing it either on the +thorny banks of the Rio Grande or among the mountain defiles of +Monterey. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[105] The following document was circulated by Mexican emissaries and +spies among our troops: + + "_The commander-in-chief of the Mexican army to the English + and Irish under the orders of the American General Taylor_: + + "KNOW YE: That the government of the United States is + committing repeated acts of barbarous aggression against the + magnanimous Mexican nation; that the government which exists + under "the flag of the stars" is unworthy of the designation + of Christian. Recollect that you were born in Great Britain; + that the American government looks with coldness upon the + powerful flag of St. George, and is provoking to a rupture + the warlike people to whom it belongs, President Polk boldly + manifesting a desire to take possession of Oregon, as he has + already done of Texas. Now, then, come with all confidence + to the Mexican ranks, and I guarantee to you, upon my honor, + good treatment, and that all your expenses shall be defrayed + until your arrival in the beautiful capital of Mexico. + + "Germans, French, Poles, and individuals of other nations! + Separate yourselves from the Yankees, and do not contribute + to defend a robbery and usurpation which, be assured, the + civilized nations of Europe look upon with the utmost + indignation. Come, therefore, and array yourselves under the + tri-colored flag, in the confidence that the God of armies + protects it, and that it will protect you equally with the + English. + + PEDRO DE AMPUDIA. + + FRANCISCO R. MORENO, Adj. of the commander-in-chief. + _Head Quarters, upon the Road to Matamoros, April, 2, 1846._" + +Another and similar appeal was made by Arista on the 20th of April. + +[106] Captains Thornton's and Hardee's reports to General Taylor. H. of +R. doc. No. 119, 29th cong. 2d sess. pp. 19 and 20. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The Battle of Palo Alto. + + +On the night of the 7th of May, with a force of over two thousand men +and a supply train of two hundred and fifty wagons, General Taylor +bivouacked on the plains about seven miles from Point Isabel. The whole +of the country is extremely flat in the neighborhood of the river and on +the road to Matamoros. In some places, broad thickets cover the levels, +in others, wide prairies spread out dotted, here and there, with bushes +and ponds. Early on the morning of Friday, the 8th, our camp was broken +up and the little army set in motion towards the fort. About noon the +scouts reported that the Mexicans were drawn up in our front, covering +the road with all their forces; and as soon, therefore, as we reached +the broad field of Palo Alto, a halt was ordered to refresh our men, and +form our line of battle with due deliberation. Far across the prairie, +at the distance of three quarters of a mile, were discerned the +glittering masses of the enemy. Infantry and cavalry were ranged, +alternately, on the level field and stretched out for more than a mile +in length, backed by the wiry limbs of the tall trees from which the +battle ground has taken its name. The left wing, composed of heavy +masses of horse, occupied the road, resting on a thicket of chapparal, +and flanked by ponds, while large bodies of infantry were discovered on +the right, greatly outnumbering our own force and standing somewhat in +a curved line, ready, as it were, to embrace our advancing columns. + +Orders were directly given on the American side to form the array for +action. On our extreme right were ranged the fifth infantry under +Colonel McIntosh; Major Ringgold's artillery; the third infantry +commanded by Captain L. M. Morris; two eighteen pounders drawn by twenty +yoke of oxen and commanded by Lieutenant Churchill, and lastly, the +fourth infantry under Major Allen. The third and fourth regiments, +formed the third brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Garland, and all these +corps, together with two squadrons of dragoons led by Ker and May, +composed the right wing under the orders of Colonel Twiggs. The left was +composed of a battalion of artillery commanded by Colonel Childs, +Captain Duncan's light artillery, and the eighth infantry under Captain +Montgomery,--all constituting the first brigade under the orders of +Lieutenant Colonel Belknap. The train, meanwhile, was packed near a pond +under the direction of Captains Crossman and Myers, and protected by the +squadron of Ker's dragoons. + +It was about two o'clock in the afternoon that our march against the +enemy began by heads of columns, whilst the eighteen-pounder battery +followed slowly along the road. During our advance it was deemed +especially important to ascertain with accuracy the number and calibre +of the enemy's cannon, and for this hazardous reconnoissance on an open +plain, Lieutenant Blake, of the topographical engineers, immediately +volunteered. Passing the advanced guard at full speed, he dashed over +the long grass that concealed the opposing forces, until he approached +within about eighty yards of the line where he had a distinct view of +the enemy. The Mexicans gazed with surprise at this daring act, while +Blake alighted from his horse, surveyed the whole array with his glass, +counting the squadrons and ordnance carefully, and then galloped down +their front to the other wing of their extended line.[107] + +Scarcely had this gallant officer reported to our general when two of +the enemy's batteries opened on us vigorously. Taylor immediately +ordered our columns to halt, and deploying into line, our artillery +returned the fire, whilst the eighth infantry, on our extreme left, was +thrown back to secure that flank;--and, thus, with the distance of only +seven hundred yards between the opposing lines, the battle began with +rattling vollies of ball and grape bounding over our heads. The first +fires of the enemy injured us but little, while the heavy metal of our +eighteen-pounders, and the smaller shot of Ringgold's battery, quickly +dispersed the masses of cavalry on the left. Duncan's battery, supported +by May's dragoons, was then thrown forward on that flank, and for more +than an hour the incessant thunder of a cannonade raged along both +fronts, making sad gaps in the battalions, rending the prairie, filling +the air with dust and smoke, killing and wounding a few, yet, producing +no decided effect. The Mexicans, unskilled in gunnery, fired without +precision; but, at almost every discharge of the American ordnance, the +shot told with wonderful precision among the Mexicans. Our artillery was +directed not only to masses and groups of the enemy, but often to +particular men, so that the officers felt as certain of their aim, as if +firing with rifles. + +Meanwhile our infantry had been hitherto rather spectators of the +artillery's prowess, than active combatants; but as the battle thickened +the manoeuvring of the enemy to outflank us commenced. With infinitely +smaller forces than the Mexicans, our policy had been to act on the +defensive as much as possible, and to _feel_ the enemy before we engaged +at closer quarters. Hence we awaited their first assault, made by a +regiment of Mexican lancers led by Torrejon and supported by two pieces +of artillery, which threatened our right flank by moving through the +chapparal in the direction of our train. The fifth infantry was +immediately detached together with a section of Ringgold's battery and +Walker's Texans, to check this dangerous movement. The gallant regiment +was thrown into a square with the Ranger and twenty of his troopers on +its right, and thus stood ready to repulse the charge. On came the +advancing squadrons in splendid array, moving in solid masses of men and +horse, each lance tipped with its gay and fluttering pennon. Ringgold, +from his advanced position, galled them as they trotted onward; Ridgely, +from his closer ground, poured into them rapid vollies of grape and +canister; still they surged onward in spite of all resistance. At +length, when within shot of the impervious square, suddenly, a sheet of +deadly flame burst from the regiment, and breaking their array, forced +them to recoil in confusion. Nevertheless the daring troop was not +dismayed by the carnage. Forming rapidly from its ruins an imposing +mass, again it dashed towards the train, until the third infantry on our +extreme right, under the orders of Colonel Twiggs, crippled its advance +so completely, that it was impossible to rally. This was the last effort +of the brave lancers. Repulsed in every effort, they began to retreat +rapidly but in order; yet Ringgold, Ridgely, and the regiments of +infantry, still hung upon their flank, and with their terrible +discharges of grape and bullets, mowed wide openings in the flying ranks +until they reached their line. Meantime the incessant blaze of our +artillery had set fire to the withered prairie, whose tall grasses +touched the very muzzles of our guns, and for a while the armies were +concealed from each other in the mingled smoke of the recent battle and +of the burning field. + + * * * * * + +There was a pause in the conflict, as if the two combatants, like +gallant boxers, stopped a moment to take breath and survey each other +with looks of defiance. The enemy's left had been driven back in +confusion; and, as their cannonade ceased, the road remained free for +the advance of our eighteen-pounders close to the first position that +had been occupied by the Mexican cavalry. This was promptly ordered by +General Taylor who caused the first brigade to take a new post on the +left of that formidable battery. The fifth was also advanced to the +extreme right of our new line, while the train was moved accordingly to +suit the altered front. As the battalion of artillery advanced slowly +over the field it came up to a private of the fifth, a gallant veteran +of the old world who had escaped the fires of Austerlitz and Waterloo to +die at Palo Alto. He was one of the first who fell in the action, and as +his fellow soldiers paused a moment to compassionate his sufferings, +when they saw the blood gushing with each pulsation from his shattered +limbs--he waved them onward--"Go on companions, regardless of +me,"--shouted he,--"I've got but what a soldier enlists for,--strike the +enemy;--let _me_ die!" Such were the exclamations of Napoleon's +soldiers, at Marengo, when the advancing squadrons of cavalry hesitated +to leap over the heaps of wounded Frenchmen: "Tread on _me_ comrades; +make a bridge of my body! Long live France! Vive la liberte!" The +romantic fervor of warlike enthusiasm deprives battle of half its +horrors, and makes death on the field a glorious exit from the +sufferings of humanity. + + * * * * * + +The movements we made in changing our line were answered by +corresponding alterations of the Mexican front, and, after a suspension +of action for nearly an hour the battle was resumed. The effect of these +changes was to edge our right flank somewhat nearer Matamoros, and to +enable our forces to hold the road against the Mexicans who rested their +lines on the thickets in their rear. + +The attack was recommenced by a destructive fire of artillery. Wide +openings were continually torn in the enemy's ranks by our marksmen, and +the constancy with which the Mexican infantry endured the incessant +hurricane of shot was the theme of universal admiration. Captain May, +detached with his squadron to make a demonstration on the left of the +enemy, suffered severely from the copper grape of the Mexican artillery. +Whilst passing the general and his staff with his troopers, the enemy +concentrated the fire of their batteries upon him, killing six of his +horses and wounding five dragoons. Nevertheless he succeeded in gaining +his desired position in order to charge the cavalry, but found the foe +in such overwhelming numbers as to render utterly ineffectual any +assault by his small command. The fourth infantry, which had been +commanded to support the eighteen-pounders, was also exposed to a +galling fire by which several men were killed and Captain Page mortally +wounded. The great effort of the Mexicans was to silence that powerful +battery, whose patient oxen had dragged it into the midst of the fight. +Hence they directed their aim almost exclusively upon these tremendous +pieces and upon the light artillery of Major Ringgold, who was fatally +struck by a cannon ball at this period of the conflict.[108] + +Meanwhile the battalion of artillery under Colonel Childs had been +brought up to support the artillery on our right, and a strong +demonstration of cavalry was now made by the enemy against this part of +our line, while the column continued to advance under a severe fire from +the eighteen-pounders. The battalion was instantly formed into square +and held ready to receive the charge; but when the advancing squadrons +were within close range, a storm of canister from the eighteen-pounders +dispersed them. A rattling discharge of small arms was then opened upon +the square, but well aimed vollies from its front soon silenced all +further efforts of the Mexicans in that quarter. It was now nearly dark, +and the action terminated on our right, as the enemy were completely +driven back from their position and foiled in every attempt either to +break or outflank our gallant lines. + +While these actions were occurring on our right under the eye of General +Taylor, the Mexicans had made a serious attempt against our left. The +smoke hung densely over the field and bushes so as almost to obscure the +armies from each other, and under cover of this misty veil and of +approaching night, the enemy suddenly rushed towards that wing and the +train with an immense body of cavalry and infantry under the command of +Colonel Montero. The movement was rapid and daring, but it did not +escape the quick eye of Duncan, who dashed back with his battery to the +left flank in full view of the enemy and engaged them within point blank +range of his deadly guns. So sudden and unexpected was this gallant +manoeuvre to the enemy, who, a moment before, saw this battery +disappear in the opposite direction behind the smoke of the burning +prairie,--that their whole column halted in amazement before a shot had +been fired or a gun unlimbered. But they were neither repulsed nor +dismayed. A strong body of infantry, supported by two squadrons of +cavalry, debouched from the extreme right of the chapparal, and moved +steadily forward to attack us. One section of Duncan's battery began to +play upon them with round shot, shells, and spherical case, so well +directed that the whole advance, both horse and foot, fell back in +disorder to the bushes. Meantime the other section opened upon the +masses of cavalry that halted at the first sight of our approaching +guns, and although these shots were well delivered and each tore a vista +through an entire squadron, the enemy remained unshaken. At every +discharge the havoc was frightfully destructive, but the gaps in the +Mexican ranks were immediately closed with fresh horsemen as they +pressed on to assail us. + +The column of cavalry and infantry, driven back into the chapparal by +the other section, re-formed in the thicket, and, a second time, +dauntlessly advanced in order. After it approached about a hundred yards +from the screen of bushes, the section that was previously ordered to +repel it, re-opened a deadly fire and drove the foe head long into the +forest. The supporting cavalry rushed back upon the ranks that hitherto +withstood our shot, and the hurried retreat became a perfect rout. +Squadron after squadron joined tumultuously in the race, and the whole +right wing of the Mexicans was soon in rapid flight, while our +relentless sections continued to send their vollies into the broken and +scampering columns until they disappeared in the chapparal or were lost +in the darkness of night. Thus ended the brilliant affair of Palo Alto. +The enemy retired behind a protecting wood, and our army bivouacked on +the ground it had won and occupied during the protracted fight. + + * * * * * + +Both parties slept on the battle field. It had been a fierce and +dreadful passage of arms, yet it was not a decided victory. We had +repulsed the Mexicans, fatally, in every attempt; we had gained a better +position, enabling us to press onward towards Matamoros, and had +inflicted serious injury on the foe; but the enemy still rested on their +arms and seemed disposed to dispute the field with us again on the +morrow. They were sadly crippled though not defeated, and had exhibited +a degree of nerve, mettle, and firmness that was entirely unexpected +from the vanquished soldiery of San Jacinto. + +Wearied by the excessive labor of nearly six hours fighting, our +infantry and artillery sank on the ground wherever they found a resting +place, whilst the alert dragoons circled the sleeping camp and rode on +their outposts, among heaps of the enemy whose dying groans were heard +on all sides from the thickets to which they had crept. All night long +the medical staff was busy in its work of mercy, while the officers who +felt the dangerous responsibility of their situation collected in groups +to discuss their prospects. Some were doubtful of success, some anxious +to obtain reinforcements, some full of hope and animation, but all were +satisfied that it was prudent to hold a council on the impending +fortunes of the army. After a full examination of the difficulties and a +proper display of their resources, the enthusiasm of the young and the +experience of the old, alike, sanctioned the heroic determination of +Taylor to advance without succor. This brave resolve reassured the army, +and all prepared with alacrity and confidence for the dangers of the +9th. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[107] Lieutenant Blake died about the time our fight commenced at Resaca +de la Palma, on the 9th, from a wound inflicted by one of his own +pistols. He had thrown his sword, to which his pistols were attached, on +the ground on entering his tent. One pistol was discharged accidentally +in the fall, and the ball entered his thigh, but was cut out of his +breast. He died three hours afterwards. + +[108] Ringgold died the day after the battle, but Page survived some +time though he was shockingly mangled by the ball which shot off the +lower part of his face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The Battle of Resaca de la Palma--Defence of Fort Brown--The Great +Western. + + +When the sun rose on the morning of the 9th a mist of mingled smoke and +vapor hung over the battle field of Palo Alto, but, as the haze lifted +from the levels, the Mexicans were perceived retreating by their left +flank, in order, perhaps, to gain a more advantageous position on the +road in which they might resist our progress towards Matamoros. This +movement inspirited our troops, who, craving the interest of a new +position, were loath to repeat the battle of yesterday on the same +field. Accordingly General Taylor ordered the supply train to be parked +at its position and left under the guard of two twelve-pounders and the +fatal eighteens which had done such signal service on the 8th. The +wounded men and officers were next despatched to Point Isabel, and we +then moved across the Llano Burro towards the edge of the dense +chapparal which extends for a distance of seven miles to the Rio Grande. +The light companies of the first brigade under Captain Smith, of the +second artillery; and a select detachment of light troops, all commanded +by Captain McCall, were thrown forward into the thickets to feel the +enemy and ascertain the position he finally took. + +In our advance we crossed the ground occupied by the Mexicans on the 8th +where their line had been mowed by our artillery. Shattered limbs, +riven skulls, slain and wounded horses, dying men, military +accoutrements, gun stocks and bayonets lay strewn around, the terrible +evidences of war and havoc. As our men pressed on they encountered, at +every step, appeals to their humanity, from the famished and thirsty +remnants of the Mexican army whose wounds did not permit them to advance +with their compatriots; but it may be recorded to the honor of the +troops, that our maimed enemies were in no instance left without succor, +and that officers and men vied with each other in relieving their wants +and despatching them to our hospitals. + +About three o'clock in the afternoon a report was sent from the scouts +that the enemy were again in position on the road, which they held with +at least two pieces of artillery. The command was immediately put in +motion, and, about an hour after, came up with Captain McCall. + +The field of Palo Alto was an open plain, well adapted for the fair +fight of a pitched battle, but Resaca de la Palma, which we now +approached, possessed altogether different features. The position was +naturally strong, and had been judiciously seized by the Mexicans. The +matted masses of chapparal, sprinkled in spots with small patches of +prairie, formed an almost impassable barrier on both sides of the road +along which we were forced to advance. The Resaca de la Palma, or, +Ravine of the Palm, fifty yards wide and nearly breast high, crosses the +road at right angles, and then bends, at both ends, in the shape of a +horse shoe. The low portions of the gully are generally filled with +water, forming long and winding ponds through the prairie, whilst, in +the rainy season, these pools unite across the ridge which forms the +road and flow off towards the Rio Grande. Along the banks of this ravine +the thickets of chapparal, nourished by the neighboring water, grow more +densely than elsewhere, and, at the period of the battle, formed a +solid wall penetrated only by the highway. + +It was along the edges of this hollow that the Mexicans, led by Arista +and Ampudia, had posted themselves in two lines,--one under the front +declivity, and the other entrenched behind the copse of chapparal which +shielded the bank in the rear. In the centre of each line, on the right +and left of the road, a battery was placed, whilst other batteries were +disposed so as to assail us in flank. In this strongly fortified +position, supported by infantry, cavalry and ordnance, several thousand +Mexicans stood around the curving limits of the ravine, ready to rake us +with their terrible cross-fires as we advanced by the road between the +horns of the crescent.[109] + +It will be perceived, from this description, that the character of the +action was essentially changed from the affair of the 8th. Almost +entrenched as were the Mexicans behind the ravine and chapparal, they +now stood on the defensive resolutely awaiting our assault, whilst, at +Palo Alto, they had assumed an offensive attitude, aiming either to +capture or destroy our army. + +In the passage of our troops between Matamoros and Point Isabel, the +practiced eye of our military men often remarked the value of this +ravine as a point of strength; and it had been already supposed that +when the enemy halted, to resist our march, they would avail themselves +of it for a battle ground. Hence this excellent position was not unknown +to General Taylor, and he promptly prepared a combined attack of +infantry, artillery and cavalry by which he might succeed in driving the +American army like a wedge, through the narrow but only aperture that +admitted its transit to our fort. + +Accordingly, as soon as Captain McCall received his orders, in the +earlier part of the day, he advanced with his men, and directed Captain +C. F. Smith, of the second artillery, with the light company of the +first brigade, to move to the right of the road, whilst he proceeded on +the left with a detachment of artillery and infantry. Walker and a small +force of rangers was despatched to make a hazardous reconnoissance of +the road in front, while Lieutenant Plesanton, with a few of the second +dragoons, marched in rear of the columns of infantry. + +After following the trail of the enemy for about two miles and a half +across the Llano Burro, and learning from Walker that the road was +clear, McCall pushed the rangers into the chapparal, within supporting +distance, and soon dislodged some parties of Mexicans. On reaching the +open ground near Resaca, the head of his column received three rounds of +canister from a masked battery, which forced his men to take cover, +after killing one private and wounding two sergeants. They rapidly +rallied however, and Captain Smith's detachment being brought to the +left of the road, it was proposed to attack by a flank movement, what, +at the moment, was supposed to be only the rear guard of the retiring +army. But after a quick examination of the field by Dobbins and McCoun, +who discovered large bodies of Mexicans in motion on our left, while the +road, in front, was held by lancers, McCall resolved to despatch three +dragoons to the commander in chief with the news and await his arrival. + +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon that General Taylor came up +with the skirmishers and received an exact report of the enemy's +position. Lieutenant Ridgely, who, upon the Major's fall, had succeeded +to the command of Ringgold's battery, was immediately ordered to advance +on the highway, while the fifth infantry and one wing of the fourth +were thrown into the chapparal with McCall's command on the left, at the +same time that the third and the other wing of the fourth entered the +thicket on the right with Smith's detachment. These corps were employed +to cover the battery, to act as skirmishers, and engage the Mexican +infantry. The action, at once became general, spirited and bloody, for +although the enemy's infantry gave way before the steady fire and +resistless progress of our own, yet his artillery was still in position +to check our advance by means of the fatal pieces which commanded the +pass through the ravine. + +This was the moment, however, when the centre was destined to be +penetrated and broken--Ridgely, as has been stated, had been ordered to +the road, and, after advancing cautiously for a short distance, he +descried the enemy about four hundred yards in advance. Pressing onward +until within perfect range of his guns he began to play upon the foe +with deadly discharges. But the resolute Mexicans were not to be +repulsed. Returning shot for shot, their grape surged through our +battery in every direction, yet without repulsing the intrepid Ridgely, +who, as soon as the opposing fire slackened, limbered up and moved +rapidly forward, never unlimbering unless he perceived the enemy in +front or found from the fire of their infantry that they still hung upon +his flank. During this fierce advance into the jaws of the Mexican +crescent, he frequently threw into it discharges of canister when not +over one hundred yards from the opposing batteries and their support. + +After hammering the centre for some time with this iron hail, and +keeping the wings of the Mexicans engaged with the other troops, a +movement with dragoons was planned for the final onslaught. May, with +his powerful corps, was directed to report to the general, and +immediately received orders from Taylor to charge the enemy's battery. +Thridding the mazes of the chapparal and of the road with his dense +squadron he came up with Ridgely, and halting a moment while that +gallant soldier poured a volley into the enemy, which was answered by a +shower of rattling grape, he dashed at the head of his troopers, like +lightning from the midst of the cloud of smoke, over the guns of the +astonished Mexicans. As the dragoons rushed at full tilt, with gleaming +swords, along the road, the artillerists leaped upon their pieces and +cheered them on. The infantry in the chapparal took up the shout, and +before the combined thunder of cannon, huzzas, and galloping cavalry had +died away, May and his troopers had charged through the seven opposing +pieces, and rose again on the heights in rear of the ravine. Graham, +Winship and Plesanton led the movement on the left of the road, whilst +the captain, with Inge, Stevens and Sackett, bore off to the right. But, +after gaining the elevation, only six dragoons could be rallied, and +with these May charged back upon the gunners who had regained their +pieces, drove them off, and took prisoner the brave La Vega who stood to +his unwavering artillery during the heat of the dreadful onslaught. + +Meanwhile Ridgely, as soon as May had passed him, followed the charge at +a gallop, only halting on the edge of the ravine where he found three +pieces of deserted artillery. Here the Mexican infantry poured into him +a galling fire at a distance of not more than fifty paces, and a most +desperate and murderous struggle ensued, for the charge of cavalry had +not been promptly sustained by the infantry in consequence of the +difficulty it experienced in struggling through the masses of chapparal. +It was about this time that the eighth regiment was encountered by May +who informed Colonel Belknap of the exploit which had been rendered +almost unavailing for want of supporting infantry. Belknap promptly +ordered the regiment to form on the road with a part of the fifth, +whence, it was impetuously charged on the enemy's guns. This admirable +assault was executed with the greatest celerity; the battery was +secured; the infantry sprang across the ravine amidst a sheet of fire +from front and right, and drove the supporting column before it, +destroying in vast numbers the troops that pertinaciously resisted until +forced headlong from the fatal hollow. Montgomery with his regiment +pursued the Mexicans vigorously into the chapparal on the opposite side +of the Resaca until from their rapid flight, further attempts were +utterly useless. + +Thus was the centre of the enemy's lines completely broken. The task +would be endless were I to recount the valiant deeds of the American and +Mexican wings in the thickets on the right and left of the road. It was +a short but severe onset, disputed on both sides, with an intrepidity +that resembled rather the bitterness of a personal conflict than a +regular battle. The nature of the ground among the groves was such as to +forbid any thing but close quarters and the use of the bayonet, knife, +or sword. Officers and men fought side by side, supporting more than +leading each other upon the opposing ranks. Bayonets were crossed, +swords clashed, stalwart arms held foes at bay, and American and Mexican +rolled side by side on the blood stained earth. + +I have dwelt upon the action in the centre because it controlled the +road, dispersed the foe and won the day; but the effort would be +invidious were I to relate instances of individual hardihood and skill, +when all the valiant actors in the drama were fearless and unfaltering. +The charge of May was not unlike the assault at Waterloo of Ponsonby's +victorious cavalry, supported by Vandeleur's light horse, upon the +twenty-four pieces of D'Erlon's battery; in regard to which Napoleon +was heard to exclaim, in the heat of the battle,--"How terribly those +gray horsemen fight!" But in that conflict, Frenchmen opposed the +Anglo-saxons, and Milhaud's steel clad cuirassiers, charging Ponsonby's +brigade after it had carried the guns and attacked even a third line of +artillery and lancers, readily overcame the exhausted troopers and slew +their gallant leader. + +At Resaca de la Palma, however the result was different. The artillery +battalion, which, with the exception of the flank companies, had been +ordered to guard the train on the morning of the 9th, was now ordered up +to pursue the routed enemy; and the third infantry, Ker's dragoons and +Duncan's battery followed the Mexicans rapidly to the river. Shouting, +singing, almost frantic with delight at their eminent success, our men +rushed after the flying Mexicans. The pursuit became a perfect rout as +they pressed on to the banks of the Rio Grande, and numbers of the enemy +were drowned in attempting the passage of the fatal stream. The pursuing +corps encamped near the Rio Grande, while the remainder of the army +rested for the night on the field of battle. The want of a _ponton +train_[110] prevented us from following the foe across the river on the +night of the 9th; but, as the government had failed to provide General +Taylor with that useful equipage, notwithstanding his frequent warnings +of its need, he was deprived of the first chance in this war to +annihilate the Mexican army and to seize all the arms and ammunition +collected in Matamoros. The capture, however, of Arista's camp and its +equipage was a recompense for our men who had fought so bravely. The +Mexican chief had gone into the campaign with every comfort around him, +and was evidently unprepared for defeat at Resaca de La Palma, for, at +the moment of our victory, his camp-kettles were found simmering over +the fires filled with viands from which he had doubtless designed to +make a savory meal after our capture. The food however was destined to +other uses; and, after a communication with the fort which held out +staunchly against the enemy during both contests, our men sat down to +enjoy the repast which the Mexicans had cooked. + + * * * * * + +Unable as we were to secure the best results of victory, from the cause +already narrated, these battles were, nevertheless, of great importance. +We had achieved success in the face of brave foes outnumbering us more +than two to one, and had conquered an army of Mexican veterans, +perfectly equipped and appointed. In the battle of Palo Alto our force, +engaged, had been one hundred and seventy-seven officers, two thousand +one hundred and eleven men, or an aggregate of two thousand two hundred +and eighty-eight;--in the action of Resaca de la Palma we brought into +the field one hundred and seventy-three officers and two thousand and +forty nine men, or, an aggregate of two thousand two hundred and +twenty-two, while the actual number _engaged_ with the enemy did not +exceed seventeen hundred. In the first affair we had nine killed, +forty-four wounded[111] and two missing; but in the second, our loss was +three officers and thirty-six men killed, and seventy-one wounded. +Lieutenant Inge fell at the head of his platoon while charging with May; +Lieutenants Cochrane and Chadburne likewise met their death in the +thickest of the fight; while Lieutenant Colonels Payne and McIntosh; +Captains Montgomery and Hooe; and Lieutenants Fowler, Dobbins, Gates, +Jordan, Selden, Maclay, Burbank and Morris, were wounded on the field of +Resaca de la Palma. + +The Mexican army, under Arista and Ampudia, amounted to at least six +thousand men, having been strongly reinforced with cavalry and infantry +after the battle of the 8th; and it is highly probable that the whole of +this force was opposed to us in their choice position. In one of his +despatches, after the battles, Arista confesses that he still had under +arms four thousand troops exclusive of numerous auxiliaries, and that he +lost in the affair at Palo Alto four officers and ninety-eight men +killed;--eleven officers and one hundred and sixteen men wounded, and +twenty-six privates and non-commissioned officers missing;--while in the +battle of Resaca de la Palma, six officers and one hundred and +fifty-four men were slain; twenty-three officers and two hundred and +five wounded, and three officers and one hundred and fifty-six +missing,--making a total loss of seven hundred and fifty-five. Eight +pieces of artillery, several colors and standards, a great number of +prisoners, including fourteen officers, and a large quantity of camp +equipage, muskets, small arms, mules, horses, pack-saddles, subsistence, +personal baggage, and private as well as regimental papers, fell into +our hands. The plan of campaign, as alleged to have been developed by +Arista's port-folio, was based upon the "reconquest of the lost +province," into which the Mexican forces were to have been pushed as +soon as our army was demolished on the Rio Grande. If it should be +necessary to secure the fruits of victory by further military efforts, +it was arranged that ample reinforcements were to be brought into the +field, and subsequently that President Paredes, himself, should march +an army of occupation into Texas and bear his conquering eagles to the +Sabine! + + * * * * * + +After this narrative of our actions in the field let us recur for a +moment to the gallant garrison which had been shut up in the fort since +the beginning of the month, and in regard to whose fate the liveliest +anxiety was experienced. + +When the commander-in-chief departed on the 1st of May to open the line +of communication with Point Isabel, prevent an attack upon the depot, +and, finally, to succor the fort with subsistence and munitions, the +field work, though capable of defence, was not completed. The events of +the few preceding days had denoted a resolution on the part of the +Mexicans to assail us immediately, and warned our small garrison to +prepare for all emergencies. Accordingly the labor of ditching and +embanking on the unfinished front was resumed; but neither the +draw-bridge nor the interior defences were yet commenced, and to all +these works, Mansfield, with his engineers and detachments of infantry, +devoted themselves unceasingly during the whole of the bombardment, +which began at day-break, on Sunday, the 3d of May. + +The Mexicans had been engaged for some time erecting fortifications +along the river front of their town opposite our field work, and by +this time had prepared them for action. They commenced their attack +from the fort and mortar battery called _La redonda_, which they had +placed under the orders of a French officer of artillery, who +manifested a perfect knowledge of his profession during the conflict. +Nine pieces of ordnance,--four omortars, and the remainder six and +eight-pounders,--poured into our works an incessant shower of shot and +shells; but our batteries returned the fire so effectually, that in +thirty minutes, _La redonda_ was abandoned. Passing from this +fortification to another lower down, the enemy again opened upon us +from _La fortina de la flecha_, as well as from intermediate batteries +and a mortar in their vicinity. It soon became evident that our +six-pounders produced no serious effects in consequence of the +distance; and, desiring to husband his resources for greater +emergencies, Major Brown ordered the firing to cease entirely on our +side of the river. The garrison had been left with only one hundred and +fifty rounds of ammunition for each eighteen-pounder while the +six-pounders were as badly provided! + +The silence of our guns in the presence of an assailing foe, +disheartened our men for an instant, but they immediately betook +themselves energetically to their task on the defences, though the +enemy's shells exploded in every direction about them. On the 4th the +Mexicans again resumed the fight and continued their vollies until +midnight. At nine o'clock on that evening irregular discharges of +musketry were heard in our rear apparently extending a mile up the +river, and continuing until near the termination of the cannonade. Every +soldier in the fort therefore stood to his arms all night long, manning +each battery and point of defence in expectation of an assault from the +forces that had crossed the river and filled the adjacent plains and +thickets. But the anxious night passed without an attack at close +quarters, and, at day-light, on the 5th, the enemy again commenced their +fire from the distant batteries. The sound of war was gratifying to the +Mexicans, but its conflicts were safer from behind the walls and +parapets of their forts, with an intervening river, than in dangerous +charges against the muzzles of our guns! As soon as the cannonade +recommenced, it was immediately returned by a few discharges from the +eighteen-pounders and six-pounder-howitzer; and the voice of our guns +once more exhilarated the men, though their shots were ineffectual. Both +batteries ceased firing simultaneously, and our indefatigable soldiers +again set to work on the defences, completed the ramparts, and made +rapid progress in the construction of a bomb-proof and traverse in rear +of the postern. + +These were anxious days and hours for a garrison short of ammunition, +assailed by an enemy equipped with every species of deadly missile, +probably surrounded by superior numbers concealed on the left bank of +the river, and yet forced to labor on the very fortifications which were +to keep off the foe. During all this time, however, no one desponded. +Day and night they toiled incessantly on the works amid the shower of +shot and bombs, nor was a sound of sorrow heard within the little fort +until its brave commander fell, mortally wounded by a shell, on the 6th +of May. The game was kept up during all this day; mounted men were seen +along the prairie, while infantry were noticed creeping through the +thickets; but a few rounds of canister, from Bragg's battery, dispersed +the assailants. + +About four o'clock of this day a white flag was observed at some old +buildings in the rear of our work, and a parley was sounded by the +enemy. Two officers were soon descried approaching us, and an equal +number were despatched by Captain Hawkins, (who had succeeded Major +Brown in the command of the fort,) to meet them within two hundred and +fifty yards of our lines. A communication from General Arista was +delivered by the herald, and the Mexicans were requested to retire a +short distance and await the reply. + +In this document Arista declared that our fort was surrounded by forces +adequate to its capture, while a numerous division, encamped in the +neighborhood, was able to keep off all succors that might be expected. +He alleged that his respect for humanity urged him to mitigate as much +as possible the disasters of war, and he therefore summoned our garrison +to surrender, in order to avoid by capitulation, the entire destruction +of the command. This mingled mission of humanity and revenge demanded +the immediate notice of our troops, and, accordingly, a brief council +was held in which it was unanimously resolved to decline the +philanthropic proposal. Hawkins, at once despatched his courteous but +firm reply, and the enemy acknowledged its receipt by a storm of shot +and shell which was literally showered into the works. + +It would be but repeating a narrative of one day's scenes were we to +detail the events of the 7th, 8th and 9th of May. The bravado contained +in Arista's despatch, had failed in its effort to intimidate us; +nevertheless we were compelled to undergo the severest task that a +soldier can suffer in passive non-resistance, whilst the enemy, from +afar, strove to bury our fort under the weight of their projectiles. +Bombs and shot were, however, unavailing. The defences proved equal to +our perfect protection; and all continued to work cheerfully in the +trenches until the distant sounds of battle were heard booming from Palo +Alto and Resaca. Anxiety was dispelled, and hope ripened into certainty +as the cannonade grew louder and drew nearer the river, until, at last, +on the evening of the ninth, the Mexican squadrons raced past the fort +and received the reserved shot of the eighteens which poured their +masses of grape among the flying groups. As our pursuing forces rushed +out from behind the thickets and beheld the American flag still aloft in +the works, they sent forth a cheer which was answered by the rejoicing +garrison, and the valley of the Rio Grande reverberated with the +exultation of delight. Victory and relief; a routed foe and succored +friends, enlivened every heart, and even the foremost and bitterest in +pursuit halted a moment to exchange congratulations upon the events of +the glorious day. + +Thus the separate forces of the United States were again brought +together; and FORT BROWN,--which now received its name from the +brave Major who died on the 9th,--was found to have lost but two by +death and only fourteen wounded during the whole bombardment. + + * * * * * + +Every war produces its singular characters whose influence or example +are not without their due effect upon the troops, and, at the conclusion +of these chapters, which are so stained with blood and battle, it may +not be useless to sketch, even upon the grave page of history, the deeds +of a woman whose courageous spirit bore her through all the trials of +this bombardment, but whose masculine hardihood was softened by the +gentleness of a female heart. Woman has every where her sphere of power +over the rougher sex, but the women of a camp must possess qualities to +which their tender sisters of the saloon are utter strangers. + +Some years ago, in the far west, a good soldier joined one of our +regiments, with his tall and gaunt wife, whose lofty figure and stalwart +frame almost entitled her as much as her husband to a place in the ranks +of the gallant seventh. Unwilling to abandon her liege lord upon his +enlistment, this industrious female was immediately employed as one of +the laundresses, three of whom are allowed to draw rations in each +company, and are required to wash for the soldiers at a price regulated +by a council of officers. The "Great Western,"--for by this soubriquet +was she known in the army,--arrived at Corpus Christi with her husband, +and up to the period of our departure for the Rio Grande performed all +her appropriate duties, keeping, in addition, a "mess" for the younger +officers of the regiment. When the army advanced, the women, with some +exceptions, were despatched by sea to Point Isabel, while a few procured +ponies to follow the soldiers in their tedious march. The husband of the +Great Western was sent in one of the transports to the Brazos, but his +hardy spouse did not deign to accompany him in this comfortable mode of +transit, declaring that "the boys of her mess must have some one to take +care of them on their toilsome march." Accordingly, having purchased a +cart and loaded it with luggage, cooking utensils, and supplies, she +mounted behind her donkey with whip in hand, and displayed during the +wearisome advance, qualities which the best teamster in the train might +have envied. Throughout the whole journey she kept her boarders well +provided with excellent rations; and, when her brigade reached the banks +of the Colorado she was one of the first who offered to cross in the +face of the resisting enemy. After calmly surveying the scene, which has +been described in another chapter, she remarked, with great coolness, +that "if the general would give her a stout pair of tongs she would wade +the river and whip every scoundrel Mexican that dared show his face on +the opposite side!" + +When Taylor marched to Point Isabel on the 1st of May, the Great Western +was of course left behind with the seventh infantry. Together with the +eight or ten women who remained, she moved, at once into the fort, where +her mess was soon re-established in a tent near the centre of the works. +The enemy's fire began on the 3d, as she was commencing her preparations +for breakfast, and the women were, of course, immediately deposited for +safety in the almost vacant magazines. But it may be recorded to their +honor that they were not idle during the siege. Nobly did they ply their +needles in preparing sand bags from the soldiers' and officers' tents to +strengthen the works and protect the artillerists whilst serving at +their guns; yet, the Great Western, declining either to sew or to nestle +in the magazine, continued her labors over the fire in the open air. +After the discharge of the first gun all were at their posts, answering +the shot from the Mexican forts; and, when the hour for breakfast +arrived, none expected the luxury that awaited them. Nevertheless the +_mess_ was as well attended as if nothing but a morning drill, with +blank cartridges, had occurred, and, in addition, a large supply of +delicious coffee awaited the thirsty, who had but to come and partake, +without distinction of rank. To some of the artillerists who were unable +to leave their guns, the beverage was carried by this excellent female; +and, as may readily be believed, no _belle_ of Orleans, ever met a more +gracious reception. The fire of the artillery was kept up almost +incessantly until near the dinner hour, when the Great Western again +provided a savory soup which she distributed to the men without charge. + +Thus did she continue to fulfil her duties during the seven days that +the enemy kept up an incessant cannonade and bombardment. She was ever +to be found at her post; her meals were always ready at the proper hour, +and always of the best that the camp afforded. When the despatches, sent +by Walker, were made up for General Taylor on the evening of the 4th, a +number of officers and men wrote to their friends at Point Isabel; and +among them this courageous woman found time to communicate with her +husband who had not been despatched from the depot to Fort Brown. In +this document she expressed her full confidence in the ability of the +garrison to sustain itself, and only regretted the absence of her +spouse. To supply his place, however, she applied, early in the action, +for a musket and ammunition which she placed in security, expressing her +determination to have full satisfaction whenever the enemy dared to +approach within range of her piece. This they never did, and our +indomitable heroine must rest contented with the reflection that she +nobly performed her duty, and will long be remembered by the besieged +garrison of Fort Brown. + + NOTE.--The reader who desires to verify the accounts of + the actions narrated in the two last chapters, will find + all the authentic papers upon which they are founded, in + the national documents relative to the war published + during the two sessions of the twenty-ninth congress. + + * * * * * + + It will be observed that the name of General Worth does not + occur in the account of these recent transactions on the Rio + Grande. This excellent soldier had left Florida in + September, 1845, and was early on the ground at Corpus + Christi in command of the first brigade consisting of one + artillery battalion and the eighth regiment of infantry. His + march and acts on the Rio Grande have been recounted in the + preceding chapters; but soon after his arrival he received + the mortifying intelligence that he had been superseded in + rank by an arrangement announced from the war department. + He, therefore, deemed it due to himself as an officer to + demonstrate his sensibility by resigning at once, especially + as he was convinced that there would be no engagement + between the armies, and that the war would be concluded by + despatches and bulletins instead of arms. Nevertheless he + left the American camp with regret, (tendering his services + "out of authority," to the general in command,) and + travelled with despatch to Washington. On arriving there he + learned that hostilities had actually commenced; and waiving + all his personal feeling, he immediately withdrew his + resignation, with a request for permission to return + forthwith to the command of the troops from which he was + separated, by army orders, in April, 1846. His wish was + granted by the secretary of war as soon as it was made known + on the 9th of May, and Worth hastened back to Mexico, where + his bravery and skill were subsequently so conspicuous.--See + Niles's Register, vol. 70, p. 313. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[109] Army on the Rio Grande, p. 93, and see plan of the battle. + +[110] In May 1846, _after these battles_, an act of Congress was finally +passed authorising the organization of a company of sappers, miners and +pontoniers. The war department had not the right to form such a corps +previous to this enactment. + +[111] Page and Ringgold died subsequently. + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 2 ^ shows that the following letters are | + | superscript | + | Page 9 bucaneers changed to buccaneers | + | Page 13 repartiamentos changed to repartiamientos | + | Page 16 leatheren changed to leathern | + | Page 24 felitously changed to felicitously | + | Page 31 cannister changed to canister | + | Page 46 beseiged changed to besieged | + | Page 47 Cohuila changed to Coahuila | + | Page 50 Campaga changed to Campańa | + | Page 57 preponderence changed to preponderance | + | Page 62 maratime changed to maritime | + | Page 63 exhorbitant changed to exorbitant | + | Page 70 statutes changed to statues | + | Page 76 Herera changed to Herrera | + | Page 83 petulence changed to petulance | + | Page 89 Guadelupe changed to Guadalupe | + | Page 93 Neuces changed to Nueces | + | Page 96 reveillee changed to reveille | + | Page 97 villians changed to villains | + | Page 97 stupifying changed to stupefying | + | Page 97 portions changed to potions | + | Page 97 exhorbitant changed to exorbitant | + | Page 123 Puffendorf changed to Pufendorf | + | Page 125 Matamoras changed to Matamoros | + | Page 125 seige changed to siege | + | Page 135 Metamoros changed to Matamoros | + | Page 136 exhonerate changed to exonerate | + | Page 140 moments changed to moment's | + | Page 140 engulphed changed to engulfed | + | Page 144 pomegranite changed to pomegranate | + | Page 154 bivouack changed to bivouac | + | Page 155 canonnade changed to cannonade | + | Page 159 leatheren changed to leathern | + | Page 159 bivouack changed to bivouac | + | Page 160 presure changed to pressure | + | Page 165 manoeuvreing changed to manoeuvring | + | Page 176 Pleasanton changed to Plesanton | + | Page 178 curiassiers changed to cuirassiers | + | Page 183 exhilerated changed to exhilarated | + | Page 188 superceded changed to superseded | + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the War Between Mexico and +the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1, by Brantz Mayer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICAN WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 33568-8.txt or 33568-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/6/33568/ + +Produced by Julia Miller, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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+ font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: silver; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i30 {display: block; margin-left: 30em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the War Between Mexico and the +United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1, by Brantz Mayer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1 + +Author: Brantz Mayer + +Release Date: August 29, 2010 [EBook #33568] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICAN WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen">Transcriber's Note</p> + +This book contains no Table of Contents. One +is provided for the convenience of the reader. +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="45%" alt="Ant. Lopez de Sta Anna" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Ant. Lopez de S<sup>ta</sup> Anna</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/map1.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/map1.jpg" width="45%" alt="BATTLE of PALO ALTO" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">BATTLE of PALO ALTO 8<sup>th</sup>. May 1846.</p> +<p style="text-align: right; padding-right: 20%; font-size: 90%;">Lith. by E. Weber & Co. Balto.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<a href="images/map2.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/map2.jpg" width="45%" alt="BATTLE of RESACA de la PALMA" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">BATTLE of <span class="smcap">RESACA de la PALMA</span> 9<sup>th</sup> May 1846.</p> +<p style="text-align: right; padding-right: 20%; font-size: 90%;">Lith. by E. Weber & Co. Balto.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>HISTORY OF THE WAR</h1> + +<h4> BETWEEN</h4> + +<h1> MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES,</h1> + +<h4> WITH A PRELIMINARY VIEW OF ITS ORIGIN;</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4> BY</h4> + +<h2> BRANTZ MAYER,</h2> + +<h4> FORMERLY SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES LEGATION IN MEXICO,<br /> + AND AUTHOR OF "MEXICO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS."</h4> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h4> Ne dites à la posterité que ce qui est digne de la posterité.—<span class="smcap">Voltaire.</span></h4> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 10%;" /> + +<h3> VOLUME I.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 10%;" /> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3> NEW YORK & LONDON.<br /> + WILEY AND PUTNAM.</h3> + +<h4> MDCCCXLVIII.</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"> +Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by<br /> + +BRANTZ MAYER,<br /> + +in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the District of Maryland.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">VOLUME I.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="85%">CHAPTER I.</td> + <td class="tdr" width="15%"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER II.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER III.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER IV.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER V.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER VI.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">VOLUME II.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER I.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER II.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER III.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER IV.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER V.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER VI.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">CHAPTER VII.</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>BOOK FIRST:</h2> + +<h3>PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE ORIGIN<br /> + +OF THE WAR.</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>HISTORY OF THE WAR<br /> + +BETWEEN<br /> + +MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES.</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>BOOK I.</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Introductory views of Mexico—The people and government.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The war which broke out between the United States of North America and +the Mexican Republic, in the spring of 1846, is an event of great +importance in the history of the world. Profound peace had reigned among +Christian nations, since the downfall of Napoleon; and, with the +exception of internal discords in France, Belgium, Poland and Greece, +the civilized world had cause to believe that mankind would henceforth +resort to the cabinet rather than the field for the settlement of +international disputes. The recent conflicts between the French and the +Arabs in Algeria, and between the British and Indian races, have been +characterized by ferocity and endurance. But, it will be recollected +these encounters took place between nations unequal alike in religion, +morals, law, and civilization. The temper or character of Mahomedans was +not to be measured by that of Christians nor had we just reason to hope +for a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>pacific or temporizing spirit in people whose savage habits have +ever rendered them prompt to return invasion by a blow, and make war the +precursor of negotiation. It was, thus, reserved for the Mexicans, whose +blood is mixed with that of an Arab ancestry, to exhibit the spectacle +of continual domestic broils, and, latterly of a positive warfare +against a nation whose friendly hand was the first to summon them into +the pale of national independence.</p> + +<p>The disorganized condition of our neighbor for nearly thirty years, may, +partly account for and palliate this fault. With administrations +shifting like the scenes of a drama, and with a stage, at times dyed +with blood, and at others imitating the mimic passions and transports of +the real theatre, it may be confessed that much should be pardoned by a +forbearing nation whose aggregate intelligence and force are not to be +compared with the fragmentary and impulsive usurpations in Mexico. To +judge faithfully of the justice or injustice of this war, and to +comprehend this history in truth and fairness, we must not only narrate +in chronological order the simple events that occurred between the two +nations; but the student of this epoch must go back a step in order to +master the scope and motives of the war. He must study the preceding +Mexican history and character; and, it will speedily be discovered that +when he attempts to judge the Spanish republics by the ordinary +standards applied to free and enlightened governments, he will signally +fail in arriving at truth. He must neither imagine that when the name of +Republic was engrafted on the Mexican system, that it accommodated +itself at once to our ideal standard of political power, nor that the +dominant faction was willing to adopt the simple machinery which +operates so perfectly in the United States. There are many reasons why +this should not be the case. The Spanish race, although it has achieved +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>the most wonderful results in discovery, conquest, colonial settlement, +diplomacy, feats of arms, and success of domestic power, has proved +itself, within the present century, to be one of the few opponents of +the progressive principles of our age. A Castilian pride of remembered +greatness, and a superstitious reluctance to cast off the bondage of the +past, have made the Spaniards content to cling devotedly to their +ancient edifice without bestowing on it those repairs or improvements +without which governments, must evidently crumble and decay. Spain +believed that what had produced national power and greatness in one age +must ever continue to effect the same results, and, thus, she was +content to bear the evils of the present time rather than disjoint a +fragment of her ancient temple, lest the whole should fall in +indiscriminate ruin. The blindness of national vanity was made more +profound by the universal glare of progressive civilization that +surrounded this doomed country, whilst superstitious influences clogged +every avenue to progress which might have saved and regenerated both the +parent and her colonies.</p> + +<p>It may be urged by the apologists for Spain, that, being nearly as deep +in moral, political and social degradation as France was at the period +of the revolution, she naturally contemplated such an event with horror, +especially when she remembered the sensitive and excitable race that +peopled her vallies and sierras, and the likelihood that the bloody +dramas of Paris would be frightfully exaggerated in Madrid. But I still +believe that the true cause will be found more deeply seated, in the +nature of the people; and that Spain,—made up as she is of many +nations, incompetent for self-government, uneducated and bigoted,—will +ever be content to find her ideal future in her traditionary past.</p> + +<p>Spain and the Spaniards have few more zealous admirers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>than the author +of this history. The nation contains individuals who in patriotism, love +of liberty, and devotion to science, literature, and art, are +unsurpassed by any people of the world. As Americans we owe a debt of +gratitude to the noble discoverers and conquerors of this continent. In +deeds of bravery, in chivalrous enterprise, and in intellectual power, +with what people may they not be matched in their perfect period. But +their golden age has passed, and manifold corruptions in church and +state have preyed upon the country with paralyzing influence.</p> + +<p>For a long time we received from England with the submissive credulity +of children, all her traditionary ignorance and abuse of Spain, much of +which was owing to political animosity, as well as to the rivalry that +grew up between that country and the rest of Europe during the reign of +Philip the second. But the study of her language, history and +literature, has unveiled the legendary falsehoods with which we were +cheated. Whilst a large portion of her past history should be admired +and lauded, her present downfall should be regarded with compassionate +censure and sympathy. We should endeavor, in writing history, to make +ourselves men of the times and nations we describe, and it is in this +manner alone, that we can establish the spiritual sympathy between +ourselves and foreign countries, which will enable us to enter into +their feelings and motives, and thus become not only merciful but true +and discreet judges.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The two great impressions made on this continent by the Spaniards were +in Mexico and Peru. Avarice and ambition induced the conquest of the +latter, while that of Mexico may also be attributed to the same motives, +although the hero who added the Aztec empire to the Spanish dominions, +modified his victories by personal qualities which were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>infinitely +superior to those of the conqueror of Peru.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Yet, in neither of these +great adventures do we find any of the fruits of peaceful acquisition, +or of those well regulated advances in civilization which always mark a +people whose conquest is undertaken under the immediate direction and +legal restraints of government. The conquests in America were, in truth, +chiefly individual enterprises, and, of course, could not be conducted +in a spirit of temperance and justice. The exploits of Cortéz and +Pizarro, especially those of the latter, are characterized by ferocity +and barbarism which would place them in the category with freebooters +and buccaneers, were they not saved from it by the splendor of their +successful results. The Indians of the countries they subjected to +Spain, were utterly vanquished; yet, unlike the hardy and warlike +aborigines of the north, they remained on their native soil, content to +serve or mingle with their conquerors.—Wherever the white man came at +the north, the Indian retreated to his congenial wilderness;—he could +not inhabit the same country or breathe the same air with the +intruder;—but, as the Spaniard advanced at the south, the +semi-civilization of the enervated native, induced him to linger near +the homes of his ancestors, and, with a tame heart, to obey his +conqueror rather than to resist him or enjoy the fierce independence of +the forest.</p> + +<p>The territory thus seized by violence was held by fear.—Loyalty can +never be the tenure of conquerors, and, especially, of the conquerors of +an inferior race. The Spaniard and Indian lived together in a spirit of +lordly dominion on the one hand, and of crushed dependence on the other, +whilst the Castilian derived from the native nothing but his habits of +savage life, and the Indian, in turn, learned nothing from the Castilian +but his vices.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>A conquest thus achieved, an empire founded in blood and terror, would +naturally seem to have a doubtful destiny. It is unquestionably true +that Spain made humane laws, and that Charles the Fifth passed a decree +by which his American possessions were declared to be integral parts of +the Spanish kingdom. It is true, moreover, that he sought to abolish the +special grants to discoverers and conquerors by which they were invested +with almost absolute authority; and, by mitigating the system +<i>repartimientos</i><a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> or of vassalage among the Indians, to raise them to +the dignity of Spanish subjects. But, at the same time, these humane +laws were badly administered in a country so difficult of access as +America was at that period from Spain; and viceroys and governors acted +as they pleased, with but little regard to the people or the country, +except for their individual interests. Whilst this system of +maladministration made the royal and beneficent laws nugatory, Spain +seems to have been engaged in creating a colonial system which was +calculated to paralyze the energies of Mexico and Peru. She taught them +to look exclusively to mining for wealth, and to their Indians for +labor. All the laws relative to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>natural development of a new +country were disregarded, and civilized existence in America began on +artificial principles. The example of the last fifty years has proved +that America is capable of producing all the necessaries, and most of +the luxuries of life quite as abundantly as Europe. Yet, Spain denied +her colonies the privilege of an effort. For instance,—she resolved at +the outset not to allow them to be independent in agriculture, commerce +or manufactures. She would not permit them to cultivate the soil save +for the merest daily necessaries. Wine and oil were to be made in the +old world. Cotton and wool were not to be woven into the beautiful +fabrics for which the ancient Peruvians were so celebrated. The church +aided the strong arm of government by the weight of her exactions and +the power of superstitious control. The Inquisition put its veto on the +spread of knowledge by restraining the sale and publication of books. +Foreigners were not allowed to navigate Spanish seas or enter American +harbors. And these distant shores were only visited at stated seasons by +national vessels, carrying such produce at exorbitant prices, as Spain +might think proper to despatch from Seville or Cadiz.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I have thought it proper to state in my introductory chapter, thus much +of the laws and system under which Mexico began her national +existence;—for laws modify the character whenever they are not +self-imposed. Let us now, for a moment consider the population which was +subjected to the bad administration of such laws; and we shall then +understand better the character of the belligerents.</p> + +<p>The blood of the Spaniards, even at home, is a mixed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>blood. But when we +remember the various races that have overrun, resided in, ruled, and +incorporated themselves with Spain, we cannot be surprised at detecting +so many and diverse characteristics in Mexico. The Celti-gallic, +Celt-Iberian, Carthagenian, Roman, Vandalic, Visigothic, and Moorish +blood have mingled again in Mexico and Peru with the Indian, and in some +cases have been dashed even with the Negro.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Mexicans are thus, as I +have observed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>elsewhere, grafts rather of the wild Arab on the American +Indian, than of the Spanish Don on the noble Aztec.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>When Mexico was completely conquered and emigration began to fill up the +land, the soil was divided, in large estates, among the adventurers and +the Indians, by a system of <i>repartimientos</i>, were apportioned to the +land holders.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> This created an absolute vassalage, and bound the +Indian, virtually and forever, to the spot where he was born. As it +became wearisome to the planters to dwell in the seclusion of these vast +and lonely estates, they left them and their Indians to the care of an +<i>administrador</i>, and retreated to the chief cities of the provinces or +to the capital. Thus all the intelligence and cultivation of Mexico +became compacted in the towns, whilst the original ignorance and +semi-civilization remained diffused over the country. It is, therefore, +not at all surprising to find that out of a population of seven +millions, four millions are Indians and only one million purely white, +while more than two millions, of the rest, are zambos, mestizos and +mulattos. Nor is it singular that of this whole population of seven +millions, not more than six hundred thousand whites and eighty thousand +of other castes, can read and write.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Indeed it may be said with truth,—as agriculture has received but +little attention beyond the ordinary wants of life, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>and as the great +proprietors of estates have chiefly devoted their attention to the +<i>raising of cattle</i>,—that the ancient nomadic habits of the Indian and +half-breed, have remained unchanged, and, consequently, that the great +body of this semi-civilized people is quite as much at home on horseback +with sword and lance as in the <i>corral</i> or <i>hacienda</i>.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Ranchero</span>, who has played so conspicuous a part in this war, +is the natural offspring of such a state of society. This class of men +is composed of individuals, half Spanish half Indian, who resemble the +<i>gauchos</i> of the South American Pampas. Gaunt, shrivelled and bronzed by +exposure, though hardy and muscular from athletic exercise, they are, +indeed, the Arabs of our continent. Living half the time in their +saddles, for they are matchless horsemen, they traverse the plains and +mountains, with lasso<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> in hand, either searching for, or tending their +herds. The slaughter of beasts and preparation and sale of hides is +their chief means of livelihood, varied occasionally by the cultivation +of a small patch of ground, or by taking part in the civil wars that are +always waging. Their costume generally consists of a pair of tough +leggings of skin and leathern trousers, over which is a <i>serape</i> or +blanket, with a hole in the centre large enough for the head to pass +through, whence it falls in graceful folds over the chest and shoulders, +leaving room for the play of hands and arms. Add to this a broad +<i>sombrero</i>, and the <i>lasso</i>, hanging ready for use at his saddle bow, +and the reader will have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>a picture of the <i>ranchero</i> as he appears in +peace or in the ordinary pursuit of his occupation. Join to this garb a +long sabre, a horse as savage and untamed as himself, and a belt +plentifully studded with pistols and <i>machetes</i>, and the <i>ranchero</i> +presents himself ready either to join a troop of banditti, or to serve +in a body of cavalry.</p> + +<p>Cowardly as they generally are in the open field when encountering +regular troops, yet, in ambuscade, a sudden fight, or, as <i>guerillas</i>, +they are both a formidable and cruel foe. Their power of endurance is +inexhaustible. Fatigue is almost unknown to them, and a scanty meal, +each day, of jerked beef and corn or plantain, is sufficient to sustain +them on the longest marches.</p> + +<p>Such are the <i>rancheros</i>, who, by discipline, might be rendered the best +light troops in the world. These are the men who form the material of +the Mexican cavalry; and they bear the same relation to the armies of +that republic that the Cossacks do to the Russians;—ever on the +alert,—easily lodged,—capable of supporting fatigue or hunger,—and +untiring in pursuit of an enemy, when even the most trifling plunder is +to be obtained.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Another large and formidable body in Mexico is that of the <i>Indians</i>, +amounting, as we have seen, to four millions; whose knowledge of their +governors' language is generally confined to such phrases as will enable +them to buy and sell, or perform the ordinary functions of life. +Formerly they lived, and usually still live, in narrow huts built of +mud, thatched with straw or palm leaves, and which have scarcely the +merit of being picturesque. In these miserable lairs, they nestle with +their families, their domestic animals, and a table or altar on which +they erect a cross or place the figure of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>a patron saint. Their food is +mostly maize, and their dress corresponds with this grovelling +wretchedness. Five out of every hundred may perhaps possess two suits of +clothes, but their general vesture consists of a large cotton shirt, a +pair of leathern trousers, and a blanket. Even the Indian women, who +elsewhere, like their sex in civilized countries, are always fond of +personal adornment, exhibit no desire to appear decent or to rival each +other in tasteful ornaments when they go abroad. They are as foul and +ill-clad on their festivals at church, as in their hovels at home, so +that few things are more disgusting to a foreigner than to mingle in an +Indian crowd.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> It is impossible to imagine such a population capable +of becoming landed proprietors; and, consequently, we find them +contented with the annual product of their small fields, amounting, +perhaps, to thirty or fifty <i>fanegas</i> of corn. When they live on the +large estates of Mexican proprietors, they are, in reality, vassals, +although free from the nominal stain of slavery.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> On these +plantations they are beaten when they commit faults, and, if then found +incorrigible, are driven beyond their limits,—a punishment deemed by +them the severest that can be inflicted, and which they bear with as +much difficulty as our Indians do their banishment from the "hunting +grounds" of their forefathers. When they have gained a little money by +labor, they hasten to squander it by making a festival in honor of their +favorite saint, and thus consume their miserable earnings in gluttony, +gambling, masses, fire works, and drunkenness. When it is not absolutely +necessary to toil for the necessaries of life,—especially in the +<i>tierras calientes</i>, or warmer portions of Mexico,—they pass their time +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>in utter idleness or sleep. Zavala declares that in many portions of +the country, the <i>curates</i> maintain such entire dominion over the +Indians, that they order them to be publicly whipped whenever they fail +to pay their <i>ovenciones</i>, or tributes, at the regular time, or commit +some act of personal disobedience. But the degradation of this class +does not stop even here, for the same author alleges that he has +frequently seen many Indians and their wives flogged at the village +church door, because they had failed to come to mass upon some Sunday or +festival, whilst, after the punishment, these wretches were obliged to +kiss the hand of the executioner!<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>It will be seen from this sketch and description that the vicious +colonial system of Spain formed only two great classes in America,—the +proprietor and the vassal,—and that, in the nature of things, it was +utterly impossible for the latter to amalgamate with the former except +by creating an inferior race, whose sympathies were with the Indian +rather than the Spaniard, and whose type is the nomadic <i>ranchero</i>. This +fact was proved in the revolution which broke out in Spanish America. +The war cry was against the Spaniard<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>pure descendants. The +<i>creole</i><a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> rose against the <i>gachupin</i>,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and the ferocity with +which the soldiers of old Spain carried on the war against the natives +confirmed their hereditary animosity.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The struggle for domestic power commenced as soon as the independence of +Mexico was achieved, and the people began to establish a system of +government upon a republican basis after the downfall of the Emperor +Iturbidé. The Spaniards had taught a lesson of privileged classes which +was never forgotten; so that, when the revolution took place, <span class="smcap">THE +PEOPLE</span> were only used to effect national emancipation rather than +to establish general political liberty.</p> + +<p>The nobles or great proprietors, and the clergy, had, in the olden time, +formed the influential class of society which ruled the land. The theory +of republicanism was marvellously <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>captivating so long as there was an +European foe to subdue. But, when the last remnant of Spanish power +disappeared, the men who had governed during the revolution were loath +to surrender power and subside into the insignificance of mere +citizenship. In such a country as Mexico, and in such a war as had just +occurred, this controlling influence in public affairs was, of course, +to be chiefly found in the army; so that when the nation looked around +for men to direct her at a period when Spain had not yet recognized her +independence and might again assail her, she naturally turned to the +military chieftains whose valor sustained her cause so bravely. Thus it +was that in her first moments of peace, the army obtained an important +ascendancy, which it has ever since contrived to retain during all +administrations.</p> + +<p>It is not just to the Spanish colonies to blame them for such a +procedure, especially when we remember that even our republic is +beginning to manifest a marked partiality for military men. The great +deed rather than the great thought,—the brilliant act rather than +beneficent legislation,—arrests and captivates the multitude. In +republics, where an eager strife for wealth, distinction or power, is +constantly going on, the notice and position that each man obtains must +be won either by intrigue or by the irresistible power of talents and +achievements. Ambitious parties sometimes even compromise for the +weakest, rather than yield the palm to superior merit of which they are +meanly jealous. The great mass of the country has no time to pause in +the midst of its earnest labor to meditate wisely on the political +abilities and moral claims of individuals. They cannot weigh them in the +golden scales of justice;—but, by a more rapid and easy process, they +yield their suffrages promptly to those whose manifestations of genius +or power are so resistless as to compel admiration. Thus is it that the +brave soldier, performing his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>noble exploit on the field of battle, +speaks palpably to the eye and ear of the greedy multitude. His is, +indeed, the language of action, and each new deed makes national glory +more distinct, and national vanity more confident. But the more quiet +and unobtrusive statesman, with a field infinitely less glaring or +attractive, exacts from his judges a suspension of party feeling, an +investigation of motive and merit, a calm and forbearing justice, which +the impatient masses have seldom the time or talent to bestow. It is, +therefore, by no means surprising to find in history, that the sword has +commonly been mightier than the pen, and that military chieftains become +the natural heads of republics which are created by long and bitter +revolutions.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered that the army in Mexico is not what armies are +generally understood to be in other countries. In Europe they are +designed to restrain the aggressive ambition of rival powers, to act as +military police, and, by their imposing skill, discipline and numbers, +to preserve the balance of national power. But in Mexico, whilst the +members of an immensely rich hierarchy constitute a distinct <i>order</i> in +society, the army forms another.—The policy of the existing military +chieftains was to sustain, foster and increase their individual power +and patronage. The mere domestic police of the country could surely +never require, in time of peace, so large a numerical force under arms +as that which has always been supported in it; yet the military +presidents, at once, sought to establish an <i>army of officers</i>, and by +the enlistment of a body of commanders, entirely disproportionate to the +number of rank and file, they immediately created a <i>military order</i> +upon whose support they could rely so long as they possessed the means +of patronage. The officers thus became armed and paid politicians, +whilst the common soldiers formed a military police;—the one an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>element of all political revolutions, the other a tool by which those +revolutions were effected. The great practical idea of government, it +will be perceived, was derived from <i>compulsory force</i>. The church +wielded the spiritual power, whilst the army held the physical; and, +between the two, <i>the people</i>,—composed of merchants, professional men, +farmers, proprietors, and artisans,—were refused all participation in +authority, or progress in civil order which might have placed Mexico +among the foremost nations of the world. In this manner a central despot +has always found means and instruments to suppress federalism;—for +whilst near <i>thirty</i> revolutions have occurred in Mexico since her +independence, every one of her presidents has been a military +chieftain.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Macaulay, in his essay on the life of Lord Bacon describes the condition +of England when she was governed by warriors whose rude courage was +neither guided by science nor softened by humanity, and by priests whose +learning and abilities were habitually devoted to the defence of power. +The description of that age in England is by no means inapplicable to +Mexico in the nineteenth century. "On the one side," says he, "the +Hotspurs, the Nevilles, the Cliffords, rough illiterate and +unreflecting, brought to the council-board the fierce and impetuous +despotism which they had acquired amid the tumult of predatory war or in +the gloomy repose of the garrisoned and moated castle. On the other side +was the calm and placid prelate, versed in all that was considered as +learning; trained in the schools to manage words, and, in the +Confessional, to manage hearts;—seldom superstitious, but skilful in +practising on the superstitions of others; false as it was natural for a +man to be whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>profession imposed on all who were not saints the +necessity of being hypocrites;—selfish as it was natural that a man +should be who could form no domestic ties and cherish no hope of +legitimate posterity;—more attached to his order than to his country, +and guiding the politics of England with a constant side glance to +Rome."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>And so it was in Mexico. The sojourner in her capital is continually +warned of this double dominion over the soul and body of the people. The +drum and the bell resound in his ears from morning to night fall. +Priests and soldiers throng the streets; and, whilst the former enjoy +the comfortable revenues which are derived from the one hundred millions +of property owned by the church, the latter live upon the labor of the +people, whom they are paid to control and transfer from one military +despot to another.</p> + +<p>The Mexican revolution,—like the revolutions of England, but unlike +that of France,—was political rather than social. The great foundations +of society were therefore undisturbed, and the priest and soldier took +the ranks of the ancient privileged classes, whilst the mixed people and +the native Indians remained what they had ever been—the subjects of +government.</p> + +<p>Of all the officers who have commanded the army and enjoyed the +presidency, Santa Anna has occupied the most distinguished position +since the death of Iturbidé, and it is with him and the nation thus +described, that we shall deal in the following pages.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See Prescott's Conquest of Peru, 2nd vol. pages 199: 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The word <i>repartimiento</i> means, division, partition, +distribution, or apportionment. In the old Spanish historians and +English books, such as Zaraté, Garcilasso de la Vega, Fernandez, +Robertson, it is uniformly used to denote the well known allotment of +lands and vassal Indians (<i>genuine adscripti glebæ</i>) granted to the +first conquerors in reward of their services. In some later writers, +this word is applied to the <i>monopoly of sales to the Indians</i> exercised +by the <i>corregedores</i>, under pretext of protecting the Indians from +imposition, by the official distribution of goods. N. A. Review, vol. +xx. p. 287.</p> + +<p class="noin">"Indeed the Spanish court made no scruple of regarding the Indians in +the same light as the beasts and the soil, disposing of them as the +rightful property of the crown; for it was not till 1537, nearly fifty +years after the discovery, that the Pope issued a mandate declaring them +to be really and truly men,—"<i>ipsos veros homines</i>,"—and capable of +receiving the Christian faith." N. A. Review, vol. xix. p. 198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The American trade was confined to Seville until 1720, when +it was removed to Cadiz, as a more convenient port. On the subject of +these oppressions and misgovernment, see Zavala's "Revoluciones de +Mexico," Introduction;—and North American Review. vol. xx. p. 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The subjoined list shows the varieties of parentage and +blood forming the castes throughout Spanish America:</p> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="90%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Parentage"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="7%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="55%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="38%"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc smcap" colspan="3">Parents.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="3">1. <span class="smcap">Original races.</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">White.</span> European <i>whites</i> are + called <i> gachupines</i> or chapetones.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl" colspan="2"> <i>Whites</i>, + born in the colonies, are called creoles.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Negro.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Indian.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdc smcap">Parents.</td> + <td class="tdc smcap">Children.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="3">2. <span class="smcap">Castes of White race.</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">White father and Negro mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Mulatto.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">White father and Indian mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Mestizo.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">White father and Mulatta mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Quarteron.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdlt">White father and Meztiza mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Creole, (only distinguishable from the white by a pale brown complexion.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">White father and China mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Chino-blanco.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">White father and Quarterona mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Quintero.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">White father and Quintera mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">White.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="3">3. <span class="smcap">Castes of Negro race.</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Negro father and Mulatta mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Zambo-negro.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Negro father and Meztiza mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Mulatto-oscuro.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Negro father and China mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Zambo-chino.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdlt">Negro father and Zamba mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Zambo & Negro (perfectly black.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Negro father and Quarterona mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">dark Mulatto.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Negro father and Quintera mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">dark Mulatto.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="3">4. <span class="smcap">Castes of Indian race.</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Indian father and Negro mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Chino.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Indian father and Mulatta mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Chino-oscuro.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdlt">Indian father and Mestiza mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Mestizo-claro (often very beautiful.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Indian father and China mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Chino-cholo.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Indian father and Zamba mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Zambo-claro.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdlt">Indian father and China-chola mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Indian (with short, frizzly hair.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Indian father and Quarterona mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">brown Meztizo.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Indian father and Quintera mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">brown Meztizo.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="3">5. <span class="smcap">Mulatto corruptions.</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Mulatto father and Zamba mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Zambo (a miserable race.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Mulatto father and Zamba mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Chino (rather clear race.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Mulatto father and China mother.</td> + <td class="tdl">Chino (rather dark.)</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="noin"> +Besides these specified castes there are many others not distinguished +by particular names. The best criterion for judging is the hair of the +women which is infinitely less deceiving than the complexion. The short +woolly hair, or the coarse Indian locks may always be detected on the +head or back of the neck. This tabular statement exhibits at a glance +the mongrel corruptions of the human race in Spanish America, and forms +an interesting subject for students of physiology. See Tschudi's Peru, +p. 80, Am. Ed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Preface to 3d Ed. of Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Zavala's "Revoluciones de Mexico," vol. 1. p. 15, gives an +account of the manner in which estates are divided in Mexico.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 301.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Corral</i> signifies cattle yard; <i>hacienda</i>, plantation; +<i>rancho</i>, small farm.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>The lasso</i> is a long rope, with a running noose at the end +of it. The Mexicans learn to fling this with great accuracy so as to +catch a bull, a horse, or a man with equal facility. All classes have +some skill in the use of this weapon, and I have seen children, with +cords, attempting to <i>lasso</i> chickens and even butterflies!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> See Head's Rough Notes of a Journey over the Pampas. The +Mexican ranchero is somewhat superior to the <i>gaucho</i> of the Pampas.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Mexico as it was and is, p. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Id. p. 201; and see Stephens' Travels in Yucatan,—where, +he says, the maxim is that "los Indios no oyen sino por las +nalgas,"—the Indians only hear through their backs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Zavala Revoluciones de Mejico, vol. i, pp. 15, 16. "Este +escandalo estaba autorizado por la costumbre de mi provincia." Zavala +was one of the wisest and most illustrious patriots of Mexico. His +History was published in Paris in 1831.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> It will be recollected that the outburst of the Mexican +revolution was not in favor of republicanism; but only against +misgovernment. It was not against the <i>form</i> of rule, but against the +<i>men</i> who ruled. Even the plan of Iguala offered the crown of Mexico to +Ferdinand, as a separate kingdom. See Robinson's Memoirs of the Mexican +Revolution.</p> + +<p class="noin">"It is related that Hidalgo, the celebrated priestly leader of the +revolutionary movement, was accustomed to travel from village to village +preaching a crusade against the Spaniards, exciting the <i>creoles</i> and +Indians; and one of his most effective tricks is said to have been the +following. Although he had thrown off the cassock for the military coat, +he wore a figure of the Virgin Mary suspended by a chain around his +neck. After haranguing the mob on such occasions, he would suddenly +break off, and looking down at his breast, address himself to the holy +image, after the following fashion: 'Mary! Mother of God! Holy Virgin! +Patron of Mexico! behold our country,—behold our wrongs,—behold our +sufferings! Dost thou not wish they should be changed? that we should be +delivered from our tyrants? that we should be free? that we should slay +the gachupines! that we should kill the Spaniards?'</p> + +<p class="noin">"The image had a moveable head fastened to a spring, which he jerked by +a cord concealed beneath his coat, and, of course the Virgin responded +with a nod! The effect was surprising—and the air was filled with +Indian shouts of obedience to the present miracle."—Mexico as it was +and as it is, p. 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The term <i>creole</i> is a corruption of the Spanish word +<i>criollo</i>, which is derived from <i>criar</i>, to create or foster. The +Spaniards apply the term criollo not merely to the human race, but to +animals born in the colonies, if they are of <i>pure European blood</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> See Robinson's Memoirs Mexican Revolution, page 15. The +term <i>gachupin</i> has been always used by the creoles and Indians as a +word of contempt towards the Spaniards. Its origin and exact +signification are unknown; but it is believed to be an Indian, and +perhaps Aztec, term of scorn and opprobrium.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> A <i>federal</i> government, similar to our own, was +established in Mexico in 1824, and overthrown in 1835, to yield to a +<i>central</i> constitution. In the meanwhile, the centralists were almost +always at war, openly or secretly, against the <i>federalists</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Macaulay's Essays, vol. 2d, p. 356, Bost. Ed.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Origin of the war considered—True objects of contemporaneous +history—Motives for war—No single act caused it—Difference between war +and hostilities—Mexican revolution—Federalism and Centralism—Operation +of the Constitution of 1824—History of our commercial and +diplomatic relations—Bad conduct of Mexico in regard to our claims, +compared with that of other nations—Commission—Award of +umpire—Subsequent course of Mexico—History of the seizure and surrender of +Monterey, on the Pacific, by Commodore Jones in 1842—Secretary +Upshur's censure of his conduct—Ill feeling in Mexico towards the +United States in consequence of this seizure.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>An artist in portraying a face or delineating a landscape, does not +imprint upon his canvass, each line and wrinkle, each blade of grass or +mossy stone, yet a spectator recognizes in the complete painting, those +broad characteristics of truth which establish a limner's fidelity. So +it is with the historian. Whilst seeking for accuracy in all his +details, he aims, chiefly, at exactness in his ruling principles and +general effect, but he leaves the minute inelegances and tasteless +incidents to those whose critical fervor delights in detecting them.</p> + +<p>It is not alone in the detail of facts that the historian is liable to +incur censure, especially when he writes a contemporaneous narrative. It +is almost impossible to suppose that he will divest himself so +completely of party feeling, as to compose an unprejudiced work. Some +critics have even declared that a historian should possess neither +religion nor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>country, and would thus force us to believe it utterly +impossible to be impartial unless an author were an infidel or a +cosmopolite.</p> + +<p>The age is so characterized by political rancor and so little by true +statesmanship, that it is not surprising to hear such opinions even from +experienced and patient scholars. Yet I have always thought that a +writer who undertakes the task of delineating national annals in no +sectarian spirit but with broad and Christian tolerance,—honestly +seeking to do justice in politics and religion to all,—may so far +separate himself from the strifes of the day as to pronounce opinions as +honest, though perhaps not as learned, as those that issue from the +bench.</p> + +<p>There is, too, a great advantage which should not escape our notice in +recording contemporaneous history and fixing permanently the facts of +the time as they occur. He who describes events or periods long since +past, is forced to throw himself back, if possible, into the scenes of +which he writes, whilst he remains free from sympathy with their +factions and parties. But if a writer of the present day will place +himself on the impartial ground of religious and political freedom, and +make himself what Madame de Stael has so felicitously styled +"contemporaneous posterity," I think he will be better able than those +who come after us to narrate with vivid freshness the story of this +sanguinary war.</p> + +<p>The impression of public feeling both in Mexico and the United States is +still distinct in our recollection; the political motives influencing or +controlling both the great parties in our country, have not yet ceased +to operate; and the errors that may innocently creep into a narrative +may be corrected by intelligent men who took part in the war as soldiers +or civilians. A history thus dispassionately written, must, it seems to +me, have the truth and value of a portrait <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>taken from life, rather than +of a sketch made from memory whose coloring lacks all the freshness of +vitality.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The very threshold of this history is embarrassed by the party +controversies to which I have alluded. The origin of the war was +attributed by the president and his adherents to the wrong doings of +Mexico, whilst the opponents of the executive did not hesitate to charge +its unnecessary inception and all its errors directly on the cabinet. +Documents, messages, speeches, essays, and reviews, were published to +sustain both sides of the question, and the whole subject was argued +with so much ability and bitterness, so much zeal and apparent +sincerity, that an impartial mind experiences extraordinary difficulty +in detecting the actual offender. That grievances existed in the conduct +of Mexico against us during a long series of years cannot be denied; +but, it is equally true, that, between governments well administered and +entirely reasonable on both sides, none of those provocations justified +war. Yet, when offended power on one side, and passion on the other, +become engaged in discussion, it requires but little to fan the smallest +spark into a flame, and thus to kindle a conflagration, which the +stoutest arms may fail to suppress. It frequently occurs in the affairs +of ordinary life, that neighbors are the bitterest enemies. Men often +dislike each other at their first interview, especially if they belong +to families in which mutual prejudices have existed. They find it +impossible to assign reasons for their aversion; nevertheless it exists +in all its marvellous virulence. A slight disagreement as to limits +between neighboring landholders, a paltry quarrel among servants, the +malicious representation of innocent remarks, a thousand vain and +trifling incidents, may effectually create a degree of ill feeling and +cause them never to meet without scornful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>looks and quickened pulses. +At length, this offensive temper is manifested in personal annoyance or +insulting language, and blows are struck in the first encounter without +pausing to debate the justice of an assault. It is with nations as it is +with persons. The boasted discretion of statesmen, and the provident +temper of politicians have, in all ages, failed to control the animosity +of mankind; and we thus find as much littleness in the conduct of +governments as in the petulance of men.</p> + +<p>I have therefore, in studying this subject carefully, been led to the +opinion that no single act or cause can be truly said to have originated +the war between the United States and Mexico; but that it occurred as +the result of a series of events, and as the necessary consequence of +the acts, position, temper, passions, ambition and history of both +parties since our international relations commenced.</p> + +<p>The reader will observe that I draw a distinction between the <i>war</i> and +<i>hostilities</i>. I shall discuss the latter question in the portion of +this volume which relates to events on the Rio Grande.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the preceding chapter I have glanced at the character of the people +of Mexico, and I trust that the sketch I gave will be continually +remembered as illustrating the people with whom we are dealing. When our +first envoy, Mr. Poinsett, was despatched, he found Mexico pausing to +recover breath after her revolution. The bad government of Spain had +been followed by the turmoil and bloodshed of the rebellion, and that, +in turn, was succeeded by the anarchy of a distracted republic. +Revolution has followed revolution so rapidly since then, that the +historian, at a loss to discover <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>their causes, can scarcely detect +their pretexts. For twenty years past we have been so accustomed to hear +of a new military outbreak in Mexico that the familiarized act seems to +be only the legitimate order of constitutional change. Passion, +ambition, turbulence, avarice, and superstition, have so devoured the +country, that during the whole of this period, Mexico, whilst presenting +to foreign nations, the external appearance of nationality, has, in +fact, at home, scarcely ever enjoyed the benefit of a real or stable +government that could make an impression upon the character of the +people or their rulers. It is true that, at first, she sought to adopt +our federal system; but the original difference between the colonial +condition of things in the two countries, made the operation of it +almost impossible. The British provinces of North America, with their +ancient and separate governments, very naturally united in a federation +for national purposes, whilst they retained their freedom and laws as +independent States. But the viceroyalty of Mexico, when it +revolutionized its government, was forced to reverse our system,—to +destroy the original central power, and, subsequently to divide the +territory into departments, or states. Until the year 1824, nothing of +this kind existed in Mexico. The whole country from the Sabine to its +utmost southern limit, was under the central rule of a viceroy, with the +same laws, religion, priests, judges, and civil as well as military +authorities. The constitution of 1824, for the first time broke up the +consolidated nation into nineteen states, and then, by the same +legislative act, recomposed them in a federative union. The +constitutions of these nineteen states, consequently, were creative of +differences that never existed before, and the unity of power, will, and +action, which previously existed was destroyed forever. This was, +naturally the origin of jealousies, parties, and sectional feeling; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>and +the result was, that the revenues of the country became wasted whilst +their collection was impeded, and that a people unused to freedom and +chiefly composed of illiterate <i>creoles</i>, were confounded by a scheme of +government whose machinery was too intricate.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>The state and municipal governments of Mexico were, consequently, always +quite as incompetent for self-rule as the central authority. In addition +to this, they were cordially jealous of the national powers. This arose +from the state fears of consolidation; and, as it was with these +municipal authorities, as well as with the corrupt government officers, +that our citizens were chiefly brought in contact in the ports, it is +not at all wonderful to find them soon complaining of oppression and +burthening the records of our legation with their grievances. When our +ministers sought to obtain redress, the Mexican government was reluctant +to undertake the investigation of the subject; and, when it did so, +continually encountered delay and equivocation on the part of the local +authorities. The distant peculator was anxious to escape the penalty of +his fault by procrastination, and the Mexican secretary of state, ever +willing to uphold his national pride by concealing or not confessing the +villainy of his subordinate, was ready to sustain him by an interminable +correspondence.</p> + +<p>The history of the diplomatic and commercial relations between the +United States and Mexico, as exhibited by congress in all the published +volumes of national documents, presents a series of wrongs, which the +reader will find ably recapitulated in a report<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> made by Mr. Cushing +in the year 1842. Our claims, arising from injuries inflicted by Mexico, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>were no ordinary demands founded on mere querulousness, or contrived +with a view to obtain money fraudulently from that republic. They were +brought to the notice of the ministry of foreign affairs by all our +envoys, and their justice urged with ample proof; until, at length, upon +the return of Mr. Powhatan Ellis to the United States, in the year 1837, +after demanding his passports, they became the subject of a message from +President Jackson in which he alleges that all his efforts of pacific +negotiation had been fruitless and that he found it both just and +prudent to recommend reprisals against Mexico. This serious aspect of +our difficulties immediately commended the subject to the notice of +committees in both houses of congress, and whilst they sustained the +president's opinion of the character of our wrongs, they recommended +that a forbearing spirit should still characterize our conduct, so that, +"after a further demand, should prompt justice be refused by the Mexican +government, we might appeal to all nations not only for the equity and +moderation with which we had acted towards a sister republic but for the +necessity which will then compel us to seek redress for our wrongs +either by actual war or reprisals."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>"Shortly after these proceedings"—says President Polk—"a special +messenger was despatched to Mexico, to make a final demand for redress; +and on the 20th of July, 1837, the demand was made. The reply of the +Mexican government bears date on the 29th of the same month, and +contains assurances of the anxious wish of the Mexican government 'not +to delay the moment of that final and equitable adjustment which is to +terminate the existing difficulties between the two governments;' that +nothing 'should be left undone which may contribute to the speediest and +most equitable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>termination of the subjects which have so seriously +engaged the attention of the United States,' that the 'Mexican +government would adopt, as the only guides for its conduct, the plainest +principles of public right, the sacred obligations imposed by +international law, and the religious faith of treaties,' and that +'whatever reason and justice may dictate respecting each case will be +done.' The assurance was further given that the decision of the Mexican +government upon each cause of complaint, for which redress had been +demanded, should be communicated to the government of the United States +by the Mexican minister at Washington.</p> + +<p>"These solemn assurances, in answer to our demand for redress, were +disregarded. By making them, however, Mexico obtained further delay. +President Van Buren, in his annual message to congress of the 5th of +December, 1837, states that 'although the larger number' of our demands +for redress, and 'many of them aggravated cases of personal wrongs, have +been now for years before the Mexican government, and although the +causes of national complaint, and those of the most offensive character, +admitted of immediate, simple, and satisfactory replies, it is only +within a few days past that any specific communication in answer to our +last demand, made five months ago, has been received from the Mexican +minister;' and that 'for not one of our public complaints has +satisfaction been given or offered; that but one of the cases of +personal wrong has been favorably considered, and but four cases of both +descriptions, out of all those formally presented, and earnestly +pressed, have as yet been decided upon by the Mexican government.' +President Van Buren, believing that it would be vain to make any further +attempt to obtain redress by the ordinary means within the power of the +executive, communicated this opinion to congress, in the message +referred to, in which he said that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>'on a careful and deliberate +examination of the contents,' of the correspondence with the Mexican +government, 'and considering the spirit manifested by the Mexican +government, it became his painful duty to return the subject, as it now +stands, to congress, to whom it belongs, to decide upon the time, the +mode, and the measure of redress.'</p> + +<p>"Instead of taking redress into our own hands, a new negotiation was +entered upon with fair promises on the part of Mexico. This negotiation, +after more than a year's delay, resulted in the convention of the 11th +of April, 1839, 'for the adjustment of claims of citizens of the United +States of America upon the government of the Mexican republic.' The +joint board of commissioners created by this convention to examine and +decide upon these claims was not organized until the month of August, +1840, and under the terms of the convention they were to terminate their +duties within eighteen months from that time. Four of the eighteen +months were consumed in preliminary discussions on frivolous and +dilatory points raised by the Mexican commissioners; nor was it until +the month of December, 1840, that they commenced the examination of the +claims of our citizens upon Mexico. Fourteen months only remained to +examine and decide upon these numerous and complicated cases. In the +month of February, 1842, the term of the commission expired, leaving +many claims undisposed of for want of time. The claims which were +allowed by the board and by the umpire, authorized by the convention to +decide in case of disagreement between the Mexican and American +commissioners, amounted to <i>two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred +and thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents</i>. There were pending +before the umpire when the commission expired additional claims which +had been examined and awarded by the American commissioners, and had not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>been allowed by the Mexican commissioners, amounting to <i>nine hundred +and twenty-eight thousand and twenty-seven dollars and eighty-eight +cents</i>, upon which he did not decide, alleging that his authority ceased +with the termination of the joint commission. Besides these claims, +there were others of American citizens amounting to <i>three millions +three hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven +dollars and five cents</i>, which had been submitted to the board, and upon +which they had not time to decide before their final adjournment.</p> + +<p>"The sum of two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-nine +dollars and sixty-eight cents which had been awarded to the claimants, +was an ascertained debt by Mexico, about which there could be no +dispute, and which she was bound to pay according to the terms of the +convention. Soon after the final awards for this amount had been made, +the Mexican government asked for a postponement of the time of making +payment, alleging that it would be inconvenient to pay at the time +stipulated. In the spirit of forbearing kindness towards a sister +republic, which Mexico has so long abused, the United States promptly +complied with her request. A second convention was accordingly concluded +between the two governments on the thirtieth of January, 1843, which +upon its face declares, that, 'this new arrangement is entered into for +the accommodation of Mexico.' By the terms of this convention, all the +interest due on the awards which had been made in favor of the claimants +under the convention of the 11th of April, 1839, was to be paid to them +on the 30th of April, 1843, and "the principal of the said awards, and +the interest accruing thereon," was stipulated to "be paid in five +years, in equal instalments every three months." Notwithstanding this +new convention was entered into at the request of Mexico, and for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>the +purpose of relieving her from embarrassment, the claimants only received +the interest due on the 30th of April, 1843, and three of the twenty +instalments. Although the payments of the sum thus liquidated, and +confessedly due by Mexico to our citizens as indemnity for acknowledged +acts of outrage and wrong, was secured by treaty, the obligations of +which are ever held sacred by all just nations, yet Mexico violated this +solemn engagement by failing and refusing to make the payment. The two +instalments due in April and July, 1844, under the peculiar +circumstances connected with them, were assumed by the United States and +paid to the claimants. But this is not all of which we have just cause +of complaint. To provide a remedy for the claimants whose cases were not +decided by the joint commission under the convention of April the 11th, +1839, it was expressly stipulated by the sixth article of the convention +of the 30th of January, 1843, that 'a new convention shall be entered +into for the settlement of all claims of the government and citizens of +the United States against the republic of Mexico which were not finally +decided by the late commission which met in the city of Washington, and +all claims of the government and citizens of Mexico against the United +States.'</p> + +<p>"In conformity with this stipulation, a third convention was concluded +and signed at the city of Mexico on the 20th of November, 1843, by the +plenipotentiaries of the two governments, by which provision was made +for ascertaining and paying these claims. In January, 1844, this +convention was ratified by the senate of the United States, with two +amendments, which were manifestly reasonable in their character.</p> + +<p>"Upon a reference of the amendments proposed to the government of +Mexico, the same evasions, difficulties, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>delays were interposed +which have so long marked the policy with that government towards the +United States. It has not even yet decided whether it would or would not +accede to them, although the subject has been repeatedly pressed upon +its consideration.</p> + +<p>"Mexico thus violated a second time the faith of treaties, by failing or +refusing to carry into effect the sixth article of convention of +January, 1843."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>The allegations made in this message are unquestionable. They rest upon +the evidence of documents which are accessible to all in the published +papers of the government.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> The outrages of Mexico consisted in +seizure of property, illegal imprisonment of citizens, deprivation of +just rights, interference with our lawful commerce, forced loans, +violations of contracts, and arbitrary expulsion from the territory +without trial. All these misdeeds formed the exasperating burthen of our +complaint, and their perpetration was in fact proved beyond the +possibility of cavil by the awards in favor of our claimants made by the +Baron von Roenne, who, as Prussian minister, was umpire between the +Mexican and American commissioners.</p> + +<p>It must not be forgotten that we had claims also against Spain, France, +England, Denmark and Naples, which were adjusted by negotiation and +liquidated in strict accordance with treaties. These, demands, however, +originated during the wars in Europe which followed the French +revolution, so that it remained for Mexico to peculate on our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>commerce +and persecute our people during a period of entire international peace, +and without any excuse save the direct villainy of her government, or +the corrupt ignorance of her subordinate officers.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>We must now retrace our steps, in order to narrate an event of interest +in the series of causes that originated this war.</p> + +<p>It appears that the Mexican government, in anticipation of some attack +on its distant territories of California, had, in the summer of 1842, +sent a number of troops thither, under the command of Don Manuel +Micheltorena, who was appointed commandant general and inspector of both +the Californias. These troops arrived at San Diego, the southernmost +port on the Pacific side of California, in the middle of October, and +were on their way to Monterey, the capital, when the occurrences in +question took place.</p> + +<p>Monterey, on the Pacific, is a small village founded by the Spaniards in +1771, at the southern extremity of a bay of the same name, near the 36th +degree of latitude, about a hundred miles south of the great bay of San +Francisco, and about three hundred and fifty miles north from the town +of Angeles, where the Commandant Micheltorena was resting with his +troops when the events in question occurred.</p> + +<p>Whilst Commodore Jones was visiting the port of Callao, in September, +1842, he received from Mr. John Parrott, our consul at Mazatlan, a copy +of a Mexican newspaper of the 4th of June, containing three official +declarations against the United States, which he regarded as "highly +belligerent."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>He also obtained a newspaper published in Boston, +quoting a paragraph from the New Orleans Advertiser of the 19th April, +1842, in which it was asserted,—upon what the editor deemed authentic +information,—that Mexico had ceded the Californias to England for seven +millions of dollars. These documents reached our sensitive commodore at +a moment when his suspicions were aroused by other circumstances. For, +on the 5th of September, Rear-Admiral Thomas, a British commander, +sailed from Callao in the Dublin having previously despatched two of his +fleet with sealed orders just received from England. The whole fleet, he +believed, was secretly on its way to Panama to embark reinforcements of +troops, from the West Indies, to take armed possession of the +Californias in conformity with the allegation of the Boston and New +Orleans editors.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>Commodore Jones immediately hastened from the port of Callao to Lima, +where, in a conversation with the American chargé d'affaires, Mr. +Pickett, he formed the decided opinion that there would be war not only +with Mexico but with Great Britain also.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Accordingly, he lost no +time in preparing for sea, and on the 7th of September, sailed for the +coast of Mexico.</p> + +<p>On the 19th of October, Jones arrived at Monterey, in the frigate United +States, accompanied by the Cyane, Captain Stribling. They did not +communicate with the shore or endeavor, in any authentic way, to +ascertain the state of our political relations; but at four o'clock in +the afternoon, Captain Armstrong, the flag captain of the United States, +landed, and delivered to the acting governor, Don Juan Alvarado, a +letter from Commodore Jones, requiring the immediate surrender of the +place, with its forts, castles, ammunitions and arms, to the United +States, in order to save it from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>horrors of war, which would be the +immediate consequences of a refusal to submit. Alvarado, upon this +summons, consulted the military and civil authorities; and, finding that +the garrison consisted of only twenty-nine men, that the artillery was +composed of eleven pieces, entirely useless from the rottenness of their +carriages, and that the whole number of muskets and carbines, good and +bad, did not exceed a hundred and fifty, he surrendered the place, which +was taken possession of by the Americans early on the 20th of October. +The articles of capitulation signed on the occasion provide, that the +Mexican soldiers shall march out with colors flying, and shall remain as +prisoners of war until they can be sent to Mexico, and that the +inhabitants shall be protected in their persons and property, so long as +they conduct themselves properly, and do not infringe the laws of the +United States. Commodore Jones at the same time issued a proclamation to +the Californians, declaring that "he came in arms as the representative +of a powerful nation, against which the existing government of Mexico +had engaged in war, but not with the intention of spreading dismay among +the peaceful inhabitants," and inviting them to submit to the authority +of a government which would protect them forever in the enjoyment of +liberty.</p> + +<p>The evening and night of the 20th passed quietly; but, on the next day, +the commodore seems to have reflected on the results of a bloodless +conquest which was even more easily won than the victories of Cortéz and +Pizarro three hundred years before. Learning that there was late and +pacific news from Mexico, and, forthwith despatching his private +secretary and chaplain to seek for it, they discovered, in the office of +the Mexican commissary, several packages containing unopened files of +gazettes, as late as the 4th of August. "The general tone of the +articles,"—says the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>commodore,—"relating to the United States, in +these papers, was pacific, whilst the certainty that Mexico had not +commenced hostilities against us, up to the 22d of August, was +established by private commercial letters from Mazatlan." Thus, it +seemed to him, that the crisis had passed; that his victory was barren, +that the reported cession of the Californias to England was untrue and +could not have been prevented even by his valor. The war which had been +recklessly undertaken upon surmises or newspaper articles, and +stimulated by the sailing of an English fleet with sealed orders, came +to an end as it began—by Mexican journals.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, on the 21st of the month, Commodore Jones addressed another +letter to the acting governor, Alvarado, announcing that information +received since the capture of the place, left him no reason to doubt +that the difficulties between Mexico and the United States had been +adjusted; and that, being anxious to avoid all cause of future +controversy, he was ready to restore the place, with its forts and +property, to the Mexicans, in the same condition in which they were +before the seizure. Monterey was therefore at once evacuated by the +Americans, and reoccupied by the Mexicans, whose flag, on being +rehoisted, was saluted by our ships.</p> + +<p>If the commodore of our squadron had prudently despatched his secretary +and chaplain on a pacific mission of inquiry under a flag of truce, +immediately upon his arrival, it is extremely probable that they would +either have discovered on the 20th the newspapers they found on the +21st, or have received the commercial letter which terminated the +capture. This would have prevented an angry diplomatic correspondence; +it would have allayed the irritation of national sensibility, and, +whilst it saved us from the imputation of attempting to intimidate a +weak power, would not have subjected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>our forces to the mortification of +mistake upon such grievous subjects as peace and war. The Mexican +papers, of course, viewed the matter as a national insult; and the +government gazette, published in the capital, unequivocally asserted +that Commodore Jones attacked Monterey, agreeably to orders from his +government, with the view of conquering California, but that finding the +country in a state of defence, (for which thanks were due to President +Santa Anna and his efficient minister of war,) he was obliged to abandon +his plan and invent a story for his justification.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>It is scarcely possible for a citizen of the United States to take a +different view of the subject without a full knowledge of the facts; for +it could hardly be believed that the commander of a naval station, +during a period of profound peace, would venture to summon towns to +surrender, to land forces, take prisoners, and hoist our national flag +on friendly soil, without the authority or connivance of his +government.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> This river is known by various names in different authors. +By some it is called Rio Bravo, by others, Rio del Norte, and by others, +again, Rio Grande. I shall adhere to the latter throughout this work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> See the Natchez Daily Courier of 18th January, 1843, for +an excellent article on Mexico, signed <span class="smcap">Ego et Alter</span>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Report No. 1096 to the H. of R., 27th congress, 2d +session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> See senate documents of that session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> President Polk's annual message to congress, 8th Dec. +1846, p. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See Doc. No. 139, 24 cong. 2d sess. H. of R.—Senate Doc. +No. 320, 2d sess. 27 cong.—Doc. No. 57, H. of R. 27 cong. 1st +sess.—Senate Doc. No. 411, 27 cong. 2d sess.—Doc. No. 1096, H. of R. +27 cong. 2d sess.—Doc. No. 158, H. of R. 28 cong. 2d sess.—Doc. No. +144, H. of R. 28 cong. 2d sess.—Senate Doc. No. 85, 29 cong. 1st +sess.—Senate Doc. No. 151, 29 cong. 1 sess.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> This paper contained the circular of the Mexican minister +of foreign relations to the diplomatic corps, dated 31st May, +1842,—(answered by Mr. Thompson on the 1st of June,)—relative to +public meetings in the United States favorable to Texas; the aid +furnished Texas by <i>volunteers</i> from the United States; and the trade in +arms and munitions of war with Texas. Doc. No. 266, H. of R., 27th +congress, 2d session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See doc., No. 166, H. of R., 27th congress, 3d session, +page 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Id. pages 15, 68, 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Diario del Gobierno—Mexico, 1842.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> A correspondence relative to this seizure of Monterey took +place at Washington between Mr. Webster, secretary of state, and Gen. +Almonté, the Mexican minister; and, in Mexico, between Señor Bocanegra, +minister of foreign affairs, and Mr. Waddy Thompson, our diplomatic +representative. Mexico complained bitterly of our insulting descent on +her territory, and our ministers apologized gracefully for the +unauthorised act. The correspondence between the governments and with +Commodore Jones will be found in document No. 166, H. of R., 97th +congress, 3d session, 1843.</p> + +<p class="noin">The recall of Commodore Jones by the secretary of the navy is the +following words:</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Navy Department</span>, January 24, 1843. +</p><p class="noin"> +"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Although no official intelligence of the recent +occurrences at Monterey has reached this department, yet the leading +facts have been communicated in a form sufficiently authentic to justify +and render necessary my immediate action. In the opinion of this +government it is due to the friendly relations subsisting between the +United States and Mexico, and to the respect which every nation owes to +the rights of other nations, that you should be recalled from the +command of the squadron in the Pacific. +</p><p class="noin"> +"In adopting this course it is not designed to prejudge the case, <i>nor +even to indicate any opinion as to the propriety or impropriety of your +conduct in the matter alluded to</i>. That will of course be made the +subject of proper inquiry after you return to the United States, when +full justice will be done as between yourself and your own country. The +present order has reference only to the just claims of Mexico on this +government for such a disavowal of the attack on Monterey as will fully +recognize the rights of Mexico, and at the same time place the conduct +of this government in a proper light before the nations of the world. +Commodore Dallas will relieve you as soon as he can conveniently reach +the station and you will return to the United States in such mode as may +be most convenient and agreeable to yourself.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 8em;">"I am respectfully yours,</span></p> + +<p class="right"> +"A. P. UPSHUR.</p> + +<p class="noin">"Com. <span class="smcap">Thos. Ap. C. Jones</span>, commanding Pacific squadron." +</p> + +<p class="noin"> +I believe that the commodore was not tried by a court of inquiry or a +court martial after his return, but that the affair has slumbered since +the date of the above letter.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The origin of the war—History of the pacification between Spain and +Holland in 1609—Spain and Mexico should have followed the +example—The Texas question—Origin of the Texas revolution—True +history of it—Resistance to the Central despotism of Santa +Anna—Mexican war against Texas—Independence of Texas—Santa +Anna's retraction in 1846 of his anti-federative opinions.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The student of Mexican history, at this period, will derive instruction +from a narrative of the connexion which once existed between Spain and +the Netherlands and its fatal rupture.</p> + +<p>After the fall of the duke of Burgundy in 1477, his daughter Mary +brought the low countries to Austria by her marriage with the Emperor +Maximilian; and his grandson, Charles V, united these provinces with +Spain. During the reign of Charles, their ancient liberties were +carefully respected, and the country prospered whilst the Protestant +religion spread throughout it in spite of stern opposition. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>when +his successor, Philip II, mounted the throne, all prudence in the +government of the Belgic and Batavian provinces seems to have been +abandoned, and unbridled persecution was let loose on the civil and +religious rights of the people. Granvella and the bloody duke of Alva +were the monarch's instruments in this sad misgovernment, which resulted +in a total renunciation of allegiance to the king of Spain. Long and +bitter was the rebellion,—continuing from the middle of the sixteenth +century to the year 1609,—when the Spanish claim to the sovereignty of +the new republic of Holland was virtually resigned under the form of a +truce for twelve years between the belligerents.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>The independence of the united provinces was thus, in fact achieved, and +it was recognized by all the great powers of Europe except Spain; still +Holland went through the thirty years war, before her nationality was +secured by the peace of Westphalia.</p> + +<p>From this sketch it will be perceived that Spain, although willing to +forego the continuance of war, and to save the point of honor between +herself and the rebellious provinces when it was impossible to recover +her dominion over them, nevertheless, clung with stupid pride to her +abstract right of reconquest for a long period after she had +substantially acknowledged their freedom. The dismemberment of Spain +was, of course, an event which the monarch could not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>behold without +regret, for it was natural that he should seek to transmit his dominions +to posterity uncurtailed of their fair proportions. Yet, in the adoption +of a diplomatic <i>ruse</i>,—in the truce of twelve years,—there was a +degree of wisdom which it would have been well for Spain to recollect +when it became evident that the revolt of her American colonies was +about to terminate in their independence. The passions between the +belligerents would have had time to cool. The common ties of blood and +language might gradually have bound up the wounds made by war. The +intervention of friendly powers would have obtained concessions from the +discreet parent,—and thus Peru and Mexico might still have shone as the +brightest jewels in the Spanish crown. No quarrel ever terminated in +perfect re-establishment of amity without tolerance or retraction on the +part of one of the disputants. Superior force may overawe into silence +or crush by its ponderous blows, yet the non-resistance and taciturnity +which ensue are but the repose that precedes the hurricane, in which the +elements seem gathering strength to pour forth their wrath with +irresistible fury.</p> + +<p>So was it with Spain and her American colonies. Instead of soothing and +pacific measures, tending to allay resentment and bring back the rebel +to allegiance, the utmost violence was at once adopted both in deeds and +language, and scenes of barbarity were enacted by Calleja and his +myrmidons from which the heart recoils with horror.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>Severe as was the lesson taught by the conduct of Spain to Mexico, that +republic, nevertheless, resolved not to profit by it when she, in turn, +saw one of her States discontented with her misrule and usurpations. If +Texas had been soothed; if justice had been speedily done; if the +executive had despatched discreet officers, and reconciled the +differences <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>between the North American emigrants and the Spaniards, not +only in civil and municipal government, but in religion and +temper,—Texas might not have been lost to Mexico,—but, invigorated by +a hardy and industrious population, would have poured commercial wealth +into her coffers, and furnished her factories among the mountains with +an abundance of that staple which the native Indians are as unused as +they are unwilling to cultivate. Had Mexico been even as wise as Philip, +in 1609, and saved her punctilious honor by a twelve years truce, she +would only have postponed the settlement of her difficulties, until her +internal affairs became sufficiently pacific to enable a firm government +to act with discretion and justice.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Since the year 1843 the Texas question has been so much a matter of +party dispute in the United States that the true history of the revolt +seems to be almost forgotten. I shall not hesitate therefore to recount +some of the events connected with it, because they are relevant to the +issue between us and Mexico, as well as necessary to the elucidation of +the justice of her quarrel.</p> + +<p>It is an error that the Texan rebellion was conceived in a spirit of +sheer fraud upon Mexico; and writers who seek to stigmatize it thus are +entirely ignorant of its origin.</p> + +<p>The contest that arose between the central and federal parties in Mexico +immediately after the establishment of independence has been narrated in +a preceding chapter. The first <i>federal</i> constitution is an almost +literal copy of our own; but its equitable and progressive principles +did not suit the military despots who, whilst they commanded the army, +held the physical power of Mexico in their hands. The consequence was +that during the administration of the first president, Victoria, there +were <i>pronunciamientos</i> against <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>federation and in favor of centralism, +by <i>Padre Arénas</i>, and at Tulancingo, under the "plan of Montayno." +Quarrels in the party lodges of the Yorkinos and Escossceses—the +liberalists and centralists—next arose;—and, finally, the revolution +under the "plan of Toluca," destroyed the cherished constitution of +1824, by striking a death blow at the federative principle. This plan +vested the power in a central government, abolished State legislatures, +and changed those States into departments under the control of military +governors, who were responsible to the chief authorities of the nation +alone. These principles were embodied in the new constitution of 1836, +and were, of course, distasteful to every friend of genuine liberty.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the beautiful province of Texas had not been an unconcerned +spectator of events. Bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, and stretching +along our Southern boundary, it contained an extensive territory, fine +rivers, wide prairies, and a soil capable of maintaining near ten +millions of people.—Such a country naturally attracted the attention of +the people of the United States, numbers of whom are always ready, with +the adventurous spirit that characterises our race, to seek new lands +and improve their fortunes by emigrating from the crowded places of +their birth. The project of colonizing Texas, had, therefore, struck an +intelligent citizen of our country; and, on the 17th of January, 1821, +Moses Austin obtained permission from the supreme government of the +eastern internal provinces of New Spain at Monterey, to settle a colony +of emigrants in Texas. Accordingly, in the following winter, his son, +Stephen F. Austin, who undertook the enterprize in obedience to a +testamentary request of his father, appeared on the Brazos with the +first Anglo-American settlers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>In January, 1823, a national colonization law, approved by the Emperor +Iturbidé, was adopted by the Mexican congress, and, on the 18th of +February, a decree was issued authorizing Austin to proceed with the +founding of his colony. This decree, after Iturbidé's abdication and the +downfall of the Imperial government, was confirmed by the first +executive council in accordance with a special order of the Mexican +congress.</p> + +<p>In 1824, the federal constitution was adopted and proclaimed as the +established polity of the land;—and, at this period, the character of +Texas begins for the first time to assume an independent aspect, for, by +a decree of the 7th of May, it was united with Coahuila, and, under the +name of Coahuila and Texas, formed one of the constituent, sovereign +States of the Mexican confederacy. Up to this period, whilst all was +proceeding well in the capital, the scheme of emigration, seems to have +met with no discouragement. By an act passed in August, 1824, another +<i>general</i> colonization law was established;—and, by a <i>State</i> +colonization law of Coahuila and Texas, foreigners were invited to +settle within the limits of that especial jurisdiction. Thus it was that +State sovereignty first accrued to Texas and Coahuila under the federal +system,—a system similar to the one under which the colonists had +formerly lived in our Union and under which, by the adoption of their +own State laws, they signified their willingness to become members of +the Mexican confederacy. This State sovereignty was never resigned, but, +on the contrary, was always distinctly asserted. The federation existed +precisely for the same purposes that the union of our States was formed; +and, as soon as the constitution was destroyed by intrigue and +revolutionary violence in 1835, the several States were remitted to +their inherent rights, independent of any military despot who succeeded +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>seizing the central power. Meanwhile our people had flocked to Texas +under the belief that a constitution which was a transcript of our own, +would secure peace and prosperity to settlers. Accustomed to find laws +observed and the constitution indestructible, they expected to encounter +the same regularity and firmness in that virgin State. They were +industrious in their pursuits, and willing to abide the settlement of +all quarrels in the capital; nor was it until long after the federal and +centralist disputes commenced, that they began even to notice the +political convulsions which were so ominous of disaster. The quiet and +orderly conduct of our emigrants was, nevertheless, not regarded so +favorably by the Mexicans. The rapidly growing strength of the Texans +and their strict devotion to republicanism, attracted the jealousy of +the supreme government; and when a Mexican begins either to fear or to +doubt, the provocation is quite enough to convert him into an oppressor. +Accordingly, on the 6th of April, 1830, an arbitrary law was passed by +which the future immigration of American settlers to Texas was +prohibited. Military posts of <i>surveillance</i> were established over the +State, and ignorant and insolent soldiers of another race, began to +domineer over a people whom they regarded as inferiors. At length the +civil authorities of Texas were entirely disregarded, and the emigrants +hitherto unused at home or abroad to an armed police, or to the sight of +a uniform except on parade days, suddenly found themselves subjected to +the capricious tyranny of military rule.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>On the 26th of June, 1832, the colonists took arms against this despotic +interference with their constitutional freedom and besieged and captured +the fort at Velasco. The garrison at Anahuac and that at Nacogdoches, +were next reduced; and, in December of that year, when hostilities were +suspended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>between Santa Anna and Bustamante, the colonists were again +restored to the enjoyment of their rights guarantied under the +constitution.</p> + +<p>In May 1824, Texas had been promised a separate State constitution as +soon as she was prepared for it, but upon application to congress in +1833, after framing a suitable instrument in general convention at San +Felipe, her request was denied. In 1835 the crisis at length arrived. +The federal constitution fell. The resistance of several States to this +despotism was suppressed by force. The legislature of Coahuila and Texas +was dispersed at the point of the bayonet. Zacatecas, a brave stronghold +of federalism, was assaulted by the central chiefs and her people +butchered. And, finally, the whole republic, save Texas, yielded to +Santa Anna.</p> + +<p>As this state at once resolved to maintain her sovereignty and +federative rights, corresponding committees of safety and vigilance were +promptly formed in all the municipalities. An immediate appeal to arms +proclaimed the people's resolution to adhere to the constitution; and at +Gonzales, Goliad, Bexar, Conception, Sepantillan, San Patricio, and San +Antonio, they were victorious over the centralists. In November, 1835, +the delegates of the Texan people assembled in "general consultation," +and declared that "they had taken up arms in defence of the federal +constitution of 1824, and that they would continue faithful to the +Mexican confederacy as long as it should be governed by the laws that +were framed for the protection of their political rights; that they were +no longer morally or politically bound by the compact of union; yet, +stimulated by the generous sympathy of a free people, they offered their +assistance to such members of the confederacy as would take up arms +against military despotism. This patriotic manifesto declaring at once +the freedom of Texas and offering to other parts of Mexico a defensive +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>alliance in favor of constitutional liberty, found no response from the +overawed States, and thus Texas was abandoned to the mercy of a military +president, who signalized his campaign of 1836 by acts of brutality +which must forever consign his name to infamy."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Notwithstanding +Santa Anna's successes at San Antonio and his frightful massacres, +General Houston, the commander of the Texan forces, met and conquered +the Mexicans on the 21st of April, 1836, in the brilliant action at San +Jacinto, and thenceforth, in the emphatic language of an American +statesman "the war was at an end."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>"No hostile foot found rest" within her territory for six or seven years +ensuing this event, and Mexico, by confining her assaults to border +forays practically abstained from all efforts to re-establish her +dominion.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> In this peaceful interval the country rapidly filled up +with emigrants; adopted a constitution; established a permanent +government, and obtained an acknowledgement of her independence by the +United States and other powers. It was then supposed that nearly one +hundred thousand people occupied the territory; and, in 1837, they +sought to place themselves under the protection of our confederacy. But +our government declined the proposition made through the Texan +plenipotentiary, upon the ground that the treaty of amity and peace +between the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>United States and Mexico should not be violated by an act +which necessarily involved the question of war with the adversary of +Texas.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>This brief history of the Texan revolt against centralism seems to place +the authorities of that country on a firm basis of natural and +constitutional right. In the constant conflicts that have taken place +throughout Mexico between the federalists and centralists, or rather +between democracy and despotism, Texas attempted no more than any of the +liberal States of Mexico would have done, had not the free voice of +educated patriots been elsewhere stifled by military power. The only +difference between them is, that in Texas there was an Anglo-American +population bold and strong enough to maintain republicanism, whilst in +Mexico, the mongrel race of Spaniards and Indians was too feeble to +resist effectually.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>From 1836 to 1846 Santa Anna diligently persevered in the support of his +central usurpation. But in the latter year the principles of the Texan +revolution obtained a decided victory over military despotism, and even +Santa Anna himself, who had been the originator of all the revolutions +of his country, the disturber of its peace, and destroyer of its +political morality was forced to make a humiliating confession of his +errors.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that he was exiled from Mexico in the year 1845, +and resided in Havana until the summer of 1846, when a revolution +against the government of Paredes prepared the way for his return. On +the 8th of March, 1846, in writing to a friend a letter which has since +been published he declares that: "the love of provincial liberties being +firmly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>rooted in the minds of all, and the democratic principle +predominating every where, nothing can be established in a solid manner, +in the country, which does not conform with these tendencies; nor +without them can we attain either order, peace, prosperity, or +respectability among foreign nations. To draw every thing to the centre, +and thus to give unity of action to the republic, as I at one time +considered best, is no longer possible; nay more, I say it is dangerous; +it is contrary to the object which I proposed for myself in the +unitarian system, because we thereby expose ourselves to the separation +of the northern departments, which are the most clamorous for freedom of +internal administration."<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>In this remarkable retraction of Santa Anna's despotic principles, Texas +finds a perfect vindication of her revolt. It would have been well for +Mexico had her military president been willing to make the same +concessions before the memorable battle of San Jacinto!</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Arnold's third lecture on modern history.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Robinson's Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution, pages 20, +22, 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Mexico as it was and as it is, pp. 336, 339. Foote's +History of Texas.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Document No. 40, H. of R. 25th cong. 1st sess. p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> A full account of this campaign will be found in a work +entitled "Primera Campaña de Tejas," published in Mexico in August 1837, +by Don Ramon Martinez Caro, who was Santa Anna's military secretary +during the campaign. He treats his former chief with unsparing severity, +and very clearly attributes to him all the ferocious acts of the war. In +Thompson's "Recollections of Mexico," a conversation of the ex-minister +with Santa Anna will be found, in which his exculpation is attempted, +pp. 68, <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Mr. Webster's letter to Waddy Thompson, 8th July, 1842.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Webster to Thompson <i>ut antea</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Letter of Mr. Forsyth to General Hunt, 25th Aug. 1847. +Doc. No. 40, H. of R., 25th congress, 1st session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Translation of a letter from General Santa Anna, in Mexico +as it was and as it is.—4th edition, page 414.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Origin of the war continued—Proposed annexation of Texas to the United +States by treaty—Efforts of several administrations to recover +Texas after the Florida treaty—President Tyler's objects—Mexican +opinions—British intrigue—British views relative to Texas—Defeat +of the treaty in the senate—French opinions.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>There is no doubt that although the government of the United States was +anxious to preserve a strict neutrality between the belligerents in +1837, and, thus, to avoid assuming the war with Mexico by annexing an +insurgent State, it, nevertheless, refused the proffered union with +regret. From the earliest period, our statesmen contended that, by the +Louisiana treaty, we acquired a title to Texas extending to the Rio +Grande, and that we unwisely relinquished our title to Spain by the +treaty of 1819 which substituted the Sabine for the Rio Grande as our +western boundary.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> But, divested as we were by solemn compact with +Spain, of what may have been our territory under the treaty with France, +it was idle to regard Texas as a proper subject for restoration to the +Union whilst active hostilities were waged by Mexico. Nevertheless, such +was the evident value of the province, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>and such the anxiety to regain +our ancient limits that before the outbreak of the revolution, Mr. Clay, +as secretary of state under the administration of Mr. Adams, in March of +the years 1825 and 1827, directed Mr. Poinsett, our envoy in Mexico, to +negotiate for the transfer of Texas. This direction was repeated by Mr. +Van Buren to our minister in August, 1829; and was followed by similar +instructions from Mr. Livingston on the 20th of March, 1833, and by Mr. +Forsyth on the 2d of July, 1835. President Jackson, however, was not +contented with negotiations for that province alone; but, looking +forward, with statesmanlike forecast, to the growth and value of our +commerce in the Pacific ocean as well as on the west coast of America, +he required the secretary of state, in August, 1835, to seek from Mexico +a cession of territory, whose boundary, beginning at the mouth of the +Rio Grande, would run along the eastern bank of that river to the +thirty-seventh degree of latitude, and continue thence, by that +parallel, to the Pacific. This demand, if granted by Mexico, not only +secured Texas, but would have included the largest and most valuable +portion of California together with the noble bay of San Francisco, in +which our navy and merchantmen might find a safe and commodious +refuge.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>Our anxiety to reannex Texas by peaceable negotiation was not met, +however, by a correspondent feeling upon the part of Mexico.</p> + +<p>Mr. Poinsett, on his return from Mexico, informed Mr. Clay that he had +forborne even to make an overture for the repurchase of Texas, because +he knew that such a negotiation would be impracticable, and believed +that any hint of our desire would aggravate the irritations already +existing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>between the countries.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> The events which subsequently +transpired in Texas, during the period when emigration increased from +the United States, to that of the actual outbreak of hostilities, +prevented the formation, in Mexico, of any party favorable to such an +enterprise; and, after the war began, all hope of negotiation between us +was dispelled.</p> + +<p>"A leading member of the Mexican cabinet once remarked to me," says Mr. +Thompson, in his Recollections of Mexico,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> "that he believed the +tendency of things was towards the annexation of Texas to the United +States, and that he greatly preferred such a result either to the +independence of Texas or any connection or dependence of Texas upon +England; that if it became an independent power, other departments of +Mexico would unite with it either voluntarily or by conquest, and that +if there was any connexion between Texas and England, English +merchandize would be smuggled into Mexico through Texas to the utter +ruin of Mexican manufactures and revenue.</p> + +<p>"In one of my last interviews with Santa Anna," continues the American +minister, "I mentioned this conversation. He replied with great +vehemence that he would 'war forever for the reconquest of Texas, and +that if he died in his senses his last words should be an exhortation to +his countrymen never to abandon the effort to recover the province;' +and, added he: 'you know, sir, very well, that to sign a treaty for the +alienation of Texas would be the same thing as signing the death warrant +of Mexico, for, by the same process, the United States would take one +after another of the Mexican provinces, until they possessed them all.'"</p> + +<p>Such were the feelings of Mexico in regard to annexation, and such the +anxieties in cabinets of all parties in the United <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>States to restore +our ancient limits, when the presses of our country intimated, in the +year 1844, that President Tyler was negotiating a treaty of union with +Texas as an independent power. It was on the eve a presidential canvass; +and whilst the incumbent of the executive chair sought very naturally to +present himself to the people with the successful results of a popular +and beneficial negotiation, there were other candidates who opposed the +measure both on principle and policy, as well as on account of the mode +in which it was to be effected.</p> + +<p>I might very properly in this historical sketch pass over the narrative +of annexation, and, deal with the union, ultimately effected between +Texas and the United States as the only important fact. Texas, bound to +the North American confederacy by a solemn act of congress,—the +indisputable constitutionality of which is implied in its passage,—is, +indeed, the only subject which the historian is compelled to regard. +Whatever results ensued, whether they were perceived and predicted by +the statesmen of the time, or, were entirely latent until developed +during the last two years, must be entirely attributed to the act of +congress which consummated annexation and reposed in the hands of a +president the executive power of solemnizing the union. Nevertheless, I +believe it due to impartial history that I should state concisely the +causes which seem to have provoked annexation, and, indeed, rendered it +almost necessary at the time when it occurred.</p> + +<p>We have seen that active hostilities by Mexico against the insurgents +had either ceased for nearly seven years, or had been confined to such +border forays as resembled predatory incursions rather than civilized +hostilities. Statesmen, in all parties, regarded the war as ended; for +Mexico, impoverished by the thriftless administrations that ruled and +plundered her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>during the short intervals between her revolutions, was +in no condition to carry it on with reasonable prospects of success. +France, England, Belgium and the United States, had acknowledged Texan +independence and established diplomatic relations with the republic. +Emigrants settled the interior, and invited accessions. The constitution +and laws of the nation were fixed upon a firm basis, while the +government was conducted with ability. A lucrative commerce from foreign +countries began to pour into the territory. New towns sprang up every +where, and Texas exhibited to the world every evidence of an orderly, +well regulated government, with infinitely greater strength and +stability than the military republic from which she was divorced. +Mexico, nevertheless, refused to recognize her independence +notwithstanding her inability to make any effort for reconquest. The +leading men of Texas anxiously desired that their national independence +should continue, and the moral sense of the world, in contrasting the +superior progress of the Anglo-American race with the anarchy and +feebleness of Mexico, was naturally solicitous to behold the infant +colony successful rather than to see it fall a prey to the passions of a +people with whom it had no sympathy, and, in whose victory, they might +witness the outpouring of a pent up wrath which would never cease in its +vindictive persecutions until the province was entirely desolated.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +This was not alone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>the common feeling in the United States, but it +prevailed in Europe also. The British minister of foreign affairs, Lord +Aberdeen, and that zealous partizan of liberty, Lord Brougham, took +occasion in the house of peers in August, 1843, to express their +solicitude as to the prospects of Texas. Lord Brougham characterized it +as a country as large as France, possessing the greatest natural +capabilities, but, at the same time he perceived in it an embryo state, +(a large portion of whose soil was adapted to cultivation by white +labor,) which might become a boundary and barrier against the slavery of +the United States of America. If, by the good offices of England, Mexico +could be induced to acknowledge Texan independence upon the condition of +abolishing slavery, he suggested the hope that it would lead to the +extinction of slavery in the southern States of our Union.</p> + +<p>Lord Aberdeen replied to Lord Brougham, that England had not only +acknowledged her independence, but had also negotiated with Texas a +treaty of commerce as well as one for the abolition of the slave trade. +He did not believe that there was any importation of slaves into Texas +by sea, but, he alleged, there was a large influx of slaves from the +United States to that country. As soon as negotiations were commenced +with Texas, the utmost endeavors of England had been used to end the war +which prevented the full <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>recognition of the independence of Texas by +Mexico; but all their endeavors had been met by difficulties, although +he was happy to declare that an armistice had been established between +the two powers which he hoped would lead to the absolute acknowledgment +of her independence. In the existing state of negotiations between the +parties, however, he thought it would not contribute to an useful end to +express any opinion as to the state of those negotiations, nevertheless +he assured his noble friend that the matter would be pressed by every +means in the power of her majesty's ministers.</p> + +<p>The answer of Lord Brougham to this conversational speech of the +minister of foreign affairs, was brief but ominous. Nothing, he +declared, could be more satisfactory to him, whilst the statement of his +lordship "would be hailed with joy by all who were favorable to the +object of anti-slavery societies."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I do not design in this history to discuss either the slavery question +or the British project of propagating seditious opinions upon negro +servitude by means of diplomacy on this continent. But, when we remember +the guaranties of our constitution and the preponderance of the black +population in our southern States, it must be conceded that it requires +no great degree of sensibility to alarm the white inhabitants of that +section and to render them anxious to counteract the avowed machinations +of Great Britain. The abstract question of the right of slavery is +altogether distinct from slavery as it exists in this Union, and as the +foundation of property, population, labor, and, even, existence in the +south.</p> + +<p>For many years past the fanaticism of freedom has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>warring against +slavery, until it has created in our country a fanaticism of slavery +which was quite as relentless in its obstinacy. It was therefore, +natural that individuals who had refused our own congress the right to +interfere with slavery, by denying the privilege of petition for the +abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, should resist most +ardently the jesuitical propagandism of a foreign power.</p> + +<p>This was a question of grave importance to the south. It was an avowal +of European policy that struck a death blow at American property; nor +was it therefore at all surprising to see Mr. Calhoun, our secretary of +state, who was a native and inhabitant of that part of the union, at +once seize upon the project of prompt annexation as the only means of +counteracting the evils of British diplomacy. If expressions, similar to +those used by Lords Aberdeen and Brougham in the English parliament, had +been casually uttered in the warm debates of our congress, perhaps but +little attention would have been paid them by reflecting men; yet the +most trifling observations of British statesmen always deserve notice, +because they are well pondered and deliberately made. The opinions of +Lord Brougham, assented to by the silence of Lord Aberdeen, had +consequently an emphatic significance; and although the British minister +of foreign affairs, as well as the envoy at Washington, subsequently +disclaimed any attempt to interfere with the internal system of the +United States, yet there can be no doubt that they wished to modify the +condition and laws of a southern neighbor so as to effect indirectly +what prudence taught them to avoid openly.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> "Great Britain," said +Lord Aberdeen, in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>despatch to the Hon. Mr. Pakenham, on the 26th +December, 1843, "does not desire to establish in Texas, whether +partially dependent on Mexico or entirely independent, any dominant +influence. She only wishes to share her influence equally with other +nations. Her objects are purely commercial, and she has no thought or +intention of seeking to act directly or indirectly, in a political +sense, on the United States through Texas."</p> + +<p>It cannot be expected—for it is not the nature or policy of +governments—that statesmen should disclose to each other, with perfect +frankness, all their international ambitions, projects or hopes. A wise +diplomacy conceals these things <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>whilst in progress. But all governments +take means to obtain secretly, as far as they are able, an insight into +the views of each other. The diplomacy of the United States, although +generally very frank, is nevertheless employed sometimes in this way, +and, I believe our records will show, that wherever it became necessary +for our departments to get information upon projects touching the +interests of our country, they have always found means to discover the +truth.</p> + +<p>It is fortunate for the history of this annexation question that the +commercial designs alluded to by Lord Aberdeen have been revealed to us. +Some of the statements are made anonymously, yet, from the very nature +of such disclosures whilst negotiations were pending, it cannot be +expected that the names of informants would be revealed. Their value and +character must be vouched for alone by the officers who communicate them +to the world, and deem them sufficient to authorize the action of +government. The authorities, to which I allude, were communicated to +congress by President Tyler in May, 1844, and were submitted to him by +Mr. Calhoun, as secretary of state, on the 16th of that month.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>By a convention, concluded in London on the 14th of November, 1840, +between Her Majesty's government and the republic of Texas, it was +agreed that the queen should tender her good offices to Mexico as +mediator between the belligerents. Mexico, however, saw fit to reject +this offer. But Texas, still animated by a desire for peace, sought to +obtain a triple mediation of the three great powers,—the United States, +France and England,—with the hope that under their auspices a +settlement might speedily be made. To this arrangement, the governments +of France and the United States assented with alacrity; while the +government of Great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Britain, though expressing an ardent desire to do +all in its power by private mediatorial efforts, inclined to the opinion +that it would be better, on all accounts, for each party to act alone, +though similarly in point of tone and argument, in urging the Mexican +government to recognize the independence of Texas.</p> + +<p>This suggestion was communicated through Lord Cowley the British +ambassador in Paris, to the French government, by whom it was +approved.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>By this act of the British cabinet, it preserved its independence of all +others, and abstained from combined action which would, necessarily, +have disclosed its motives as well as its conduct. The objects of the +ministers in retaining their independence of all other cabinets will now +become more manifest.</p> + +<p>If an abstract love of liberty is, indeed, the true cause why England +seeks to abolish slavery throughout the world and has set the example of +emancipation in her West India colonies, she may really deserve the high +commendation of philanthropists. But it cannot be denied that whilst she +diffuses a spirit of individual freedom, she does not regret to behold +national dependence on herself established by interest and necessity. We +find among the documents transmitted to congress by President Tyler, a +number of private letters, in which it is alleged that the primary +object of Great Britain's interference was to prevent absolute +annexation to the United States. Indeed, Lord Aberdeen, in May, 1844, +declared to Mr. Everett that he "shared with Lord Brougham the hope and +belief that the treaty for annexation would not be ratified by our +senate."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>If the independence of Texas could be secured on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>only probable +ground upon which Mexico would acknowledge it,—a pledge that she would +not subsequently join the United States;—and if so desirable a +result,—which appealed directly to the ambition and vanity of the +leading men of Texas, could be effected by the secret negotiations of +her ministers, England foresaw that she would obtain a decided advantage +over us in future negotiations, without a positive treaty stipulation to +that effect. Texas, with every element of prosperity in her people and +territory, was war-worn, and suffering from pecuniary embarrassments in +which her revolution plunged her. For an agricultural and commercial +people, peace and stability, under almost any liberal government, are +all that is requisite to insure progress. England, a free, maritime and +manufacturing country, deeply interested in Mexico as a purchaser, and +in the United States as a rival, was precisely the nation to secure +these advantages for Texas, especially as that republic offered a <i>point +d'appui</i> which she could not find elsewhere on this continent.</p> + +<p>The "free trade" policy of Great Britain was consequently addressed to +the cupidity of Texas as a bewitching allurement; and this was, perhaps, +secretly coupled with pecuniary offers which would enable her to +struggle against adverse fortune during the first years of independence.</p> + +<p>This liberal system, while it attracted to England the cotton of Texas +in British vessels, would necessarily raise the national duties of the +republic to the highest standard on American produce and provisions, at +the same time that it introduced the manufactures of England without +imposts. The schemers who had achieved emancipation in the British West +Indies<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> imagined that the same result might be produced in Texas by +sufficient inducements, and that white labor or <i>apprentices</i> would +supply the place of slaves, thus <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>striking an indirect blow at slavery +in the southern States of our Union. Besides this, England would find a +market for her manufactures which might temptingly address itself to the +cupidity of the United States and of Mexico as well as of Texas. For, +with such an extent of frontier on all sides, and with wastes between +us, inhabited by a sparse or reckless population, the greatest +inducements would be offered to convert Texas into a smuggling ground +not only for our Union but especially for Mexico, whence British fabrics +are almost excluded by exorbitant tariffs. The policy of England would +thus affect simultaneously our manufactures as well as our commerce. +Instead of sending her merchandize to New York, she would find in +Galveston a readier market to supply our southern States through the +medium of contraband.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Her goods would naturally have been carried in +British vessels, and thus the labor and commerce of the United States +would be directly injured by England until we could afford to navigate +and manufacture at cheaper rates.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>The impolicy of permitting our carrying trade and home market, in such a +country, to pass out of our hands into those of a commercial rival, and +the dangers of counteracting or creating a contraband system which would +almost immediately ensue, commended this annexation promptly to the +notice of President Tyler. He perceived in British supremacy in Texas a +multitude of evils. Collisions would arise which must endanger our +peace. The power and influence of England would be intruded, +geographically, on territory lying between us and Mexico. A large +increase of our military forces would be necessary, not only to protect +the United States from daily disputes with Texans, but to guard the +border inhabitants against hostile inroads from Indians. Texas, he was +authoritatively told, would seek the friendship of other nations if +denied the protection of ours; and, in a condition of almost hopeless +abandonment, would naturally fall an easy prey to any power that would +protect her, should we refuse our alliance.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>Such were some of the reasons that induced the president, in 1844, to +direct Mr. Upshur, who was the secretary of state, to negotiate a treaty +of annexation between the United States and Mexico, and thus, in his +emphatic language,—"to break up and scatter to the winds the web of +European intrigues."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>This treaty was transmitted to the senate on the 22nd of April, 1844, +and immediately became the topic of discussion throughout the country. +It was opposed and defended by some of the most distinguished men in the +country. General Jackson pleaded that the golden moment might not be +lost, and that we should not throw Texas into the arms of England.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +Mr. Clay, whose nomination as a presidential candidate was expected to +be shortly made, and Mr. Van Buren whose name was also speedily to come +before a democratic convention assembled to select a candidate for the +chief magistracy, both published long and argumentative letters against +the project. The debate on the treaty in the senate was eager, and able. +The northern abolitionists regarded it as a measure frought with danger +to their cause, and as the basis of perpetual slavery, whilst the +southern slave owners hailed annexation as a boon, which, at least for a +season, would stay the aggressive arm that was raised against their +rights and interests.</p> + +<p>At length, the senate finally rejected the treaty; but President Tyler, +by a message to the house of representatives, dated the 10th of June, +transmitted the rejected document to the popular branch of the national +legislature, so that, without suggesting the mode of annexation, the +house of representatives might decide whether it should be accomplished +in any shape.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>At that moment, however, new elements of political commotion were +introduced in the nomination of Mr. Clay and Mr. Polk by the respective +party conventions held in Baltimore, and the project passed from the +national legislature to the people for discussion during the +presidential canvass.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—The opinions and arguments adduced by the +president in support of annexation have been singularly +fortified by disclosures subsequent to the union between +Texas and the United States. The British cabinet, mortified +by defeat, has been silent upon the subject, but singular +developments were made in debate in the French chambers. On +the 12th and 20th of January, 1846, a discussion took place +between Messieurs Guizot, Thiers, Berreyer and others, in +which the Texas question, and the position of France, in the +event of war between the United States and England, upon the +Oregon question, was warmly debated. The minister, Guizot, +alleged that in all the negotiations with Texas, France had +sought commercial relations in consequence of the advantages +offered of markets for French goods. He declared that it was +his policy to interpose <i>an independent State in the midst +of the United States</i>, and <i>that he believed it to be +advisable to multiply the number of secondary independent +States on our continent</i>, as the commercial and political +interests of France would suffer materially by the +foundation of a governmental unity in America. He watched +our progress with a jealous eye, and he considered the +policy of the United States in refusing to be the <i>ally</i> of +any European power both right and wise in our view of the +question.</p> + +<p>M. Thiers, the former minister, replied to M. Guizot; and, +after asserting that Texas had been annexed to our Union "to +the great displeasure of England, and, as far as could be +discovered, to the great displeasure of France," he declared +that it was the true interest of his government to place +Texas under the patronage of a powerful nation like ours +rather than to abandon it to the influence of England. "You +are aware," said he, "that <i>Texas is of great importance to +the United States</i>, and that its possession was anxiously +desired by that power: <i>I will add that never was an +annexation made in a more regular manner</i>. For more than ten +years Texas had been separated from Mexico, and all the +powers, including France, had recognised it." He regarded +the union of England and France in diplomacy between Mexico, +Texas, and the United States, as adopted only to redeem the +faults of the French cabinet during the last five years, and +as a truckling peace-offering for its conduct on the +question of the "right of search." But, of all the French +orators and statesmen, none denounced the conduct of the +cabinet with more zeal than the eloquent Berreyer. He proved +by facts and documents that it was at the instance of +England, and in subservience to her, that the French +government interposed, (as will be seen in the following +chapter,) to maintain the separate independence of +Texas:—"We have not limited ourselves"—exclaimed he—"to a +wish and a counsel that Texas should retain her freedom, but +we have been led to take a part in that which I regret I am +compelled to regard as nothing else than an <i>intrigue</i>, +which, unfortunately for our national dignity has borne all +the marks of an <i>intrigue</i>, and has met, at last, its +humiliation."—Niles' Register, vol. 70, pp. 25, 26, 27, 28, +and vol. 68, p. 290.</p></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> See Mr. Clay's letter on the Texas question, Raleigh, N. +C., April, 1844. I shall discuss the boundary elsewhere in this volume. +When Texas offered herself in 1837 to the United States it was only two +years after Mexico had overthrown the federal constitution, and not even +one after the battle of San Jacinto. A great change however took place +in the general aspect of affairs between that period and the final +annexation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Executive document, No. 42, H. of R., 25th congress, 1st +session, contains the letters referred to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Mr. Clay's letter on annexation, <i>ut antea</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Recollections of Mexico, p. 238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> It was evidently the intention of Mr. Webster, whilst +secretary of state, to adopt some prudent scheme for the settlement of +the war between Texas and Mexico. In January, 1843, he addressed a +despatch to Mr. Thompson, who was then our envoy in Mexico, in which he +directs him to use his good offices with the Mexican secretary to +mitigate the animosity of the government. "Mexico," says he, "has an +undoubted right to resubjugate Texas, if she can, so far as other states +are concerned, by the common and lawful means of war. <i>But other States +are interested,—especially the United States, a near neighbor of both +parties, are interested,—not only in the restoration of peace between +them, but also in the manner in which the war shall be conducted if it +shall continue.</i> These suggestions may suffice for what you are +requested to say amicably and kindly to the Mexican secretary, <i>at +present; but I may add, for your information, that it is in the +contemplation of this government to remonstrate, in a more formal +manner, with Mexico, at a period not far distant, unless she shall +consent to make peace with Texas, or shall show the disposition and +ability to prosecute the war with respectable forces</i>. Executive +document, No. 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess., p. 69. +</p><p class="noin"> +For the opinions of French statesmen on this question see the debate +between Guizot, Thiers, Berreyer and others, reported in vol. 70, of +Niles' Register, p. 25, 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Debates in the British house of lords, Friday 18th August, +1843, reported in the London Morning Chronicle of the 19th; and see +executive document, No. 271, H. of R., 28th congress, 1st session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Ex. Doc. No. 271, H. of R., 28 cong., 1st sess. p. 48, <i>et +seq</i>:—In an interview between Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Everett, in +November, 1843, the secretary of foreign affairs told him that England +had long been pledged to encourage the abolition of the slave trade <i>and +of slavery</i>, as far as her influence extended and in every proper way, +but had no wish to interfere with the <i>internal</i> concerns of +governments. In reference to Texas, he said that "the suggestion that +England had made or intended to make the abolition of slavery the +<i>condition</i> of any treaty arrangement with her was wholly without +foundation."—id. page 38. The <i>direct</i> interference of England in the +<i>internal</i> affairs of other governments has often been very distinctly +manifested notwithstanding Lord Aberdeen's disavowal. There is scarcely +a country in Europe which has been unvisited by her arms or her +diplomacy, either when it became her interest to do so, or when she had +the necessary force to make success unquestionable. Her policy is, +perhaps, not so much one of ambition as of avarice or necessity. She +must feed her multitudes at home; and an extension of her wide spread +commerce, with co-extensive privileges in new countries, will open new +sources of wealth to her people. Nations are not to be blamed for +seeking such advantages; but the nearer neighbor should be equally +blameless for grasping, if possible, the benefit for herself, so as to +keep off a dangerous rival and secure the revenues which otherwise would +flow into that rival's coffers. +</p><p class="noin"> +The excursive <i>philanthropy</i> of England was admirably depicted by the +Frenchman, who, according to the London Times remarked that: "Your +Englishman knows all about Timbuctoo, or Hindoostan, or the frozen +regions about the North Pole; but ask him about Ireland, the country +lying next his own, and he is perfectly innocent of any information on +the subject. Africa he investigates—Ireland he neglects. He weeps for +the suffering of the negro, but allows his Irish fellow subject to live +in ignorance and filth, and often to die of starvation."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Ex. Doc. No. 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. p. 101, +<i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Id.—p. 70. Letter of Mr. Van Zandt to Mr. Webster.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Id.—p. 100. Washington, 24th January, 1843.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> See Lord Brougham's speech, <i>ut antea</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Any one who is familiar with the condition of our Canadian +frontier will understand the ease with which smuggling in British +fabrics is carried on between the countries. An extensive business has, +doubtless, always been sustained; and it is not unusual even for the +ladies of certain towns along the frontier, to <i>shop</i> in Canada, with +the understanding that their purchases are to be <i>delivered at the risk +of the British vender, on the other side of the American line</i>!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Executive document, 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. +Letter of Mr. Allen to Hon. R. J. Walker, and other letters copied on +pages 103 and 105 of the same document. +</p><p class="noin"> +The government of the United States entertained such views of the +grasping policy of England for reasons which are clearly set forth in an +able despatch from Mr. Calhoun to Mr. King, our envoy at the court of +France. "The question," says the secretary of state, "is, by what means +can Great Britain regain and keep a superiority in tropical cultivation, +commerce and influence? Or shall that be abandoned and other nations, +suffered to acquire the supremacy even to the extent of supplying +British markets to the destruction of the capital already vested in +their production? These are the questions which now profoundly occupy +the attention of her statesmen and have the greatest influence over her +councils. +</p><p class="noin"> +"In order to regain her superiority she not only seeks to revive and +increase her own capacity to produce tropical productions, but to +diminish and destroy the capacity of those who have so far outstripped +her in consequence of her error. In pursuit of the former, she has cast +her eyes to her East India possessions, to Central and Eastern Africa, +with the view of establishing colonies there, and even to restore, +substantially, the slave trade itself, under the specious name of +transporting free laborers from Africa to her West India possessions, in +order, if possible, to compete successfully with those who have refused +to follow her suicidal policy. Her main reliance, however, is on the +other alternative, to cripple or destroy the productions of her +successful rivals. There is but one way by which it can be done, and +that is by abolishing African slavery throughout this continent; and +that she avows to be the constant object of her policy and exertions." +Senate doc. No. 1, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> President Tyler's message to the senate. 22nd April, +1844.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Letter of President Tyler to the Richmond Enquirer in +1847.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> President Jackson's letter 17th March, 1844, written in +consequence of a private mission to him from President Houston of +Texas.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Change of public feeling as to annexation—Election of President +Polk—Mr. Clay defeated by the abolitionists—Almonté's threat—President +Tyler attempts to soothe Mexico—His failure to do so—Mexican projects of +reconquest—Want of confidence in Santa Anna—Loans—Downfall and disgrace of +Santa Anna—His expulsion to Cuba—Herrera made provisional president—Congress +of United States reconsiders annexation—Joint resolution passed with an alternative +of negotiation—President Tyler adopts the first clause, and why—European +intrigues—France and England operating on Texas and Mexico—Mexico offers +independence provided Texas will not annex herself to the United States—Defeat of the +foreign scheme.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>When Congress met in December, 1844, a remarkable change had come over +the political would in the United States. The extraordinary popularity +of Mr. Clay induced reflective men to believe, at the close of the last +session, that he would be elected president, and that the prospects of +immediate annexation would probably be blighted by that event. The great +body of his partizans opposed the project of President Tyler; but the +Democratic convention, assembled in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>Baltimore, in May, inscribed the +fortunes of Texas on its banner together with the name of that party's +candidate. The south immediately rallied around it, whilst the north +assumed strange grounds of objection to the course of Mr. Clay. The +Native American and Abolition parties in New York professed to vote with +the friends of that gentleman in consequence of his opposition to +annexation, and yet a sufficient number to defeat his election cast +their ballots in direct contradiction of their principles. This was but +another lesson of the danger of confiding in men or parties who have but +a single idea. The folly of fanaticism commonly leads to violent +inconsistencies, but perhaps a more palpable one was never exhibited +than in the result of the presidential election of 1844.</p> + +<p>When the project of annexation was first discussed in 1843 in the +gazettes of the day, and before any decided action by the president or +secretary of state, General Almonté, who was then Mexican envoy at +Washington, protested earnestly against the act, and even threatened, by +express order of his government, that on sanction being given to the +incorporation of Texas into the United States, he would consider his +mission as ended, seeing that the Mexican government was resolved to +declare war as soon as it received information of such a deed.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>But Mr. Tyler, disregarding the irascible temper of the minister and his +government, despatched pacific and soothing instructions to our chargé +at Mexico, intimating a desire to act justly towards that republic, and +to settle all questions growing out of the treaty as well as of boundary +on the most liberal terms.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>The Mexican government, however, would listen to no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>proposals of +accommodation. The Texan question, as we have seen, was always one of +great annoyance to the Mexican authorities; for although they +acknowledged, in effect, that their dominion was really lost over Texas, +yet their national pride and public feeling forced them to project, if +they did not attempt, its reconquest.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> Besides this, darkness was +gathering around the fate of Santa Anna, who dared not undertake +negotiations upon a subject so unpopular.</p> + +<p>When a new congress assembled in Mexico in January, 1844, it was +disposed to aid the executive in his scheme of reconquest. Four millions +of dollars were therefore granted him; but when he claimed ten millions +for the same purpose, whilst it was notorious that the first grant had +not yet been collected, the members of congress absolutely refused to +sustain Santa Anna's measures for the recovery of the lost territory. +This refusal was not grounded upon any aversion of the Mexicans from +reconquest, but solely because they believed the money would be extorted +from the people only to be plundered by the president and his myrmidons. +The politicians and country had alike, lost confidence in him; and Santa +Anna, observing the rising storm, obtained permission from congress to +retire to his estate of Manga de Clavo near the sea coast at Vera Cruz, +whilst his friend Don Valentin Canalizo took his place in the capital as +president <i>ad interim</i>.</p> + +<p>Santa Anna hardly reached his estate when a fatal blow was struck +against his administration from the departmental junta of Jalisco. This +revolt was lead by General Paredes, and after a multitude of military +and diplomatic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>manœuvres, resulted in Santa Anna's downfall on the +4th of January, 1845. The ex-president fled towards the sea-coast; but +was captured by a detachment of volunteers at the village of Jico, +whence he was transferred under a strong escort to the castle of Peroté. +It is difficult even to imagine the bitter wrath with which the Mexican +people assailed the captured chief. He, who but a few months before +exercised despotic sway over the land, was now a prisoner and at the +mercy of the mob. His friends interposed in this emergency to save his +life both from popular fury and judicial action which might make it the +penalty of his misrule. The strife was long and anxious, but, at length, +an amnesty was declared, under which Santa Anna departed for Cuba on the +29th of May, 1845, accompanied by his wife and daughter.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> The fury of +the people against the exile may be imagined from the fact that they +exhausted every means by which they could manifest their hatred of his +deeds and memory. They thronged the streets singing ribald songs, and +hawking ridiculous caricatures;—they tore his pictures from the walls, +and hurled his statues from their pedestals; and, with the fiendishness +of hyenas, they even snatched from the grave the leg he had lost in +battle with the French at Vera Cruz, and tossed it about the streets of +Mexico!<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The result of Santa Anna's downfall was the establishment of a +provisional government under General Herrera, president of the council. +This person is represented to have been a discreet officer, whose +judgment naturally led him to see the wisdom of a pacific course towards +the United States, but whose destiny was finally controlled by the rash +and unprincipled conduct of insurrectionary demagogues.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>Meanwhile the congress of the United States reconsidered the Texan +question, and after a long and ardent debate, finally passed a joint +resolution for annexation, with an alternative permission to the +executive to negotiate; provided he thought proper to adopt that course. +This was a solemn decision of the question by the representatives of the +people, and it was sustained by the president who did not permit himself +to be influenced by the threats of Mexico or the hostile preparations +made by that country. In fact, Mr. Tyler had been careful to guard +against military surprises, for, in consequence of the early menaces of +Mexico, he deemed it his duty, as a precautionary measure, to +concentrate in the gulf and its vicinity a large portion of the Home +squadron under the command of Commodore Conner, and, at the same time to +assemble at fort Jesup on the Texan border, as large a military force as +the demands of the service at other encampments would allow.</p> + +<p>Thus, the joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United States, with +its alternative power to negotiate, came to President Tyler and was +approved by him on the 1st of March, 1845. On the fourth of the same +month, James K. Polk, who had been chosen president of the United +States, at the last election, was to assume the reins of government. +President Tyler believed that the necessity for annexation was immediate +and urgent in consequence of the reasons he had already presented to +congress in his several messages. The only doubt therefore, that he +experienced in making his selection, arose from a point of delicacy to +his successor. The first section of the joint resolution authorized the +erection of a new State of our Union out of the republic of Texas under +certain conditions contained in the second section; whilst the third +authorized the president to negotiate with that republic for admission +either by treaty to be submitted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>to the senate, or by articles of +agreement to be presented to our houses of congress, as the president +might direct.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances a cabinet council was summoned for the 2nd of +March, and the point was resolved by informing the president's +successor, Mr. Polk, of the proposed action, and, if he desired it, +submitting to his perusal the despatch to Texas. Mr. Calhoun, our +secretary of state, at the president's request, accordingly waited upon +Mr. Polk, explained to him Mr. Tyler's selection of the first and second +sections of the joint resolution, and expressed a readiness to exhibit +the despatch to Mr. A. J. Donelson, who had been appointed chargé to +Texas.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> Mr. Polk courteously declined expressing an opinion +concerning the executive action, accompanying his remark with some +complimentary declaration; and, on that evening, a bearer of despatches +with the requisite documents, was on his way to Mr. Donelson.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>This is a brief and accurate summary of the history of annexation so far +as the action of our government is involved, and as is necessary for +this narrative. The terms of annexation which were offered by the United +States were accepted by Texas, and the public faith of both nations was +solemnly pledged to a compact of union, which was finally consummated at +the following session of congress, when Texas became a member of our +confederacy.</p> + +<p>There were other circumstances, however, which properly induced the +prompt course of President Tyler in sending the joint resolution for the +action of Texas; but, in order to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>understand these perfectly, it is +necessary for us to direct our attention to the French and English +negotiations between that republic and Mexico. In 1840, as we have seen, +England preferred separate action on behalf of Texas, but she was now +willing to unite with France against the aggrandizement of the United +States. Monsieur de Saligny and the Hon. Mr. Elliott were the +representatives of these European courts in Texas, and to the former of +them was entrusted the active part of the diplomacy. Whilst the +discussions were going on in the United States Mr. Elliott was never at +rest. He was heard of in Charleston, in New Orleans, in Havana, in +Mexico, and, again, in Texas. The restlessness of the agent denoted the +anxiety of his government and of France.</p> + +<p>The rejection of the annexation treaty by congress, in 1844, had almost +deprived Texas of hope. She believed it impossible to expect a union +with the United States, and was prepared to receive the mediation of +France and England which would secure her independence. This was surely +gratifying to the emissaries of these powers and they eagerly undertook +the task of obtaining the coveted boon from Mexico. The Mexican +ministry, ever anxious to thwart the union with our confederacy, was +equally pleased to avert it by any diplomatic <i>ruse</i> that would save the +point of honor, and place her erect before the world. Besides this, the +Mexicans relied on a hope that increasing difficulties between the +United States and England upon the Oregon boundary question, would make +us loath to undertake a war with a southern neighbor whilst our north +and our sea board were menaced by Great Britain. This hope of a +counter-menace from England inspirited the Mexican cabinet and made it +solicitous to resist us successfully. Herrera's ministry was composed of +discreet and patriotic men; but, in the first moments of their power, +they dared not oppose popular <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>prejudices. The revolution which +overthrew Santa Anna was one of the few that sprang from the popular +branches of the nation, and originated neither in factions, the army, or +the church, but derived its success from the universal feeling that +existed against the oppressive misrule of the executive.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> +Nevertheless popular feeling was against our country, and the cabinet +took its tone from its patrons.</p> + +<p>There can be little doubt of the fact, that the notion of probable +difficulties between the United States and England on the boundary +question, was studiously fostered by emissaries who were hostile to us. +Herrera's cabinet therefore hailed with delight the propositions which +were brought to Mexico by Mr. Elliott, and were presented by the Hon. +Charles Bankhead and Baron Alleye de Cyprey, the British and French +ministers. These propositions, Señor Cuevas laid before the Mexican +congress on the 21st of April, 1845. The preliminary conditions offered +by Texas, under French and English mediation, and transmitted from that +republic by President Jones, on the 29th of March, were the following:</p> + +<p>1st. That Mexico shall consent to acknowledge the independence of Texas.</p> + +<p>2nd. That Texas shall engage and stipulate in the treaty <i>not to annex +herself to or become subject to any country whatever</i>.</p> + +<p>3rd. The limits and other conditions shall be matter of arrangement by +final treaty.</p> + +<p>4th. That Texas should be willing to remit disputed points <i>concerning +territory and other matters to the arbitration of umpires</i>.</p> + +<p>These spiteful stipulations, evidently aimed against the United States, +and bearing the marks of their European parentage, suited the taste of +Mexico precisely. Her congress, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>therefore, at once deemed it advisable +to entertain the Texan proposals, and to proceed to the celebration of a +treaty. But when the Baron de Cyprey announced this assent to the +president of Texas, on the 20th of May, it was already too late for the +success of European diplomacy. Our congress had passed the +joint-resolution, our president had approved it, and our minister, Mr. +Donelson, was in Texas preparing the cabinet to act favorably upon our +propositions. Accordingly when Mr. Elliott returned in June to Texas in +a French corvette, the public mind was already manifesting its anxiety +to accede to our liberal offers, which were finally sanctioned by the +Texan convention on the 4th of July, 1845.</p> + +<p>Had the resolution for annexation not been adopted at the preceding +session of congress, the pretensions of Mexico, instead of being +lowered, would have been raised still higher than they were on the +receipt of the propositions from President Jones. The mediatorial powers +of Mr. Elliott would, in all probability, have been employed in +negotiating truces and treaties until the foundation was laid for the +operation of those peaceful means by which Lord Aberdeen declared it his +intention to promote his philanthropic views. "Abandoned by the United +States, oppressed by debt, and wearied by the increasing burthens and +privations of war, Texas would have been at the mercy of Britain, and +her statesmen would have accepted almost any terms to secure +independence and peace."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Senate doc. No. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Senate doc. No. 1, 28th cong. 2d sess. p. 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> General Almonté, the Mexican envoy, in a conversation in +New York, confessed to the writer, in the spring of 1843, that Texas was +lost to Mexico, but that all then desired by his countrymen was to save +the point of honor before they acknowledged its independence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Mexico as it was and as it is, 4th Ed. Letter XXV. p. +367.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Id. page 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> House of Rep., doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> The election of the 1st and 2nd sections of the joint +resolution made by President Tyler was subsequently approved by +President Polk, as he declares both in his negotiations and in his +message to congress of the 2nd December, 1845. H. of R., Doc. No. 2, +29th cong. 1st session, p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Mexico as it was and as it is—p. 390, 4th ed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Letter from Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, 2nd June, 1845, +H. of R., doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 52. I do not discuss the +question of the <i>mode</i> of annexation, whether by treaty, joint +resolution, or negotiation, as that would require almost a volume by +itself to present a true sketch of the debate that occurred upon it. It +is my purpose rather to narrate events than to discuss all the various +subordinate questions arising from them. "Annexation," is made one of +the great motives or causes for war by Mexico, no matter in what way it +is effected or attempted. "<i>Mexico would never agree to +annexation</i>;"—said Señor Cuevas, the Mexican secretary of foreign +affairs, in April, 1845.—Mexico as it was and as it is. p. 391, 4th +ed.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">General Almonté demands passports and leaves—Shannon and Rejon and +Cuevas—Views of the Mexican cabinet and people—Animosity—Revolt +in Mexico—Political condition of Mexico—Her right of reconquering +Texas—Mr. Buchanan despatches Mr. Slidell as envoy—Rejection of +all accommodation between us—The reason why Mexico refused to +negotiate, after promising to receive a commissioner from the United +States—Subterfuges—Ill feeling in Mexico on the Texas question—Herrera +overthrown by Paredes—Paredes and the monarchical party—Unpopularity +of his scheme—Miserable state of Mexican affairs— +Review of the Texas question.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>In March, 1845, as soon as congress passed the joint-resolution, Gen. +Almonté demanded his passports and departed. A correspondence which took +place in Mexico between Mr. Shannon, our envoy, and Señor Rejon, the +minister of foreign affairs, relative to the projected union resulted +fruitlessly; and, on the 2d of April, Señor Cuevas, who had succeeded +Rejon in office, announced to our legation that his government could +neither continue diplomatic intercourse with ours, nor maintain +friendship with a republic that violated her obligations and usurped a +portion of Mexican territory. He declared, moreover, that the relations +between the two countries could not be re-established before a complete +reparation of that injury should be made.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>This violent and denunciatory language, together with the hint to our +minister to depart, was of course not calculated to allay ill-feeling in +either country. The Mexican congress was not less bitter in its +animadversions, thereby spreading the animosity among the people. It +promptly seconded the wishes of the cabinet, and offered two projects, +both of which asserted the unalienated rights of Mexico over Texas, and +the national resolve to maintain them by force.</p> + +<p>Meantime, however, domestic discontent was again brewing. A certain Gen. +Rangel attempted to revolutionize the government, and is said to have +been favored by the partizans of the late administration. The insurgents +seized the palace, capturing the president and three of his ministers of +state; but they were speedily overpowered and the insurrection +suppressed. In June and July of this year all the Mexican papers were +loud in their clamors for vengeance. The minister of war, Garcia Condé, +wrote despatch after despatch; and, with the usual spirit of national +gasconade, denounced our "perfidy," and continually alluded to "the war +which Mexico waged against the United States," in consequence of our +"treachery." On the 16th of the latter month, he despatched to the +minister of foreign relations and justice a note detailing a plan for +covering the national frontiers, and asserted that Mexico would maintain +her rights by force, or fall in the struggle. "She will not consent," +says he, "to give up one half of her territory from the base fear of +losing the other!"</p> + +<p>Patriotic and stirring as are these declarations, they cannot but be +regarded otherwise than as the most inflated bombast when we recollect +that they were made in defiance of the United States, and after a +failure for seven years to reconquer even Texas, feeble as she was. What +just hope could distracted Mexico reasonably entertain of ultimate +victory? <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>Several years before this period, her discreet statesmen and +reflecting citizens privately acknowledged that Texas was lost forever. +Pecuniary embarrassments, political misrule, and repeated revolutions +had still more impaired her national strength, and yet, an obstinacy as +inveterate as it was silly, forced her to make declarations of intended +hostilities which only served to kindle and spread the excitement among +the masses.</p> + +<p>It is just that we should concede to national pride and honor all they +reasonably demand of respect, yet I have greatly misunderstood this +spirit of our century, if it does not require nations to be as +reasonable in their quarrels as individuals. Empires, kingdoms, states, +republics, and men, are equally amenable to the great tribunal of the +world's common sense, and all are obliged, if they consult their +interests, to yield to the force of circumstances they cannot control. +What then becomes of the mere abstract and visionary "right of +reconquest" which Mexico asserted, even if she really possessed it after +the central usurpation, and destruction of the federal system in 1824? +What hope was there in a war with the United States, after a failure in +that with Texas? It is true that Mexico had the power to annoy us, and +procrastinate her fate; she might oppose and resist; she might develope +all the evil passions of her people and let them loose on our armies in +irregular warfare; but these, after all were nothing more than spiteful +manifestations of impotent malice, disgraceful to the nation that +encouraged them. The cause of genuine humanity, which, I believe, in our +age, truly seeks for peace, demanded the pacification of Texas. The +cruelty with which the war was waged, and the brutal treatment received +by some of the prisoners of the Santa Fé expedition in 1841 and 1842, +convince us that a strong power should have imposed peace on Mexico. +National <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>propriety demanded it; for how long was the "right of +reconquest" to continue? England, the proudest nation on earth, +acknowledged the independence of the United States after a seven years +war. The great powers of Europe interfered to protect oppressed Greece. +England has several times interposed in the affairs of Spain and +Portugal; and our geographical as well as political affinity to Texas +clearly indicated that it was our national interest to establish a firm +and friendly government on our border.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There can be no doubt that when General Herrera was, almost unanimously, +elected president in August, 1845, he saw things in this light, and was +prudently disposed to bend to inevitable fate. Notwithstanding the +warlike despatches, speeches, and proclamations of the Mexicans in the +earlier part of the year, our secretary of state seems to have +sufficiently understood their gasconading habits, to disregard these +inflated productions. He therefore authorized Mr. Black, who remained in +Mexico as consul, upon Mr. Shannon's withdrawal, to propose that we +should send an envoy with full powers to adjust all the questions in +dispute between the two countries. Mexico, notwithstanding her open +bravado, secretly assented to our proposal, declaring that she would +receive "the commissioner of the United States who might come to the +capital with full powers to settle the present dispute in a peaceful, +reasonable and honorable manner."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, Mr. Slidell was hastily despatched so as to be sure of +meeting the same persons in power with whom the arrangement had been +made; for in Mexico, the delay of even a day may sometimes change a +government, and create new or unwilling negotiators. Nevertheless when +our minister presented himself in the capital early in December, having +travelled rapidly but unostentatiously, so as to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>avoid exciting ill +feeling among the Mexicans as to the purposes of his mission, he found +the secretary unprepared to receive him. It was objected that Mr. +Slidell's commission had not been confirmed by the senate of the United +States and that the president had no constitutional right to send him; +that Mexico agreed to receive a commissioner to settle the Texas +dispute, and not a resident envoy; that the reception of such an envoy +would admit the minister on the footing of a friendly mission during a +period of concord between nations, which would not be diplomatically +proper so long as our amity was in the least interrupted;—and, finally, +that the government had not expected a commissioner until after the +session of congress began in January, 1846.</p> + +<p>There may be some force in technical diplomacy, between the mission as +agreed on by Messieurs Black and Peña, and the one despatched by Mr. +Buchanan, for the letter of credence declares that Mr. Slidell is "<i>to +reside</i> near the government of the Mexican republic in the quality of +envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, and that he is well +informed of the president's desire to <i>restore</i>, cultivate, and +strengthen friendship and good correspondence between us." A point of +extreme etiquette raised at such a moment, when both parties were +confessedly anxious for peace, naturally excites some inquiry as to its +probable origin. Accordingly we find that it was a mere subterfuge, +urged by a tottering administration to avert its ruin. The violence of +the cabinet against annexation had done its work among the people. When +Herrera and Peña accepted, in October, our proposal to treat, they hoped +the popular elections, as well as judicious overtures to the departments +and citizens, would so modify national opinion as to permit their +independent and liberal action. But such forbearance could scarcely be +expected from the watchfulness of Mexican intriguers. Herrera <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>was a +federalist, but his failure to proclaim the federal system, and to throw +himself on that party as soon as he attained power, alienated a large +portion of it and made the rest but feeble supporters. The church and +the centralists soon coalesced in hostility to his government; and, +although his measures were moderate, and all his efforts designed to +correct abuses, yet every political symptom denoted his speedy fall. Of +all the popular clamors, probably none was louder in the mob and the +army, than that which arose in consequence of his effort to negotiate a +peace with our Union. General Paredes took advantage of this +unpopularity, and, at the head of five thousand of the soldiery, +pronounced against the government of the president.</p> + +<p>It will be perceived from this sketch how completely this Texas question +and the war with our country have been made electioneering and +revolutionary elements in Mexico: not, however, with patriotic hopes, or +reasonable expectations of reconquest, but with the contemptible anxiety +of usurping a temporary power which, for a while, enabled the aspirant +to govern the country without the least prospect of settling the +difficulty with us or of regaining Texas.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>This revolution commenced with the army of reserve stationed at San Luis +Potosi, and was seconded by the military men generally. On the 15th of +December, 1845, Paredes issued a bombastic proclamation<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> from his +headquarters; and, in the latter part of the month the revolutionary +forces reached the capital, when a portion of the garrison pronounced in +favor of the insurgent chief. This induced an early accommodation +between the parties, and finished the outbreak without bloodshed. Yet +Paredes, having <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>overthrown Herrera, partly in consequence of his +friendly disposition for peace with us, could not now attempt +negotiations successfully. Mr. Slidell renewed his offers to the +cabinet, but was repulsed and left the country. The lame reliance of +Mexico upon bombastic proclamations was again adopted. Yet the people +were discontented with Paredes who soon began to manifest the despotic +tendency of his nature and education. The military life of this +chieftain naturally inclined him towards centralism, but he was +altogether unfit either by character or habits for civil authority. As +soon as he assumed the reins of government, a party which had long +drooped began again to lift its head. The monarchists, led by the +Archbishop Manuel Posada y Garduño, and the wily Don Lucas Alaman, soon +got possession of the insurgent general. They were joined by a large +portion of the higher clergy, some influential men of fortune, a few +soldiers, and a number of silly citizens, who promised themselves a +futurity of progress and felicity by calling to the Mexican throne a +monarch from beyond the sea. This party of royalists was strengthened by +dissensions at home, and by the expected attack from the United States. +Many reflecting men cherished no hope of national progress so long as +the turbulent army was unrestrained by paramount authority. They desired +at once to crush freedom and domestic despotism by a foreign prince +supported by European soldiery, whilst they believed that the +continental sovereigns would greedily seize the opportunity of throwing +their forces into America so as to check the aggressive ambition of the +United States.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> As soon as this scheme of Paredes was disclosed, his +unpopularity increased. His intemperate habits were well known and +destroyed confidence in his judgment. The financial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>condition of the +country was exceedingly embarrassed, and foreigners, who were the usual +bankers of the government, refused loans on any terms. Payment was +denied by the treasury to all employed in the civil departments, while +money was disbursed to none but the army. The freedom of the press +moreover was suspended; and, to crown the national difficulties, it was +at this very moment that Mexico dreamed of overthrowing the republic at +home and establishing a monarchy in its stead, whilst it simultaneously +encountered our armies abroad in order to reconquer Texas! With such +deplorable fatuity was Mexico misruled, and entangled in a double war +upon the rights of her own people and against the United States. It was +unfortunate that she fell at this crisis into the hands of a despot and +drunkard, whose mind, perplexed between ambition and intemperance, gave +a permanent direction to that false public sentiment, which Herrera had +been anxious to convert into one of peace and good will towards the +United States.</p> + +<p>I have thus succinctly narrated the events that led to the war between +the United States and Mexico. The annexation of Texas, without the +previous assent of Mexico, may have annoyed that government. It was +mortifying to patriotic pride, and we should laud the republic for +manifesting a proper sensibility. But true national pride is always +capable of manly and dignified opposition. It does not expend itself in +bravado, petulance or querulousness. It does not assail by threats, but +by deeds; and never provokes an attack until it is prepared to return +the blow with earnest force. It is silent as the storm until it bursts +forth in overwhelming wrath. All other kinds of resistance are nothing +but miserable exhibitions of mortified vanity, and invoke the world's +contempt instead of respectful compassion.</p> + +<p>Our government, from the beginning, desired and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>attempted to allay +excitement, whilst that of Mexico, revolutionary, disorganized and +impotent as it was at home, and as it subsequently proved itself to be +in the field of battle, did all it could to foment animosity between the +two countries. This sturdy resistance of Mexico did not arise from +prudence, patriotism or courage, but from intestine factions, +exasperated by rival usurpers. Our efforts to make peace and establish a +boundary upon the most liberal principles were rejected with +disdain.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> The authorities, basing their refusal upon a frivolous +subterfuge of diplomatic etiquette, would not even hear our proposals, +or receive our minister. Our presidents were disposed to concede every +thing reasonable in negotiation that could have saved the honor of +Mexico and placed our future relations on the salutary foundation of +alliance.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Instead of meeting us with the pacific and compromising +temper of our age, her demagogue chieftains stimulated the passion and +vanity of the mob, until the stormy natures of an ignorant people became +so completely excited that they were unable to control the evil spirit +raised by their wicked incantations.</p> + +<p>Blundering onward and blinded by passion, this unfortunate nation +reminds us of that passage in the Ænead wherein the sightless giant is +described:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">"Summo quum monte videmus<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ipsum inter pecudes vastâ se mole moventem<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pastorem Polypheum, et littera nota petentem;<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i37">Ænead, B. 3, v. 655.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Mexico as it was and as it is—see original letter in 4th +ed. p. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> See Mexico as it was and is, 4th ed. p. 396—and Slidell's +correspondence with our government. Senate doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st +sess.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> See Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Tributo á la verdad, Vera Cruz, p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> See Wheaton's Elements of international law. ed. of 1836, +part 2d chap. 1, pp. 88, 89, 90, 91. On the right of interference of +governments for the pacification of belligerent nations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Mr. Slidell was fully empowered to negotiate on liberal +terms.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>BOOK SECOND:</h2> + +<h2>MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND ON<br /> + +THE RIO GRANDE.</h2> + +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>BOOK II.</h2> +<br /> + +<h2>MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND ON THE RIO GRANDE.</h2> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Boundary of Texas defined by Almonté—Description of Texas—Rivers of +Texas—Army of observation—General Taylor—Army of occupation—How +formed—Difficulty of landing in Texas—Aransas bay—Army lands at +St. Joseph's island—Kinney's rancho—Corpus Christi—State of the +army during the winter—Sufferings of the troops—Alarms of war—General +Gaines's views—Necessity of ample preparation—Our first +aggressive war.</p></div> + + +<p>The scene of our observation is now about to change from the cabinet to +the field. The theatre of war properly attracts our attention, and the +spot of earth which was the chief cause of dispute between Mexico and +the United States, and where our armies assembled, justly demands our +first notice.</p> + +<p>Texas, until she attained the rank of an independent State, seems to +have been almost an unknown country even to the Mexicans. This was +natural for a people who are not essentially agriculturists, but pass +their lives as herdsmen, miners, or merchants, and whose central +government is far removed from its outposts.</p> + +<p>In the year 1834, General Almonté was deputed by the Mexican authorities +to visit this northern province, and prepare a statistical report upon +its extent and character. According to this valuable document, Texas +proper lies between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>28° and 35° of north latitude, and 17° and 25° of +longitude, west from Washington. It is bounded on the north by the +territory of Arkansas; east by Louisiana; south by the Gulf of Mexico +and State of Tamaulipas; and west by Coahuila, Chihuahua, and New +Mexico. Almonté was informed, by the State government of Coahuila and +Texas, that instead of the Rio de las Nueces forming the boundary +between Coahuila and Texas, as the map denoted, the true limit commenced +at the embouchure of the Rio Aransaso which it followed to its source, +whence it continued by a direct line until it reached the junction of +the Medina with the San Antonio, and thence proceeded along the eastern +bank of the Medina to its source, terminating, finally, on the borders +of Chihuahua. The territory comprised within these limits is estimated +at near two hundred thousand square miles—a surface almost as extensive +as that of France.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> But, since Texas receded from the Mexican central +government, these confines have been changed. By an act of her congress, +in December, 1836, the boundary was declared to begin at the mouth of +the Rio Grande, and thence to run up the principal stream of the said +river to its source; thence due north to the 42° of latitude, and +thence, along the boundary as defined in the treaty between the United +States and Spain, to the beginning.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The great body of the territory of Mexico is rich in upland vallies, +extensive plains, noble mountains, fertile soil, beautiful groves, and +rich mines, but it is almost entirely deprived of rivers, whilst Texas +is singularly favored in this respect. On the east, the Gulf of Mexico +affords her an extensive sea coast indented by the mouths of the Sabine +river and lake, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>the Rio Naches, the Rio Trinidad, the Rio San Jacinto, +Galveston bay, the Rio Brazos, Matagorda bay, the Rio Colorado, the Rios +San Antonio and Guadalupe, Aransaso bay and the Rio Grande, besides +numerous smaller streams that drain her soil and almost cover it with an +interlacing network of water.</p> + +<p>Texas presents to the traveller three distinct natural regions. Along +the shores of the gulf from the Sabine to the Rio Grande, a flat country +extends from thirty to one hundred miles in the interior, widening, +towards its centre on the Colorado, and gradually diminishing towards +the Nueces. The sandy wastes and lagunes of the coast give place, at +some distance in the interior, to a rich alluvial country, diversified +by skirts of timber, insulated groves, and open prairies. A large +portion of this part of Texas is described as being singularly free from +those large collections of stagnant water, which, combined with a +burning sun and prolific vegetation, create malaria in our southern +States.</p> + +<p>Westward of this level skirt, begins the rolling region. The land +gradually swells in gentle undulations, "covered with fertile prairies +and valuable woodlands, enriched with springs and rivulets." Farther +westward still, these beautiful hills tower up into the steeps of the +<i>Sierra Madre</i>, that great chain of gigantic mountains, which, broken at +the junction of the Rio Grande with the Puerco, takes thence a +north-easterly course, and enters Texas near the source of the Nueces. +These elevations are of the third and fourth magnitude, and abound with +forests of pine, oak, cedar, and an extraordinary variety of shrubbery. +Wide vallies of alluvial soil, commonly susceptible of irrigation from +copious streams in the highlands, wind through the recesses of these +mountains and afford a delightful region for the purposes of +agriculture. The table lands beyond these ranges have been but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>little +explored, and still less is known of the northern region extending to +the 42° of north latitude, as well as of that portion lying between the +Nueces and the Rio Grande. But such, in brief, is Texas from the gulf to +the mountains;—a country adapted alike to the planter, the grazier and +the farmer, while it offers to commerce a wide extent of sea coast whose +harbors may be made perfectly secure by the skill of modern science.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I have already stated that in 1844 President Tyler stationed an army of +observation under General Taylor, at fort Jesup, as soon as he +negotiated the annexation treaty.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> This corps, but poorly sheltered +from the weather, and in an inhospitable climate, was, for a long time, +left inactive on the banks of the Sabine. In midsummer of 1845, after +the joint resolution was passed, and when our difficulties with Mexico +began to thicken, it was at length ordered to advance, under the same +commander, towards the southern frontier of Texas. The army then +consisted of but two regiments of infantry, one of dragoons, and a +single company of artillery, in all about fifteen hundred efficient men. +As the climate was known to the sickly, the war department despatched +only such an unacclimated force as was deemed absolutely necessary to +protect a tropical region in the month of July, awaiting the colder +months before its numbers were increased. This body was called the army +of occupation, whose appointments seem to have been extremely imperfect. +"The dragoon regiment had just been formed from a rifle corps; half of +its men were raw, undisciplined recruits, and many of them unable to +ride, while their recently purchased horses were small, weak and +undrilled. The infantry regiments <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>were enfeebled by their long +exposure, in miserable tents, to the withering heats and drenching rains +of a low southern latitude; and the artillerists were without their +guns. Towards the end of June, 1845, a company of the last mentioned arm +of the service, equipped as infantry, at fort Moultrie, was ordered to +New Orleans. This body, armed only with muskets, sailed from Charleston +on the 26th of the month, and on its arrival in Louisiana on the 19th of +July, found that it was destined for service in Texas. The instructions +to the commanding officer informed him that his company was to be +mounted and equipped as flying artillery for the campaign under Taylor; +that horses would be sent him and a battery shipped from New York, upon +the arrival of which he was to join his general at the mouth of the +Sabine."<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> Fortunately for these troops they encountered General +Taylor in New Orleans, though they were obliged to depart without their +ordnance, which did not reach them for two months afterwards, while +their horses were even still longer in attaining their destination.</p> + +<p>The war in Texas, and the unsettled state of that country, had prevented +the preparation of an accurate map, or indeed, even of a survey of the +coasts or interior. It was difficult, therefore, to find any one in New +Orleans acquainted with the harbors and rivers of the new State, or who +was willing to incur the responsibility of directing the army's steps. +The topographical bureau at Washington had, with infinite pains and +ingenuity, constructed a map of the country from the scant materials in +its possession; but this chart has since been proved to be almost +entirely useless as a guide.</p> + +<p>However, after considerable difficulty, General Taylor procured a pilot +for large wages, who professed a thorough <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>acquaintance with the Texan +waters, and a particular knowledge of his destination at Aransas bay. +This individual was immediately put in charge of one of the transports +loaded with troops, and under his lead, the commander in chief sailed +from New Orleans with three ships and two steamers in search of the port +of his disbarkation. The blundering pilot grounded his vessel among the +breakers where it would inevitably have been wrecked, had it not been +extricated by timely assistance, while the captain of another transport +coasted the low shores of the gulf for several days, in sight of land, +seeking an inlet, and when his ship was at length anchored off St. +Joseph's, he asserted that it was the island of Espiritu Santo.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p>This bay of Aransas was perhaps one of the most unsuitable for the +disbarkation of troops on the coast of Texas, and was selected in utter +ignorance of the country. Indeed we seem to have committed two great and +often fatal errors in warfare when we contemplated hostilities with +Mexico—first, in despising our foe; and secondly, in failing to inform +ourselves of his country's geography.</p> + +<p>Aransas bay lies between the south end of St. Joseph's and the northern +point of Mustang island, quite close to the latter, and almost at right +angles with the coast. It has a narrow but shifting sand bar at its +entrance, upon which the depth of water varies according to the action +of the winds. The bay is about twenty-five miles in length and twelve in +width, but is obstructed by a shoal and a range of islands that traverse +it.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> + +<p>On the third of August our whole army had landed on St. Joseph's island, +about thirty miles from the Rio Nueces, across which it was to pass to +its proposed encampment on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>Corpus Christi bay, near a smuggling village +known as Kinney's <i>rancho</i>. As Corpus Christi and Aransas bays are +connected by a shallow and winding channel, it was at once discovered +that steamers were altogether inadequate for the transportation of +troops from the islets to the mainland; and our forces would have +remained where they disembarked had not a few skiffs of light draft, +together with some sail and row boats, been obtained in the neighborhood +at considerable expense. In these frail vessels a detachment of forty +men, armed only with muskets, crossed the Nueces, and landed on the +stormy coast as pioneers in a country asserted to be Mexican. Had the +authorities of that republic been prepared to resist our landing, a few +field pieces might have presented the alleged invasion, as our general +was unable to protect the disembarkation of his troops by cannon. In +addition to these mistakes, the 2d regiment of dragoons was not +despatched from fort Jesup in time to co-operate with our forces when +they first landed at Corpus Christi; and, as the artillery had not yet +been forwarded from our arsenals, the campaign may be said to have +commenced with <i>infantry alone</i>. This was a novelty in military science, +and indicated an ignorance of war, an unpardonable imprudence, or a +conviction that the whole drama was got up only to intimidate an enemy +we despised.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It is impossible to narrate every circumstance of interest that occurred +during the encampment of our forces west of the Nueces, a position taken +by General Taylor with the concurrence of the war department. But a +history of this war would be incomplete were not the position as well as +the condition of our army accurately stated. Our government, relying +probably on the acknowledged feebleness of Mexico, and on the fact that +she had not yet declared war, imagined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>that the mere presence of +American troops would pacify Texas or prevent hostilities. This was an +unfortunate mistake, especially in the unsettled condition of things; +for in May, 1845, Mr. Donelson, our chargé to Texas, had warned the +government to be prepared for an immediate blow upon Mexico, if she +should unfortunately declare war against us, and that declaration might +have been expected at any moment.</p> + +<p>The details of the organization of our forces seem, nevertheless, to +have been sadly neglected. Sailing vessels, alone, were relied on to +convey despatches to General Taylor; and, from the wreck of one of them, +a drummer boy, strolling along the beach, on the 15th of August, rescued +a valuable package containing the proclamation of the Mexican government +in which the people were summoned to unite in an army for national +preservation, under the sonorous title of "Defenders of independence and +the laws."<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> The day after this despatch was received, the smugglers +along the coast reported that Arista was rapidly advancing to attack us +with three thousand choice troops. Without artillery to defend the camp, +or dragoons to act as scouts, our general could do nothing but order +entrenchments to be thrown up. Entrenching tools, however, had not been +furnished; and, with only a few old and broken spades the troops labored +briskly, and erected, in a few days, a solid field-work a few yards from +the beach, protected in the rear by the bay. But the battery had not yet +arrived, nor was Gen. Taylor able to obtain from the sloop of war St. +Mary's, which was on the station, any guns of a suitable calibre. +Fortunately, however, he procured three pieces, indifferently equipped, +and a small supply of ammunition, from the citizens of Corpus Christi. +These guns added materially to the strength of our position <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>in case we +were attacked, but were entirely unsuitable for field service.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The proclamation to which we have alluded, and the rumors of vigorous +hostility on the part of Mexico, produced great alarm in the United +States, especially along our southern frontier. In New Orleans, +indignation was openly expressed that our gallant men had been +despatched on this forlorn enterprize without the amplest means of +defence and attack, while our arsenals were filled with all the +munitions of war. A large force of volunteers was, therefore, ordered +out in the south, while two companies of artillery were immediately +despatched to Taylor's succor under the command of Maj. Gally.</p> + +<p>The report of Arista's progress, however, proved to be false, so that we +were fortunately saved from attack. Yet the sufferings of our army did +not cease with those military inconveniences. "Two thirds of the tents +furnished our soldiers were worn out or rotten, and had been condemned +by boards of survey appointed by the proper authorities in accordance +with the army regulations. Transparent as gauze, they afforded little or +no protection against the intense heat of summer or the drenching rains +and severe cold of winter. Even the dews penetrated the thin covering +almost without obstruction. Such were the tents provided for campaigners +in a country almost deluged three months in the year, and more variable +in its climate than any other region, passing from the extreme of heat +to that of cold in a few hours. During the whole of November and +December, either the rains were descending with violence, or the furious +"northers" which ravage this coast were breaking the frail tent-poles or +rending the rotten canvas. For days and weeks every article in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>hundreds +of tents was thoroughly soaked; and during these terrible months, the +sufferings of the sick, in the crowded hospital tents, were +indescribably horrible. Every day added to the frightfulness of the +mortality. At one time a sixth of the entire camp was on the sick list, +and at least one-half unfit for service, in consequence of dysentery and +catarrhal fevers which raged like a pestilence."<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> The camp was +without fires, and, being situated on the edge of a vast prairie +sparsely covered with muskeet trees, was but scantily supplied with wood +even for the most needful purposes. The quarter-master's department +furnished only the weak and stunted <i>mustangs</i> of the country; and the +little and inefficient ponies, geared in the large harness made at the +north for American horses, looked as if they would jump through their +collars instead of use them for traction. With such teams only a +sufficiency of wood could be drawn for cooking, and none for camp fires +to comfort the sick and suffering soldiers. "As winter advanced, the +prairie became a quagmire, the roads almost impassable, and as the +<i>mustangs</i> died in large numbers, wood enough for cooking even, could +not be procured. The encampment now resembled a marsh, the water, at +times, being three or four feet deep in the tents of whole wings of +regiments. All military exercises were suspended, and the bleak gloomy +days were passed in inactivity, disgust and sullenness. The troops, +after being thoroughly drenched all day, without fires to dry them, lay +down at night in wet blankets on the soaked ground, as plank for tent +floors was not furnished by the quarter-masters until the rainy season +was over. At times the men, at tattoo, gasped for breath in the sultry +night air, and, at reveille, found their moist blankets frozen around +them and their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>tents stiff with ice. A portion of the men were kept +without pay for six months, and the rest for four months, although the +law strictly requires payment every two months.</p> + +<p>"Officers and soldiers, destitute of funds, were compelled to borrow, +upon the strength of pay due, of their more fortunate companions, or of +the Shylocks, in search of victims, that polluted the camp. Sick +soldiers, directed by their surgeons to return to the United States, had +either to remain and die, or to submit to exorbitant exactions from +unfeeling villains in their pension certificates and pay accounts, +though the law requires the paymasters to cash them in specie.</p> + +<p>"On the first landing of the 3d and 4th infantry at Corpus Christi, +"Kinney's Rancho," though a lawless, smuggling town, under the vigorous +sway of its martial proprietor, was as quiet and peaceful as a village +in New England. But every fresh arrival of troops was followed by some +portion of that vast horde of harpies, that are ever to be found in the +train of all armies, ready to prey upon the simple and unsuspecting +among the soldiers. In a short time, hundreds of temporary structures +were erected on the outskirts of the "Rancho," and in them, all the +cut-throats, thieves, and murderers of the United States and Texas, seem +to have congregated. No sight could have been more truly melancholy than +that of their bloated and sin-marked visages, as they lounged through +the purlieus of this modern Pandemonium. The air, by day, was polluted +with their horrid oaths and imprecations,—and the savage yells, +exulting shouts, and despairing groans of their murderous frays, made +night hideous. But, not content with confining their hellish deeds to +their own worthy fraternity, they laid their worthless hands on the +troops. Many of the soldiers, enticed to their dram-shops, were drugged +with stupefying potions, and then robbed of their hard earnings, or +murdered in cold blood."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>General Taylor, looking to the probability of a movement against Mexico, +warned the department that a ponton train was indispensable in a country +wherein streams abounded and wood for bridges was scarce; but it was not +despatched until after the next meeting of congress.</p> + +<p>"Six months after the army had taken the field, there were not teams and +wagons enough to transport one half of the troops; so that, in case of +hostilities, had a forward movement been ordered, it could only have +been effected by detachments, and, in consequence, that most fatal of +all military errors would have been committed, of permitting the enemy +to attack and beat in detail. The few teams furnished, it is natural to +think, were the choicest to be found in the west. For, it had been said, +that though the "Army of occupation" was small, the great celerity of +its movements, from the superiority of the American horses, would +contribute, as well as the greater bravery of its men, to make it more +than a match for the largest Mexican force. Ninety yoke of oxen and +several hundred mustangs were therefore bought, but not a single +American horse!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Three batteries of artillery were added to the one which, at length +reached the company from Charleston. Horses were sent with two of them, +to manœuvre them rapidly on the field of battle, and to transport +them wherever the army might go. But the third came unprovided with +cavalry.</p> + +<p>"When the New Orleans volunteers left Corpus Christi, their artillery +horses were turned over to the company from Charleston. This company, +having always acted as infantry, had never even seen a flying artillery +drill,—half of the men could not ride,—many had never ridden at all, +and, in mounting for the first time, made Mr. Winkle's mistake as to +which stirrup to use. It was certainly an original idea, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>to convert, +<i>in a single day</i>, a company of foot into light artillery. However, as +horses had at length been given to the company from Charleston, it was +the ardent desire of the lieutenant commanding, to teach his men to ride +and drive, and the sabre exercise. This the loyal quarter-masters +resolved to prevent, and, at the same time, to show the world how +economical they were. They, therefore, refused to purchase any more hay +and told the dragoons and light artillery, that they, themselves, must +cut and haul the dry and sapless broom straw of the prairie, and forage +their horses on that."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>Such is a picture of the sufferings of our army of occupation, drawn by +an eye-witness, and scarcely colored by the warmth of his feelings. If +the advice of military men, and the opinion of persons whose experience +as campaigners entitled them to respect, had been heeded, this war would +have been speedily ended. Ever since the rumor of annexation in 1843, +but, especially, since the inaugural address of President Polk in 1845, +in which he pronounced so emphatic an opinion as to our right to the +whole of Oregon, our political firmament had been clouded. Prudent men +thought it probable that there would be war with Mexico or hostilities +with England, and that the two sources of irritation, by distracting our +powers, would materially increase each other's virulence.</p> + +<p>At this time, General Gaines, a chieftain who has become venerable in +the service of his country, and whose skill and bravery on many a field +have manifested his character in actions that no citizen can ever +forget, commanded on our south-western frontier. The delicate character +of our foreign relations, to which allusion has just been made, +attracted his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>anxious attention in 1845; and his responsibility as +Chief on a long, exposed frontier, compelled him to give timely warning +to the department. It seemed to this officer, if we engaged hastily in +war with Mexico or England, at such a crisis, and with no preparations +either for an army or its instruction, that the conflict would be +disastrous or procrastinated, especially as the latter power had so far +surpassed us in applying steam to naval purposes. Long years of peace +had rendered us indifferent to war; and unvarying success in other +conflicts had made us confident. Accordingly, he recommended the +concentration of a large force of volunteers on the borders of the +probable theatre of war, where they should be trained in military +science, together with the regulars commanded by General Taylor, until +the spring of 1846. If war could not be averted before that period, we +might then be able to march against the enemy with a powerful and +disciplined army. He contended that the true policy of our country, in +such an assault, was to pursue with relentless energy the military +bandits who swayed the destinies of Mexico, whilst, on all sides, we +protected the persons and property of non-combatants; so that in pushing +onward to the capital we would leave throughout the country traversed an +indelible impression of our justice. Thus the confidence of the best +portions of Mexico would be secured, the <i>prestige</i> of her army promptly +destroyed, and peace obtained before she was able to rally. On the other +hand, General Gaines believed that if we began war without large and +instructed forces, we might count on a protracted struggle, as in the +Seminole campaigns from 1836 to 1842. The precipices upon the doubtful +verge of whose summits we tottered during the war, prove the wisdom of +these suggestions. The faithful page of history admonishes that nations +as well as individuals who recklessly disregard the essential maxims +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>that prescribe their prudent duties, must sooner or later pay the +penalty of neglect. But politicians, uneducated even in the pleasant +discipline of militia trainings, do not view matters in the same light +as military men whose knowledge of detail, and of the responsibilities +of real service, make them unwilling to engage in war, or even to +threaten hostilities, without the amplest preparation to perform all +they promise. Without such true and earnest discipline warlike array is +but a military cheat.</p> + +<p>It is vain to predict what might have been the result had the advice of +the gallant and prudent Gaines been adopted; yet it cannot be doubted +that a well equipped body of twenty-five or thirty thousand men would +have marched to the city of Mexico and dictated peace at the cost of one +fourth the blood and treasure that were subsequently expended. A +lingering policy of hesitation together with the acknowledged +inefficiency of Mexico, may palliate the errors of our cabinet; but wise +politicians will not henceforth fail to be impressed with the necessity +of military preparation which this conflict has taught us.</p> + +<p>A war which was originally supposed to be one exclusively of defence, +was suddenly changed to an aggressive conflict, and is, perhaps, an +additional excuse for our unpreparedness. Most of the events in this +narrative derive peculiar interest from the fact that it is the first +and only offensive war into which we have been forced. With every known +principle of defence we had been long acquainted; for, in the school of +Washington, we acquired a sound, practical knowledge, which subsequent +experience, under the most perfect system of self-government, enabled us +to improve. But it is to be hoped that many years will elapse before our +volunteers will be again called from their peaceful duties to take part +in an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>aggressive war, and especially against a government whose theory +of rule is the same as our own.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—General Gaines, who commanded the western +division, was censured by the War department for having made +a requisition on the governor of Louisiana for State troops +to be sent to the army in Texas under Taylor's command, at +the moment of apprehended danger described in this chapter. +General Taylor, for more than a year previous to September, +1845, commanded one of the brigades of Gaines's division, +and the latter never knew <i>by authority</i> that the former had +been disconnected from him, except upon temporary service, +until advised by the secretary of war on the 13th of +September. He never received a copy of the authority given +to Taylor to go to Texas until after the date of his +requisition for Louisiana volunteers, on the 15th of August, +1845; consequently he <i>then</i> considered himself responsible +for the strength and support of one of his own brigades, and +bound to succor it speedily when he believed it to be in +imminent danger.—See Senate doc. No. 378, for his +correspondence, and especially p. 48.</p></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Almonté's report. Kennedy's Texas, chap. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Senate doc. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Kennedy's Texas, chap. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Senate doc. No. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> An account of the army of observation and occupation, +written by one of its officers, in the Southern Quarterly Review for +April, 1846.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> S. Q. Review, <i>ut antea</i>, p. 442. (April, 1846.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Kennedy's Texas, chap. 2d.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Niles' Reg. vol. 68, p. 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> S. Q. Rev. <i>ut antea</i>. Senate doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st +sess. p. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> S. Q. Rev. <i>ut antea</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Southern Quarterly Review, <i>ut antea</i>. These statements +are made by an able and distinguished officer of our army, who was on +the field, and is perfectly versed in all the matters he discusses.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Our position at Corpus Christi—Instructions to Taylor as to the boundary +of the Rio Grande—Taylor's views—Review and history of the boundary +question—Letter from Mr. Adams—Santa Anna's agreements with Texas, +&c.—March to the Rio Grande ordered—Justification in a military +point of view of the occupation of the disputed territory—Anecdote +of Frederick the Great—War in Silesia and Austria—Madison's conduct +to Spain in 1810—Right of declaration of war—Justifiable causes of +war—Opinion of Sir J. Mackintosh—War and diplomacy contrasted.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>One of the most inclement winters in the Gulf of Mexico had passed in +the comfortless manner described in the last chapter. Our attempts to +negotiate with Mexico were repulsed, and although our minister had not +yet returned to the United States—having delayed at Jalapa with the +hope of finding Paredes more accessible than Herrera—every thing +indicated an ultimate defeat of diplomacy.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile our forces at Corpus Christi were gradually augmenting, under +the command of Generals Taylor and Worth. In October, 1845, the troops +amounted to near four thousand, and General Taylor made every +preparation, by reconnoissances between the Nueces and the Rio Grande +for the ultimate defence of soil which had been claimed by our +government as part of Texas.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>As a military man it was not his duty to affix the boundaries that were +to be the subject of negotiation or war; but simply to ascertain +precisely the extent of defence required along a disputed territory, and +to dispose his troops accordingly.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>In October, 1845, therefore, General Taylor reviewed the instructions +from the war department, and, seeing that he had been ordered to select +and occupy near the Rio Grande such a site as would consist with the +health of the troops, and was best adapted to repel invasion, he +ventured to suggest an advance of his army. This however, was done by +him whilst he felt great diffidence in touching topics that might become +matter of delicate diplomacy. Nevertheless, taking a soldier's view of +the topographical and not the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>diplomatic question, he informed our +government, that if it made the Rio Grande an <i>ultimatum</i> in adjusting a +boundary, he doubted not that the settlement would be facilitated by +taking possession, at once, of one or two suitable points on, or quite +near, that river. At these spots, our strength would be displayed in a +manner not to be mistaken, while the position of our troops at the +remote camp of Corpus Christi, with arid wastes between them and the +outposts of Mexico, altogether failed to impress that government with +our readiness to vindicate by force of arms our title to the country as +far as the Rio Grande.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Moreover, General Taylor felt encumbered by +the orders from our war department of the 8th July, in which he was told +that Mexico held military establishments on the east side of the Rio +Grande, whose forces he should not disturb until our peaceful relations +were finally destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p>Accordingly, on the 13th of January, 1846, our commander-in-chief was +directed to advance with his troops to the Rio Grande.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> This movement +was made in consequence of the anticipated failure of our negotiations, +clearly indicated by the conduct of the Mexican government immediately +upon the arrival of Mr. Slidell in the capital. But before these orders +were despatched to General Taylor, he had already in August, 1845, been +apprised of his duties in the event of hostile demonstrations on the +part of the enemy. In case of an invasion of Texas by the Mexicans, he +was directed to drive them back beyond the Rio Grande; and, although it +was desirable that he should confine himself as much as possible to +defensive measures, yet, in the event of such a repulse, he was +authorized to seize and hold possession of Matamoros and other places on +the soil of Mexico.</p> + +<p>This resolution of our government was made the subject <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>of grave +complaint by persons who opposed the war. The order to advance from +Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande was alleged to be an act of invasion, +and consequently, that <i>hostilities</i> were commenced by us and not by +Mexico.</p> + +<p>It may be pardoned if we pause awhile to consider a subject of such +vital importance. The solution of the question was placed by one party +upon the determination whether the Rio Grande was the boundary between +Texas and Mexico before the battle of San Jacinto; and, if not, whether +it has been made so since by competent authority. Up to that period it +was asserted to be a recognized fact that the Nueces was the western +boundary of Texas. Mr. John Quincy Adams, in his controversy with Don +Luis De Onis, upon the Spanish boundary question, in March, 1818;<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> +and Messieurs Pinckney and Monroe, in their argument with Cevallos at +Madrid in April, 1805,<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> claimed the Rio Grande as the true limit +between the United States and Mexico, by virtue of the ancient rights of +France and the treaties between that sovereignty and the Spanish +king.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> It was asserted, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>therefore, that by the cession of Louisiana +all the rights of France over Texas, as an integral part of her +territory, accrued to us; and consequently that when the State of Texas +was united to this country it was only <i>re</i>-annexed with what were +<i>claimed</i> to be its ancient limits. But this was not a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>true statement +of the controversy, for after our treaty with Spain the aspect of the +affair changed. The question then was no longer what had been the +boundary under the laws between France and Spain, or between Spain and +the United States,—but what were the limits either under the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>colonial +government of the Mexican viceroyalty, or under the laws of Mexico, when +she became an independent republic. It was asserted that no map or +geography existed since the establishment of the republic that did not +lay down the boundary north of the Rio Grande. The map of Texas, +compiled by Stephen H. Austin, the parent of Texan colonization, +published at Philadelphia in 1835, and setting forth all the Mexican +grants in Texas, represents the Rio Nueces as the western boundary. +General Almonté in 1834, as I have previously stated, alleged, upon the +authority of the State government of Coahuila and Texas that the +boundary between them was even east of the Nueces. This was probably in +accordance with the ancient Spanish division; for, in 1805 Cevallos +declared to our ministers at Madrid that the province of Texas, "where +the Spaniards have had settlements from the 17th century, was bounded on +the east by Louisiana, and contains the extensive country which lies +between the river Medina <i>where the government of Coahuila ends</i>, and +the post now abandoned." Authorities to this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>effect might be +extensively multiplied.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> Brazos de Santiago was a Mexican port of +entry, which continued to be held up to the period of hostilities, and +Laredo was a small Mexican town, occupied by a Mexican garrison. If such +was the geographical division between Texas and Mexico on the lower Rio +Grande, near its mouth in the gulf, it was asserted that there could be +infinitely less right to claim it as a limit nearer its source, since +Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, had never been within the +jurisdiction of Texas, and since the boundaries of Chihuahua commenced +near the head waters of the Nueces.</p> + +<p>These were some of the arguments used by individuals who deemed the +march to Point Isabel an invasion of Mexican territory. It is just that +a few reasons should also be presented on behalf of those who believed +it to be lawful or expedient.</p> + +<p>When Santa Anna was captured after the battle of San Jacinto in 1836, +the leading men in Texas had great difficulty in rescuing him from +popular vengeance for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>massacres he had committed. The victory over +the central chief—the despot and dictator of Mexico—was generally +believed to be a crowning measure of success, for the bitter persecutor +soon dwindled into the humble supplicant, and pledged his name and his +oath to secure the independence of the rebellious State. Accordingly, +with every appearance and promise of good faith and honor, he executed +contracts with the Texan authorities which deserve consideration in +discussing this question. On the 14th of May, 1836, at Velasco, two of +these documents were signed by Santa Anna, Burnet, Collingsworth, +Hardiman and Grayson,—the first being a public, and the second a secret +convention between the parties. The third article of the first paper +stipulates that the Mexican troops shall evacuate the <i>territory</i> of +Texas, <i>passing to the other side of the Rio Grande</i>, while the fourth +article of the secret agreement declares that a treaty of amity, +commerce and limits shall be made between Mexico and Texas, <i>the +territory of the latter power not to extend beyond the Rio Bravo del +Norte, or Rio Grande</i>. In conformity with these contracts, Texas set +free the prisoner, whose "prompt release and departure for Vera Cruz," +according to their tenor, "were necessary for the fulfilment of his +<i>solemn oath</i>," to obtain a recognition of the independence of Texas, +and to dispose the Mexican cabinet for the reception of +commissioners.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>Santa Anna returned to his country in disgrace after his disastrous +campaign, and lurked in retirement at his farm until the French attacked +Vera Cruz, when he threw himself again at the head of the departmental +forces. In the action he fortunately lost a limb, and by the skilful +display of his mutilation in defence of Mexico, he renewed his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>claims +to national gratitude. Instead, however, of using his influence to +obtain the treaty, promised as the boon for his life, he became at once +the bitterest foe of Texas, and pledged himself to fight "forever for +its reconquest." Texas, meanwhile, acting in good faith, and presuming +to adopt the spirit and letter of the convention with Santa Anna, whom +she naturally regarded as the dictator of Mexico, passed the act of +December 19, 1836, establishing the Rio Grande as her boundary from the +gulf to its source. Besides this, her congress created senatorial and +representative districts west of the Nueces; organized and defined +limits of counties extending to the Rio Grande; created courts of +justice; spread her judicial system over the country wherever her people +roamed, and performed other acts of sovereignty which we are compelled +not to disregard. It cannot be contended that these acts and agreements +were alone sufficient, under the laws of nations, to confer upon Texas +unquestionable rights over the soil between the Nueces and the Rio +Grande, for a contract with the captive president and general was not +legally binding; but it is equally clear that all these arguments of the +old authorities as to the original boundary, and all the new claims set +up by Texas, under her statutes, as well as stipulations with Santa +Anna, made that territory a disputed ground whose real ownership could +only be equitably settled by negotiation. The strong language of both +the contracts, just recited, seems to <i>concede</i> the fact that the +president of Mexico regarded, at least the lower Rio Grande, as already +the real boundary between Mexico and Texas, notwithstanding the opinion +of Almonté in 1834; and consequently that it was neither the subject of +treaty or agreement at that moment, nor could it become so afterwards +when commissioners were appointed.</p> + +<p>When Texas was annexed to the United States she was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>received with these +asserted limits, though she did not join the Union with any specific +boundaries.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> It was thought best by both parties to leave the +question of confines open between Mexico and our country, so as not to +complicate the national entanglements. After the congress of the United +States and convention in Texas had acted upon the joint resolution it +was impossible for us to recede. The course of our presidents, +therefore, was at once pacific and soothing towards Mexico. For although +they believed that republic had no right to be consulted as to the +annexation of Texas, a free and independent State, they nevertheless +admitted all her natural and just privileges in regard to boundary. Mr. +Tyler and Mr. Polk therefore despatched envoys to Mexico with the offer +of liberal negotiations as soon as a favorable opportunity presented +itself. But the chargé and minister of Mr. Tyler were scornfully +rejected, while Mr. Slidell, as has been already related, was refused an +audience upon frivolous pretences at a moment when the Mexican secretary +was secretly craving to receive him.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p> + +<p>In such a juncture what was the duty of the United States? It is an easy +matter for speculative philosophers or political critics to find fault +with the conduct of statesmen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>and to become prophets of woe <i>after</i> the +occurrence of events they deprecate. But such men are timid actors on +the world's stage, and especially in such a theatre of folly as the +Mexican republic. Governments have but two ways of settling +international disputes,—either by negotiation or war,—and, even the +latter must be concluded by diplomacy, for nations rarely fight until +one of them is completely annihilated. Negotiation, or the attempt to +negotiate, had been completely exhausted by us. Meanwhile Mexico +continued to excite our curiosity by spasmodic struggles in nerving her +people for the war, as well as by gasconading despatches which breathed +relentless animosity to our country for the annexation of Texas. +Nevertheless, this sensitive and vaunting nation would neither make +peace, establish boundaries, negotiate, nor declare war. Was it +reasonable that such a frantic state of things should be permitted to +continue? Could this perverse aversion to fighting or friendship be +tolerated? Were our countries to conclude an eternal compact of mutual +hatred and non intercourse? Was such childish obstinacy and weakness to +be connived at in our country? Was it due to common sense, justice, or +the preservation of a good neighborhood that we should remain supine +under insane threats and dishonorable treatment? We asserted that, upon +the Texas question, we had rightly no dispute with Mexico, except as to +the boundary involved in the territory our forces were then occupying or +about to cross. We did not design discussing our right to annex Texas. +That was an act accomplished and unalterable. It was, doubtless, +exceedingly convenient for Mexico to maintain this pacific state of +<i>quasi-war</i> and to reject, alike, our amity and hostilities, as long as +she owed us many millions of dollars and refused either to pay principal +or interest, or to conclude a treaty for the settlement of unadjusted +claims. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>Whilst her government was able to enforce non-intercourse, it +was free from importunity and payment. But this adroit scheme of +insolvency was unjust to our citizens, and only served to augment the +liabilities of Mexico. What then remained to be done? The reply may be +found in a significant anecdote related by Mr. Adams in a speech in +congress on the Oregon question, on the 2d of January, 1846.</p> + +<p>"After negotiating"—said he—"for twenty years about this matter we may +take possession of the subject matter of negotiation. Indeed, we may +negotiate after we take possession, and this is the military way of +doing business. When Frederick the Great came to the throne of Prussia +he found that his father had equipped for him an army of a hundred +thousand men. Meeting soon after the Austrian minister, the latter said +to him: "Your father has given you a great army, but ours has seen the +wolf, whilst your majesty's has not." "Well—well!" exclaimed Frederick, +"I will soon give it an opportunity to see the wolf!" Frederick then +added, in his memoirs:—"I had some excellent old <i>pretensions</i> to an +Austrian province, which some of my ancestors owned one or two centuries +before; accordingly I sent an ambassador to the court of Austria stating +my claim, and presenting a full exposition of my right to the province. +The same day my ambassador was received in Vienna, I entered Silesia +with my army!"<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>Such would be a prompt and impulsive answer to the manifold +prevarications of seditious Mexico. But the army we advanced and the +country we occupied, were neither the army of Frederick nor the pleasant +vales of rich and populous Silesia. A nearly desolate waste, stretched +from the Nueces to the Rio Grande, barren alike in soil and inhabitants, +and tempting none to its dreary wilderness but nomadic <i>rancheros</i> or +outlaws who found even Mexico no place of refuge for their wickedness. +It was, surely, not a land worthy of bloodshed, and yet, in consequence +of its sterility, it became of vast importance on a frontier across +whose wide extent enemies might pass unobserved and unmolested. With the +entire command of the Rio Grande from its source to its mouth in the +hands of our enemy, and the whole of this arid region flanking the +stream and interposing itself between Mexico and our troops, it is +evident that our adversaries would possess unusual advantages over us +either for offensive or defensive war. The mere control of the +embouchure of the river was no trivial superiority, for, on a stormy and +inhospitable coast, it was almost impossible to support an effectual +blockade and thus prevent the enemy from being succored along his whole +frontier with arms and provisions from abroad. By seizing, however, the +usual points of transit and entrance on the lower Rio Grande many of +these evils might be avoided; and, if Mexico ultimately resolved on +hostilities, we should be enabled to throw our forces promptly across +the river, and by rapid marches <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>obtain the command of all the military +positions of vantage along her north-eastern boundary.</p> + +<p>The foresight of Frederick the Great disclosed to him the military value +of Silesia in the event of a war with Austria, and it was probably that +circumstance, quite as much as his alleged political rights, that +induced him to enter it with an army on the day when he commenced +negotiations. He began the war with Austria by surprising Saxony, and, +during all his difficulties, clung tenaciously to the possession of +Silesia. Saxony was important as a military barrier covering Prussia on +the side of Austria, while Silesia indented deeply the line of the +Austrian frontier and flanked a large part of Bohemia.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> Thus Saxony +and Silesia formed a natural fortification for Prussia, just as the +deserts of the disputed land, when in our rear, covered the undefended +confines of Texas at the same time that they gave us the keys to the +enemy's country at Point Isabel and Matamoros.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It may be asserted that, when vacant or nearly vacant territory is in +controversy between two nations, and forms the only subject of real +dispute between them, it would be better for both to refrain from an +attempt to occupy it, provided they are willing to arbitrate the +quarrel, or settle it by diplomacy. But, when both parties assert +claims, both have equal rights to enter it, when negotiation fails. The +decision is then to be made only by intimidation or war. There is no +alternative by which collision can be escaped, and it is the duty of the +wiser of the disputants to place his national forces in such an +advantageous position as either to defend his acknowledged territory or +force himself to be driven from the soil he claims. "I do not consider +the march to the Rio Grande to have been the cause of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>war"—said a +distinguished statesman, "anymore than I consider the British march on +Concord or Lexington to have been the cause of the American revolution, +or the crossing of the Rubicon to have been the cause of the civil war +in Rome. The march to the Rio Grande brought on the <i>collision of arms</i>, +but, so far from being the cause of the war, it was itself the effect of +those causes."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The power of declaring war is expressly reserved by the constitution to +congress, and, though the president is commander in chief of the army +when called into actual service, he should be extremely cautious in +issuing orders or doing acts which may lead to hostilities resulting in +war. Our congress was in session in January, 1846, when Mr. Slidell was +rejected by Mexico, when our international relations were complicated as +I have described, and when the secretary of war, by the president's +direction, gave the order for Taylor's advance to the Rio Grande. This +was an act that brought the armies of Mexico and the United States in +front of each other; and although there can be no doubt that congress +would have authorised the movement of our troops under the military +advice of General Taylor,—provided the Rio Grande was to be made an +ultimatum in the ratification of a treaty by our senate,—it is, +nevertheless, to be profoundly regretted that the question was not +previously submitted to our national representatives. At that moment the +public mind was distracted between Mexico and England; but the Oregon +question nearly absorbed the apparently minor difficulties with our +restive neighbor. Congress contemplated the solemn probability of war +with one of the mightiest nations of our age, and even some of our +experienced statesmen,—as we have seen in the example of Mr. +Adams,—recommended the most stringent measures of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>armed occupation. At +such a crisis, and with a confidential knowledge of all our foreign +relations, it was the duty of the president to represent these matters +frankly to congress and to ask the opinion of his constitutional +advisers, as he subsequently did in the settlement of the dispute with +Great Britain. This prudent act would have saved the executive from +needless responsibility, whilst it indicated a sensitive devotion to the +behests of our constitution. Congress met whilst our troops were +encamped at Corpus Christi, as an army of observation, whose hostile, +though protective character, was unquestionable; yet our representatives +neither ordered its return nor refused it supplies. This denoted a +willingness to sanction measures which might either pacify Mexico, or +impose upon that republic the immediate alternative of war. It is not +improbable that congress would have adopted such a course, because, +according to the pretensions of Mexico, our troops had already invaded +her domains. This is an important view of the question which should not +be passed by silently. Mexico, it must be remembered, never relinquished +her right to reconquer Texas, but always claimed the <i>whole</i> province as +her own, asserting a determination to regard its union with our +confederacy as justifiable cause of war. The joint-resolution, alone, +was therefore a belligerent act of the congress of the United States, +sufficient, according to the doctrine of Mexico, to compel hostile +retaliation. But, moreover, as the entire soil of Texas, from the Sabine +to the Nueces or Rio Grande was still claimed by Mexico as her +unsurrendered country, the landing of a single American soldier anywhere +south of our ancient boundary with Spain, was quite as hostile an +invasion of Mexican territory as the passage of our army from Corpus +Christi to Point Isabel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>Occasions upon which the eminent right of self protection has been +adopted as a principle of action in the United States, are not wanting +in our political history. The circumstances in all, are of course not +precisely the same, but the policy is identical. The conduct of our +government in regard to General Jackson's invasion of Florida for the +suppression of Indian cruelties may be referred to. But congress might +have found a still more analogous case, in the dispute between Spain and +the United States as to the eastern limits of Louisiana. Spain alleged +that Florida extended to the Mississippi, embracing what was then a +wilderness, but, now, forms the populous States of Alabama and +Mississippi; while our government asserted that all the territory +eastward of the Mississippi and extending to the Rio Perdido belonged of +right to us by virtue of the treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of +April, 1803. By acts of congress in 1803 and 1804 the president was +authorized to take possession of the territory ceded by France, to +establish a provisional government, to lay duties on goods imported into +it; and, moreover, <i>whenever he deemed it expedient</i>, to erect the bay +and river Mobile into a separate district, in which he might establish a +port of entry and delivery.</p> + +<p>In 1810, President Madison believing that the United States had too long +acquiesced in the temporary continuance of this territory under Spanish +domain, and that nothing was to be gained from Spain by candid +discussion and amicable negotiation for several years, solved the +difficulty by taking possession of Mobile and Baton Rouge and extending +our jurisdiction to the Perdido. This possession, he took means to +ensure, if needful, by military force. Mr. Madison's conduct was +assailed in congress by the federalists who regarded it as an +unjustifiable and offensive demonstration against <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>Spain, but it was +defended with equal warmth by the opposition,—especially by Mr. +Clay,—and the Rio Perdido has ever since continued to form the western +limit of Florida.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When nations are about to undertake the dread responsibility of war, and +to spread the sorrow and ruin which always mark the pathway of +victorious or defeated armies, they should pause to contemplate the +enormity of their enterprise as well as the principles that can alone +justify them in the sight of God and man. Human life cannot be lawfully +destroyed, assailed or endangered for any other object than that of just +defence of person or principle, yet it is not a legal consequence that +defensive wars are always just.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> + +<p>"It is the right of a State," said that profound moralist and statesman, +Sir James Mackintosh, "to take all measures necessary for her safety if +it be attacked or threatened from without: provided always that +reparation cannot otherwise be obtained; that there is a reasonable +prospect of obtaining it by arms; and that the evils of the contest are +not probably greater than the mischiefs of acquiescence in the wrong; +including, on both sides of the deliberation, the ordinary consequences +of the example as well as the immediate effects of the act. If +reparation can otherwise be obtained, a nation has no necessary, and +therefore no just cause of war; if there be no probability of obtaining +it by arms, a government cannot, with justice to their own nation, +embark it in war; and, if the evils of resistance should appear on the +whole greater than those of submission, wise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>rulers will consider an +abstinence from a pernicious exercise of right as a sacred duty to their +own subjects, and a debt which every people owes to the great +commonwealth of mankind, of which they and their enemies are alike +members. A war is just against the wrongdoer when reparation for wrong +cannot otherwise be obtained; but is then only conformable to all the +principles of morality when it is not likely to expose the nation by +whom it is levied to greater evils than it professes to avert, and when +it does not inflict on the nation which has done the wrong, sufferings +altogether disproportioned to the extent of the injury. When the rulers +of a nation are required to determine a question of peace or war, the +bare justice of their case against the wrongdoer never can be the sole, +and is not always the chief matter on which they are morally bound to +exercise a conscientious deliberation. Prudence in conducting the +affairs of their subjects is in them a part of justice."</p> + +<p>These are the true principles by which Mexico should have judged the +controversy between us, before she rejected all our efforts to +negotiate, and forced our government to prepare for hostilities.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The idea of war, for mere conquest, seems now to be obsolete among +civilized nations. To political dominion, as exhibited in the various +governments of the old world, and in most of the new, geographical +limits are definitely assigned. This fact must, hereafter, greatly +modify the objects of war, by narrowing them to <i>principles</i> instead of +<i>territory</i>. Principles, however, are always the fair subjects of +controversy for the diplomatic art. Yet such is the perversity of human +nature, that, although we are convinced of the propriety and possibility +of adjusting our disputes by reason, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>we nevertheless go to war for +these very principles, and, after having done each other an incalculable +amount of injury, at last sit down like cripples, to negotiate the very +matters which ought to have been treated and terminated diplomatically +at first. It is, perhaps, the folly of mankind to believe that there is +more wisdom in negotiators and diplomacy when nations are lame and +weakened by war than when they are full of the vigorous energy and +intelligence of peace!</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—It may be useful to record the following +proclamation of General Woll, before annexation, in order to +show, that the agreements between Santa Anna and the Texans +in 1836, are not the only Mexican documents in existence +which seemed to open the boundary question between Texas and +Tamaulipas.</p> + + +<p class="right">"<i>Headquarters of the Army of the North, Mier, June 20, 1844.</i></p> + +<p>"I, Adrian Woll, general of brigade, &c., make known:</p> + +<p>"1. The armistice agreed on with the department of Texas +having expired, and the war being, in consequence, +recommenced against the inhabitants of that department, all +communication with it ceases.</p> + +<p>"2. Every individual, of whatever condition, who may +contravene provisions of the preceding article, shall be +regarded as a traitor, and shall receive the punishment +prescribed in article 45, title 10, treatise 8, of the +articles of war.</p> + +<p>"3. <i>Every individual who may be found at the distance of +one league from the left bank of the Rio Bravo, will be +regarded as a favorer and accomplice of the usurpers of that +part of the national territory, and as a traitor to his +country; and, after a summary military trial, shall receive +the said punishment.</i></p> + +<p>"4. Every individual who may be comprehended within the +provisions of the preceding article, and may be rash enough +to fly at the sight of any force belonging to the supreme +government, shall be pursued until taken, or put to death.</p> + +<p>"5. In consideration of the situation of the towns of La +Reda and Santa Rita de Ampudia, as well as of all the <i>farm +houses beyond the Rio Bravo</i>, I have this day received, from +the supreme government, orders to determine the manner by +which those interested are to be protected; but, until the +determination of the supreme government be received, I warn +all those who are beyond the limits here prescribed, to +bring them within the line, or to abandon them; as those who +disobey this order, will infallibly suffer the punishment +here established.</p> + +<p class="right">ADRIAN WOLL.</p></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> On the 15th of June, 1845, Mr. Bancroft, as acting +secretary of state, wrote to General Taylor as follows: +</p><p class="noin"> +"The point of your ultimate destination is the western frontier of +Texas, where you will select and occupy, on or near the Rio Grande del +Norte, such a site as will consist with the health of the troops, and +will be best adapted to repel invasion, and to protect what, in the +event of annexation, will be our western border." +</p><p class="noin"> +On the 30th of July, 1845, the secretary of war, Mr. Marcy, declared to +him that "the Rio Grande is claimed to be the boundary between the two +countries, and up to this boundary you are to extend your protection, +only excepting any posts on the eastern side thereof which are in the +actual occupancy of Mexican forces, or Mexican settlements over which +the republic of Texas did not exercise jurisdiction at the period of +annexation, or shortly before that event. It is expected that, in +selecting the establishment for your troops, you will approach as near +the boundary line—the Rio Grande—as prudence will dictate. With this +view, the President desires that your position, for a part of your +forces, at least, should be west of the river Nueces." +</p><p class="noin"> +This, and even more forcible language, was repeated in letters from the +same source on the 23d and 30th of August, and on the 16th of October, +1845. In the last letter the secretary of war states distinctly that the +western boundary of Texas is the Rio Grande. See Senate doc. No. 337, +29th cong. 1st sess. pp. 75, 77, 80, 81, 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> That this was General Taylor's view of the question is +proved by a remark in his letter to General Ampudia on the 12th of +April, 1846, on being warned by that officer to break up his camp and to +retire to the other bank of the Nueces. General Taylor says: I need +hardly advise you that charged as I am, <i>in only a military capacity, +with the performance of specific duties, I cannot enter into a +discussion of the international question involved in the advance of the +American army</i>.—id. p. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> See Senate Doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Id. p. 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Id. p. 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> American State papers, vol. 4, p. 468.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Id. vol. 2, p. 662.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> As it may be important that the reader should understand +the title to Louisiana under which the boundary of the Rio Grande was +claimed, the following is a summary of its history. Louisiana originally +belonged to France, but by a secret compact between that country and +Spain in 1762, and by treaties, in the following year, between France, +Spain, and England, the French dominion was extinguished on all the +continent of America. In consequence of the treaty between this country +and England in 1783, the Mississippi became the western boundary of the +United States from its source to the 31° of north latitude, and thence, +on the same parallel to the St. Mary's. France, it will be remembered, +always had <i>claimed</i> dominion in Louisiana to the Rio Bravo or Rio +Grande, by virtue +</p><p class="noin"> +1st. Of the discovery of the Mississippi from near its source to the +ocean. +</p><p class="noin"> +2d. <i>Of the possession taken, and establishment made by La Salle, at the +bay of St. Bernard, west of the rivers Trinity and Colorado, by +authority of Louis XIV, in 1685</i>; notwithstanding the subsequent +destruction of the colony. +</p><p class="noin"> +3d. Of the charter of Louis XIV, to Crozat in 1712. +</p><p class="noin"> +4th. The historical authority of Du Pratz, Champigny, and the Count de +Vergennes. +</p><p class="noin"> +5th. Of the authority of De Lisle's map, and of the map published in +1762 by Don Thomas Lopez, <i>geographer to the king of Spain</i>, as well as +of various other maps, atlases, and geographical and historical +authorities. +</p><p class="noin"> +By an article of the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, in October, 1800, +Spain retroceded Louisiana to France; yet this treaty was not +promulgated till the beginning of 1802. The paragraph of cession is as +follows: "His Catholic majesty engages to retrocede to the French +republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the +conditions and stipulations above recited relative to his Royal +Highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony and province of Louisiana, with +the same extent that it already has in the hands of Spain, <i>and that it +had when France possessed it</i>, and such as it should be, after the +treaties passed subsequently between Spain and other powers." In 1803, +Bonaparte, the first consul of the French republic, ceded Louisiana to +the United States, as fully and in the same manner as it had been +retroceded to France by Spain in the treaty of San Ildefonso; and, by +virtue of this grant, Messieurs Madison, Monroe, Adams, Clay, Van Buren, +and Jackson contended that the original limits of the state had been the +Rio Grande. However, by the 3rd article of our treaty with Spain in +1819, all our pretensions to extend the territory of Louisiana towards +Mexico or the Rio Grande, were resigned and abandoned by adopting the +River Sabine as our southern confine in that quarter. See Lyman's +diplomacy of the United States. Vol. 1, p. 368, and vol. 2, p. 136. +</p><p class="noin"> +The following extract from a valuable letter with which the author was +favored by Ex-President Adams, who, as secretary of state, conducted the +negotiations with Spain, will explain his opinions and acts upon a +subject of so much importance. +</p> +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Quincy</span>, 7th July, 1847. +</p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p class="noin"> +"Whoever sets out with an inquiry respecting the right of +territories in the American hemisphere claimed by Europeans, +must begin by settling certain conventional principles of +right and wrong before he can enter upon the discussion. +</p><p class="noin"> +"For example what right had Columbus to Cat Island, +otherwise called Guanahani? Who has the right to it now and +how came they by it? The flag of St. George and the Dragon +now waves over it; but who had the right to take possession +of it because Christopher Columbus found it,—the paltriest +island in the midst of the ocean. European statesmen, +warriors, and writers on what are called the laws of +nations, have laid down a system of laws upon which they +found this right. Have the Carribee Indians, in whose +possession that Island was discovered by Columbus, ever +assented to that system of right and wrong? +</p><p class="noin"> +"You remember that Hume, in commencing his history of +England by the Roman conquest says—"that without seeking +any more justifiable reasons of hostility than were employed +by the later Europeans in subjecting the Africans and the +Americans, they sent over an army under the command of +Plautius, an able general, who gained some victories, and +made a considerable progress in subduing the inhabitants." +Then, no European has ever had any better right to take +possession of America, than Julius Cæsar and the Romans had +to take possession of the island of Britain. +</p><p class="noin"> +"What then was the right either of France or Spain to the +possession of the province of Texas? To come to any question +of right between the parties upon the subject you must agree +upon certain conventional principles: where and when your +question of right must become applicable to the facts; and, +as between them, it was a disputed question, and had been so +from the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi river by +La Salle, and from his second expedition to find the mouth +of the Mississippi coming from the ocean, in which he +perished. +</p><p class="noin"> +"Spain had prior claims to the country, but the claim of +France was founded upon the last voyage of La Salle, and by +extending a supposed derivative right, from the spot where +La Salle landed half way to the nearest Spanish settlement. +</p><p class="noin"> +"Mr. Monroe and Mr. Charles Pinckney, in their +correspondence with Cevallos, assumed this as a settled +principle between European nations, in the discussion of +right to American territory. It was not contested, but was +not assented to on the part of Spain; and, having found it +laid down by Messieurs Monroe and Pinckney, I argued upon +it, and it was never directly answered by Don Luis De Onis, +who could not controvert it without going to the Pope's +Bull.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> +</p><p class="noin"> +"As between France and Spain therefore, I maintained that +the question of right, had always been disputed and never +was settled, from which opinion I have not since varied. +That we had a shadow of right beyond the Sabine I never +believed since the conclusion of the Florida treaty, and, it +is from the date of that treaty, that Great Britain had not +a shadow of right upon the Oregon territory until we have +been pleased to confer it upon her." +</p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p class="noin"> +"I am, dear sir, with great respect, your very obedient +servant, +</p><p class="right"> +J. Q. ADAMS." +</p><p class="noin"> +To <span class="smcap">Brantz Mayer, Esq.</span>, Baltimore."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Alexander VIth's Bull of Donation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> See "Matthew Carey's general map of the world,"—29th +map—published 1814.—Kennedy's Texas, p. 4.—Mrs. Holley's +Texas.—History of Texas, by D. B. Edwards, preceptor of Gonzales +Seminary, Texas, 1836, p. 14. He says:—"Texas is bounded on the north +by Red river, which divides it from Arkansas, Ozark District, and New +Mexico; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio de las Nueces, +<i>which divides it from the States of Coahuila and Tamaulipas</i>; on the +east by the eastern branch of the river Sabine and the State of +Louisiana; on the west by the State of Coahuila and the territory of New +Mexico." +</p><p class="noin"> +Accompanying the work is a map of Texas with boundaries, as laid down +above. In a note on one corner of the map, speaking of the Rio Grande, +he says: "<i>If</i> this river should ever become the western boundary of +Texas (as desired by the inhabitants) it will add a hundred miles to its +sea-coast and fifty thousand square miles to its superficies; the +southern section of the surface is sandy, barren prairie, almost +destitute of water; and its northern rocky, sterile mountains, nearly as +destitute of timber."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Primera Campaña de Tejas: by Ramon Martinez Caro, +secretary of Santa Anna, pp. 122, 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Mr. Donelson wrote to Mr. Buchanan on the 2d July, 1845, +from Washington, Texas, as follows: "<i>My position is</i> that we can hold +Corpus Christi and all other points up the Nueces. If attacked, the +right of defence will authorise us to expel the Mexicans to the Rio +Grande. It is better for us to await the attack than incur the risk of +embarrassing the question of annexation with the consequences of +immediate possession of the territory on the Rio Grande. * * * The +government left for treaty arrangement the boundary question in the +propositions for a definitive treaty of peace. H. of R. doc. No. 2, 29th +cong. 1st sess. pp. 78, 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> I am informed by Mr. Parrott, the secretary of legation +who accompanied Mr. Slidell, that no form of letters of credence—or +evidence of powers as "<i>commissioner to settle the Texan dispute</i>," +would have secured a hearing for our envoy. The mob, the army, and +Paredes were determined that no missionary of peace should be received +from the United States.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> The <i>claim</i> of Frederick the IInd to Silesia was +considered <i>plausible</i>. As Bohemia renounced not only the possession, +but all its rights to Silesia by the treaties of Breslau and Berlin and +other subsequent treaties, the kings of Prussia pretended, that by +virtue of the renunciation, they became sovereign dukes of the country +and not subject to the emperor in their new character. To this claim it +was replied that Bohemia being an imperial State, could not, of its own +authority, destroy the feudal tenure by which Silesia was attached to +it, and through it to the empire. The question was rendered more +intricate, for one party considered Bohemia feudal only as to the +electoral dignity, but as a kingdom free and independent of Germany. The +Germans argued that Silesia was part of the empire, the Prussians +considered it a separate and independent State. Frederick took advantage +of these "state right" doctrines to sustain his claim, as Texas took +advantage of her state right sovereignty when the central despotism of +Santa Anna overthrew the federal constitution of 1824.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Arnold's fourth lecture on Modern History.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Waite's State papers, 1809-11, p. 261; and Clay's speech +on the line of the Perdido.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Pufendorf, Lib. VIII, c. 6.—Note by Barbeyrac.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Army marches from Corpus Christi—Taylor prepares the Mexicans for his +advance—Description of the march—Beautiful prairie and desolate +sand wilderness—Rattlesnakes—Chapparal—The Arroyo Colorado—First +hostile demonstrations of the Mexicans—Expected fight—Cross the +Colorado—Worth and Taylor separate—True nature of discipline—Characters +of Mexican and American soldiers contrasted.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>On the 8th of March, 1846, the joyous news ran through the American +camp, at Corpus Christi, that the tents were at last to be struck. The +worn out soldiery had nothing to regret in quitting a spot where their +eyes were only relieved by looking from the dreary sea in front to the +desolate prairie in the rear. General Taylor had already taken means to +prepare the Mexicans for his advance, although he scarcely expected +resistance. Respectable citizens from Matamoros had frequently visited +his camp; and to all of those who were represented as possessing +influence at home he proclaimed the unhostile feelings of our government +towards their country, and that when our army marched southward it would +not pass the Rio Grande unless Mexico provoked war. He invariably +apprized these strangers of his resolution to protect the peaceful +inhabitants in all their rights and usages, as well as to pay for every +thing needed by his forces instead of plundering the country for +support.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, on the morning of the 8th of the month, the advanced guard, +composed of the cavalry and Major <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>Ringgold's light artillery,—the +whole under the command of Colonel Twiggs, and numbering twenty-three +officers and three hundred and eighty-seven men,—took up its line of +march towards Matamoros. This corps was succeeded by the brigades of +infantry, the last of which departed on the 11th followed immediately by +the commander in chief with his staff. The weather was favorable; the +roads in tolerable order; the troops in good condition notwithstanding +the winter's hardships; while a general spirit of animation pervaded the +whole body, inspired as it was with the hope of adventure in the +neighborhood of an enemy. All, therefore, departed on this day from +Corpus Christi by land, except the command of Major Monroe, who was to +reach the Brazos de Santiago in transports under convoy of the United +States brig Porpoise and the Woodbury. This officer was to embark with a +siege train and field battery, in season to reach his destination when +the army would be in the vicinity of Point Isabel.</p> + +<p>The last adieus of our forces to their dreary winter quarter were by no +means tearful, as with colors flying and music playing, they crossed the +sandy hills that concealed it forever from their sight. The first day's +march passed through alternate patches of prairies and timber to the +Nueces; but, on the two next, these sad wastes were exchanged for +splendid fields blossoming with flowers of every hue. A delicious +fragrance filled the air, and the whole surface of the earth as far as +the eye could reach, seemed covered with a beautiful carpet. The edge of +the horizon, in every direction, was crowded with wild animals. On one +side thousands of mustangs curvetted over the gentle elevations of the +rolling prairie; on another herds of deer might be seen standing for a +moment filled with wonder at the unwonted sight of human beings, and +then bounding off <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>until they were lost in the vast distance. Beautiful +antelopes, nimble as the wind, were beheld in countless numbers, while +pecarys and wild bulls rushed in droves across the path of our men. But, +on the fourth day of the march, this scene of enchantment suddenly +vanished. Uncultivated prairies and immense herds of savage beasts had +already testified the abandoned state of the country; yet the region our +forces now entered disclosed the frightful "nakedness of the land." The +water became exceedingly bad, and there was scarcely fuel enough for +culinary purposes. The blooming vegetation of the preceding days was +exchanged for sands through which the weary men and cattle toiled with +extreme difficulty. Salt lagunes spread out on every side. At each step +the fatigued soldier plunged ankle-deep in the yielding soil, while a +scorching sun shone over him and not a breath of air relieved his +sufferings. At times, a verdant forest loomed up along the heated +horizon, fringed by limpid lakes, and our wearied columns moved on +gaily, cheated, again and again, by the hope of shade and water. +Suddenly the beautiful groves dwindled into jagged clumps of thorns or +aloes, and the fairy lakes changed to salt and turbid lagunes. "The +wormwood star had fallen on every thing and turned the waters to +bitterness." The plant whose piercing spines and sword-like leaves have +entitled it to the name of the "Spanish bayonet," was the hermit shrub +of this dreadful Zaharah. Around its roots the snakes lurked and +crawled. Whenever the soldiers' path was unimpeded by these annoyances, +scarifying his limbs as he advanced, the ground seemed heated and +sinking like the <i>scoriæ</i> of Vesuvius. Man and beast sank exhausted +and panting on the earth. The want and value of delicious water are +never known till we pass a day like this under the burning rays of a +tropical sun, toiling on foot over a scorched <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>and arid soil without +refreshment! At length the word ran along the line that it was +approaching a lake whose waters were not salt. "Under the excitement of +hope the faint and exhausted infantry pressed onward with renewed life, +while, some miles ahead, the artillery were seen to halt enjoying the +luxury of <i>water</i>. As the soldiers reached it all discipline was +forgotten; their arms were thrown down, and they rushed boldly in, +thrusting their heads beneath the waves in their desire to quench the +thirst that was consuming their vitals."<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>Such is the natural aspect and character of the desolate region between +the Nueces and the Rio Grande,—a chequered wilderness of sand and +verdure,—fit only for the wild beasts that inhabit it, and properly +described in former days, as a suitable frontier between the great +republics of North America.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On the 21st of March, all our forces concentrated on the Arroyo +Colorado,—a salt stream or lagune nearly one hundred yards broad, and +so deep as to be scarcely fordable,—situated about thirty miles north +of Matamoros. Had the enemy attacked us here his assault would have been +formidable, wearied as were our troops with the distressing marches of +previous days. Bold, bluff banks, twenty or thirty feet high, hem in the +stream, whose borders, on both sides, are lined, for a considerable +breadth, with impervious thickets of <i>chapparal</i>. These thorny groves +are to be found in all sections of the south, varying in size from a few +yards to a mile in thickness, so closely interlaced and matted with +briers and bushes as to prevent the passage of animals larger than a +hare. They are the sorest annoyances of travellers in Mexico, and often +force the wayfarer to make a long <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>circuit to pass their limits, though +they reward him for his trouble by supplying an abundance of the +<i>tuna</i>—a luscious fruit of the prickly pear,—which grows luxuriantly +on these natural and impenetrable walls.</p> + +<p>Such, with the barrier of the stream, was the fortification nature had +interposed for the safe guard of Mexico at the Arroyo Colorado. But the +inert natives seemed indisposed to take advantage of those rare +defences, though not without some hostile demonstration which the +resolute conduct of Taylor soon overcame.</p> + +<p>When our advanced corps encamped near the banks of the stream on the +19th, an armed <i>reconnoisance</i> was sent forward to examine the country. +On reaching the river, our scouts discovered that the opposite side was +lined with a body of <i>ranchero</i> cavalry, from whom they learned, +although no opposition was made to our examination of the ford, that we +should be treated as enemies if we attempted to pass it. Impossible as +it was to ascertain accurately the amount of the opposing force, our men +were prepared for the worst, and, at an early hour of the 20th, the +cavalry and first brigade of infantry were thrown in position, at the +ford, while the batteries of field artillery were formed so as to sweep +the opposite bank. All was now anxiety and eagerness among our gallant +men. Far along the borders of the river, above and below, the bugles of +the enemy were heard ringing out in the clear morning air. But the hope +of frightening our men by overwhelming numbers was of no avail. Our +pioneers worked steadily on the road they were cutting to the brink of +the river; and, when all was ready for the passage, the adjutant general +of the Mexican forces appeared on the ground for a final effort of +intimidation. With Spanish courtesy, he informed our general that +positive orders were given to his men to fire upon our forces if they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>attempted to cross, and that our passage of the river would be +considered a declaration of war. At the same time he placed in Taylor's +hands a warlike proclamation issued by Mejia at Matamoros on the 18th, +containing unequivocal manifestations of the intention of the Mexicans +to molest us.</p> + +<p>Our commander-in-chief, however, was not to be deterred by these threats +from the fulfilment of the orders he had received to pass the Rio +Grande. He answered the officer that he would "<i>immediately</i> cross the +river, and that if his hostile party showed itself on the other bank +after our passage was commenced, it would unquestionably receive the +fire of our artillery." In the meantime the second brigade, which had +encamped some miles in our rear, came up and formed on the extreme +right; and, as the road to the river bank was by this time completed, +the order to advance was given.</p> + +<p>It was a moment of intense excitement. What forces might not lurk behind +the dense walls of <i>chapparal</i>, ready to dash upon our ranks as they +deployed on the other side? Our artillerists stood to their aimed and +loaded guns. The Mexicans were doubtless eager and panting for +resistance in the rear of the bristling plants that lined the lofty +parapet of the river's bank. Every eye was strained upon the first +daring rank that was to plunge into the stream as a "forlorn hope." +Mexico would fight now if ever; for her mettle was as yet untried! For +an instant, profound silence reigned along the anxious line which the +next moment might be involved in the fire of battle. Suddenly the +gallant Worth spurred to the head of our troops, and dashing boldly into +the flood, waved them on to the further shore. But not a shot was fired +by the recreant foe, and as our men rose shouting from the water and +rushed up the steeps of the opposite bank they beheld the valiant +Mexicans in brisk retreat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>towards Matamoros! The fugitives were +unmolested;—a laugh of scorn and pity ran through our ranks;—and, +before nightfall, the first and second brigades of infantry, with a +train of two hundred wagons had crossed the stream and encamped three +miles from its banks.</p> + +<p>This was an important affair, as it was the first in which the Mexicans +showed themselves in a decidedly hostile attitude; and it furnished an +excellent opportunity to try the mettle of our men both in spirit and +discipline. Not a soldier faltered.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On the morning of the 23d of March, General Taylor departed with his +whole army from the camp near the Colorado. After a march of fifteen +miles he reached, on the 24th, a position on the route from Matamoros to +Point Isabel,—distant about eighteen miles from the former and ten from +the latter,—where he left the infantry brigades under the command of +General Worth, with instructions to press on in the direction of +Matamoros until a suitable position for encampment was obtained, at +which he might halt, holding the route in observation, whilst the +commander-in-chief proceeded with the cavalry to Point Isabel. At that +post General Taylor expected to meet the transports from Corpus Christi +with the force under Major Monroe, and to make the necessary +arrangements for the establishment and defence of a depot.</p> + +<p>As soon as the army left the Colorado a new object, of more interest in +natural history than military memoirs, presented itself to the notice of +our troops. The soil was covered with a long wiry grass among which +glided immense numbers of huge rattlesnakes, more appalling to our +soldiers than the Mexicans. The country literally swarmed with serpents. +From the Colorado to within a few miles of Point <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>Isabel their warning +rattle was heard on all sides. They crept between the ranks as our men +marched through the long herbage, and at night coiled themselves +comfortably under their blankets for warmth.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Familiar as we are with the campaigns of Frederick and Napoleon, and +willing to record as classical the great deeds of the old world's +heroes, we are still often loath to do justice to the brave men in our +own country who have served the State so zealously in Florida and +Mexico. It is not simple bravery in battle that commends a soldier to +admiration, for few are cowards when the excitement of action hurries +them headlong among their foes amid the shouts and thunder of actual +carnage. But it is the preparatory discipline that tests a military +character. The camp and the march are the soldier's training. The dreary +winter-quarter passed in patient service, and the wearying advance over +burning plains or snowy mountains, are the real touchstones of courage, +and prove those powers of <i>endurance and subordination</i> which make +resistance staunch and stubborn. These are the sources of discipline; +and it was with troops that had borne the winter hardships at Corpus +Christi, I have described, and made the short but arduous march to Point +Isabel, that Taylor felt sure of victory. They had encountered +extraordinary fatigue, and yet were ready at a moment's notice for +battle without flinching. With such schooling an army becomes a gigantic +instrument moving with the accuracy of clock-work, put in motion by the +general's genius. It can endure as well as perform all he requires, and +he knows that the result of a battle depends alone on his numbers, his +position, or his individual skill in military combination. The common +soldier and the officer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>thus react upon each other, and the electric +chain of mutual <i>confidence</i> makes success an impulse.</p> + +<p>The American and the Mexican soldier are essentially different, though +both, according to the report of distinguished officers, are almost +equally brave. In the anglo-saxon race bravery is the balance between +prudence and courage, exercised with an indomitable resolution to +achieve a desired end. The American soldier is fearless, yet he values +life and seeks to protect it. His object is to subdue or slay his foe, +still he determines to avoid, if possible, a fatal catastrophe. This +renders him intrepid while it teaches the importance of discipline and +obedience to resolute and skilful officers. He perceives at once the +object to be secured or the thing to be done, and he marches on with the +mingled caution and spirit requisite for success.</p> + +<p>It may be said that a certain degree of timidity is necessary in every +balanced character in order to ensure reflection, for natural courage, +unaided by sensitiveness, would render it rash. But the Mexican soldier +seems to be guided by a different system, and to be brave without either +prudence or enduring discipline. He is trained in manœuvres; and, +believing that when he masters his manual he is equal to all military +emergencies, he supposes that a battle is little more than a parade. As +Mexican troops are rather political engines, designed for the domestic +police of cities, than for actual service in the field, the soldier is +more of a plaything than a tool or weapon. Vague, ideal notions of Roman +patriotism, are infused into his mind by the demagogues of the army in +bombastic proclamations, and he imagines it better to perish than +surrender to his foe. But this murderous doctrine of "revenge or death" +serves rather to animate him <i>before</i> battle than to carry him steadily +through its perils. He has the ability to perceive the beauty of +abstract virtue, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>but lacks the sustained energy, the profound +endurance, to realize it. He rushes onward without deliberation, or +regard of consequences. An international war is, in his estimation, a +personal not a political quarrel. A brutal ferocity marks every headlong +movement, and deprives him of the control of reason. Besides this, +<i>life</i>, has not the same value to a Mexican as to an American warrior, +for the objects and hopes of their lives are incapable of comparison. +One lives for practical liberty and progress, the other's existence is a +mere strife for bread under military despotism. A Mahomedan +fatalism—derived, perhaps, from his Moorish kindred—tinges the nature +of a Mexican, and the impulsive blood of a tropical climate subjects him +almost exclusively to his instincts. Hence Spanish wars have been long +and sanguinary butcheries, while their civil dissensions are the feted +ferment of corruption.</p> + +<p>The Mexican, hot and fretful in controversy, is ever quick and sometimes +secret, in ridding himself of his foe;—the American is equally prompt +with his pistol, but gives his insulting enemy an equal chance. A sudden +conflict with knives ends a Spanish rencontre or dispute; while periods +of deliberation and cool arrangements precede the fatal field between +our countrymen. The American officer is scientifically educated in +military schools and <i>leads</i> his men to battle. The Mexican is ignorant +of all but ordinary drills, and either <i>follows</i> his impulsive +squadrons, or, flies at the approach of personal danger. The one has +nerve and endurance, the other impulse and passion; hence, while the +Mexican strikes his blow and retreats to his lair if foiled, the +American, equally unchanged by victory or defeat, moves onward with +indomitable purpose until his object is successfully accomplished. The +one dwindles too often into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>the cruel assassin or relentless +persecutor,—the other, as frequently, attains the dignity of a clement +hero.</p> + +<p>These general observations apply, of course, only to the masses, for +truly brave and patriotic men exist in all countries, and nowhere are +the examples of heroic qualities more conspicuous than among the Spanish +races. The fault lies more in temperament than in soul. An equipoise +between intellect and passion is alone deficient in the nature of the +Mexican people, for the savage has not been entirely extirpated from the +mingled blood of Indian and Spaniard.</p> + +<p>When the remarkable energy of men, born in genial climates, is tempered +by self restraint, it produces that urbane and chivalrous character +which once made war the school of gentlemen. But the modern ideas of +liberty and patriotism have deprived standing armies of all exclusive +claim to national protection; and, as long as each citizen feels that +the defence of his native land or of his country's rights depends upon +himself, the volunteer as well as the regular will be prompt to +discharge his military duty with skill, alacrity and irresistible +resolution.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Army on the Rio Grande, p. 13.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Character of Mexican diplomacy—Genius of the Spanish language—Paredes's +proclamation—Hostilities authorized by him—Taylor goes to Isabel—Description +of the Brasos St. Jago and Point Isabel—burning of the +custom-house—Made a depot and fortified—Taylor and Worth unite and +plant the American flag opposite Matamoros—Worth's interview with +La Vega and Césares—Fruitless efforts of our generals to establish +amity—Description of the country round Matamoros—appearance of the +town.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The qualities which characterize the Mexican soldier, as described in +the last chapter, mark also the statesman of that country. Their loud +and vain-glorious professions of resolve; their bombastic proclamations; +their short, passionate and revolutionary governments; their personal +rivalries and universal anarchy, denote impulsive tempers utterly +incapable of sustained self-rule or resistance. To those who are +familiar with Mexican history, this is not a novel fact, yet it has been +astonishingly manifested in the war between our countries. It would be a +tedious task to recount the various manifestos and despatches that were +written to control and satisfy public sentiment in regard to the pending +difficulties. Diplomacy is the weapon of weak powers, and the pen is a +most important implement when defeat, inaction or incompetency are to be +excused to the Mexicans. There is something perhaps in the genius of the +Spanish language that renders it peculiarly appropriate to appease the +vanity of those who speak it. The natural vehicle of eloquence, its +magic words, its magnificent phrases and its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>sonorous sentences march +along in solemn and pompous procession, and compel the attention of +every listener. Simple sentiments, clothed in the expressions of this +beautiful tongue assume new and striking shapes, and the judgment is +charmed or swayed by sympathy with the ear.</p> + +<p>The statesmen of Mexico are aware of these extraordinary advantages, and +whether they have to account for a lost battle, tranquillize a +passionate mob, or satisfy an importunate <i>diplomat</i>, they are equally +ready to resort to the armory of their resounding language for defence.</p> + +<p>We have already seen that Paredes overthrew Herrera's administration by +means of the Texan question and opposition to negotiation with our +government. When General Taylor advanced towards the Rio Grande this +chieftain was still president and quite as unable to fulfil the promises +to repel us as his predecessors had been in 1844 and 1845. Feeling, +under the peculiar views of the controversy they entertained, that the +honor of their country required our expulsion from Texas, they had +announced and pledged this auspicious result to the people. But at the +moment when all these extraordinary boasts were made, they were, +doubtless, designed only to serve a temporary purpose, under the hope +that some fortuitous circumstance might occur which would exonerate them +from war. I have heretofore stated that the Mexicans were encouraged in +resistance by the belief of impending difficulties with England. In +addition to this, Paredes probably relied on foreign interference in +consequence of his monarchical schemes; nor was it until the spring and +summer of 1846, that all these prospects were blighted by the energetic +course of our senate and the discretion the British cabinet in regard to +Oregon. But it was then too late to retreat, for hostilities had already +commenced.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>Loud as were the Mexicans in their fulminations against our alleged +usurpation, I am inclined to believe they never seriously contemplated +the invasion of Texas, but hoped either to let the question sleep for +many years in the portfolios of negotiators whilst a rigorous +non-intercourse was preserved, or to solicit, finally, the mediatorial +influence of Great Britain and France in order to prevent war if our +congress intimated a disposition to declare it. This opinion is founded +upon the remarkable proclamation issued in Mexico on the 21st of March, +1846, by General Paredes.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> His language is still decided in regard to +Mexican rights over Texas; but he asserts that "<i>the authority to +declare war against the United States is not vested in him</i>," and that +the congress of the nation, which is about to assemble, must consider +what is necessary in the approaching conflict. This proclamation was +issued in the capital after it was known that our army was advancing to +the Rio Grande, and on the very day when Mr. Slidell's passports were +sent him at Jalapa by the Mexican government. But between the 21st of +March and the 23d of April the provisional president's opinion of his +rights underwent a change, for, on that day, he published another +proclamation in which he asserts that he had "sent orders to the general +in chief of the division of the northern frontier to <i>act in hostility</i> +against the army which is in hostility against us; to oppose war to the +enemy which wars upon us;" though, in conclusion, he announces that +still he "does <i>not declare war</i> against the government of the United +States of America."<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Thus, under the masked name of <i>hostilities, +the Mexican government authorised the first warlike blows to be struck</i>, +because, as it alleged, we had invaded the national domain by marching +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>to Matamoros. It was the forced realization of all those gasconading +manifestos, which for the last two years had breathed war and defiance +against the United States. Such, then, was the actual origin of the +collision, for the troops and officers of General Taylor religiously +abstained from acts of military violence, and confined themselves +exclusively to the defence of the territory they were directed to hold. +That mere <i>protection</i> was the undoubted purpose of our government, will +not be questioned by the reader when he recollects the smallness of our +army, and its entire want of preparation to molest or invade a nation of +more than seven millions of inhabitants.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the last chapter, General Taylor was left on his way to Point Isabel, +while Worth moved in the direction of Matamoros.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> During the march +of our column towards the sea shore it was approached, on its right +flank, by a party of Mexicans bearing a white flag, which proved to be a +civil deputation from Matamoros desiring an interview with the +commander-in-chief. General Taylor apprised the representatives of +Tamaulipas that he would halt at the first suitable place on the road to +afford them a reception; but it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>found necessary to pass on to Point +Isabel without delay in consequence of the want of water elsewhere on +the route. The deputation, however, declined accompanying our forces +towards their destination, and halting a few miles from the Point, sent +a formal protest of the prefect of the northern district of Tamaulipas +against our occupation of the disputed country. At this moment it was +discovered that the buildings of Point Isabel were in flames. The +retreating Mexicans had set fire to the edifices to prevent our +occupation; and, as General Taylor considered this a direct and +vexatious evidence of hostility, and was unwilling to be trifled with by +the tools of the military authorities of Matamoros, he dismissed the +deputation with the information that he would answer the protest when he +was opposite the city.</p> + +<p>The cavalry was forthwith pushed on to the burning town in time to +arrest the fire which consumed but three or four houses; yet the +inhabitants had already fled, and the officer, who committed the +incendiary act under the orders, it is said, of General Mejia, was +nowhere to be found.</p> + +<p>As our troops entered the village they were gratified to find that the +transports from Corpus Christi had exactly answered their land movement, +and that the steamers had arrived in the harbor with the convoy close in +their rear, only a few hours before our forces entered from the desert. +General Taylor immediately directed the engineers to examine the ground +with a view of tracing lines of defence and strengthening a position, +which he decided should form the great depot of our forces.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Point Isabel is approached from the sea through the Brazos de Santiago. +It is a wild and desolate sea coast, defended by bars and strewn with +wrecks. In former years, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>a small Mexican village and fort, containing a +couple of cannons, stood upon the Brazos Point, but during one of those +terrific storms which ravage the Mexican coast, the sea rose above the +frail barrier of shifting sand, and when the tempest subsided, it was +discovered that the village and fortification had been engulfed beneath +the waves. Few places are more inhospitable on the American coast than +the bar of Brazos. There is no friendly shore under whose protecting lee +ships may seek safety during the awful hurricanes that so often descend +upon them without a moment's warning. But when a vessel has fairly +passed the entrance, she moves along securely over the waters of the +bay, and anchors under cover of the sand hills to the left whilst her +passengers and freight are landed in boats or lighters.</p> + +<p>On a bluff promontory jutting out into the bay and sloping gradually +inland, stands the village of Isabel. Its houses denoted the character +of its people. The spars of wrecked vessels, a few reeds, and the +<i>debris</i> of a stormy shore, thatched with grass and sea weed, formed the +materials of which they were built, while a vagabond race, fifty or +sixty in number, constituted the official but smuggling population, +which was prepared to protect the revenue of Mexico or receive bribes +from contrabandists, as their interests might dictate. A certain Señor +Rodriguez was the captain of this important port at the period of our +occupation; and, being a person equally ready to take pay from importers +or exporters of goods as well as to receive further compensation for +concealing his roguery from the government, he deemed it his duty, as a +faithful officer, to destroy the custom house by the conflagration that +incensed General Taylor against the prefect of Tamaulipas.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> Such +was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>Point Isabel and its vagrant inhabitants, when abandoned to our +forces, and adopted as a depot.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>While the engineers were engaged in fortifying a position, which was +soon to become of so much importance in the war, General Taylor rejoined +the division under Worth's command, and on the morning of the 28th of +March, the order was given for all the columns to advance towards +Matamoros. At half past six the movement began. The arms were closely +inspected, and every man was directed to be on the alert in case of +sudden attack. Yet no symptom of fear was exhibited in our ranks, while +the squadrons pressed on gaily, with merry songs and pleasant chat. +About a mile from the Rio Grande they saw the first house on their route +of more than one hundred and fifty miles from Corpus Christi. The dark +eyed Mexicans were lounging with apparent indifference about their +doors, and returned civil answers to our inquiries. Soon after, the city +of Matamoros came in sight; and, with bands playing, and regimental +colors flying to the wind, we arrived opposite the town at noon. From +the head quarters of General Mejia, the Mexican standard was displayed, +and, in a short time a temporary flagstaff, prepared by the eighth +regiment, under the superintendence of Lieut. Col. Belknap, was raised +aloft bearing the American ensign; but no other manifestation of joy was +given than by the national airs which were pealed forth from our +regimental bands. The moment our flag was displayed, it was saluted, +from Matamoros, by the <i>consulate</i> flags of France and England; while +the absence of our own banner from the opposite shore denoted the +departure or restraint of the commercial representative of our +Union.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> + +<p>As soon as our colors were raised on the eastern bank <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>of the Rio +Grande, General Worth and his staff descended to the water's edge, +bearing a white flag and a communication from the commander-in-chief, +announcing formally the purpose of our advance to the dividing stream. +General Taylor believed that this would be the means either of +establishing friendly relations between the posts, or of eliciting the +final decision of the Mexican government. As soon as Worth and his +companions were perceived from the opposite bank two cavalry officers +crossed with an interpreter. After some delay in parleying, it was +announced that General La Vega would receive our messenger on the right +bank of the river, to which he immediately passed, accompanied by his +aid-de-camp Lieutenant Smith, and Lieutenants Magruder, Deas, and Blake, +attached to his staff, and Lieutenant Knowlton as interpreter.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the Mexican quarters, General Worth was courteously +received by La Vega and introduced to Don Juan Garza, <i>oficial de +defensores</i>, and to the <i>Licenciado</i> Césares, who represented the +authorities of Matamoros. La Vega informed General Worth that he had +been directed to receive such communications as might be presented, and +accompanied his tender with the remark that the march of the United +States troops through a portion of Tamaulipas was considered by his +country as an act of war.</p> + +<p>This was no time to discuss the international question, and Worth, +properly refraining from conversation upon so vexatious a topic, +proceeded, as an act of courtesy, to read the open document he bore, +which he afterwards withdrew inasmuch as it had not been received +personally by General Mejia the commander-in-chief at Matamoros.</p> + +<p>A demand to see our consul was refused by the Mexicans, and although we +learned that he was not under restraint but still continued in the +exercise of his official duties, all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>communication with that +functionary was peremptorily denied. Thus terminated, unsatisfactorily, +another effort on our part to employ diplomacy in the establishment of +harmonious feelings with the local authorities of Matamoros; and +notwithstanding General Worth was assured that "Mexico had not declared +war against the Union," and that "the countries were still at peace," he +returned to the American camp with gloomy forebodings for the +future.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>If there was little to hope from the people of Mexico, or little +attractive in the prospect of social intercourse between the camp and +town, there was much to gratify the eye of our fatigued soldiers in the +scenery that lay before them. On their long and toilsome march they had +been relieved from the dreary wastes of Texas as soon as they beheld the +blue haze hanging over the distant windings of the Rio Grande. The city +of Matamoros, as seen from the opposite side of the river, skirts the +stream for more than a mile with its neat and comfortable dwellings. As +the trade of this town is chiefly carried on with the interior, there +has been no need of encroaching with wharves and walls on the margin of +the river. Hence the city is somewhat removed from the banks, and +embowered amid extensive groves and gardens, from the midst of whose +luxuriant foliage its towers and dwellings rise in broken but graceful +lines. There is but little timber near the river, which traverses +beautiful prairies as it approaches the sea. The hand of culture has +taken these waving meadows under its protection; and, on all sides the +landscape is dotted with abundant vegetation. The grass covered banks +are screened by shrubbery or grazed by cattle; while the stream, winding +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>along in easy curves, is so narrow near the city that conversation may +be easily carried on from its opposite sides. "The rich verdure of the +shores,—the cultivated gardens scattered around,—the clustering fig +and pomegranate trees," contrasted with the desert through which our +troops had passed, converted this land into a scene of enchantment. The +fatigued soldiers were repaid for all their toils. Existence, alone, in +so beautiful a climate and with such delicious prospects, was sufficient +recompense for our men, and they gazed with delight at the hostile shore +as martial <i>don</i> and gay <i>donzella</i> poured out in crowds from the walls +of Matamoros to behold the foreign flag and the bold intruders clustered +beneath its folds.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> See Mexico as it was, &c., 4th ed. p. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Diario oficial—April 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> I desire it may be remembered that the important facts +related by me in regard to our military and diplomatic movements are all +given upon the authority of official papers published by congress. The +reader who wishes to verify them will do well to provide himself with +the volumes of executive documents, for I shall not deem it necessary to +incumber the margins of my pages with continual references. I have been +scrupulously accurate in all my quotations from American authorities, +and have observed the same course in regard to the Mexican reports, +proclamations and manifestos. See especially, (for this volume,) Senate +doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess.—H. of R. doc. No. 197, id.—Senate +doc. No. 378, id.—Senate doc. No 388, id.—H. of R. doc. No. 4, 29th +cong. 2d sess.—H. of R. doc. No. 19, id.—H. of R. doc. No. 42, +id.—Senate doc. No. 107, id.—H. of R. doc. No. 119, id.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Our army on the Rio Grande, chap. v.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Army on the Rio Grande, chap. ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> See Senate doc. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. for a +memorandum of General Worth's spirited interview with La Vega and +Césares.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Military and civil proclamations against the United States at Matamoros +in April, 1846—General Taylor's pacific policy—Desertion from our +army promoted by Ampudia and Arista—Shooting of deserters, seen +swimming the river, ordered—Construction of the fort opposite +Matamoros—Guerillas on the left bank—Ampudia and Arista arrive—Death +of Colonel Cross—Expedition of Lieutenants Dobbins and Porter—Death of +Porter—Surprise and surrender of Captain Thornton's +party of dragoons—Ampudia and General Taylor on the blockade of the +mouth of the river—Fort capable of defence; left under the command +of Major Brown—Walker's men surprised on the prairie—Taylor goes to +Point Isabel—Cannonade heard from Matamoros—May with his dragoons +and Walker sent to the fort for tidings—Their adventures—Return to +Point Isabel—Taylor calls on Texas and Louisiana for reinforcements—character +and quality of the Texan Ranger.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The months of March and April, 1846, were fruitful in civil and military +proclamations at Matamoros, manifesting a hostile spirit against our +country, but General Taylor persisted in his pacific conduct and +directed all under his command to observe a scrupulous regard to the +municipal rights and religious usages of the quiet Mexicans whom they +found in the neighborhood of the Rio Grande. In order that no pretext of +ignorance might be pleaded by our adversaries, in this respect, his +orders were published in Spanish as well as English, and freely +distributed among the people. It is to be regretted that a similar +forbearance was not exhibited by our opponents. As soon as our forces +appeared in the vicinity of Matamoros they began to intrigue with our +subalterns. It was known that our army, made up at random from a +population of natives and emigrants, contained individuals born in +Europe; and, to the religious and political <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>prejudices of this class, +the authorities addressed themselves.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> + +<p>In consequence of these seditious appeals, the evil of desertion +increased to an alarming extent, and the most effectual measures were +necessary to prevent the contagion from spreading. As our deserters, by +merely swimming the narrow river, were at once within the enemy's lines, +pursuit and apprehension, with a view to trial, were out of the +question. General Taylor, therefore, deemed it his duty, warranted by +the hostile attitude of the Mexicans, to order that all men seen +swimming across the river should be hailed by our pickets and ordered to +return, and, in case they did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>not obey this summons, they should be +shot. These stringent orders were verbally given to the several +commanders, about the beginning of April, and checked the practice, +though it is believed that only two men,—privates of fifth and seventh +infantry, from France and Switzerland,—fell victims to the fatal +command. Thus failed so dastardly an attempt to interfere by intrigue +with the <i>morale</i> of our army. Taylor was undoubtedly justified in +resorting to the most efficient means to prevent the decimation of his +scant forces; and although some sensitive politicians in our Union were +scandalized by the severity of his orders, yet, when they learned that +the men who were induced to desert had been used in subsequent actions +against us by the Mexicans, their philanthropic clamor was drowned in +the universal voice of approval.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The manifestly warlike appearance of the Mexicans, and the attempts they +were making to fortify the right bank of the river, induced General +Taylor to strengthen the position of his camp on the opposite side.</p> + +<p>Accordingly on the 6th of April a battery for four eighteen pounders, +bearing directly on the public square and in good range for demolishing +the town, had already been completed and the guns mounted, whilst the +engineers were busy in laying out a strong bastioned field fort for a +garrison of five hundred men in the rear of the battery. But the +Mexicans did not leave us long in doubt as to their ultimate designs. +Their chief embarrassment seemed to consist in a want of troops and +efficient commanders, yet this was remedied by the arrival of +considerable reinforcements in the course of the month. Meantime, +however, the chapparals and lonely prairies of the left bank of the Rio +Grande, swarmed with ranchero cavalry, not authorized perhaps by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>the +powers in Matamoros to attack us directly, but whose predatory habits +and Arab warfare were encouraged against small bodies of our men until +the main army should be enabled to strike a decisive blow.</p> + +<p>On the 10th of April, Colonel Cross, a deputy quarter-master-general +mounted his horse and proceeded to ride, as usual, for exercise, but the +night passed without his return, nor was his fate known until ten days +after, when a skeleton, found on the plains, was identified as that of +the unfortunate officer. The mode of his death or the names of his +slayers have never been discovered. But it was generally reported and +believed that he had been captured by the lawless band of Romano Falcon, +a ranchero bandit, and, after being robbed of every thing valuable, was +shot with a pistol by the robber captain.</p> + +<p>With a view to check the depredations of these guerillas, Lieutenants +Dobbins of the third infantry, and Porter of the fourth,—two bold and +hardy soldiers,—were authorised to scour the country with a body of +picked men, and capture or destroy any such parties they might +encounter. It appears that they separated in quest of the enemy, and +that Lieutenant Porter at the head of his own detachment surprised an +armed troop, numbering nearly one hundred and fifty, engaged in jerking +beef. Upon the approach of our officer one of the Mexicans snapped a +musket at him, a salutation which Lieutenant Porter returned by the +discharge of his double barreled gun. Upon this the Mexicans fled to the +screen of the chapparal. Porter took possession of the horses and +blankets of the fugitives, and, mounting his men, started for head +quarters. At this moment, however, the rain began to pour down with the +violence that is only witnessed in tropical climates, and whilst the +Lieutenant and his party were passing through a dense copse of chapparal +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>they were fired on by the enemy from an ambush. Shot followed shot from +the secret foe in rapid succession, but our unfortunate men were unable +to sustain the contest, as their powder had been soaked by the sudden +shower. They wisely retreated, therefore, to the chapparal, and, +separating into three parties, found their way to camp; but the luckless +Porter, having been wounded in the thigh, was seized by the Mexicans as +soon as his men departed, and despatched with their knives whilst they +shrieked and yelled over his mangled body like a band of infuriate +demons.</p> + +<p>Acts like these, characteristic of the worst periods of border raids, +denoted the approaching storm. The country east of the Rio Grande +bristled with irregular troopers. It was unsafe to go beyond the hail of +sentinels, and the peaceful aspect of nature which had charmed our men +so greatly upon their arrival was changed for the stern alarums of war. +By the joyous peals of the church bells, the shouts of acclamation, and +the report of spies, we learned that General Ampudia had arrived in +Matamoros, and that, some days later, he was followed by Arista, who +immediately assumed the chief command and apprised General Taylor, in +courteous terms, that he considered hostilities commenced and was +resolved to prosecute them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Among all these notes of warlike preparation, none perhaps were more +significant than the adventure which must be now recorded. On the 24th +of April a squadron of dragoons, sixty-three in number, under the orders +of Captains Thornton and Hardee, and of Lieutenants Mason and Kane, was +despatched by General Taylor to reconnoitre the river for thirty miles +above the camp in the direction of La Rosia. When the troopers arrived +within three miles of the post they learned that the enemy had crossed +and occupied the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>country in considerable force. This was about +twenty-eight miles from our camp, and as soon as the news was received, +the guide, by name Capito, refused to proceed any further. It appears +from all the documents I have been able to examine that Captain Thornton +exercised a wise precaution on the march and in the disposition of his +troops, by throwing out advance and rear guards although it was +impossible to avail himself of the advantage of flankers in consequence +of the nature of the road which was often a perfect defile, admitting, +at times, of the passage only of a single horseman. As he had reason to +doubt the fidelity of his guide, he resolved to advance without him, +redoubling, however, his vigilance, and increasing his van guard, under +the command of Lieutenant Mason, whom he ordered not to fire upon the +enemy unless assaulted. The rear was assigned to Captain Hardee, and, in +this order, the party cautiously proceeded until it reached a large +plantation bordering the river and hemmed in by a fence of lofty and +impenetrable chapparal. Captain Thornton endeavored to approach the +houses at the upper end of this enclosure by entering its lower +extremity, but failing to accomplish his object, he passed around the +thicket and reached the field across a pair of bars which served for +gateway. The edifice was situated about two hundred yards from this +narrow aperture in the bristling wall, and, towards it, the whole +command directed its steps in single file, without placing a sentinel at +the bars, or observing any other precaution to prevent surprise. It +seems that Captain Thornton, though a skilful and brave officer, as his +campaigns against the Indians in Florida had proved, was prepossessed +with the idea that the Mexicans had not crossed the river, and that even +if they had, they would not fight. It was a fatal mistake. Captain +Hardee, as has been stated, was charged with the rear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>guard and was +therefore the last to enter with his horsemen. As he approached the +dwelling he perceived the troopers who were already within the enclosure +scattered in every direction seeking for some one with whom to +communicate. At length an old Mexican was discovered, and, while +Thornton was conversing with him, the alarm was given that the enemy +were seen in numbers at the bars. This was a bewildering surprise. Yet +the gallant commander immediately gave the order to charge and +personally led the advance to cut his way through the Mexicans. But it +was too late; the enemy had already secured the entrance, and it was +impossible to force their serried lines. Cooped and hampered as were our +men within the impervious walls of chapparal and aloes, their flight was +almost hopeless. The Mexican infantry had been stationed in the field on +the right of the road while their cavalry lined the exterior fence, so +that our retreat was entirely cut off. Seeing this, Thornton turned to +the right, and skirted the interior of the chapparal with his command, +whilst the enemy poured in their vollies in every direction. By this +time disorder was triumphant. Hardee dashed up to Thornton and urged +that the only hope of safety was in concentrated action and in the +destruction of the fence; but, though the order was immediately given, +he could neither stop his men nor his horse. Our troopers, perfectly +ensnared, seem to have become frantic with rage, and consequently to +have lost the control of discipline. Like so many animals at bay, each +one sought safety for himself, by attempting to traverse or leap the +thorny boundaries of the farm. Yet all efforts were useless, for, by +this time, the enemy had gained on our men with great numbers, and, +completely surrounded as the plantation was, nothing remained but to +surrender according to the usages of civilized nations. General +Torrejon, who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>commanded the Mexicans, received the submission of +Captain Hardee; and, together with Lieutenant Kane, who had also been +captured, he was conducted to Matamoros on the 27th, where they were +lodged with General Ampudia and treated most graciously by Arista. +Forty-five of our cavalry were taken prisoners in this disastrous +affair, but the brave Mason was slain during the conflict. Sergeant +Tredo, a valiant soldier, fell in the first charge;—Sergeant Smith was +unhorsed and killed,—and the bodies of seven men were found on the +field of strife.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>This was a disheartening event for the Americans, and a subject of +exultation for the Mexicans. It was neither a battle nor even an affray; +yet, bearing to warfare the same relation that trapping does to +sportsmanship, it nevertheless afforded material for Mexican gasconade. +"This,"—said Arista in his letter of acknowledgment to Torrejon,—"has +been a day of rejoicing to the division of the north which has just +received the joyous news of the triumph of your brigade. The delighted +country will celebrate this preliminary to the glorious deeds that her +happy sons will in future present her!" For some days it was supposed +that Thornton had been slain, but on the 29th his comrades were +delighted to hear that he had cut his way through the enemy, and after +running the gauntlet of his foes, had been captured only in consequence +of the fall of his horse.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>As soon as Ampudia assumed the command he ordered all Americans to leave +Matamoros within twenty-four hours for Victoria, a town in the interior +of Tamaulipas; and on the twelfth of April he addressed a note to +General Taylor requiring him, within the same peremptory <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>period of time +to break up his camp, and retire to the other bank of the Nueces, whilst +their respective governments were deciding their quarrel by negotiation. +He informed our commander that if he persisted in remaining on the +alleged soil of Tamaulipas, arms, alone, could decide the dispute, but +that the war, which would necessarily ensue, should be conducted, upon +the part of Mexico, conformably to the principles and rights established +by the civilized world. General Taylor did not delay his reply. On the +same day he answered the Mexican chief, that inasmuch as he was charged +with the military and not the diplomatic duties of the controversy, he +could not discuss the international question involved in the advance of +the American army, but that he would unhesitatingly continue to occupy +the positions he held at Isabel and opposite Matamoros in spite of all +menaces. The hostile declarations and alternative presented by Ampudia +induced Taylor to order the stringent blockade of the Rio Grande, so as +to stop all supplies for the city, and the naval commander at the Brazos +de Santiago was directed to dispose his forces accordingly. A body of +Texan rangers, under the command of Captain Walker, a tried and daring +soldier of the frontier, was stationed on the road to Point Isabel. +During the night of the 27th and 28th of April, the troops, at the +latter place, consisting chiefly of two companies of artillery, under +the command of Major Monroe, were in momentary expectation of attack in +consequence of rumors from the enemy, for it was known that large bodies +of Mexicans had crossed the river and were striving to interpose +themselves between Isabel and the fort opposite Matamoros in order to +cut off supplies for the garrison. Several teams that departed from the +depot for the fort were forced to return, and, on the morning of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>28th the camp of Walker was surprised on the prairie by a party of bold +rancheros who killed five of our rangers and dispersed the rest, while +the officer of the company and half of his command were absent on +detached service.</p> + +<p>By this time the works opposite Matamoros were well advanced, yet, owing +to the peculiar nature of the country and our deficiency in the proper +description of light troops, we were kept in ignorance of the enemy's +movements on the left bank. It was ascertained, however, with sufficient +certainty, that they were continuing to throw considerable forces on the +eastern shore, with the design of attacking our command; and General +Taylor received information, upon which he could rely, that Arista had +prepared to pass the Rio Grande, below Matamoros, in order to effect a +junction with his forces from above. It was not believed, however, that +he would assault the position opposite that city even with four thousand +men, and hence our commander-in-chief supposed that the depot at Isabel +was the object of his movement. This impression was strengthened by the +fact that since a rigid blockade of the river was maintained, provisions +had become exceedingly scarce at Matamoros; and, therefore, hastening +the completion of the field work, he was able by great exertions on the +part of our troops, to bring it to a good state of defence by the first +of May. The seventh infantry under Major Brown, Captain Lowd's and +Lieutenant Bragg's companies of artillery, together with the sick of the +army, were left in the work; and, on the afternoon of that day, General +Taylor moved with the main force under his immediate command in the +direction of Point Isabel. At eleven o'clock, the army, by a rapid +march, was enabled to bivouac on the prairie at a distance of ten miles +from the depot, and on the next day, it reached its destination without +encountering the enemy, though the scouts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>surprised and shot several +men belonging to the Mexican pickets.</p> + +<p>On the morning and during the day of the 3d of May, a heavy cannonade in +the direction of Matamoros announced to General Taylor that an attack +had probably been commenced on the American fort. This was a different +result from his anticipations, and made him extremely anxious for the +fate of the small but brave command that had been left, with slender +supplies of rations and ammunition, in the incomplete field work.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, on the evening of that day, a squadron of one hundred +dragoons under Captain May, accompanied by Walker and ten of his daring +rangers, was despatched to pass, if possible, through the hordes of +Mexican guerillas that lined the road. They were ordered to proceed +within a few miles of Fort Brown and reconnoitre the country on the left +towards the river; next to take a position on the edge of the chapparal, +and, if the commander heard no firing from our fort, he was then to +despatch a small command under Walker to communicate with Major Brown. +After this he was to await the return of the gallant rangers, and repair +to Point Isabel.</p> + +<p>May and his troopers, alert for such an adventurous enterprize, stole +onward towards Matamoros, under cover of night, and, about nine o'clock, +beheld the enemy's camp fires on the field of Palo Alto. Avoiding the +outposts and cautiously circling the Mexican front, he passed the foe, +and galloped towards the American fort, until, hearing no sound of +cannon in that direction, he halted with his command under the +protecting screen of an extensive chapparal, about seven miles from +Matamoros. Here he detached Walker and six of his rangers, best skilled +in woodcraft, to communicate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>according to orders, with Major Brown, +while he awaited their return in his concealed position.</p> + +<p>It was between two and three o'clock in the morning that Walker crept up +to the bastions of our fort and was hailed by the sentinel. As soon as +he was recognized his party was placed in a secure position, and the +bold ranger admitted by a ladder to the fort. Major Brown reported the +facts of the assault from Matamoros and the condition of his defences, +as speedily as possible, and Walker and his men, mounting fresh horses, +dashed off towards May so as to pass the enemy's lines before day-light. +But, as he approached the thicket where he left the command, he found +the troopers gone; and returning to the fort, which he reached before +<i>reveille</i>, he awaited the approach of night before he again attempted +to perform his dangerous service.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile May and his men had remained in their saddles until about half +an hour before day, when, from the protracted absence of the ranger, +they believed that the enemy's scouts had detected him. Walker had been +already away about six hours; and as May's force was unable to cope with +the supposed numbers of the Mexicans, and peremptory orders had been +given to retire to Isabel, he immediately passed down the enemy's lines +at a brisk gallop over the prairie. About twelve miles from our camp he +suddenly discovered a hundred and fifty lancers drawn up across the road +to dispute his passage, but speedily forming his line, he charged the +troop, and, driving it towards the Mexican camp, followed the fugitives +for three miles on his wearied horses. Fearing, however, that larger +forces might be lying in ambush in the fields, and perceiving that the +enemy's cavalry was fleeter than his own, he abandoned the pursuit and +reached Point Isabel about nine o'clock.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>But Walker was not to be defeated in his gallant effort to bear tidings +to Taylor of the fortunes of the fort. As soon as it was dark on the +4th, he remounted with his trusty band and concealed on his person the +despatch which Major Brown had prepared in the interval. Every copse and +thicket along the road, suitable for an ambush, was filled with foes +anxious to cut off his return to camp, for, as it was subsequently +ascertained, the Mexicans had obtained information of his purposes. But +Walker passed unhurt through all these impediments, and brought the +cheerful news that all was as yet safe in the staunch little fort.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Late in April, and while the events, related in this chapter, were +occurring, by which it became evident that serious hostilities were, at +length, intended, General Taylor prudently began to strengthen his army +by demands for reinforcements under the discretionary powers vested in +him by government. In March, he had already called the notice of the war +department to the necessity of sending recruits to fill up the regiments +even to the extent of the existing feeble establishment; but, in April +he authorized the raising of two companies of mounted men from Texas, +and called upon the governor of that State for four regiments of +volunteers, two of which were to act as cavalry and two to serve on +foot. As some delay might occur in collecting these troops, he, +moreover, desired the governor of Louisiana to despatch four regiments +of infantry as soon as practicable, and, with this auxiliary force of +nearly five thousand men, he hoped to prosecute the impending war with +energy, or to carry it, if needful, into the enemy's country.</p> + +<p>On the sixth of May, Lieutenant McPhail reached Point Isabel with some +recruits for the army; and, after filling up the permanent garrison with +the men who were still too raw <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>to encounter the dangers of actual field +service, General Taylor determined to march on the following day with +the main body of the forces to open a communication with Major Brown and +to throw forward the needful supplies of ordnance and provisions. The +language of our chief did not betoken the fears which, at that moment, +were felt throughout the country for the fate of his brave command, +surrounded as it was believed to be, by an imposing army of Mexicans led +by their bravest generals. "If the enemy oppose my march, in whatever +force," said Taylor, "<i>I shall fight him</i>!" It was this little phrase +that inspirited the anxious heart of his country and denoted the +energetic character of the hero whose skill and genius were so soon to +be developed in active warfare. When he marched from the banks of the +Rio Grande on the 1st of May, the Mexicans believed that he fled to +secure his personal safety at Point Isabel, whilst he abandoned the +infantry and artillery in the fort opposite Matamoros as an easy prey to +their valiant arms. Accordingly, the bells of the city rang their merry +peals, and repeated bursts of military music denoted that it was a gala +day in the ancient city. At that moment the great body of the Mexican +army crossed the stream under the orders of General Torrejon, and these +were the forces that Walker and his rangers had eluded while bearing to +Isabel the cheering despatch from Major Brown.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At the close of this chapter, and while we are preparing for graver +subjects, it may not be uninteresting for the reader to obtain a careful +picture of those <span class="smcap">Texan Rangers</span>, whose services had already +proved so useful, and who were to play an important part in this bloody +drama.</p> + +<p>These were the bold and reckless children of the frontier, who lived +forever in warlike harness, prompt to suppress the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>savage raids of the +Indians and mongrel Mexicans who harrassed the settlements of western +Texas in the neighborhood of the Guadalupe, La Vaca and San Antonio. +Organizing themselves in regular companies for mutual protection along a +ravaged border, they were continually prepared alike for camp or battle, +and opposed themselves to the enemy at the outpost barriers of +civilization.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that men whose life is passed in the forest, on +the saddle, or around the fire of a winter bivouac, can present the +gallant array of troopers on parade, hence the Texan Ranger is careless +of external appearance, and adapts his dress strictly to the wants of +useful service. His first care is to provide himself with a stalwart and +nimble horse, perfectly broken and capable of enduring fatigue in a +southern climate. His Spanish saddle, or saddle frame, is carefully +covered with the skins of wild animals, while, from its sides depend +some twenty or thirty leathern thongs to which are attached all the +various trappings needed in the woods. No baggage is permitted to +accompany the troop and encumber it in the wilderness. A braided +<i>lariat</i> and a <i>cabaros</i> of horse-hair are coiled around his saddle bow, +the latter to be unwound at nightfall and laid in circles on the ground +to prevent the approach of reptiles which glide off from the sleeper +when they touch the bristling hair of the instrument, while his horse, +tethered by the long and pliant <i>lariat</i> trailing along the ground, +wanders but little from the spot where his master reposes.</p> + +<p>Stout buckskin leggings, hunting shirt, and cap, protect the ranger's +body from the sharp spines of aloes, or the briars and branches of the +matted forest. His weapons, next to his horse, exact his attention. His +long and heavy rifle carries from fifty to sixty bullets to the pound; +around his waist is belted a bowie-knife or home made hanger, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>sometimes, a brace of revolving pistols is added to this powerful +armory. Across his right side are slung his pouch of balls and +powder-horn, and the strap by which they are suspended is widened or +padded over the shoulder to relieve the weight and pressure of his gun. +A practised shot, he can hit his mark unerringly in full career. He may +be called a "picked man," though not in the sense of the phrase as +ordinarily used in military affairs. Nevertheless he is a choice +soldier, for none but men of equal stamp and hardihood find their way to +the border and congregate naturally for the hazardous life they endure.</p> + +<p>From the period of the battle of San Jacinto to the year 1841, when they +formed themselves into regular squadrons of rangers, these were the +hardy woodsmen, who defended the frontier as independent troops, free +from the control of State or government. Whenever Indians or Mexicans +approached the settlements, runners were quickly despatched along the +streams to sound the alarm, and in a few hours the wild huntsmen were +roused for a campaign of months. All they needed for the foray was their +horse, their weapons, their blankets, their pouch with fifty balls, and +their bushel of parched and pounded corn. In hot weather or cold, in wet +or dry, they carried no tents, and required no fresh food save the game +of the forest. Such was the Texan Ranger at the outbreak of this +war,—light in heart, indomitable in courage, capable of vast endurance, +and sworn in his hatred of Indians and Mexicans. His life was one of +continual anxiety and surprises which made him alert and watchful. He +was neither a troubadour nor a crusader, yet his mode of existence had +charms for multitudes of adventurers. It was not disgust with society or +disregard of its comforts that forced these knights errant to the forest +and kept them in a state of continual excitement; but there was a +certain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>degree of romance in their wandering career that entitled them +to respect and consideration even from the more sentimental inhabitants +of cities. A life without restraint, except needful subordination when +on actual duty, is always attractive, and the forester realizes it +completely. Thinking much and speaking little, he considers his officer +of no more value or importance than himself. Hence he yields obedience +only because he knows the necessity of discipline in a hazardous +service, while, off of duty, he is as familiar with his commander as +with a private.</p> + +<p>Thus the Ranger's existence has ever been a scene of fierce +independence; and though approaching the <i>ranchero</i> in some of his +restless habits, he has, nevertheless, always been distinguished from +that vile compound of ferocity, treachery and cruelty, by the remnants +of civilization he has borne to the solitudes of the wilderness. He was +destined to be of infinite value to the regular army in a country where +it was important to obtain information by reckless means among an almost +Arab population. Subsequent events proved that no scouting service was +so severe, no adventure so dangerous, that he would not risk his life +and exercise the cunning of his craft in performing it either on the +thorny banks of the Rio Grande or among the mountain defiles of +Monterey.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> The following document was circulated by Mexican +emissaries and spies among our troops: +</p> +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin">"<i>The commander-in-chief of the Mexican army to the English +and Irish under the orders of the American General Taylor</i>: +</p><p class="noin"> +"<span class="smcap">Know Ye</span>: That the government of the United States +is committing repeated acts of barbarous aggression against +the magnanimous Mexican nation; that the government which +exists under "the flag of the stars" is unworthy of the +designation of Christian. Recollect that you were born in +Great Britain; that the American government looks with +coldness upon the powerful flag of St. George, and is +provoking to a rupture the warlike people to whom it +belongs, President Polk boldly manifesting a desire to take +possession of Oregon, as he has already done of Texas. Now, +then, come with all confidence to the Mexican ranks, and I +guarantee to you, upon my honor, good treatment, and that +all your expenses shall be defrayed until your arrival in +the beautiful capital of Mexico. +</p><p class="noin"> +"Germans, French, Poles, and individuals of other nations! +Separate yourselves from the Yankees, and do not contribute +to defend a robbery and usurpation which, be assured, the +civilized nations of Europe look upon with the utmost +indignation. Come, therefore, and array yourselves under the +tri-colored flag, in the confidence that the God of armies +protects it, and that it will protect you equally with the +English. +</p> +<p class="right"> +PEDRO DE AMPUDIA. +</p><p class="noin"> +<span class="smcap">Francisco R. Moreno</span>, Adj. of the commander-in-chief. +</p><p class="right"> +<i>Head Quarters, upon the Road to Matamoros, April, 2, 1846.</i>" +</p> +<p class="noin"> +Another and similar appeal was made by Arista on the 20th of April.</p></div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Captains Thornton's and Hardee's reports to General +Taylor. H. of R. doc. No. 119, 29th cong. 2d sess. pp. 19 and 20.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The Battle of Palo Alto.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>On the night of the 7th of May, with a force of over two thousand men +and a supply train of two hundred and fifty wagons, General Taylor +bivouacked on the plains about seven miles from Point Isabel. The whole +of the country is extremely flat in the neighborhood of the river and on +the road to Matamoros. In some places, broad thickets cover the levels, +in others, wide prairies spread out dotted, here and there, with bushes +and ponds. Early on the morning of Friday, the 8th, our camp was broken +up and the little army set in motion towards the fort. About noon the +scouts reported that the Mexicans were drawn up in our front, covering +the road with all their forces; and as soon, therefore, as we reached +the broad field of Palo Alto, a halt was ordered to refresh our men, and +form our line of battle with due deliberation. Far across the prairie, +at the distance of three quarters of a mile, were discerned the +glittering masses of the enemy. Infantry and cavalry were ranged, +alternately, on the level field and stretched out for more than a mile +in length, backed by the wiry limbs of the tall trees from which the +battle ground has taken its name. The left wing, composed of heavy +masses of horse, occupied the road, resting on a thicket of chapparal, +and flanked by ponds, while large bodies of infantry were discovered on +the right, greatly outnumbering our own force and standing somewhat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>in +a curved line, ready, as it were, to embrace our advancing columns.</p> + +<p>Orders were directly given on the American side to form the array for +action. On our extreme right were ranged the fifth infantry under +Colonel McIntosh; Major Ringgold's artillery; the third infantry +commanded by Captain L. M. Morris; two eighteen pounders drawn by twenty +yoke of oxen and commanded by Lieutenant Churchill, and lastly, the +fourth infantry under Major Allen. The third and fourth regiments, +formed the third brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Garland, and all these +corps, together with two squadrons of dragoons led by Ker and May, +composed the right wing under the orders of Colonel Twiggs. The left was +composed of a battalion of artillery commanded by Colonel Childs, +Captain Duncan's light artillery, and the eighth infantry under Captain +Montgomery,—all constituting the first brigade under the orders of +Lieutenant Colonel Belknap. The train, meanwhile, was packed near a pond +under the direction of Captains Crossman and Myers, and protected by the +squadron of Ker's dragoons.</p> + +<p>It was about two o'clock in the afternoon that our march against the +enemy began by heads of columns, whilst the eighteen-pounder battery +followed slowly along the road. During our advance it was deemed +especially important to ascertain with accuracy the number and calibre +of the enemy's cannon, and for this hazardous reconnoissance on an open +plain, Lieutenant Blake, of the topographical engineers, immediately +volunteered. Passing the advanced guard at full speed, he dashed over +the long grass that concealed the opposing forces, until he approached +within about eighty yards of the line where he had a distinct view of +the enemy. The Mexicans gazed with surprise at this daring act, while +Blake alighted from his horse, surveyed the whole <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>array with his glass, +counting the squadrons and ordnance carefully, and then galloped down +their front to the other wing of their extended line.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<p>Scarcely had this gallant officer reported to our general when two of +the enemy's batteries opened on us vigorously. Taylor immediately +ordered our columns to halt, and deploying into line, our artillery +returned the fire, whilst the eighth infantry, on our extreme left, was +thrown back to secure that flank;—and, thus, with the distance of only +seven hundred yards between the opposing lines, the battle began with +rattling vollies of ball and grape bounding over our heads. The first +fires of the enemy injured us but little, while the heavy metal of our +eighteen-pounders, and the smaller shot of Ringgold's battery, quickly +dispersed the masses of cavalry on the left. Duncan's battery, supported +by May's dragoons, was then thrown forward on that flank, and for more +than an hour the incessant thunder of a cannonade raged along both +fronts, making sad gaps in the battalions, rending the prairie, filling +the air with dust and smoke, killing and wounding a few, yet, producing +no decided effect. The Mexicans, unskilled in gunnery, fired without +precision; but, at almost every discharge of the American ordnance, the +shot told with wonderful precision among the Mexicans. Our artillery was +directed not only to masses and groups of the enemy, but often to +particular men, so that the officers felt as certain of their aim, as if +firing with rifles.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>Meanwhile our infantry had been hitherto rather spectators of the +artillery's prowess, than active combatants; but as the battle thickened +the manœuvring of the enemy to outflank us commenced. With infinitely +smaller forces than the Mexicans, our policy had been to act on the +defensive as much as possible, and to <i>feel</i> the enemy before we engaged +at closer quarters. Hence we awaited their first assault, made by a +regiment of Mexican lancers led by Torrejon and supported by two pieces +of artillery, which threatened our right flank by moving through the +chapparal in the direction of our train. The fifth infantry was +immediately detached together with a section of Ringgold's battery and +Walker's Texans, to check this dangerous movement. The gallant regiment +was thrown into a square with the Ranger and twenty of his troopers on +its right, and thus stood ready to repulse the charge. On came the +advancing squadrons in splendid array, moving in solid masses of men and +horse, each lance tipped with its gay and fluttering pennon. Ringgold, +from his advanced position, galled them as they trotted onward; Ridgely, +from his closer ground, poured into them rapid vollies of grape and +canister; still they surged onward in spite of all resistance. At +length, when within shot of the impervious square, suddenly, a sheet of +deadly flame burst from the regiment, and breaking their array, forced +them to recoil in confusion. Nevertheless the daring troop was not +dismayed by the carnage. Forming rapidly from its ruins an imposing +mass, again it dashed towards the train, until the third infantry on our +extreme right, under the orders of Colonel Twiggs, crippled its advance +so completely, that it was impossible to rally. This was the last effort +of the brave lancers. Repulsed in every effort, they began to retreat +rapidly but in order; yet Ringgold, Ridgely, and the regiments of +infantry, still hung upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>their flank, and with their terrible +discharges of grape and bullets, mowed wide openings in the flying ranks +until they reached their line. Meantime the incessant blaze of our +artillery had set fire to the withered prairie, whose tall grasses +touched the very muzzles of our guns, and for a while the armies were +concealed from each other in the mingled smoke of the recent battle and +of the burning field.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There was a pause in the conflict, as if the two combatants, like +gallant boxers, stopped a moment to take breath and survey each other +with looks of defiance. The enemy's left had been driven back in +confusion; and, as their cannonade ceased, the road remained free for +the advance of our eighteen-pounders close to the first position that +had been occupied by the Mexican cavalry. This was promptly ordered by +General Taylor who caused the first brigade to take a new post on the +left of that formidable battery. The fifth was also advanced to the +extreme right of our new line, while the train was moved accordingly to +suit the altered front. As the battalion of artillery advanced slowly +over the field it came up to a private of the fifth, a gallant veteran +of the old world who had escaped the fires of Austerlitz and Waterloo to +die at Palo Alto. He was one of the first who fell in the action, and as +his fellow soldiers paused a moment to compassionate his sufferings, +when they saw the blood gushing with each pulsation from his shattered +limbs—he waved them onward—"Go on companions, regardless of +me,"—shouted he,—"I've got but what a soldier enlists for,—strike the +enemy;—let <i>me</i> die!" Such were the exclamations of Napoleon's +soldiers, at Marengo, when the advancing squadrons of cavalry hesitated +to leap over the heaps of wounded Frenchmen: "Tread on <i>me</i> comrades; +make a bridge of my body! Long live France! Vive la <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>liberte!" The +romantic fervor of warlike enthusiasm deprives battle of half its +horrors, and makes death on the field a glorious exit from the +sufferings of humanity.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The movements we made in changing our line were answered by +corresponding alterations of the Mexican front, and, after a suspension +of action for nearly an hour the battle was resumed. The effect of these +changes was to edge our right flank somewhat nearer Matamoros, and to +enable our forces to hold the road against the Mexicans who rested their +lines on the thickets in their rear.</p> + +<p>The attack was recommenced by a destructive fire of artillery. Wide +openings were continually torn in the enemy's ranks by our marksmen, and +the constancy with which the Mexican infantry endured the incessant +hurricane of shot was the theme of universal admiration. Captain May, +detached with his squadron to make a demonstration on the left of the +enemy, suffered severely from the copper grape of the Mexican artillery. +Whilst passing the general and his staff with his troopers, the enemy +concentrated the fire of their batteries upon him, killing six of his +horses and wounding five dragoons. Nevertheless he succeeded in gaining +his desired position in order to charge the cavalry, but found the foe +in such overwhelming numbers as to render utterly ineffectual any +assault by his small command. The fourth infantry, which had been +commanded to support the eighteen-pounders, was also exposed to a +galling fire by which several men were killed and Captain Page mortally +wounded. The great effort of the Mexicans was to silence that powerful +battery, whose patient oxen had dragged it into the midst of the fight. +Hence they directed their aim almost exclusively upon these tremendous +pieces and upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>the light artillery of Major Ringgold, who was fatally +struck by a cannon ball at this period of the conflict.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile the battalion of artillery under Colonel Childs had been +brought up to support the artillery on our right, and a strong +demonstration of cavalry was now made by the enemy against this part of +our line, while the column continued to advance under a severe fire from +the eighteen-pounders. The battalion was instantly formed into square +and held ready to receive the charge; but when the advancing squadrons +were within close range, a storm of canister from the eighteen-pounders +dispersed them. A rattling discharge of small arms was then opened upon +the square, but well aimed vollies from its front soon silenced all +further efforts of the Mexicans in that quarter. It was now nearly dark, +and the action terminated on our right, as the enemy were completely +driven back from their position and foiled in every attempt either to +break or outflank our gallant lines.</p> + +<p>While these actions were occurring on our right under the eye of General +Taylor, the Mexicans had made a serious attempt against our left. The +smoke hung densely over the field and bushes so as almost to obscure the +armies from each other, and under cover of this misty veil and of +approaching night, the enemy suddenly rushed towards that wing and the +train with an immense body of cavalry and infantry under the command of +Colonel Montero. The movement was rapid and daring, but it did not +escape the quick eye of Duncan, who dashed back with his battery to the +left flank in full view of the enemy and engaged them within point blank +range of his deadly guns. So sudden and unexpected was this gallant +manœuvre to the enemy, who, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>moment before, saw this battery +disappear in the opposite direction behind the smoke of the burning +prairie,—that their whole column halted in amazement before a shot had +been fired or a gun unlimbered. But they were neither repulsed nor +dismayed. A strong body of infantry, supported by two squadrons of +cavalry, debouched from the extreme right of the chapparal, and moved +steadily forward to attack us. One section of Duncan's battery began to +play upon them with round shot, shells, and spherical case, so well +directed that the whole advance, both horse and foot, fell back in +disorder to the bushes. Meantime the other section opened upon the +masses of cavalry that halted at the first sight of our approaching +guns, and although these shots were well delivered and each tore a vista +through an entire squadron, the enemy remained unshaken. At every +discharge the havoc was frightfully destructive, but the gaps in the +Mexican ranks were immediately closed with fresh horsemen as they +pressed on to assail us.</p> + +<p>The column of cavalry and infantry, driven back into the chapparal by +the other section, re-formed in the thicket, and, a second time, +dauntlessly advanced in order. After it approached about a hundred yards +from the screen of bushes, the section that was previously ordered to +repel it, re-opened a deadly fire and drove the foe head long into the +forest. The supporting cavalry rushed back upon the ranks that hitherto +withstood our shot, and the hurried retreat became a perfect rout. +Squadron after squadron joined tumultuously in the race, and the whole +right wing of the Mexicans was soon in rapid flight, while our +relentless sections continued to send their vollies into the broken and +scampering columns until they disappeared in the chapparal or were lost +in the darkness of night. Thus ended the brilliant affair of Palo Alto. +The enemy retired behind a protecting wood, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>our army bivouacked on +the ground it had won and occupied during the protracted fight.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Both parties slept on the battle field. It had been a fierce and +dreadful passage of arms, yet it was not a decided victory. We had +repulsed the Mexicans, fatally, in every attempt; we had gained a better +position, enabling us to press onward towards Matamoros, and had +inflicted serious injury on the foe; but the enemy still rested on their +arms and seemed disposed to dispute the field with us again on the +morrow. They were sadly crippled though not defeated, and had exhibited +a degree of nerve, mettle, and firmness that was entirely unexpected +from the vanquished soldiery of San Jacinto.</p> + +<p>Wearied by the excessive labor of nearly six hours fighting, our +infantry and artillery sank on the ground wherever they found a resting +place, whilst the alert dragoons circled the sleeping camp and rode on +their outposts, among heaps of the enemy whose dying groans were heard +on all sides from the thickets to which they had crept. All night long +the medical staff was busy in its work of mercy, while the officers who +felt the dangerous responsibility of their situation collected in groups +to discuss their prospects. Some were doubtful of success, some anxious +to obtain reinforcements, some full of hope and animation, but all were +satisfied that it was prudent to hold a council on the impending +fortunes of the army. After a full examination of the difficulties and a +proper display of their resources, the enthusiasm of the young and the +experience of the old, alike, sanctioned the heroic determination of +Taylor to advance without succor. This brave resolve reassured the army, +and all prepared with alacrity and confidence for the dangers of the +9th.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Lieutenant Blake died about the time our fight commenced +at Resaca de la Palma, on the 9th, from a wound inflicted by one of his +own pistols. He had thrown his sword, to which his pistols were +attached, on the ground on entering his tent. One pistol was discharged +accidentally in the fall, and the ball entered his thigh, but was cut +out of his breast. He died three hours afterwards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Ringgold died the day after the battle, but Page survived +some time though he was shockingly mangled by the ball which shot off +the lower part of his face.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The Battle of Resaca de la Palma—Defence of Fort Brown—The Great +Western.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>When the sun rose on the morning of the 9th a mist of mingled smoke and +vapor hung over the battle field of Palo Alto, but, as the haze lifted +from the levels, the Mexicans were perceived retreating by their left +flank, in order, perhaps, to gain a more advantageous position on the +road in which they might resist our progress towards Matamoros. This +movement inspirited our troops, who, craving the interest of a new +position, were loath to repeat the battle of yesterday on the same +field. Accordingly General Taylor ordered the supply train to be parked +at its position and left under the guard of two twelve-pounders and the +fatal eighteens which had done such signal service on the 8th. The +wounded men and officers were next despatched to Point Isabel, and we +then moved across the Llano Burro towards the edge of the dense +chapparal which extends for a distance of seven miles to the Rio Grande. +The light companies of the first brigade under Captain Smith, of the +second artillery; and a select detachment of light troops, all commanded +by Captain McCall, were thrown forward into the thickets to feel the +enemy and ascertain the position he finally took.</p> + +<p>In our advance we crossed the ground occupied by the Mexicans on the 8th +where their line had been mowed by our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>artillery. Shattered limbs, +riven skulls, slain and wounded horses, dying men, military +accoutrements, gun stocks and bayonets lay strewn around, the terrible +evidences of war and havoc. As our men pressed on they encountered, at +every step, appeals to their humanity, from the famished and thirsty +remnants of the Mexican army whose wounds did not permit them to advance +with their compatriots; but it may be recorded to the honor of the +troops, that our maimed enemies were in no instance left without succor, +and that officers and men vied with each other in relieving their wants +and despatching them to our hospitals.</p> + +<p>About three o'clock in the afternoon a report was sent from the scouts +that the enemy were again in position on the road, which they held with +at least two pieces of artillery. The command was immediately put in +motion, and, about an hour after, came up with Captain McCall.</p> + +<p>The field of Palo Alto was an open plain, well adapted for the fair +fight of a pitched battle, but Resaca de la Palma, which we now +approached, possessed altogether different features. The position was +naturally strong, and had been judiciously seized by the Mexicans. The +matted masses of chapparal, sprinkled in spots with small patches of +prairie, formed an almost impassable barrier on both sides of the road +along which we were forced to advance. The Resaca de la Palma, or, +Ravine of the Palm, fifty yards wide and nearly breast high, crosses the +road at right angles, and then bends, at both ends, in the shape of a +horse shoe. The low portions of the gully are generally filled with +water, forming long and winding ponds through the prairie, whilst, in +the rainy season, these pools unite across the ridge which forms the +road and flow off towards the Rio Grande. Along the banks of this ravine +the thickets of chapparal, nourished by the neighboring water, grow more +densely than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>elsewhere, and, at the period of the battle, formed a +solid wall penetrated only by the highway.</p> + +<p>It was along the edges of this hollow that the Mexicans, led by Arista +and Ampudia, had posted themselves in two lines,—one under the front +declivity, and the other entrenched behind the copse of chapparal which +shielded the bank in the rear. In the centre of each line, on the right +and left of the road, a battery was placed, whilst other batteries were +disposed so as to assail us in flank. In this strongly fortified +position, supported by infantry, cavalry and ordnance, several thousand +Mexicans stood around the curving limits of the ravine, ready to rake us +with their terrible cross-fires as we advanced by the road between the +horns of the crescent.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>It will be perceived, from this description, that the character of the +action was essentially changed from the affair of the 8th. Almost +entrenched as were the Mexicans behind the ravine and chapparal, they +now stood on the defensive resolutely awaiting our assault, whilst, at +Palo Alto, they had assumed an offensive attitude, aiming either to +capture or destroy our army.</p> + +<p>In the passage of our troops between Matamoros and Point Isabel, the +practiced eye of our military men often remarked the value of this +ravine as a point of strength; and it had been already supposed that +when the enemy halted, to resist our march, they would avail themselves +of it for a battle ground. Hence this excellent position was not unknown +to General Taylor, and he promptly prepared a combined attack of +infantry, artillery and cavalry by which he might succeed in driving the +American army like a wedge, through the narrow but only aperture that +admitted its transit to our fort.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>Accordingly, as soon as Captain McCall received his orders, in the +earlier part of the day, he advanced with his men, and directed Captain +C. F. Smith, of the second artillery, with the light company of the +first brigade, to move to the right of the road, whilst he proceeded on +the left with a detachment of artillery and infantry. Walker and a small +force of rangers was despatched to make a hazardous reconnoissance of +the road in front, while Lieutenant Plesanton, with a few of the second +dragoons, marched in rear of the columns of infantry.</p> + +<p>After following the trail of the enemy for about two miles and a half +across the Llano Burro, and learning from Walker that the road was +clear, McCall pushed the rangers into the chapparal, within supporting +distance, and soon dislodged some parties of Mexicans. On reaching the +open ground near Resaca, the head of his column received three rounds of +canister from a masked battery, which forced his men to take cover, +after killing one private and wounding two sergeants. They rapidly +rallied however, and Captain Smith's detachment being brought to the +left of the road, it was proposed to attack by a flank movement, what, +at the moment, was supposed to be only the rear guard of the retiring +army. But after a quick examination of the field by Dobbins and McCoun, +who discovered large bodies of Mexicans in motion on our left, while the +road, in front, was held by lancers, McCall resolved to despatch three +dragoons to the commander in chief with the news and await his arrival.</p> + +<p>It was about four o'clock in the afternoon that General Taylor came up +with the skirmishers and received an exact report of the enemy's +position. Lieutenant Ridgely, who, upon the Major's fall, had succeeded +to the command of Ringgold's battery, was immediately ordered to advance +on the highway, while the fifth infantry and one wing of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>fourth +were thrown into the chapparal with McCall's command on the left, at the +same time that the third and the other wing of the fourth entered the +thicket on the right with Smith's detachment. These corps were employed +to cover the battery, to act as skirmishers, and engage the Mexican +infantry. The action, at once became general, spirited and bloody, for +although the enemy's infantry gave way before the steady fire and +resistless progress of our own, yet his artillery was still in position +to check our advance by means of the fatal pieces which commanded the +pass through the ravine.</p> + +<p>This was the moment, however, when the centre was destined to be +penetrated and broken—Ridgely, as has been stated, had been ordered to +the road, and, after advancing cautiously for a short distance, he +descried the enemy about four hundred yards in advance. Pressing onward +until within perfect range of his guns he began to play upon the foe +with deadly discharges. But the resolute Mexicans were not to be +repulsed. Returning shot for shot, their grape surged through our +battery in every direction, yet without repulsing the intrepid Ridgely, +who, as soon as the opposing fire slackened, limbered up and moved +rapidly forward, never unlimbering unless he perceived the enemy in +front or found from the fire of their infantry that they still hung upon +his flank. During this fierce advance into the jaws of the Mexican +crescent, he frequently threw into it discharges of canister when not +over one hundred yards from the opposing batteries and their support.</p> + +<p>After hammering the centre for some time with this iron hail, and +keeping the wings of the Mexicans engaged with the other troops, a +movement with dragoons was planned for the final onslaught. May, with +his powerful corps, was directed to report to the general, and +immediately received <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>orders from Taylor to charge the enemy's battery. +Thridding the mazes of the chapparal and of the road with his dense +squadron he came up with Ridgely, and halting a moment while that +gallant soldier poured a volley into the enemy, which was answered by a +shower of rattling grape, he dashed at the head of his troopers, like +lightning from the midst of the cloud of smoke, over the guns of the +astonished Mexicans. As the dragoons rushed at full tilt, with gleaming +swords, along the road, the artillerists leaped upon their pieces and +cheered them on. The infantry in the chapparal took up the shout, and +before the combined thunder of cannon, huzzas, and galloping cavalry had +died away, May and his troopers had charged through the seven opposing +pieces, and rose again on the heights in rear of the ravine. Graham, +Winship and Plesanton led the movement on the left of the road, whilst +the captain, with Inge, Stevens and Sackett, bore off to the right. But, +after gaining the elevation, only six dragoons could be rallied, and +with these May charged back upon the gunners who had regained their +pieces, drove them off, and took prisoner the brave La Vega who stood to +his unwavering artillery during the heat of the dreadful onslaught.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Ridgely, as soon as May had passed him, followed the charge at +a gallop, only halting on the edge of the ravine where he found three +pieces of deserted artillery. Here the Mexican infantry poured into him +a galling fire at a distance of not more than fifty paces, and a most +desperate and murderous struggle ensued, for the charge of cavalry had +not been promptly sustained by the infantry in consequence of the +difficulty it experienced in struggling through the masses of chapparal. +It was about this time that the eighth regiment was encountered by May +who informed Colonel Belknap of the exploit which had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>rendered +almost unavailing for want of supporting infantry. Belknap promptly +ordered the regiment to form on the road with a part of the fifth, +whence, it was impetuously charged on the enemy's guns. This admirable +assault was executed with the greatest celerity; the battery was +secured; the infantry sprang across the ravine amidst a sheet of fire +from front and right, and drove the supporting column before it, +destroying in vast numbers the troops that pertinaciously resisted until +forced headlong from the fatal hollow. Montgomery with his regiment +pursued the Mexicans vigorously into the chapparal on the opposite side +of the Resaca until from their rapid flight, further attempts were +utterly useless.</p> + +<p>Thus was the centre of the enemy's lines completely broken. The task +would be endless were I to recount the valiant deeds of the American and +Mexican wings in the thickets on the right and left of the road. It was +a short but severe onset, disputed on both sides, with an intrepidity +that resembled rather the bitterness of a personal conflict than a +regular battle. The nature of the ground among the groves was such as to +forbid any thing but close quarters and the use of the bayonet, knife, +or sword. Officers and men fought side by side, supporting more than +leading each other upon the opposing ranks. Bayonets were crossed, +swords clashed, stalwart arms held foes at bay, and American and Mexican +rolled side by side on the blood stained earth.</p> + +<p>I have dwelt upon the action in the centre because it controlled the +road, dispersed the foe and won the day; but the effort would be +invidious were I to relate instances of individual hardihood and skill, +when all the valiant actors in the drama were fearless and unfaltering. +The charge of May was not unlike the assault at Waterloo of Ponsonby's +victorious cavalry, supported by Vandeleur's light horse, upon the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>twenty-four pieces of D'Erlon's battery; in regard to which Napoleon +was heard to exclaim, in the heat of the battle,—"How terribly those +gray horsemen fight!" But in that conflict, Frenchmen opposed the +Anglo-saxons, and Milhaud's steel clad cuirassiers, charging Ponsonby's +brigade after it had carried the guns and attacked even a third line of +artillery and lancers, readily overcame the exhausted troopers and slew +their gallant leader.</p> + +<p>At Resaca de la Palma, however the result was different. The artillery +battalion, which, with the exception of the flank companies, had been +ordered to guard the train on the morning of the 9th, was now ordered up +to pursue the routed enemy; and the third infantry, Ker's dragoons and +Duncan's battery followed the Mexicans rapidly to the river. Shouting, +singing, almost frantic with delight at their eminent success, our men +rushed after the flying Mexicans. The pursuit became a perfect rout as +they pressed on to the banks of the Rio Grande, and numbers of the enemy +were drowned in attempting the passage of the fatal stream. The pursuing +corps encamped near the Rio Grande, while the remainder of the army +rested for the night on the field of battle. The want of a <i>ponton +train</i><a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> prevented us from following the foe across the river on the +night of the 9th; but, as the government had failed to provide General +Taylor with that useful equipage, notwithstanding his frequent warnings +of its need, he was deprived of the first chance in this war to +annihilate the Mexican army and to seize all the arms and ammunition +collected in Matamoros. The capture, however, of Arista's camp and its +equipage was a recompense <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>for our men who had fought so bravely. The +Mexican chief had gone into the campaign with every comfort around him, +and was evidently unprepared for defeat at Resaca de La Palma, for, at +the moment of our victory, his camp-kettles were found simmering over +the fires filled with viands from which he had doubtless designed to +make a savory meal after our capture. The food however was destined to +other uses; and, after a communication with the fort which held out +staunchly against the enemy during both contests, our men sat down to +enjoy the repast which the Mexicans had cooked.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Unable as we were to secure the best results of victory, from the cause +already narrated, these battles were, nevertheless, of great importance. +We had achieved success in the face of brave foes outnumbering us more +than two to one, and had conquered an army of Mexican veterans, +perfectly equipped and appointed. In the battle of Palo Alto our force, +engaged, had been one hundred and seventy-seven officers, two thousand +one hundred and eleven men, or an aggregate of two thousand two hundred +and eighty-eight;—in the action of Resaca de la Palma we brought into +the field one hundred and seventy-three officers and two thousand and +forty nine men, or, an aggregate of two thousand two hundred and +twenty-two, while the actual number <i>engaged</i> with the enemy did not +exceed seventeen hundred. In the first affair we had nine killed, +forty-four wounded<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> and two missing; but in the second, our loss was +three officers and thirty-six men killed, and seventy-one wounded. +Lieutenant Inge fell at the head of his platoon while charging with May; +Lieutenants Cochrane and Chadburne likewise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>met their death in the +thickest of the fight; while Lieutenant Colonels Payne and McIntosh; +Captains Montgomery and Hooe; and Lieutenants Fowler, Dobbins, Gates, +Jordan, Selden, Maclay, Burbank and Morris, were wounded on the field of +Resaca de la Palma.</p> + +<p>The Mexican army, under Arista and Ampudia, amounted to at least six +thousand men, having been strongly reinforced with cavalry and infantry +after the battle of the 8th; and it is highly probable that the whole of +this force was opposed to us in their choice position. In one of his +despatches, after the battles, Arista confesses that he still had under +arms four thousand troops exclusive of numerous auxiliaries, and that he +lost in the affair at Palo Alto four officers and ninety-eight men +killed;—eleven officers and one hundred and sixteen men wounded, and +twenty-six privates and non-commissioned officers missing;—while in the +battle of Resaca de la Palma, six officers and one hundred and +fifty-four men were slain; twenty-three officers and two hundred and +five wounded, and three officers and one hundred and fifty-six +missing,—making a total loss of seven hundred and fifty-five. Eight +pieces of artillery, several colors and standards, a great number of +prisoners, including fourteen officers, and a large quantity of camp +equipage, muskets, small arms, mules, horses, pack-saddles, subsistence, +personal baggage, and private as well as regimental papers, fell into +our hands. The plan of campaign, as alleged to have been developed by +Arista's port-folio, was based upon the "reconquest of the lost +province," into which the Mexican forces were to have been pushed as +soon as our army was demolished on the Rio Grande. If it should be +necessary to secure the fruits of victory by further military efforts, +it was arranged that ample reinforcements were to be brought into the +field, and subsequently that President Paredes, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>himself, should march +an army of occupation into Texas and bear his conquering eagles to the +Sabine!</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>After this narrative of our actions in the field let us recur for a +moment to the gallant garrison which had been shut up in the fort since +the beginning of the month, and in regard to whose fate the liveliest +anxiety was experienced.</p> + +<p>When the commander-in-chief departed on the 1st of May to open the line +of communication with Point Isabel, prevent an attack upon the depot, +and, finally, to succor the fort with subsistence and munitions, the +field work, though capable of defence, was not completed. The events of +the few preceding days had denoted a resolution on the part of the +Mexicans to assail us immediately, and warned our small garrison to +prepare for all emergencies. Accordingly the labor of ditching and +embanking on the unfinished front was resumed; but neither the +draw-bridge nor the interior defences were yet commenced, and to all +these works, Mansfield, with his engineers and detachments of infantry, +devoted themselves unceasingly during the whole of the bombardment, +which began at day-break, on Sunday, the 3d of May.</p> + +<p>The Mexicans had been engaged for some time erecting fortifications +along the river front of their town opposite our field work, and by this +time had prepared them for action. They commenced their attack from the +fort and mortar battery called <i>La redonda</i>, which they had placed under +the orders of a French officer of artillery, who manifested a perfect +knowledge of his profession during the conflict. Nine pieces of +ordnance,—four mortars, and the remainder six and +eight-pounders,—poured into our works an incessant shower of shot and +shells; but our batteries returned the fire so effectually, that in +thirty minutes, <i>La redonda</i> was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>abandoned. Passing from this +fortification to another lower down, the enemy again opened upon us from +<i>La fortina de la flecha</i>, as well as from intermediate batteries and a +mortar in their vicinity. It soon became evident that our six-pounders +produced no serious effects in consequence of the distance; and, +desiring to husband his resources for greater emergencies, Major Brown +ordered the firing to cease entirely on our side of the river. The +garrison had been left with only one hundred and fifty rounds of +ammunition for each eighteen-pounder while the six-pounders were as +badly provided!</p> + +<p>The silence of our guns in the presence of an assailing foe, +disheartened our men for an instant, but they immediately betook +themselves energetically to their task on the defences, though the +enemy's shells exploded in every direction about them. On the 4th the +Mexicans again resumed the fight and continued their vollies until +midnight. At nine o'clock on that evening irregular discharges of +musketry were heard in our rear apparently extending a mile up the +river, and continuing until near the termination of the cannonade. Every +soldier in the fort therefore stood to his arms all night long, manning +each battery and point of defence in expectation of an assault from the +forces that had crossed the river and filled the adjacent plains and +thickets. But the anxious night passed without an attack at close +quarters, and, at day-light, on the 5th, the enemy again commenced their +fire from the distant batteries. The sound of war was gratifying to the +Mexicans, but its conflicts were safer from behind the walls and +parapets of their forts, with an intervening river, than in dangerous +charges against the muzzles of our guns! As soon as the cannonade +recommenced, it was immediately returned by a few discharges from the +eighteen-pounders and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>six-pounder-howitzer; and the voice of our guns +once more exhilarated the men, though their shots were ineffectual. Both +batteries ceased firing simultaneously, and our indefatigable soldiers +again set to work on the defences, completed the ramparts, and made +rapid progress in the construction of a bomb-proof and traverse in rear +of the postern.</p> + +<p>These were anxious days and hours for a garrison short of ammunition, +assailed by an enemy equipped with every species of deadly missile, +probably surrounded by superior numbers concealed on the left bank of +the river, and yet forced to labor on the very fortifications which were +to keep off the foe. During all this time, however, no one desponded. +Day and night they toiled incessantly on the works amid the shower of +shot and bombs, nor was a sound of sorrow heard within the little fort +until its brave commander fell, mortally wounded by a shell, on the 6th +of May. The game was kept up during all this day; mounted men were seen +along the prairie, while infantry were noticed creeping through the +thickets; but a few rounds of canister, from Bragg's battery, dispersed +the assailants.</p> + +<p>About four o'clock of this day a white flag was observed at some old +buildings in the rear of our work, and a parley was sounded by the +enemy. Two officers were soon descried approaching us, and an equal +number were despatched by Captain Hawkins, (who had succeeded Major +Brown in the command of the fort,) to meet them within two hundred and +fifty yards of our lines. A communication from General Arista was +delivered by the herald, and the Mexicans were requested to retire a +short distance and await the reply.</p> + +<p>In this document Arista declared that our fort was surrounded by forces +adequate to its capture, while a numerous division, encamped in the +neighborhood, was able to keep off all succors that might be expected. +He alleged that his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>respect for humanity urged him to mitigate as much +as possible the disasters of war, and he therefore summoned our garrison +to surrender, in order to avoid by capitulation, the entire destruction +of the command. This mingled mission of humanity and revenge demanded +the immediate notice of our troops, and, accordingly, a brief council +was held in which it was unanimously resolved to decline the +philanthropic proposal. Hawkins, at once despatched his courteous but +firm reply, and the enemy acknowledged its receipt by a storm of shot +and shell which was literally showered into the works.</p> + +<p>It would be but repeating a narrative of one day's scenes were we to +detail the events of the 7th, 8th and 9th of May. The bravado contained +in Arista's despatch, had failed in its effort to intimidate us; +nevertheless we were compelled to undergo the severest task that a +soldier can suffer in passive non-resistance, whilst the enemy, from +afar, strove to bury our fort under the weight of their projectiles. +Bombs and shot were, however, unavailing. The defences proved equal to +our perfect protection; and all continued to work cheerfully in the +trenches until the distant sounds of battle were heard booming from Palo +Alto and Resaca. Anxiety was dispelled, and hope ripened into certainty +as the cannonade grew louder and drew nearer the river, until, at last, +on the evening of the ninth, the Mexican squadrons raced past the fort +and received the reserved shot of the eighteens which poured their +masses of grape among the flying groups. As our pursuing forces rushed +out from behind the thickets and beheld the American flag still aloft in +the works, they sent forth a cheer which was answered by the rejoicing +garrison, and the valley of the Rio Grande reverberated with the +exultation of delight. Victory and relief; a routed foe and succored +friends, enlivened every heart, and even the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>foremost and bitterest in +pursuit halted a moment to exchange congratulations upon the events of +the glorious day.</p> + +<p>Thus the separate forces of the United States were again brought +together; and <span class="smcap">Fort Brown</span>,—which now received its name from the +brave Major who died on the 9th,—was found to have lost but two by +death and only fourteen wounded during the whole bombardment.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Every war produces its singular characters whose influence or example +are not without their due effect upon the troops, and, at the conclusion +of these chapters, which are so stained with blood and battle, it may +not be useless to sketch, even upon the grave page of history, the deeds +of a woman whose courageous spirit bore her through all the trials of +this bombardment, but whose masculine hardihood was softened by the +gentleness of a female heart. Woman has every where her sphere of power +over the rougher sex, but the women of a camp must possess qualities to +which their tender sisters of the saloon are utter strangers.</p> + +<p>Some years ago, in the far west, a good soldier joined one of our +regiments, with his tall and gaunt wife, whose lofty figure and stalwart +frame almost entitled her as much as her husband to a place in the ranks +of the gallant seventh. Unwilling to abandon her liege lord upon his +enlistment, this industrious female was immediately employed as one of +the laundresses, three of whom are allowed to draw rations in each +company, and are required to wash for the soldiers at a price regulated +by a council of officers. The "Great Western,"—for by this soubriquet +was she known in the army,—arrived at Corpus Christi with her husband, +and up to the period of our departure for the Rio Grande performed all +her appropriate duties, keeping, in addition, a "mess" for the younger +officers of the regiment. When the army <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>advanced, the women, with some +exceptions, were despatched by sea to Point Isabel, while a few procured +ponies to follow the soldiers in their tedious march. The husband of the +Great Western was sent in one of the transports to the Brazos, but his +hardy spouse did not deign to accompany him in this comfortable mode of +transit, declaring that "the boys of her mess must have some one to take +care of them on their toilsome march." Accordingly, having purchased a +cart and loaded it with luggage, cooking utensils, and supplies, she +mounted behind her donkey with whip in hand, and displayed during the +wearisome advance, qualities which the best teamster in the train might +have envied. Throughout the whole journey she kept her boarders well +provided with excellent rations; and, when her brigade reached the banks +of the Colorado she was one of the first who offered to cross in the +face of the resisting enemy. After calmly surveying the scene, which has +been described in another chapter, she remarked, with great coolness, +that "if the general would give her a stout pair of tongs she would wade +the river and whip every scoundrel Mexican that dared show his face on +the opposite side!"</p> + +<p>When Taylor marched to Point Isabel on the 1st of May, the Great Western +was of course left behind with the seventh infantry. Together with the +eight or ten women who remained, she moved, at once into the fort, where +her mess was soon re-established in a tent near the centre of the works. +The enemy's fire began on the 3d, as she was commencing her preparations +for breakfast, and the women were, of course, immediately deposited for +safety in the almost vacant magazines. But it may be recorded to their +honor that they were not idle during the siege. Nobly did they ply their +needles in preparing sand bags from the soldiers' and officers' tents to +strengthen the works and protect the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>artillerists whilst serving at +their guns; yet, the Great Western, declining either to sew or to nestle +in the magazine, continued her labors over the fire in the open air. +After the discharge of the first gun all were at their posts, answering +the shot from the Mexican forts; and, when the hour for breakfast +arrived, none expected the luxury that awaited them. Nevertheless the +<i>mess</i> was as well attended as if nothing but a morning drill, with +blank cartridges, had occurred, and, in addition, a large supply of +delicious coffee awaited the thirsty, who had but to come and partake, +without distinction of rank. To some of the artillerists who were unable +to leave their guns, the beverage was carried by this excellent female; +and, as may readily be believed, no <i>belle</i> of Orleans, ever met a more +gracious reception. The fire of the artillery was kept up almost +incessantly until near the dinner hour, when the Great Western again +provided a savory soup which she distributed to the men without charge.</p> + +<p>Thus did she continue to fulfil her duties during the seven days that +the enemy kept up an incessant cannonade and bombardment. She was ever +to be found at her post; her meals were always ready at the proper hour, +and always of the best that the camp afforded. When the despatches, sent +by Walker, were made up for General Taylor on the evening of the 4th, a +number of officers and men wrote to their friends at Point Isabel; and +among them this courageous woman found time to communicate with her +husband who had not been despatched from the depot to Fort Brown. In +this document she expressed her full confidence in the ability of the +garrison to sustain itself, and only regretted the absence of her +spouse. To supply his place, however, she applied, early in the action, +for a musket and ammunition which she placed in security, expressing her +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>determination to have full satisfaction whenever the enemy dared to +approach within range of her piece. This they never did, and our +indomitable heroine must rest contented with the reflection that she +nobly performed her duty, and will long be remembered by the besieged +garrison of Fort Brown.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—The reader who desires to verify the +accounts of the actions narrated in the two last chapters, +will find all the authentic papers upon which they are +founded, in the national documents relative to the war +published during the two sessions of the twenty-ninth +congress.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It will be observed that the name of General Worth does not +occur in the account of these recent transactions on the Rio +Grande. This excellent soldier had left Florida in +September, 1845, and was early on the ground at Corpus +Christi in command of the first brigade consisting of one +artillery battalion and the eighth regiment of infantry. His +march and acts on the Rio Grande have been recounted in the +preceding chapters; but soon after his arrival he received +the mortifying intelligence that he had been superseded in +rank by an arrangement announced from the war department. +He, therefore, deemed it due to himself as an officer to +demonstrate his sensibility by resigning at once, especially +as he was convinced that there would be no engagement +between the armies, and that the war would be concluded by +despatches and bulletins instead of arms. Nevertheless he +left the American camp with regret, (tendering his services +"out of authority," to the general in command,) and +travelled with despatch to Washington. On arriving there he +learned that hostilities had actually commenced; and waiving +all his personal feeling, he immediately withdrew his +resignation, with a request for permission to return +forthwith to the command of the troops from which he was +separated, by army orders, in April, 1846. His wish was +granted by the secretary of war as soon as it was made known +on the 9th of May, and Worth hastened back to Mexico, where +his bravery and skill were subsequently so conspicuous.—See +Niles's Register, vol. 70, p. 313.</p></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Army on the Rio Grande, p. 93, and see plan of the +battle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> In May 1846, <i>after these battles</i>, an act of Congress +was finally passed authorising the organization of a company of sappers, +miners and pontoniers. The war department had not the right to form such +a corps previous to this enactment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Page and Ringgold died subsequently.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Transcriber's Note</p> +<br /> + +Some inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in +the original document has been preserved.<br /> +<br /> +Typographical errors corrected in the text:<br /> +<br /> +Page 9 bucaneers changed to buccaneers<br /> +Page 13 repartiamentos changed to repartiamientos<br /> +Page 16 leatheren changed to leathern<br /> +Page 24 felitously changed to felicitously<br /> +Page 31 cannister changed to canister<br /> +Page 46 beseiged changed to besieged<br /> +Page 47 Cohuila changed to Coahuila<br /> +Page 50 Campaga changed to Campańa<br /> +Page 57 preponderence changed to preponderance<br /> +Page 62 maratime changed to maritime<br /> +Page 63 exhorbitant changed to exorbitant<br /> +Page 70 statutes changed to statues<br /> +Page 76 Herera changed to Herrera<br /> +Page 83 petulence changed to petulance<br /> +Page 89 Guadelupe changed to Guadalupe<br /> +Page 93 Neuces changed to Nueces<br /> +Page 96 reveillee changed to reveille<br /> +Page 97 villians changed to villains<br /> +Page 97 stupifying changed to stupefying<br /> +Page 97 portions changed to potions<br /> +Page 97 exhorbitant changed to exorbitant<br /> +Page 123 Puffendorf changed to Pufendorf<br /> +Page 125 Matamoras changed to Matamoros<br /> +Page 125 seige changed to siege<br /> +Page 135 Metamoros changed to Matamoros<br /> +Page 136 exhonerate changed to exonerate<br /> +Page 140 moments changed to moment's<br /> +Page 140 engulphed changed to engulfed<br /> +Page 144 pomegranite changed to pomegranate<br /> +Page 154 bivouack changed to bivouac<br /> +Page 155 canonnade changed to cannonade<br /> +Page 159 leatheren changed to leathern<br /> +Page 159 bivouack changed to bivouac<br /> +Page 160 presure changed to pressure<br /> +Page 165 manoeuvreing changed to manoeuvring<br /> +Page 176 Pleasanton changed to Plesanton<br /> +Page 178 curiassiers changed to cuirassiers<br /> +Page 183 exhilerated changed to exhilarated<br /> +Page 188 superceded changed to superseded<br /> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the War Between Mexico and +the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1, by Brantz Mayer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICAN WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 33568-h.htm or 33568-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/6/33568/ + +Produced by Julia Miller, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1 + +Author: Brantz Mayer + +Release Date: August 29, 2010 [EBook #33568] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICAN WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Ant. Lopez de S^ta Anna] + + + + +[Illustration: BATTLE +of +PALO ALTO +8^th. May 1846. +Lith. by E. Weber & Co. Balto.] + + + + +[Illustration: BATTLE +of +RESACA DE LA PALMA +9^th May 1846. +Lith. by E. Weber & Co. Balto.] + + + + + HISTORY OF THE WAR + + BETWEEN + + MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES, + + WITH A PRELIMINARY VIEW OF ITS ORIGIN; + + BY + + BRANTZ MAYER, + + FORMERLY SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES LEGATION IN MEXICO, + AND AUTHOR OF "MEXICO AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS." + + + + Ne dites a la posterite que ce qui est digne de la posterite.--VOLTAIRE. + + + VOLUME I. + + + NEW YORK & LONDON. + WILEY AND PUTNAM. + + MDCCCXLVIII. + + + + + Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by + + BRANTZ MAYER, + + in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the District of Maryland. + + + + +BOOK FIRST: + +PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE ORIGIN + +OF THE WAR. + + + + +HISTORY OF THE WAR + +BETWEEN + +MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES. + + + + +BOOK I. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Introductory views of Mexico--The people and government. + + +The war which broke out between the United States of North America and +the Mexican Republic, in the spring of 1846, is an event of great +importance in the history of the world. Profound peace had reigned among +Christian nations, since the downfall of Napoleon; and, with the +exception of internal discords in France, Belgium, Poland and Greece, +the civilized world had cause to believe that mankind would henceforth +resort to the cabinet rather than the field for the settlement of +international disputes. The recent conflicts between the French and the +Arabs in Algeria, and between the British and Indian races, have been +characterized by ferocity and endurance. But, it will be recollected +these encounters took place between nations unequal alike in religion, +morals, law, and civilization. The temper or character of Mahomedans was +not to be measured by that of Christians nor had we just reason to hope +for a pacific or temporizing spirit in people whose savage habits have +ever rendered them prompt to return invasion by a blow, and make war the +precursor of negotiation. It was, thus, reserved for the Mexicans, whose +blood is mixed with that of an Arab ancestry, to exhibit the spectacle +of continual domestic broils, and, latterly of a positive warfare +against a nation whose friendly hand was the first to summon them into +the pale of national independence. + +The disorganized condition of our neighbor for nearly thirty years, may, +partly account for and palliate this fault. With administrations +shifting like the scenes of a drama, and with a stage, at times dyed +with blood, and at others imitating the mimic passions and transports of +the real theatre, it may be confessed that much should be pardoned by a +forbearing nation whose aggregate intelligence and force are not to be +compared with the fragmentary and impulsive usurpations in Mexico. To +judge faithfully of the justice or injustice of this war, and to +comprehend this history in truth and fairness, we must not only narrate +in chronological order the simple events that occurred between the two +nations; but the student of this epoch must go back a step in order to +master the scope and motives of the war. He must study the preceding +Mexican history and character; and, it will speedily be discovered that +when he attempts to judge the Spanish republics by the ordinary +standards applied to free and enlightened governments, he will signally +fail in arriving at truth. He must neither imagine that when the name of +Republic was engrafted on the Mexican system, that it accommodated +itself at once to our ideal standard of political power, nor that the +dominant faction was willing to adopt the simple machinery which +operates so perfectly in the United States. There are many reasons why +this should not be the case. The Spanish race, although it has achieved +the most wonderful results in discovery, conquest, colonial settlement, +diplomacy, feats of arms, and success of domestic power, has proved +itself, within the present century, to be one of the few opponents of +the progressive principles of our age. A Castilian pride of remembered +greatness, and a superstitious reluctance to cast off the bondage of the +past, have made the Spaniards content to cling devotedly to their +ancient edifice without bestowing on it those repairs or improvements +without which governments, must evidently crumble and decay. Spain +believed that what had produced national power and greatness in one age +must ever continue to effect the same results, and, thus, she was +content to bear the evils of the present time rather than disjoint a +fragment of her ancient temple, lest the whole should fall in +indiscriminate ruin. The blindness of national vanity was made more +profound by the universal glare of progressive civilization that +surrounded this doomed country, whilst superstitious influences clogged +every avenue to progress which might have saved and regenerated both the +parent and her colonies. + +It may be urged by the apologists for Spain, that, being nearly as deep +in moral, political and social degradation as France was at the period +of the revolution, she naturally contemplated such an event with horror, +especially when she remembered the sensitive and excitable race that +peopled her vallies and sierras, and the likelihood that the bloody +dramas of Paris would be frightfully exaggerated in Madrid. But I still +believe that the true cause will be found more deeply seated, in the +nature of the people; and that Spain,--made up as she is of many +nations, incompetent for self-government, uneducated and bigoted,--will +ever be content to find her ideal future in her traditionary past. + +Spain and the Spaniards have few more zealous admirers than the author +of this history. The nation contains individuals who in patriotism, love +of liberty, and devotion to science, literature, and art, are +unsurpassed by any people of the world. As Americans we owe a debt of +gratitude to the noble discoverers and conquerors of this continent. In +deeds of bravery, in chivalrous enterprise, and in intellectual power, +with what people may they not be matched in their perfect period. But +their golden age has passed, and manifold corruptions in church and +state have preyed upon the country with paralyzing influence. + +For a long time we received from England with the submissive credulity +of children, all her traditionary ignorance and abuse of Spain, much of +which was owing to political animosity, as well as to the rivalry that +grew up between that country and the rest of Europe during the reign of +Philip the second. But the study of her language, history and +literature, has unveiled the legendary falsehoods with which we were +cheated. Whilst a large portion of her past history should be admired +and lauded, her present downfall should be regarded with compassionate +censure and sympathy. We should endeavor, in writing history, to make +ourselves men of the times and nations we describe, and it is in this +manner alone, that we can establish the spiritual sympathy between +ourselves and foreign countries, which will enable us to enter into +their feelings and motives, and thus become not only merciful but true +and discreet judges. + + * * * * * + +The two great impressions made on this continent by the Spaniards were +in Mexico and Peru. Avarice and ambition induced the conquest of the +latter, while that of Mexico may also be attributed to the same motives, +although the hero who added the Aztec empire to the Spanish dominions, +modified his victories by personal qualities which were infinitely +superior to those of the conqueror of Peru.[1] Yet, in neither of these +great adventures do we find any of the fruits of peaceful acquisition, +or of those well regulated advances in civilization which always mark a +people whose conquest is undertaken under the immediate direction and +legal restraints of government. The conquests in America were, in truth, +chiefly individual enterprises, and, of course, could not be conducted +in a spirit of temperance and justice. The exploits of Cortez and +Pizarro, especially those of the latter, are characterized by ferocity +and barbarism which would place them in the category with freebooters +and buccaneers, were they not saved from it by the splendor of their +successful results. The Indians of the countries they subjected to +Spain, were utterly vanquished; yet, unlike the hardy and warlike +aborigines of the north, they remained on their native soil, content to +serve or mingle with their conquerors.--Wherever the white man came at +the north, the Indian retreated to his congenial wilderness;--he could +not inhabit the same country or breathe the same air with the +intruder;--but, as the Spaniard advanced at the south, the +semi-civilization of the enervated native, induced him to linger near +the homes of his ancestors, and, with a tame heart, to obey his +conqueror rather than to resist him or enjoy the fierce independence of +the forest. + +The territory thus seized by violence was held by fear.--Loyalty can +never be the tenure of conquerors, and, especially, of the conquerors of +an inferior race. The Spaniard and Indian lived together in a spirit of +lordly dominion on the one hand, and of crushed dependence on the other, +whilst the Castilian derived from the native nothing but his habits of +savage life, and the Indian, in turn, learned nothing from the Castilian +but his vices. + +A conquest thus achieved, an empire founded in blood and terror, would +naturally seem to have a doubtful destiny. It is unquestionably true +that Spain made humane laws, and that Charles the Fifth passed a decree +by which his American possessions were declared to be integral parts of +the Spanish kingdom. It is true, moreover, that he sought to abolish the +special grants to discoverers and conquerors by which they were invested +with almost absolute authority; and, by mitigating the system +_repartimientos_[2] or of vassalage among the Indians, to raise them to +the dignity of Spanish subjects. But, at the same time, these humane +laws were badly administered in a country so difficult of access as +America was at that period from Spain; and viceroys and governors acted +as they pleased, with but little regard to the people or the country, +except for their individual interests. Whilst this system of +maladministration made the royal and beneficent laws nugatory, Spain +seems to have been engaged in creating a colonial system which was +calculated to paralyze the energies of Mexico and Peru. She taught them +to look exclusively to mining for wealth, and to their Indians for +labor. All the laws relative to the natural development of a new +country were disregarded, and civilized existence in America began on +artificial principles. The example of the last fifty years has proved +that America is capable of producing all the necessaries, and most of +the luxuries of life quite as abundantly as Europe. Yet, Spain denied +her colonies the privilege of an effort. For instance,--she resolved at +the outset not to allow them to be independent in agriculture, commerce +or manufactures. She would not permit them to cultivate the soil save +for the merest daily necessaries. Wine and oil were to be made in the +old world. Cotton and wool were not to be woven into the beautiful +fabrics for which the ancient Peruvians were so celebrated. The church +aided the strong arm of government by the weight of her exactions and +the power of superstitious control. The Inquisition put its veto on the +spread of knowledge by restraining the sale and publication of books. +Foreigners were not allowed to navigate Spanish seas or enter American +harbors. And these distant shores were only visited at stated seasons by +national vessels, carrying such produce at exorbitant prices, as Spain +might think proper to despatch from Seville or Cadiz.[3] + + * * * * * + +I have thought it proper to state in my introductory chapter, thus much +of the laws and system under which Mexico began her national +existence;--for laws modify the character whenever they are not +self-imposed. Let us now, for a moment consider the population which was +subjected to the bad administration of such laws; and we shall then +understand better the character of the belligerents. + +The blood of the Spaniards, even at home, is a mixed blood. But when we +remember the various races that have overrun, resided in, ruled, and +incorporated themselves with Spain, we cannot be surprised at detecting +so many and diverse characteristics in Mexico. The Celti-gallic, +Celt-Iberian, Carthagenian, Roman, Vandalic, Visigothic, and Moorish +blood have mingled again in Mexico and Peru with the Indian, and in some +cases have been dashed even with the Negro.[4] Mexicans are thus, as I +have observed elsewhere, grafts rather of the wild Arab on the American +Indian, than of the Spanish Don on the noble Aztec.[5] + +When Mexico was completely conquered and emigration began to fill up the +land, the soil was divided, in large estates, among the adventurers and +the Indians, by a system of _repartimientos_, were apportioned to the +land holders.[6] This created an absolute vassalage, and bound the +Indian, virtually and forever, to the spot where he was born. As it +became wearisome to the planters to dwell in the seclusion of these vast +and lonely estates, they left them and their Indians to the care of an +_administrador_, and retreated to the chief cities of the provinces or +to the capital. Thus all the intelligence and cultivation of Mexico +became compacted in the towns, whilst the original ignorance and +semi-civilization remained diffused over the country. It is, therefore, +not at all surprising to find that out of a population of seven +millions, four millions are Indians and only one million purely white, +while more than two millions, of the rest, are zambos, mestizos and +mulattos. Nor is it singular that of this whole population of seven +millions, not more than six hundred thousand whites and eighty thousand +of other castes, can read and write.[7] + +Indeed it may be said with truth,--as agriculture has received but +little attention beyond the ordinary wants of life, and as the great +proprietors of estates have chiefly devoted their attention to the +_raising of cattle_,--that the ancient nomadic habits of the Indian and +half-breed, have remained unchanged, and, consequently, that the great +body of this semi-civilized people is quite as much at home on horseback +with sword and lance as in the _corral_ or _hacienda_.[8] + +The RANCHERO, who has played so conspicuous a part in this war, +is the natural offspring of such a state of society. This class of men +is composed of individuals, half Spanish half Indian, who resemble the +_gauchos_ of the South American Pampas. Gaunt, shrivelled and bronzed by +exposure, though hardy and muscular from athletic exercise, they are, +indeed, the Arabs of our continent. Living half the time in their +saddles, for they are matchless horsemen, they traverse the plains and +mountains, with lasso[9] in hand, either searching for, or tending their +herds. The slaughter of beasts and preparation and sale of hides is +their chief means of livelihood, varied occasionally by the cultivation +of a small patch of ground, or by taking part in the civil wars that are +always waging. Their costume generally consists of a pair of tough +leggings of skin and leathern trousers, over which is a _serape_ or +blanket, with a hole in the centre large enough for the head to pass +through, whence it falls in graceful folds over the chest and shoulders, +leaving room for the play of hands and arms. Add to this a broad +_sombrero_, and the _lasso_, hanging ready for use at his saddle bow, +and the reader will have a picture of the _ranchero_ as he appears in +peace or in the ordinary pursuit of his occupation. Join to this garb a +long sabre, a horse as savage and untamed as himself, and a belt +plentifully studded with pistols and _machetes_, and the _ranchero_ +presents himself ready either to join a troop of banditti, or to serve +in a body of cavalry. + +Cowardly as they generally are in the open field when encountering +regular troops, yet, in ambuscade, a sudden fight, or, as _guerillas_, +they are both a formidable and cruel foe. Their power of endurance is +inexhaustible. Fatigue is almost unknown to them, and a scanty meal, +each day, of jerked beef and corn or plantain, is sufficient to sustain +them on the longest marches. + +Such are the _rancheros_, who, by discipline, might be rendered the best +light troops in the world. These are the men who form the material of +the Mexican cavalry; and they bear the same relation to the armies of +that republic that the Cossacks do to the Russians;--ever on the +alert,--easily lodged,--capable of supporting fatigue or hunger,--and +untiring in pursuit of an enemy, when even the most trifling plunder is +to be obtained.[10] + + * * * * * + +Another large and formidable body in Mexico is that of the _Indians_, +amounting, as we have seen, to four millions; whose knowledge of their +governors' language is generally confined to such phrases as will enable +them to buy and sell, or perform the ordinary functions of life. +Formerly they lived, and usually still live, in narrow huts built of +mud, thatched with straw or palm leaves, and which have scarcely the +merit of being picturesque. In these miserable lairs, they nestle with +their families, their domestic animals, and a table or altar on which +they erect a cross or place the figure of a patron saint. Their food is +mostly maize, and their dress corresponds with this grovelling +wretchedness. Five out of every hundred may perhaps possess two suits of +clothes, but their general vesture consists of a large cotton shirt, a +pair of leathern trousers, and a blanket. Even the Indian women, who +elsewhere, like their sex in civilized countries, are always fond of +personal adornment, exhibit no desire to appear decent or to rival each +other in tasteful ornaments when they go abroad. They are as foul and +ill-clad on their festivals at church, as in their hovels at home, so +that few things are more disgusting to a foreigner than to mingle in an +Indian crowd.[11] It is impossible to imagine such a population capable +of becoming landed proprietors; and, consequently, we find them +contented with the annual product of their small fields, amounting, +perhaps, to thirty or fifty _fanegas_ of corn. When they live on the +large estates of Mexican proprietors, they are, in reality, vassals, +although free from the nominal stain of slavery.[12] On these +plantations they are beaten when they commit faults, and, if then found +incorrigible, are driven beyond their limits,--a punishment deemed by +them the severest that can be inflicted, and which they bear with as +much difficulty as our Indians do their banishment from the "hunting +grounds" of their forefathers. When they have gained a little money by +labor, they hasten to squander it by making a festival in honor of their +favorite saint, and thus consume their miserable earnings in gluttony, +gambling, masses, fire works, and drunkenness. When it is not absolutely +necessary to toil for the necessaries of life,--especially in the +_tierras calientes_, or warmer portions of Mexico,--they pass their time +in utter idleness or sleep. Zavala declares that in many portions of +the country, the _curates_ maintain such entire dominion over the +Indians, that they order them to be publicly whipped whenever they fail +to pay their _ovenciones_, or tributes, at the regular time, or commit +some act of personal disobedience. But the degradation of this class +does not stop even here, for the same author alleges that he has +frequently seen many Indians and their wives flogged at the village +church door, because they had failed to come to mass upon some Sunday or +festival, whilst, after the punishment, these wretches were obliged to +kiss the hand of the executioner![13] + +It will be seen from this sketch and description that the vicious +colonial system of Spain formed only two great classes in America,--the +proprietor and the vassal,--and that, in the nature of things, it was +utterly impossible for the latter to amalgamate with the former except +by creating an inferior race, whose sympathies were with the Indian +rather than the Spaniard, and whose type is the nomadic _ranchero_. This +fact was proved in the revolution which broke out in Spanish America. +The war cry was against the Spaniard[14] and his pure descendants. The +_creole_[15] rose against the _gachupin_,[16] and the ferocity with +which the soldiers of old Spain carried on the war against the natives +confirmed their hereditary animosity. + + * * * * * + +The struggle for domestic power commenced as soon as the independence of +Mexico was achieved, and the people began to establish a system of +government upon a republican basis after the downfall of the Emperor +Iturbide. The Spaniards had taught a lesson of privileged classes which +was never forgotten; so that, when the revolution took place, THE +PEOPLE were only used to effect national emancipation rather than +to establish general political liberty. + +The nobles or great proprietors, and the clergy, had, in the olden time, +formed the influential class of society which ruled the land. The theory +of republicanism was marvellously captivating so long as there was an +European foe to subdue. But, when the last remnant of Spanish power +disappeared, the men who had governed during the revolution were loath +to surrender power and subside into the insignificance of mere +citizenship. In such a country as Mexico, and in such a war as had just +occurred, this controlling influence in public affairs was, of course, +to be chiefly found in the army; so that when the nation looked around +for men to direct her at a period when Spain had not yet recognized her +independence and might again assail her, she naturally turned to the +military chieftains whose valor sustained her cause so bravely. Thus it +was that in her first moments of peace, the army obtained an important +ascendancy, which it has ever since contrived to retain during all +administrations. + +It is not just to the Spanish colonies to blame them for such a +procedure, especially when we remember that even our republic is +beginning to manifest a marked partiality for military men. The great +deed rather than the great thought,--the brilliant act rather than +beneficent legislation,--arrests and captivates the multitude. In +republics, where an eager strife for wealth, distinction or power, is +constantly going on, the notice and position that each man obtains must +be won either by intrigue or by the irresistible power of talents and +achievements. Ambitious parties sometimes even compromise for the +weakest, rather than yield the palm to superior merit of which they are +meanly jealous. The great mass of the country has no time to pause in +the midst of its earnest labor to meditate wisely on the political +abilities and moral claims of individuals. They cannot weigh them in the +golden scales of justice;--but, by a more rapid and easy process, they +yield their suffrages promptly to those whose manifestations of genius +or power are so resistless as to compel admiration. Thus is it that the +brave soldier, performing his noble exploit on the field of battle, +speaks palpably to the eye and ear of the greedy multitude. His is, +indeed, the language of action, and each new deed makes national glory +more distinct, and national vanity more confident. But the more quiet +and unobtrusive statesman, with a field infinitely less glaring or +attractive, exacts from his judges a suspension of party feeling, an +investigation of motive and merit, a calm and forbearing justice, which +the impatient masses have seldom the time or talent to bestow. It is, +therefore, by no means surprising to find in history, that the sword has +commonly been mightier than the pen, and that military chieftains become +the natural heads of republics which are created by long and bitter +revolutions. + +It must be remembered that the army in Mexico is not what armies are +generally understood to be in other countries. In Europe they are +designed to restrain the aggressive ambition of rival powers, to act as +military police, and, by their imposing skill, discipline and numbers, +to preserve the balance of national power. But in Mexico, whilst the +members of an immensely rich hierarchy constitute a distinct _order_ in +society, the army forms another.--The policy of the existing military +chieftains was to sustain, foster and increase their individual power +and patronage. The mere domestic police of the country could surely +never require, in time of peace, so large a numerical force under arms +as that which has always been supported in it; yet the military +presidents, at once, sought to establish an _army of officers_, and by +the enlistment of a body of commanders, entirely disproportionate to the +number of rank and file, they immediately created a _military order_ +upon whose support they could rely so long as they possessed the means +of patronage. The officers thus became armed and paid politicians, +whilst the common soldiers formed a military police;--the one an +element of all political revolutions, the other a tool by which those +revolutions were effected. The great practical idea of government, it +will be perceived, was derived from _compulsory force_. The church +wielded the spiritual power, whilst the army held the physical; and, +between the two, _the people_,--composed of merchants, professional men, +farmers, proprietors, and artisans,--were refused all participation in +authority, or progress in civil order which might have placed Mexico +among the foremost nations of the world. In this manner a central despot +has always found means and instruments to suppress federalism;--for +whilst near _thirty_ revolutions have occurred in Mexico since her +independence, every one of her presidents has been a military +chieftain.[17] + +Macaulay, in his essay on the life of Lord Bacon describes the condition +of England when she was governed by warriors whose rude courage was +neither guided by science nor softened by humanity, and by priests whose +learning and abilities were habitually devoted to the defence of power. +The description of that age in England is by no means inapplicable to +Mexico in the nineteenth century. "On the one side," says he, "the +Hotspurs, the Nevilles, the Cliffords, rough illiterate and +unreflecting, brought to the council-board the fierce and impetuous +despotism which they had acquired amid the tumult of predatory war or in +the gloomy repose of the garrisoned and moated castle. On the other side +was the calm and placid prelate, versed in all that was considered as +learning; trained in the schools to manage words, and, in the +Confessional, to manage hearts;--seldom superstitious, but skilful in +practising on the superstitions of others; false as it was natural for a +man to be whose profession imposed on all who were not saints the +necessity of being hypocrites;--selfish as it was natural that a man +should be who could form no domestic ties and cherish no hope of +legitimate posterity;--more attached to his order than to his country, +and guiding the politics of England with a constant side glance to +Rome."[18] + +And so it was in Mexico. The sojourner in her capital is continually +warned of this double dominion over the soul and body of the people. The +drum and the bell resound in his ears from morning to night fall. +Priests and soldiers throng the streets; and, whilst the former enjoy +the comfortable revenues which are derived from the one hundred millions +of property owned by the church, the latter live upon the labor of the +people, whom they are paid to control and transfer from one military +despot to another. + +The Mexican revolution,--like the revolutions of England, but unlike +that of France,--was political rather than social. The great foundations +of society were therefore undisturbed, and the priest and soldier took +the ranks of the ancient privileged classes, whilst the mixed people and +the native Indians remained what they had ever been--the subjects of +government. + +Of all the officers who have commanded the army and enjoyed the +presidency, Santa Anna has occupied the most distinguished position +since the death of Iturbide, and it is with him and the nation thus +described, that we shall deal in the following pages. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] See Prescott's Conquest of Peru, 2nd vol. pages 199: 245. + +[2] The word _repartimiento_ means, division, partition, distribution, +or apportionment. In the old Spanish historians and English books, such +as Zarate, Garcilasso de la Vega, Fernandez, Robertson, it is uniformly +used to denote the well known allotment of lands and vassal Indians +(_genuine adscripti glebae_) granted to the first conquerors in reward of +their services. In some later writers, this word is applied to the +_monopoly of sales to the Indians_ exercised by the _corregedores_, +under pretext of protecting the Indians from imposition, by the official +distribution of goods. N. A. Review, vol. xx. p. 287. + +"Indeed the Spanish court made no scruple of regarding the Indians in +the same light as the beasts and the soil, disposing of them as the +rightful property of the crown; for it was not till 1537, nearly fifty +years after the discovery, that the Pope issued a mandate declaring them +to be really and truly men,--"_ipsos veros homines_,"--and capable of +receiving the Christian faith." N. A. Review, vol. xix. p. 198. + +[3] The American trade was confined to Seville until 1720, when it was +removed to Cadiz, as a more convenient port. On the subject of these +oppressions and misgovernment, see Zavala's "Revoluciones de Mexico," +Introduction;--and North American Review. vol. xx. p. 158. + +[4] The subjoined list shows the varieties of parentage and blood +forming the castes throughout Spanish America: + + PARENTS. + 1. ORIGINAL RACES. + WHITE. European _whites_ are called _gachupines_ or chapetones. + _Whites_, born in the colonies, are called creoles. + NEGRO. + INDIAN. + + PARENTS. CHILDREN. + 2. CASTES OF WHITE RACE. + White father and Negro mother Mulatto. + White father and Indian mother Mestizo. + White father and Mulatta mother Quarteron. + White father and Meztiza mother Creole, (only distinguishable + from the white by a + pale brown complexion.) + White father and China mother Chino-blanco. + White father and Quarterona mother Quintero. + White father and Quintera mother White. + + 3. CASTES OF NEGRO RACE. + Negro father and Mulatta mother Zambo-negro. + Negro father and Meztiza mother Mulatto-oscuro. + Negro father and China mother Zambo-chino. + Negro father and Zamba mother Zambo & Negro (perfectly + black.) + Negro father and Quarterona mother dark Mulatto. + Negro father and Quintera mother dark Mulatto. + + 4. CASTES OF INDIAN RACE. + Indian father and Negro mother Chino. + Indian father and Mulatta mother Chino-oscuro. + Indian father and Mestiza mother Mestizo-claro (often very + beautiful.) + Indian father and China mother Chino-cholo. + Indian father and Zamba mother Zambo-claro. + Indian father and China-chola mother Indian (with short, frizzly + hair.) + Indian father and Quarterona mother brown Meztizo. + Indian father and Quintera mother brown Meztizo. + + 5. MULATTO CORRUPTIONS. + Mulatto father and Zamba mother Zambo (a miserable race.) + Mulatto father and Zamba mother Chino (rather clear race.) + Mulatto father and China mother Chino (rather dark.) + +Besides these specified castes there are many others not distinguished +by particular names. The best criterion for judging is the hair of the +women which is infinitely less deceiving than the complexion. The short +woolly hair, or the coarse Indian locks may always be detected on the +head or back of the neck. This tabular statement exhibits at a glance +the mongrel corruptions of the human race in Spanish America, and forms +an interesting subject for students of physiology. See Tschudi's Peru, +p. 80, Am. Ed. + +[5] Preface to 3d Ed. of Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 12. + +[6] Zavala's "Revoluciones de Mexico," vol. 1. p. 15, gives an account +of the manner in which estates are divided in Mexico. + +[7] See Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 301. + +[8] _Corral_ signifies cattle yard; _hacienda_, plantation; _rancho_, +small farm. + +[9] _The lasso_ is a long rope, with a running noose at the end of it. +The Mexicans learn to fling this with great accuracy so as to catch a +bull, a horse, or a man with equal facility. All classes have some skill +in the use of this weapon, and I have seen children, with cords, +attempting to _lasso_ chickens and even butterflies! + +[10] See Head's Rough Notes of a Journey over the Pampas. The Mexican +ranchero is somewhat superior to the _gaucho_ of the Pampas. + +[11] Mexico as it was and is, p. 144. + +[12] Id. p. 201; and see Stephens' Travels in Yucatan,--where, he says, +the maxim is that "los Indios no oyen sino por las nalgas,"--the Indians +only hear through their backs. + +[13] Zavala Revoluciones de Mejico, vol. i, pp. 15, 16. "Este escandalo +estaba autorizado por la costumbre de mi provincia." Zavala was one of +the wisest and most illustrious patriots of Mexico. His History was +published in Paris in 1831. + +[14] It will be recollected that the outburst of the Mexican revolution +was not in favor of republicanism; but only against misgovernment. It +was not against the _form_ of rule, but against the _men_ who ruled. +Even the plan of Iguala offered the crown of Mexico to Ferdinand, as a +separate kingdom. See Robinson's Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution. + +"It is related that Hidalgo, the celebrated priestly leader of the +revolutionary movement, was accustomed to travel from village to village +preaching a crusade against the Spaniards, exciting the _creoles_ and +Indians; and one of his most effective tricks is said to have been the +following. Although he had thrown off the cassock for the military coat, +he wore a figure of the Virgin Mary suspended by a chain around his +neck. After haranguing the mob on such occasions, he would suddenly +break off, and looking down at his breast, address himself to the holy +image, after the following fashion: 'Mary! Mother of God! Holy Virgin! +Patron of Mexico! behold our country,--behold our wrongs,--behold our +sufferings! Dost thou not wish they should be changed? that we should be +delivered from our tyrants? that we should be free? that we should slay +the gachupines! that we should kill the Spaniards?' + +"The image had a moveable head fastened to a spring, which he jerked by +a cord concealed beneath his coat, and, of course the Virgin responded +with a nod! The effect was surprising--and the air was filled with +Indian shouts of obedience to the present miracle."--Mexico as it was +and as it is, p. 230. + +[15] The term _creole_ is a corruption of the Spanish word _criollo_, +which is derived from _criar_, to create or foster. The Spaniards apply +the term criollo not merely to the human race, but to animals born in +the colonies, if they are of _pure European blood_. + +[16] See Robinson's Memoirs Mexican Revolution, page 15. The term +_gachupin_ has been always used by the creoles and Indians as a word of +contempt towards the Spaniards. Its origin and exact signification are +unknown; but it is believed to be an Indian, and perhaps Aztec, term of +scorn and opprobrium. + +[17] A _federal_ government, similar to our own, was established in +Mexico in 1824, and overthrown in 1835, to yield to a _central_ +constitution. In the meanwhile, the centralists were almost always at +war, openly or secretly, against the _federalists_. + +[18] Macaulay's Essays, vol. 2d, p. 356, Bost. Ed. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Origin of the war considered--True objects of contemporaneous history + --Motives for war--No single act caused it--Difference between war + and hostilities--Mexican revolution--Federalism and Centralism-- + Operation of the Constitution of 1824--History of our commercial and + diplomatic relations--Bad conduct of Mexico in regard to our claims, + compared with that of other nations--Commission--Award of umpire-- + Subsequent course of Mexico--History of the seizure and surrender of + Monterey, on the Pacific, by Commodore Jones in 1842--Secretary + Upshur's censure of his conduct--Ill feeling in Mexico towards the + United States in consequence of this seizure. + + +An artist in portraying a face or delineating a landscape, does not +imprint upon his canvass, each line and wrinkle, each blade of grass or +mossy stone, yet a spectator recognizes in the complete painting, those +broad characteristics of truth which establish a limner's fidelity. So +it is with the historian. Whilst seeking for accuracy in all his +details, he aims, chiefly, at exactness in his ruling principles and +general effect, but he leaves the minute inelegances and tasteless +incidents to those whose critical fervor delights in detecting them. + +It is not alone in the detail of facts that the historian is liable to +incur censure, especially when he writes a contemporaneous narrative. It +is almost impossible to suppose that he will divest himself so +completely of party feeling, as to compose an unprejudiced work. Some +critics have even declared that a historian should possess neither +religion nor country, and would thus force us to believe it utterly +impossible to be impartial unless an author were an infidel or a +cosmopolite. + +The age is so characterized by political rancor and so little by true +statesmanship, that it is not surprising to hear such opinions even from +experienced and patient scholars. Yet I have always thought that a +writer who undertakes the task of delineating national annals in no +sectarian spirit but with broad and Christian tolerance,--honestly +seeking to do justice in politics and religion to all,--may so far +separate himself from the strifes of the day as to pronounce opinions as +honest, though perhaps not as learned, as those that issue from the +bench. + +There is, too, a great advantage which should not escape our notice in +recording contemporaneous history and fixing permanently the facts of +the time as they occur. He who describes events or periods long since +past, is forced to throw himself back, if possible, into the scenes of +which he writes, whilst he remains free from sympathy with their +factions and parties. But if a writer of the present day will place +himself on the impartial ground of religious and political freedom, and +make himself what Madame de Stael has so felicitously styled +"contemporaneous posterity," I think he will be better able than those +who come after us to narrate with vivid freshness the story of this +sanguinary war. + +The impression of public feeling both in Mexico and the United States is +still distinct in our recollection; the political motives influencing or +controlling both the great parties in our country, have not yet ceased +to operate; and the errors that may innocently creep into a narrative +may be corrected by intelligent men who took part in the war as soldiers +or civilians. A history thus dispassionately written, must, it seems to +me, have the truth and value of a portrait taken from life, rather than +of a sketch made from memory whose coloring lacks all the freshness of +vitality. + + * * * * * + +The very threshold of this history is embarrassed by the party +controversies to which I have alluded. The origin of the war was +attributed by the president and his adherents to the wrong doings of +Mexico, whilst the opponents of the executive did not hesitate to charge +its unnecessary inception and all its errors directly on the cabinet. +Documents, messages, speeches, essays, and reviews, were published to +sustain both sides of the question, and the whole subject was argued +with so much ability and bitterness, so much zeal and apparent +sincerity, that an impartial mind experiences extraordinary difficulty +in detecting the actual offender. That grievances existed in the conduct +of Mexico against us during a long series of years cannot be denied; +but, it is equally true, that, between governments well administered and +entirely reasonable on both sides, none of those provocations justified +war. Yet, when offended power on one side, and passion on the other, +become engaged in discussion, it requires but little to fan the smallest +spark into a flame, and thus to kindle a conflagration, which the +stoutest arms may fail to suppress. It frequently occurs in the affairs +of ordinary life, that neighbors are the bitterest enemies. Men often +dislike each other at their first interview, especially if they belong +to families in which mutual prejudices have existed. They find it +impossible to assign reasons for their aversion; nevertheless it exists +in all its marvellous virulence. A slight disagreement as to limits +between neighboring landholders, a paltry quarrel among servants, the +malicious representation of innocent remarks, a thousand vain and +trifling incidents, may effectually create a degree of ill feeling and +cause them never to meet without scornful looks and quickened pulses. +At length, this offensive temper is manifested in personal annoyance or +insulting language, and blows are struck in the first encounter without +pausing to debate the justice of an assault. It is with nations as it is +with persons. The boasted discretion of statesmen, and the provident +temper of politicians have, in all ages, failed to control the animosity +of mankind; and we thus find as much littleness in the conduct of +governments as in the petulance of men. + +I have therefore, in studying this subject carefully, been led to the +opinion that no single act or cause can be truly said to have originated +the war between the United States and Mexico; but that it occurred as +the result of a series of events, and as the necessary consequence of +the acts, position, temper, passions, ambition and history of both +parties since our international relations commenced. + +The reader will observe that I draw a distinction between the _war_ and +_hostilities_. I shall discuss the latter question in the portion of +this volume which relates to events on the Rio Grande.[19] + + * * * * * + +In the preceding chapter I have glanced at the character of the people +of Mexico, and I trust that the sketch I gave will be continually +remembered as illustrating the people with whom we are dealing. When our +first envoy, Mr. Poinsett, was despatched, he found Mexico pausing to +recover breath after her revolution. The bad government of Spain had +been followed by the turmoil and bloodshed of the rebellion, and that, +in turn, was succeeded by the anarchy of a distracted republic. +Revolution has followed revolution so rapidly since then, that the +historian, at a loss to discover their causes, can scarcely detect +their pretexts. For twenty years past we have been so accustomed to hear +of a new military outbreak in Mexico that the familiarized act seems to +be only the legitimate order of constitutional change. Passion, +ambition, turbulence, avarice, and superstition, have so devoured the +country, that during the whole of this period, Mexico, whilst presenting +to foreign nations, the external appearance of nationality, has, in +fact, at home, scarcely ever enjoyed the benefit of a real or stable +government that could make an impression upon the character of the +people or their rulers. It is true that, at first, she sought to adopt +our federal system; but the original difference between the colonial +condition of things in the two countries, made the operation of it +almost impossible. The British provinces of North America, with their +ancient and separate governments, very naturally united in a federation +for national purposes, whilst they retained their freedom and laws as +independent States. But the viceroyalty of Mexico, when it +revolutionized its government, was forced to reverse our system,--to +destroy the original central power, and, subsequently to divide the +territory into departments, or states. Until the year 1824, nothing of +this kind existed in Mexico. The whole country from the Sabine to its +utmost southern limit, was under the central rule of a viceroy, with the +same laws, religion, priests, judges, and civil as well as military +authorities. The constitution of 1824, for the first time broke up the +consolidated nation into nineteen states, and then, by the same +legislative act, recomposed them in a federative union. The +constitutions of these nineteen states, consequently, were creative of +differences that never existed before, and the unity of power, will, and +action, which previously existed was destroyed forever. This was, +naturally the origin of jealousies, parties, and sectional feeling; and +the result was, that the revenues of the country became wasted whilst +their collection was impeded, and that a people unused to freedom and +chiefly composed of illiterate _creoles_, were confounded by a scheme of +government whose machinery was too intricate.[20] + +The state and municipal governments of Mexico were, consequently, always +quite as incompetent for self-rule as the central authority. In addition +to this, they were cordially jealous of the national powers. This arose +from the state fears of consolidation; and, as it was with these +municipal authorities, as well as with the corrupt government officers, +that our citizens were chiefly brought in contact in the ports, it is +not at all wonderful to find them soon complaining of oppression and +burthening the records of our legation with their grievances. When our +ministers sought to obtain redress, the Mexican government was reluctant +to undertake the investigation of the subject; and, when it did so, +continually encountered delay and equivocation on the part of the local +authorities. The distant peculator was anxious to escape the penalty of +his fault by procrastination, and the Mexican secretary of state, ever +willing to uphold his national pride by concealing or not confessing the +villainy of his subordinate, was ready to sustain him by an interminable +correspondence. + +The history of the diplomatic and commercial relations between the +United States and Mexico, as exhibited by congress in all the published +volumes of national documents, presents a series of wrongs, which the +reader will find ably recapitulated in a report[21] made by Mr. Cushing +in the year 1842. Our claims, arising from injuries inflicted by Mexico, +were no ordinary demands founded on mere querulousness, or contrived +with a view to obtain money fraudulently from that republic. They were +brought to the notice of the ministry of foreign affairs by all our +envoys, and their justice urged with ample proof; until, at length, upon +the return of Mr. Powhatan Ellis to the United States, in the year 1837, +after demanding his passports, they became the subject of a message from +President Jackson in which he alleges that all his efforts of pacific +negotiation had been fruitless and that he found it both just and +prudent to recommend reprisals against Mexico. This serious aspect of +our difficulties immediately commended the subject to the notice of +committees in both houses of congress, and whilst they sustained the +president's opinion of the character of our wrongs, they recommended +that a forbearing spirit should still characterize our conduct, so that, +"after a further demand, should prompt justice be refused by the Mexican +government, we might appeal to all nations not only for the equity and +moderation with which we had acted towards a sister republic but for the +necessity which will then compel us to seek redress for our wrongs +either by actual war or reprisals."[22] + +"Shortly after these proceedings"--says President Polk--"a special +messenger was despatched to Mexico, to make a final demand for redress; +and on the 20th of July, 1837, the demand was made. The reply of the +Mexican government bears date on the 29th of the same month, and +contains assurances of the anxious wish of the Mexican government 'not +to delay the moment of that final and equitable adjustment which is to +terminate the existing difficulties between the two governments;' that +nothing 'should be left undone which may contribute to the speediest and +most equitable termination of the subjects which have so seriously +engaged the attention of the United States,' that the 'Mexican +government would adopt, as the only guides for its conduct, the plainest +principles of public right, the sacred obligations imposed by +international law, and the religious faith of treaties,' and that +'whatever reason and justice may dictate respecting each case will be +done.' The assurance was further given that the decision of the Mexican +government upon each cause of complaint, for which redress had been +demanded, should be communicated to the government of the United States +by the Mexican minister at Washington. + +"These solemn assurances, in answer to our demand for redress, were +disregarded. By making them, however, Mexico obtained further delay. +President Van Buren, in his annual message to congress of the 5th of +December, 1837, states that 'although the larger number' of our demands +for redress, and 'many of them aggravated cases of personal wrongs, have +been now for years before the Mexican government, and although the +causes of national complaint, and those of the most offensive character, +admitted of immediate, simple, and satisfactory replies, it is only +within a few days past that any specific communication in answer to our +last demand, made five months ago, has been received from the Mexican +minister;' and that 'for not one of our public complaints has +satisfaction been given or offered; that but one of the cases of +personal wrong has been favorably considered, and but four cases of both +descriptions, out of all those formally presented, and earnestly +pressed, have as yet been decided upon by the Mexican government.' +President Van Buren, believing that it would be vain to make any further +attempt to obtain redress by the ordinary means within the power of the +executive, communicated this opinion to congress, in the message +referred to, in which he said that 'on a careful and deliberate +examination of the contents,' of the correspondence with the Mexican +government, 'and considering the spirit manifested by the Mexican +government, it became his painful duty to return the subject, as it now +stands, to congress, to whom it belongs, to decide upon the time, the +mode, and the measure of redress.' + +"Instead of taking redress into our own hands, a new negotiation was +entered upon with fair promises on the part of Mexico. This negotiation, +after more than a year's delay, resulted in the convention of the 11th +of April, 1839, 'for the adjustment of claims of citizens of the United +States of America upon the government of the Mexican republic.' The +joint board of commissioners created by this convention to examine and +decide upon these claims was not organized until the month of August, +1840, and under the terms of the convention they were to terminate their +duties within eighteen months from that time. Four of the eighteen +months were consumed in preliminary discussions on frivolous and +dilatory points raised by the Mexican commissioners; nor was it until +the month of December, 1840, that they commenced the examination of the +claims of our citizens upon Mexico. Fourteen months only remained to +examine and decide upon these numerous and complicated cases. In the +month of February, 1842, the term of the commission expired, leaving +many claims undisposed of for want of time. The claims which were +allowed by the board and by the umpire, authorized by the convention to +decide in case of disagreement between the Mexican and American +commissioners, amounted to _two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred +and thirty-nine dollars and sixty-eight cents_. There were pending +before the umpire when the commission expired additional claims which +had been examined and awarded by the American commissioners, and had not +been allowed by the Mexican commissioners, amounting to _nine hundred +and twenty-eight thousand and twenty-seven dollars and eighty-eight +cents_, upon which he did not decide, alleging that his authority ceased +with the termination of the joint commission. Besides these claims, +there were others of American citizens amounting to _three millions +three hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven +dollars and five cents_, which had been submitted to the board, and upon +which they had not time to decide before their final adjournment. + +"The sum of two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-nine +dollars and sixty-eight cents which had been awarded to the claimants, +was an ascertained debt by Mexico, about which there could be no +dispute, and which she was bound to pay according to the terms of the +convention. Soon after the final awards for this amount had been made, +the Mexican government asked for a postponement of the time of making +payment, alleging that it would be inconvenient to pay at the time +stipulated. In the spirit of forbearing kindness towards a sister +republic, which Mexico has so long abused, the United States promptly +complied with her request. A second convention was accordingly concluded +between the two governments on the thirtieth of January, 1843, which +upon its face declares, that, 'this new arrangement is entered into for +the accommodation of Mexico.' By the terms of this convention, all the +interest due on the awards which had been made in favor of the claimants +under the convention of the 11th of April, 1839, was to be paid to them +on the 30th of April, 1843, and "the principal of the said awards, and +the interest accruing thereon," was stipulated to "be paid in five +years, in equal instalments every three months." Notwithstanding this +new convention was entered into at the request of Mexico, and for the +purpose of relieving her from embarrassment, the claimants only received +the interest due on the 30th of April, 1843, and three of the twenty +instalments. Although the payments of the sum thus liquidated, and +confessedly due by Mexico to our citizens as indemnity for acknowledged +acts of outrage and wrong, was secured by treaty, the obligations of +which are ever held sacred by all just nations, yet Mexico violated this +solemn engagement by failing and refusing to make the payment. The two +instalments due in April and July, 1844, under the peculiar +circumstances connected with them, were assumed by the United States and +paid to the claimants. But this is not all of which we have just cause +of complaint. To provide a remedy for the claimants whose cases were not +decided by the joint commission under the convention of April the 11th, +1839, it was expressly stipulated by the sixth article of the convention +of the 30th of January, 1843, that 'a new convention shall be entered +into for the settlement of all claims of the government and citizens of +the United States against the republic of Mexico which were not finally +decided by the late commission which met in the city of Washington, and +all claims of the government and citizens of Mexico against the United +States.' + +"In conformity with this stipulation, a third convention was concluded +and signed at the city of Mexico on the 20th of November, 1843, by the +plenipotentiaries of the two governments, by which provision was made +for ascertaining and paying these claims. In January, 1844, this +convention was ratified by the senate of the United States, with two +amendments, which were manifestly reasonable in their character. + +"Upon a reference of the amendments proposed to the government of +Mexico, the same evasions, difficulties, and delays were interposed +which have so long marked the policy with that government towards the +United States. It has not even yet decided whether it would or would not +accede to them, although the subject has been repeatedly pressed upon +its consideration. + +"Mexico thus violated a second time the faith of treaties, by failing or +refusing to carry into effect the sixth article of convention of +January, 1843."[23] + +The allegations made in this message are unquestionable. They rest upon +the evidence of documents which are accessible to all in the published +papers of the government.[24] The outrages of Mexico consisted in +seizure of property, illegal imprisonment of citizens, deprivation of +just rights, interference with our lawful commerce, forced loans, +violations of contracts, and arbitrary expulsion from the territory +without trial. All these misdeeds formed the exasperating burthen of our +complaint, and their perpetration was in fact proved beyond the +possibility of cavil by the awards in favor of our claimants made by the +Baron von Roenne, who, as Prussian minister, was umpire between the +Mexican and American commissioners. + +It must not be forgotten that we had claims also against Spain, France, +England, Denmark and Naples, which were adjusted by negotiation and +liquidated in strict accordance with treaties. These, demands, however, +originated during the wars in Europe which followed the French +revolution, so that it remained for Mexico to peculate on our commerce +and persecute our people during a period of entire international peace, +and without any excuse save the direct villainy of her government, or +the corrupt ignorance of her subordinate officers. + + * * * * * + +We must now retrace our steps, in order to narrate an event of interest +in the series of causes that originated this war. + +It appears that the Mexican government, in anticipation of some attack +on its distant territories of California, had, in the summer of 1842, +sent a number of troops thither, under the command of Don Manuel +Micheltorena, who was appointed commandant general and inspector of both +the Californias. These troops arrived at San Diego, the southernmost +port on the Pacific side of California, in the middle of October, and +were on their way to Monterey, the capital, when the occurrences in +question took place. + +Monterey, on the Pacific, is a small village founded by the Spaniards in +1771, at the southern extremity of a bay of the same name, near the 36th +degree of latitude, about a hundred miles south of the great bay of San +Francisco, and about three hundred and fifty miles north from the town +of Angeles, where the Commandant Micheltorena was resting with his +troops when the events in question occurred. + +Whilst Commodore Jones was visiting the port of Callao, in September, +1842, he received from Mr. John Parrott, our consul at Mazatlan, a copy +of a Mexican newspaper of the 4th of June, containing three official +declarations against the United States, which he regarded as "highly +belligerent."[25] He also obtained a newspaper published in Boston, +quoting a paragraph from the New Orleans Advertiser of the 19th April, +1842, in which it was asserted,--upon what the editor deemed authentic +information,--that Mexico had ceded the Californias to England for seven +millions of dollars. These documents reached our sensitive commodore at +a moment when his suspicions were aroused by other circumstances. For, +on the 5th of September, Rear-Admiral Thomas, a British commander, +sailed from Callao in the Dublin having previously despatched two of his +fleet with sealed orders just received from England. The whole fleet, he +believed, was secretly on its way to Panama to embark reinforcements of +troops, from the West Indies, to take armed possession of the +Californias in conformity with the allegation of the Boston and New +Orleans editors.[26] + +Commodore Jones immediately hastened from the port of Callao to Lima, +where, in a conversation with the American charge d'affaires, Mr. +Pickett, he formed the decided opinion that there would be war not only +with Mexico but with Great Britain also.[27] Accordingly, he lost no +time in preparing for sea, and on the 7th of September, sailed for the +coast of Mexico. + +On the 19th of October, Jones arrived at Monterey, in the frigate United +States, accompanied by the Cyane, Captain Stribling. They did not +communicate with the shore or endeavor, in any authentic way, to +ascertain the state of our political relations; but at four o'clock in +the afternoon, Captain Armstrong, the flag captain of the United States, +landed, and delivered to the acting governor, Don Juan Alvarado, a +letter from Commodore Jones, requiring the immediate surrender of the +place, with its forts, castles, ammunitions and arms, to the United +States, in order to save it from the horrors of war, which would be the +immediate consequences of a refusal to submit. Alvarado, upon this +summons, consulted the military and civil authorities; and, finding that +the garrison consisted of only twenty-nine men, that the artillery was +composed of eleven pieces, entirely useless from the rottenness of their +carriages, and that the whole number of muskets and carbines, good and +bad, did not exceed a hundred and fifty, he surrendered the place, which +was taken possession of by the Americans early on the 20th of October. +The articles of capitulation signed on the occasion provide, that the +Mexican soldiers shall march out with colors flying, and shall remain as +prisoners of war until they can be sent to Mexico, and that the +inhabitants shall be protected in their persons and property, so long as +they conduct themselves properly, and do not infringe the laws of the +United States. Commodore Jones at the same time issued a proclamation to +the Californians, declaring that "he came in arms as the representative +of a powerful nation, against which the existing government of Mexico +had engaged in war, but not with the intention of spreading dismay among +the peaceful inhabitants," and inviting them to submit to the authority +of a government which would protect them forever in the enjoyment of +liberty. + +The evening and night of the 20th passed quietly; but, on the next day, +the commodore seems to have reflected on the results of a bloodless +conquest which was even more easily won than the victories of Cortez and +Pizarro three hundred years before. Learning that there was late and +pacific news from Mexico, and, forthwith despatching his private +secretary and chaplain to seek for it, they discovered, in the office of +the Mexican commissary, several packages containing unopened files of +gazettes, as late as the 4th of August. "The general tone of the +articles,"--says the commodore,--"relating to the United States, in +these papers, was pacific, whilst the certainty that Mexico had not +commenced hostilities against us, up to the 22d of August, was +established by private commercial letters from Mazatlan." Thus, it +seemed to him, that the crisis had passed; that his victory was barren, +that the reported cession of the Californias to England was untrue and +could not have been prevented even by his valor. The war which had been +recklessly undertaken upon surmises or newspaper articles, and +stimulated by the sailing of an English fleet with sealed orders, came +to an end as it began--by Mexican journals. + +Accordingly, on the 21st of the month, Commodore Jones addressed another +letter to the acting governor, Alvarado, announcing that information +received since the capture of the place, left him no reason to doubt +that the difficulties between Mexico and the United States had been +adjusted; and that, being anxious to avoid all cause of future +controversy, he was ready to restore the place, with its forts and +property, to the Mexicans, in the same condition in which they were +before the seizure. Monterey was therefore at once evacuated by the +Americans, and reoccupied by the Mexicans, whose flag, on being +rehoisted, was saluted by our ships. + +If the commodore of our squadron had prudently despatched his secretary +and chaplain on a pacific mission of inquiry under a flag of truce, +immediately upon his arrival, it is extremely probable that they would +either have discovered on the 20th the newspapers they found on the +21st, or have received the commercial letter which terminated the +capture. This would have prevented an angry diplomatic correspondence; +it would have allayed the irritation of national sensibility, and, +whilst it saved us from the imputation of attempting to intimidate a +weak power, would not have subjected our forces to the mortification of +mistake upon such grievous subjects as peace and war. The Mexican +papers, of course, viewed the matter as a national insult; and the +government gazette, published in the capital, unequivocally asserted +that Commodore Jones attacked Monterey, agreeably to orders from his +government, with the view of conquering California, but that finding the +country in a state of defence, (for which thanks were due to President +Santa Anna and his efficient minister of war,) he was obliged to abandon +his plan and invent a story for his justification.[28] + +It is scarcely possible for a citizen of the United States to take a +different view of the subject without a full knowledge of the facts; for +it could hardly be believed that the commander of a naval station, +during a period of profound peace, would venture to summon towns to +surrender, to land forces, take prisoners, and hoist our national flag +on friendly soil, without the authority or connivance of his +government.[29] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] This river is known by various names in different authors. By some +it is called Rio Bravo, by others, Rio del Norte, and by others, again, +Rio Grande. I shall adhere to the latter throughout this work. + +[20] See the Natchez Daily Courier of 18th January, 1843, for an +excellent article on Mexico, signed EGO ET ALTER. + +[21] Report No. 1096 to the H. of R., 27th congress, 2d session. + +[22] See senate documents of that session. + +[23] President Polk's annual message to congress, 8th Dec. 1846, p. 6. + +[24] See Doc. No. 139, 24 cong. 2d sess. H. of R.--Senate Doc. No. 320, +2d sess. 27 cong.--Doc. No. 57, H. of R. 27 cong. 1st sess.--Senate Doc. +No. 411, 27 cong. 2d sess.--Doc. No. 1096, H. of R. 27 cong. 2d +sess.--Doc. No. 158, H. of R. 28 cong. 2d sess.--Doc. No. 144, H. of R. +28 cong. 2d sess.--Senate Doc. No. 85, 29 cong. 1st sess.--Senate Doc. +No. 151, 29 cong. 1 sess. + +[25] This paper contained the circular of the Mexican minister of +foreign relations to the diplomatic corps, dated 31st May, +1842,--(answered by Mr. Thompson on the 1st of June,)--relative to +public meetings in the United States favorable to Texas; the aid +furnished Texas by _volunteers_ from the United States; and the trade in +arms and munitions of war with Texas. Doc. No. 266, H. of R., 27th +congress, 2d session. + +[26] See doc., No. 166, H. of R., 27th congress, 3d session, page 85. + +[27] Id. pages 15, 68, 73. + +[28] Diario del Gobierno--Mexico, 1842. + +[29] A correspondence relative to this seizure of Monterey took place at +Washington between Mr. Webster, secretary of state, and Gen. Almonte, +the Mexican minister; and, in Mexico, between Senor Bocanegra, minister +of foreign affairs, and Mr. Waddy Thompson, our diplomatic +representative. Mexico complained bitterly of our insulting descent on +her territory, and our ministers apologized gracefully for the +unauthorised act. The correspondence between the governments and with +Commodore Jones will be found in document No. 166, H. of R., 97th +congress, 3d session, 1843. + +The recall of Commodore Jones by the secretary of the navy is the +following words: + +"NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 24, 1843. + +"SIR: Although no official intelligence of the recent occurrences at +Monterey has reached this department, yet the leading facts have been +communicated in a form sufficiently authentic to justify and render +necessary my immediate action. In the opinion of this government it is +due to the friendly relations subsisting between the United States and +Mexico, and to the respect which every nation owes to the rights of +other nations, that you should be recalled from the command of the +squadron in the Pacific. + +"In adopting this course it is not designed to prejudge the case, _nor +even to indicate any opinion as to the propriety or impropriety of your +conduct in the matter alluded to_. That will of course be made the +subject of proper inquiry after you return to the United States, when +full justice will be done as between yourself and your own country. The +present order has reference only to the just claims of Mexico on this +government for such a disavowal of the attack on Monterey as will fully +recognize the rights of Mexico, and at the same time place the conduct +of this government in a proper light before the nations of the world. +Commodore Dallas will relieve you as soon as he can conveniently reach +the station and you will return to the United States in such mode as may +be most convenient and agreeable to yourself. + + "I am respectfully yours, + + "A. P. UPSHUR. + + "Com. THOS. AP. C. JONES, commanding Pacific squadron." + +I believe that the commodore was not tried by a court of inquiry or a +court martial after his return, but that the affair has slumbered since +the date of the above letter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The origin of the war--History of the pacification between Spain and + Holland in 1609--Spain and Mexico should have followed the + example--The Texas question--Origin of the Texas revolution-- + True history of it--Resistance to the Central despotism of Santa + Anna--Mexican war against Texas--Independence of Texas--Santa + Anna's retraction in 1846 of his anti-federative opinions. + + +The student of Mexican history, at this period, will derive instruction +from a narrative of the connexion which once existed between Spain and +the Netherlands and its fatal rupture. + +After the fall of the duke of Burgundy in 1477, his daughter Mary +brought the low countries to Austria by her marriage with the Emperor +Maximilian; and his grandson, Charles V, united these provinces with +Spain. During the reign of Charles, their ancient liberties were +carefully respected, and the country prospered whilst the Protestant +religion spread throughout it in spite of stern opposition. But when +his successor, Philip II, mounted the throne, all prudence in the +government of the Belgic and Batavian provinces seems to have been +abandoned, and unbridled persecution was let loose on the civil and +religious rights of the people. Granvella and the bloody duke of Alva +were the monarch's instruments in this sad misgovernment, which resulted +in a total renunciation of allegiance to the king of Spain. Long and +bitter was the rebellion,--continuing from the middle of the sixteenth +century to the year 1609,--when the Spanish claim to the sovereignty of +the new republic of Holland was virtually resigned under the form of a +truce for twelve years between the belligerents.[30] + +The independence of the united provinces was thus, in fact achieved, and +it was recognized by all the great powers of Europe except Spain; still +Holland went through the thirty years war, before her nationality was +secured by the peace of Westphalia. + +From this sketch it will be perceived that Spain, although willing to +forego the continuance of war, and to save the point of honor between +herself and the rebellious provinces when it was impossible to recover +her dominion over them, nevertheless, clung with stupid pride to her +abstract right of reconquest for a long period after she had +substantially acknowledged their freedom. The dismemberment of Spain +was, of course, an event which the monarch could not behold without +regret, for it was natural that he should seek to transmit his dominions +to posterity uncurtailed of their fair proportions. Yet, in the adoption +of a diplomatic _ruse_,--in the truce of twelve years,--there was a +degree of wisdom which it would have been well for Spain to recollect +when it became evident that the revolt of her American colonies was +about to terminate in their independence. The passions between the +belligerents would have had time to cool. The common ties of blood and +language might gradually have bound up the wounds made by war. The +intervention of friendly powers would have obtained concessions from the +discreet parent,--and thus Peru and Mexico might still have shone as the +brightest jewels in the Spanish crown. No quarrel ever terminated in +perfect re-establishment of amity without tolerance or retraction on the +part of one of the disputants. Superior force may overawe into silence +or crush by its ponderous blows, yet the non-resistance and taciturnity +which ensue are but the repose that precedes the hurricane, in which the +elements seem gathering strength to pour forth their wrath with +irresistible fury. + +So was it with Spain and her American colonies. Instead of soothing and +pacific measures, tending to allay resentment and bring back the rebel +to allegiance, the utmost violence was at once adopted both in deeds and +language, and scenes of barbarity were enacted by Calleja and his +myrmidons from which the heart recoils with horror.[31] + +Severe as was the lesson taught by the conduct of Spain to Mexico, that +republic, nevertheless, resolved not to profit by it when she, in turn, +saw one of her States discontented with her misrule and usurpations. If +Texas had been soothed; if justice had been speedily done; if the +executive had despatched discreet officers, and reconciled the +differences between the North American emigrants and the Spaniards, not +only in civil and municipal government, but in religion and +temper,--Texas might not have been lost to Mexico,--but, invigorated by +a hardy and industrious population, would have poured commercial wealth +into her coffers, and furnished her factories among the mountains with +an abundance of that staple which the native Indians are as unused as +they are unwilling to cultivate. Had Mexico been even as wise as Philip, +in 1609, and saved her punctilious honor by a twelve years truce, she +would only have postponed the settlement of her difficulties, until her +internal affairs became sufficiently pacific to enable a firm government +to act with discretion and justice. + + * * * * * + +Since the year 1843 the Texas question has been so much a matter of +party dispute in the United States that the true history of the revolt +seems to be almost forgotten. I shall not hesitate therefore to recount +some of the events connected with it, because they are relevant to the +issue between us and Mexico, as well as necessary to the elucidation of +the justice of her quarrel. + +It is an error that the Texan rebellion was conceived in a spirit of +sheer fraud upon Mexico; and writers who seek to stigmatize it thus are +entirely ignorant of its origin. + +The contest that arose between the central and federal parties in Mexico +immediately after the establishment of independence has been narrated in +a preceding chapter. The first _federal_ constitution is an almost +literal copy of our own; but its equitable and progressive principles +did not suit the military despots who, whilst they commanded the army, +held the physical power of Mexico in their hands. The consequence was +that during the administration of the first president, Victoria, there +were _pronunciamientos_ against federation and in favor of centralism, +by _Padre Arenas_, and at Tulancingo, under the "plan of Montayno." +Quarrels in the party lodges of the Yorkinos and Escossceses--the +liberalists and centralists--next arose;--and, finally, the revolution +under the "plan of Toluca," destroyed the cherished constitution of +1824, by striking a death blow at the federative principle. This plan +vested the power in a central government, abolished State legislatures, +and changed those States into departments under the control of military +governors, who were responsible to the chief authorities of the nation +alone. These principles were embodied in the new constitution of 1836, +and were, of course, distasteful to every friend of genuine liberty.[32] + +Meanwhile, the beautiful province of Texas had not been an unconcerned +spectator of events. Bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, and stretching +along our Southern boundary, it contained an extensive territory, fine +rivers, wide prairies, and a soil capable of maintaining near ten +millions of people.--Such a country naturally attracted the attention of +the people of the United States, numbers of whom are always ready, with +the adventurous spirit that characterises our race, to seek new lands +and improve their fortunes by emigrating from the crowded places of +their birth. The project of colonizing Texas, had, therefore, struck an +intelligent citizen of our country; and, on the 17th of January, 1821, +Moses Austin obtained permission from the supreme government of the +eastern internal provinces of New Spain at Monterey, to settle a colony +of emigrants in Texas. Accordingly, in the following winter, his son, +Stephen F. Austin, who undertook the enterprize in obedience to a +testamentary request of his father, appeared on the Brazos with the +first Anglo-American settlers. + +In January, 1823, a national colonization law, approved by the Emperor +Iturbide, was adopted by the Mexican congress, and, on the 18th of +February, a decree was issued authorizing Austin to proceed with the +founding of his colony. This decree, after Iturbide's abdication and the +downfall of the Imperial government, was confirmed by the first +executive council in accordance with a special order of the Mexican +congress. + +In 1824, the federal constitution was adopted and proclaimed as the +established polity of the land;--and, at this period, the character of +Texas begins for the first time to assume an independent aspect, for, by +a decree of the 7th of May, it was united with Coahuila, and, under the +name of Coahuila and Texas, formed one of the constituent, sovereign +States of the Mexican confederacy. Up to this period, whilst all was +proceeding well in the capital, the scheme of emigration, seems to have +met with no discouragement. By an act passed in August, 1824, another +_general_ colonization law was established;--and, by a _State_ +colonization law of Coahuila and Texas, foreigners were invited to +settle within the limits of that especial jurisdiction. Thus it was that +State sovereignty first accrued to Texas and Coahuila under the federal +system,--a system similar to the one under which the colonists had +formerly lived in our Union and under which, by the adoption of their +own State laws, they signified their willingness to become members of +the Mexican confederacy. This State sovereignty was never resigned, but, +on the contrary, was always distinctly asserted. The federation existed +precisely for the same purposes that the union of our States was formed; +and, as soon as the constitution was destroyed by intrigue and +revolutionary violence in 1835, the several States were remitted to +their inherent rights, independent of any military despot who succeeded +in seizing the central power. Meanwhile our people had flocked to Texas +under the belief that a constitution which was a transcript of our own, +would secure peace and prosperity to settlers. Accustomed to find laws +observed and the constitution indestructible, they expected to encounter +the same regularity and firmness in that virgin State. They were +industrious in their pursuits, and willing to abide the settlement of +all quarrels in the capital; nor was it until long after the federal and +centralist disputes commenced, that they began even to notice the +political convulsions which were so ominous of disaster. The quiet and +orderly conduct of our emigrants was, nevertheless, not regarded so +favorably by the Mexicans. The rapidly growing strength of the Texans +and their strict devotion to republicanism, attracted the jealousy of +the supreme government; and when a Mexican begins either to fear or to +doubt, the provocation is quite enough to convert him into an oppressor. +Accordingly, on the 6th of April, 1830, an arbitrary law was passed by +which the future immigration of American settlers to Texas was +prohibited. Military posts of _surveillance_ were established over the +State, and ignorant and insolent soldiers of another race, began to +domineer over a people whom they regarded as inferiors. At length the +civil authorities of Texas were entirely disregarded, and the emigrants +hitherto unused at home or abroad to an armed police, or to the sight of +a uniform except on parade days, suddenly found themselves subjected to +the capricious tyranny of military rule.[33] + +On the 26th of June, 1832, the colonists took arms against this despotic +interference with their constitutional freedom and besieged and captured +the fort at Velasco. The garrison at Anahuac and that at Nacogdoches, +were next reduced; and, in December of that year, when hostilities were +suspended between Santa Anna and Bustamante, the colonists were again +restored to the enjoyment of their rights guarantied under the +constitution. + +In May 1824, Texas had been promised a separate State constitution as +soon as she was prepared for it, but upon application to congress in +1833, after framing a suitable instrument in general convention at San +Felipe, her request was denied. In 1835 the crisis at length arrived. +The federal constitution fell. The resistance of several States to this +despotism was suppressed by force. The legislature of Coahuila and Texas +was dispersed at the point of the bayonet. Zacatecas, a brave stronghold +of federalism, was assaulted by the central chiefs and her people +butchered. And, finally, the whole republic, save Texas, yielded to +Santa Anna. + +As this state at once resolved to maintain her sovereignty and +federative rights, corresponding committees of safety and vigilance were +promptly formed in all the municipalities. An immediate appeal to arms +proclaimed the people's resolution to adhere to the constitution; and at +Gonzales, Goliad, Bexar, Conception, Sepantillan, San Patricio, and San +Antonio, they were victorious over the centralists. In November, 1835, +the delegates of the Texan people assembled in "general consultation," +and declared that "they had taken up arms in defence of the federal +constitution of 1824, and that they would continue faithful to the +Mexican confederacy as long as it should be governed by the laws that +were framed for the protection of their political rights; that they were +no longer morally or politically bound by the compact of union; yet, +stimulated by the generous sympathy of a free people, they offered their +assistance to such members of the confederacy as would take up arms +against military despotism. This patriotic manifesto declaring at once +the freedom of Texas and offering to other parts of Mexico a defensive +alliance in favor of constitutional liberty, found no response from the +overawed States, and thus Texas was abandoned to the mercy of a military +president, who signalized his campaign of 1836 by acts of brutality +which must forever consign his name to infamy."[34] Notwithstanding +Santa Anna's successes at San Antonio and his frightful massacres, +General Houston, the commander of the Texan forces, met and conquered +the Mexicans on the 21st of April, 1836, in the brilliant action at San +Jacinto, and thenceforth, in the emphatic language of an American +statesman "the war was at an end."[35] + +"No hostile foot found rest" within her territory for six or seven years +ensuing this event, and Mexico, by confining her assaults to border +forays practically abstained from all efforts to re-establish her +dominion.[36] In this peaceful interval the country rapidly filled up +with emigrants; adopted a constitution; established a permanent +government, and obtained an acknowledgement of her independence by the +United States and other powers. It was then supposed that nearly one +hundred thousand people occupied the territory; and, in 1837, they +sought to place themselves under the protection of our confederacy. But +our government declined the proposition made through the Texan +plenipotentiary, upon the ground that the treaty of amity and peace +between the United States and Mexico should not be violated by an act +which necessarily involved the question of war with the adversary of +Texas.[37] + + * * * * * + +This brief history of the Texan revolt against centralism seems to place +the authorities of that country on a firm basis of natural and +constitutional right. In the constant conflicts that have taken place +throughout Mexico between the federalists and centralists, or rather +between democracy and despotism, Texas attempted no more than any of the +liberal States of Mexico would have done, had not the free voice of +educated patriots been elsewhere stifled by military power. The only +difference between them is, that in Texas there was an Anglo-American +population bold and strong enough to maintain republicanism, whilst in +Mexico, the mongrel race of Spaniards and Indians was too feeble to +resist effectually. + + * * * * * + +From 1836 to 1846 Santa Anna diligently persevered in the support of his +central usurpation. But in the latter year the principles of the Texan +revolution obtained a decided victory over military despotism, and even +Santa Anna himself, who had been the originator of all the revolutions +of his country, the disturber of its peace, and destroyer of its +political morality was forced to make a humiliating confession of his +errors. + +It will be remembered that he was exiled from Mexico in the year 1845, +and resided in Havana until the summer of 1846, when a revolution +against the government of Paredes prepared the way for his return. On +the 8th of March, 1846, in writing to a friend a letter which has since +been published he declares that: "the love of provincial liberties being +firmly rooted in the minds of all, and the democratic principle +predominating every where, nothing can be established in a solid manner, +in the country, which does not conform with these tendencies; nor +without them can we attain either order, peace, prosperity, or +respectability among foreign nations. To draw every thing to the centre, +and thus to give unity of action to the republic, as I at one time +considered best, is no longer possible; nay more, I say it is dangerous; +it is contrary to the object which I proposed for myself in the +unitarian system, because we thereby expose ourselves to the separation +of the northern departments, which are the most clamorous for freedom of +internal administration."[38] + +In this remarkable retraction of Santa Anna's despotic principles, Texas +finds a perfect vindication of her revolt. It would have been well for +Mexico had her military president been willing to make the same +concessions before the memorable battle of San Jacinto! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[30] Arnold's third lecture on modern history. + +[31] Robinson's Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution, pages 20, 22, 24. + +[32] Mexico as it was and as it is, pp. 336, 339. Foote's History of +Texas. + +[33] Document No. 40, H. of R. 25th cong. 1st sess. p. 4. + +[34] A full account of this campaign will be found in a work entitled +"Primera Campana de Tejas," published in Mexico in August 1837, by Don +Ramon Martinez Caro, who was Santa Anna's military secretary during the +campaign. He treats his former chief with unsparing severity, and very +clearly attributes to him all the ferocious acts of the war. In +Thompson's "Recollections of Mexico," a conversation of the ex-minister +with Santa Anna will be found, in which his exculpation is attempted, +pp. 68, _et seq._ + +[35] Mr. Webster's letter to Waddy Thompson, 8th July, 1842. + +[36] Webster to Thompson _ut antea_. + +[37] Letter of Mr. Forsyth to General Hunt, 25th Aug. 1847. Doc. No. 40, +H. of R., 25th congress, 1st session. + +[38] Translation of a letter from General Santa Anna, in Mexico as it +was and as it is.--4th edition, page 414. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Origin of the war continued--Proposed annexation of Texas to the United + States by treaty--Efforts of several administrations to recover + Texas after the Florida treaty--President Tyler's objects--Mexican + opinions--British intrigue--British views relative to Texas--Defeat + of the treaty in the senate--French opinions. + + +There is no doubt that although the government of the United States was +anxious to preserve a strict neutrality between the belligerents in +1837, and, thus, to avoid assuming the war with Mexico by annexing an +insurgent State, it, nevertheless, refused the proffered union with +regret. From the earliest period, our statesmen contended that, by the +Louisiana treaty, we acquired a title to Texas extending to the Rio +Grande, and that we unwisely relinquished our title to Spain by the +treaty of 1819 which substituted the Sabine for the Rio Grande as our +western boundary.[39] But, divested as we were by solemn compact with +Spain, of what may have been our territory under the treaty with France, +it was idle to regard Texas as a proper subject for restoration to the +Union whilst active hostilities were waged by Mexico. Nevertheless, such +was the evident value of the province, and such the anxiety to regain +our ancient limits that before the outbreak of the revolution, Mr. Clay, +as secretary of state under the administration of Mr. Adams, in March of +the years 1825 and 1827, directed Mr. Poinsett, our envoy in Mexico, to +negotiate for the transfer of Texas. This direction was repeated by Mr. +Van Buren to our minister in August, 1829; and was followed by similar +instructions from Mr. Livingston on the 20th of March, 1833, and by Mr. +Forsyth on the 2d of July, 1835. President Jackson, however, was not +contented with negotiations for that province alone; but, looking +forward, with statesmanlike forecast, to the growth and value of our +commerce in the Pacific ocean as well as on the west coast of America, +he required the secretary of state, in August, 1835, to seek from Mexico +a cession of territory, whose boundary, beginning at the mouth of the +Rio Grande, would run along the eastern bank of that river to the +thirty-seventh degree of latitude, and continue thence, by that +parallel, to the Pacific. This demand, if granted by Mexico, not only +secured Texas, but would have included the largest and most valuable +portion of California together with the noble bay of San Francisco, in +which our navy and merchantmen might find a safe and commodious +refuge.[40] + +Our anxiety to reannex Texas by peaceable negotiation was not met, +however, by a correspondent feeling upon the part of Mexico. + +Mr. Poinsett, on his return from Mexico, informed Mr. Clay that he had +forborne even to make an overture for the repurchase of Texas, because +he knew that such a negotiation would be impracticable, and believed +that any hint of our desire would aggravate the irritations already +existing between the countries.[41] The events which subsequently +transpired in Texas, during the period when emigration increased from +the United States, to that of the actual outbreak of hostilities, +prevented the formation, in Mexico, of any party favorable to such an +enterprise; and, after the war began, all hope of negotiation between us +was dispelled. + +"A leading member of the Mexican cabinet once remarked to me," says Mr. +Thompson, in his Recollections of Mexico,[42] "that he believed the +tendency of things was towards the annexation of Texas to the United +States, and that he greatly preferred such a result either to the +independence of Texas or any connection or dependence of Texas upon +England; that if it became an independent power, other departments of +Mexico would unite with it either voluntarily or by conquest, and that +if there was any connexion between Texas and England, English +merchandize would be smuggled into Mexico through Texas to the utter +ruin of Mexican manufactures and revenue. + +"In one of my last interviews with Santa Anna," continues the American +minister, "I mentioned this conversation. He replied with great +vehemence that he would 'war forever for the reconquest of Texas, and +that if he died in his senses his last words should be an exhortation to +his countrymen never to abandon the effort to recover the province;' +and, added he: 'you know, sir, very well, that to sign a treaty for the +alienation of Texas would be the same thing as signing the death warrant +of Mexico, for, by the same process, the United States would take one +after another of the Mexican provinces, until they possessed them all.'" + +Such were the feelings of Mexico in regard to annexation, and such the +anxieties in cabinets of all parties in the United States to restore +our ancient limits, when the presses of our country intimated, in the +year 1844, that President Tyler was negotiating a treaty of union with +Texas as an independent power. It was on the eve a presidential canvass; +and whilst the incumbent of the executive chair sought very naturally to +present himself to the people with the successful results of a popular +and beneficial negotiation, there were other candidates who opposed the +measure both on principle and policy, as well as on account of the mode +in which it was to be effected. + +I might very properly in this historical sketch pass over the narrative +of annexation, and, deal with the union, ultimately effected between +Texas and the United States as the only important fact. Texas, bound to +the North American confederacy by a solemn act of congress,--the +indisputable constitutionality of which is implied in its passage,--is, +indeed, the only subject which the historian is compelled to regard. +Whatever results ensued, whether they were perceived and predicted by +the statesmen of the time, or, were entirely latent until developed +during the last two years, must be entirely attributed to the act of +congress which consummated annexation and reposed in the hands of a +president the executive power of solemnizing the union. Nevertheless, I +believe it due to impartial history that I should state concisely the +causes which seem to have provoked annexation, and, indeed, rendered it +almost necessary at the time when it occurred. + +We have seen that active hostilities by Mexico against the insurgents +had either ceased for nearly seven years, or had been confined to such +border forays as resembled predatory incursions rather than civilized +hostilities. Statesmen, in all parties, regarded the war as ended; for +Mexico, impoverished by the thriftless administrations that ruled and +plundered her during the short intervals between her revolutions, was +in no condition to carry it on with reasonable prospects of success. +France, England, Belgium and the United States, had acknowledged Texan +independence and established diplomatic relations with the republic. +Emigrants settled the interior, and invited accessions. The constitution +and laws of the nation were fixed upon a firm basis, while the +government was conducted with ability. A lucrative commerce from foreign +countries began to pour into the territory. New towns sprang up every +where, and Texas exhibited to the world every evidence of an orderly, +well regulated government, with infinitely greater strength and +stability than the military republic from which she was divorced. +Mexico, nevertheless, refused to recognize her independence +notwithstanding her inability to make any effort for reconquest. The +leading men of Texas anxiously desired that their national independence +should continue, and the moral sense of the world, in contrasting the +superior progress of the Anglo-American race with the anarchy and +feebleness of Mexico, was naturally solicitous to behold the infant +colony successful rather than to see it fall a prey to the passions of a +people with whom it had no sympathy, and, in whose victory, they might +witness the outpouring of a pent up wrath which would never cease in its +vindictive persecutions until the province was entirely desolated.[43] +This was not alone the common feeling in the United States, but it +prevailed in Europe also. The British minister of foreign affairs, Lord +Aberdeen, and that zealous partizan of liberty, Lord Brougham, took +occasion in the house of peers in August, 1843, to express their +solicitude as to the prospects of Texas. Lord Brougham characterized it +as a country as large as France, possessing the greatest natural +capabilities, but, at the same time he perceived in it an embryo state, +(a large portion of whose soil was adapted to cultivation by white +labor,) which might become a boundary and barrier against the slavery of +the United States of America. If, by the good offices of England, Mexico +could be induced to acknowledge Texan independence upon the condition of +abolishing slavery, he suggested the hope that it would lead to the +extinction of slavery in the southern States of our Union. + +Lord Aberdeen replied to Lord Brougham, that England had not only +acknowledged her independence, but had also negotiated with Texas a +treaty of commerce as well as one for the abolition of the slave trade. +He did not believe that there was any importation of slaves into Texas +by sea, but, he alleged, there was a large influx of slaves from the +United States to that country. As soon as negotiations were commenced +with Texas, the utmost endeavors of England had been used to end the war +which prevented the full recognition of the independence of Texas by +Mexico; but all their endeavors had been met by difficulties, although +he was happy to declare that an armistice had been established between +the two powers which he hoped would lead to the absolute acknowledgment +of her independence. In the existing state of negotiations between the +parties, however, he thought it would not contribute to an useful end to +express any opinion as to the state of those negotiations, nevertheless +he assured his noble friend that the matter would be pressed by every +means in the power of her majesty's ministers. + +The answer of Lord Brougham to this conversational speech of the +minister of foreign affairs, was brief but ominous. Nothing, he +declared, could be more satisfactory to him, whilst the statement of his +lordship "would be hailed with joy by all who were favorable to the +object of anti-slavery societies."[44] + + * * * * * + +I do not design in this history to discuss either the slavery question +or the British project of propagating seditious opinions upon negro +servitude by means of diplomacy on this continent. But, when we remember +the guaranties of our constitution and the preponderance of the black +population in our southern States, it must be conceded that it requires +no great degree of sensibility to alarm the white inhabitants of that +section and to render them anxious to counteract the avowed machinations +of Great Britain. The abstract question of the right of slavery is +altogether distinct from slavery as it exists in this Union, and as the +foundation of property, population, labor, and, even, existence in the +south. + +For many years past the fanaticism of freedom has been warring against +slavery, until it has created in our country a fanaticism of slavery +which was quite as relentless in its obstinacy. It was therefore, +natural that individuals who had refused our own congress the right to +interfere with slavery, by denying the privilege of petition for the +abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, should resist most +ardently the jesuitical propagandism of a foreign power. + +This was a question of grave importance to the south. It was an avowal +of European policy that struck a death blow at American property; nor +was it therefore at all surprising to see Mr. Calhoun, our secretary of +state, who was a native and inhabitant of that part of the union, at +once seize upon the project of prompt annexation as the only means of +counteracting the evils of British diplomacy. If expressions, similar to +those used by Lords Aberdeen and Brougham in the English parliament, had +been casually uttered in the warm debates of our congress, perhaps but +little attention would have been paid them by reflecting men; yet the +most trifling observations of British statesmen always deserve notice, +because they are well pondered and deliberately made. The opinions of +Lord Brougham, assented to by the silence of Lord Aberdeen, had +consequently an emphatic significance; and although the British minister +of foreign affairs, as well as the envoy at Washington, subsequently +disclaimed any attempt to interfere with the internal system of the +United States, yet there can be no doubt that they wished to modify the +condition and laws of a southern neighbor so as to effect indirectly +what prudence taught them to avoid openly.[45] "Great Britain," said +Lord Aberdeen, in a despatch to the Hon. Mr. Pakenham, on the 26th +December, 1843, "does not desire to establish in Texas, whether +partially dependent on Mexico or entirely independent, any dominant +influence. She only wishes to share her influence equally with other +nations. Her objects are purely commercial, and she has no thought or +intention of seeking to act directly or indirectly, in a political +sense, on the United States through Texas." + +It cannot be expected--for it is not the nature or policy of +governments--that statesmen should disclose to each other, with perfect +frankness, all their international ambitions, projects or hopes. A wise +diplomacy conceals these things whilst in progress. But all governments +take means to obtain secretly, as far as they are able, an insight into +the views of each other. The diplomacy of the United States, although +generally very frank, is nevertheless employed sometimes in this way, +and, I believe our records will show, that wherever it became necessary +for our departments to get information upon projects touching the +interests of our country, they have always found means to discover the +truth. + +It is fortunate for the history of this annexation question that the +commercial designs alluded to by Lord Aberdeen have been revealed to us. +Some of the statements are made anonymously, yet, from the very nature +of such disclosures whilst negotiations were pending, it cannot be +expected that the names of informants would be revealed. Their value and +character must be vouched for alone by the officers who communicate them +to the world, and deem them sufficient to authorize the action of +government. The authorities, to which I allude, were communicated to +congress by President Tyler in May, 1844, and were submitted to him by +Mr. Calhoun, as secretary of state, on the 16th of that month.[46] + + * * * * * + +By a convention, concluded in London on the 14th of November, 1840, +between Her Majesty's government and the republic of Texas, it was +agreed that the queen should tender her good offices to Mexico as +mediator between the belligerents. Mexico, however, saw fit to reject +this offer. But Texas, still animated by a desire for peace, sought to +obtain a triple mediation of the three great powers,--the United States, +France and England,--with the hope that under their auspices a +settlement might speedily be made. To this arrangement, the governments +of France and the United States assented with alacrity; while the +government of Great Britain, though expressing an ardent desire to do +all in its power by private mediatorial efforts, inclined to the opinion +that it would be better, on all accounts, for each party to act alone, +though similarly in point of tone and argument, in urging the Mexican +government to recognize the independence of Texas. + +This suggestion was communicated through Lord Cowley the British +ambassador in Paris, to the French government, by whom it was +approved.[47] + +By this act of the British cabinet, it preserved its independence of all +others, and abstained from combined action which would, necessarily, +have disclosed its motives as well as its conduct. The objects of the +ministers in retaining their independence of all other cabinets will now +become more manifest. + +If an abstract love of liberty is, indeed, the true cause why England +seeks to abolish slavery throughout the world and has set the example of +emancipation in her West India colonies, she may really deserve the high +commendation of philanthropists. But it cannot be denied that whilst she +diffuses a spirit of individual freedom, she does not regret to behold +national dependence on herself established by interest and necessity. We +find among the documents transmitted to congress by President Tyler, a +number of private letters, in which it is alleged that the primary +object of Great Britain's interference was to prevent absolute +annexation to the United States. Indeed, Lord Aberdeen, in May, 1844, +declared to Mr. Everett that he "shared with Lord Brougham the hope and +belief that the treaty for annexation would not be ratified by our +senate."[48] + +If the independence of Texas could be secured on the only probable +ground upon which Mexico would acknowledge it,--a pledge that she would +not subsequently join the United States;--and if so desirable a +result,--which appealed directly to the ambition and vanity of the +leading men of Texas, could be effected by the secret negotiations of +her ministers, England foresaw that she would obtain a decided advantage +over us in future negotiations, without a positive treaty stipulation to +that effect. Texas, with every element of prosperity in her people and +territory, was war-worn, and suffering from pecuniary embarrassments in +which her revolution plunged her. For an agricultural and commercial +people, peace and stability, under almost any liberal government, are +all that is requisite to insure progress. England, a free, maritime and +manufacturing country, deeply interested in Mexico as a purchaser, and +in the United States as a rival, was precisely the nation to secure +these advantages for Texas, especially as that republic offered a _point +d'appui_ which she could not find elsewhere on this continent. + +The "free trade" policy of Great Britain was consequently addressed to +the cupidity of Texas as a bewitching allurement; and this was, perhaps, +secretly coupled with pecuniary offers which would enable her to +struggle against adverse fortune during the first years of independence. + +This liberal system, while it attracted to England the cotton of Texas +in British vessels, would necessarily raise the national duties of the +republic to the highest standard on American produce and provisions, at +the same time that it introduced the manufactures of England without +imposts. The schemers who had achieved emancipation in the British West +Indies[49] imagined that the same result might be produced in Texas by +sufficient inducements, and that white labor or _apprentices_ would +supply the place of slaves, thus striking an indirect blow at slavery +in the southern States of our Union. Besides this, England would find a +market for her manufactures which might temptingly address itself to the +cupidity of the United States and of Mexico as well as of Texas. For, +with such an extent of frontier on all sides, and with wastes between +us, inhabited by a sparse or reckless population, the greatest +inducements would be offered to convert Texas into a smuggling ground +not only for our Union but especially for Mexico, whence British fabrics +are almost excluded by exorbitant tariffs. The policy of England would +thus affect simultaneously our manufactures as well as our commerce. +Instead of sending her merchandize to New York, she would find in +Galveston a readier market to supply our southern States through the +medium of contraband.[50] Her goods would naturally have been carried in +British vessels, and thus the labor and commerce of the United States +would be directly injured by England until we could afford to navigate +and manufacture at cheaper rates.[51] + +The impolicy of permitting our carrying trade and home market, in such a +country, to pass out of our hands into those of a commercial rival, and +the dangers of counteracting or creating a contraband system which would +almost immediately ensue, commended this annexation promptly to the +notice of President Tyler. He perceived in British supremacy in Texas a +multitude of evils. Collisions would arise which must endanger our +peace. The power and influence of England would be intruded, +geographically, on territory lying between us and Mexico. A large +increase of our military forces would be necessary, not only to protect +the United States from daily disputes with Texans, but to guard the +border inhabitants against hostile inroads from Indians. Texas, he was +authoritatively told, would seek the friendship of other nations if +denied the protection of ours; and, in a condition of almost hopeless +abandonment, would naturally fall an easy prey to any power that would +protect her, should we refuse our alliance.[52] + +Such were some of the reasons that induced the president, in 1844, to +direct Mr. Upshur, who was the secretary of state, to negotiate a treaty +of annexation between the United States and Mexico, and thus, in his +emphatic language,--"to break up and scatter to the winds the web of +European intrigues."[53] + +This treaty was transmitted to the senate on the 22nd of April, 1844, +and immediately became the topic of discussion throughout the country. +It was opposed and defended by some of the most distinguished men in the +country. General Jackson pleaded that the golden moment might not be +lost, and that we should not throw Texas into the arms of England.[54] +Mr. Clay, whose nomination as a presidential candidate was expected to +be shortly made, and Mr. Van Buren whose name was also speedily to come +before a democratic convention assembled to select a candidate for the +chief magistracy, both published long and argumentative letters against +the project. The debate on the treaty in the senate was eager, and able. +The northern abolitionists regarded it as a measure frought with danger +to their cause, and as the basis of perpetual slavery, whilst the +southern slave owners hailed annexation as a boon, which, at least for a +season, would stay the aggressive arm that was raised against their +rights and interests. + +At length, the senate finally rejected the treaty; but President Tyler, +by a message to the house of representatives, dated the 10th of June, +transmitted the rejected document to the popular branch of the national +legislature, so that, without suggesting the mode of annexation, the +house of representatives might decide whether it should be accomplished +in any shape. + +At that moment, however, new elements of political commotion were +introduced in the nomination of Mr. Clay and Mr. Polk by the respective +party conventions held in Baltimore, and the project passed from the +national legislature to the people for discussion during the +presidential canvass. + + NOTE.--The opinions and arguments adduced by the + president in support of annexation have been singularly + fortified by disclosures subsequent to the union between + Texas and the United States. The British cabinet, mortified + by defeat, has been silent upon the subject, but singular + developments were made in debate in the French chambers. On + the 12th and 20th of January, 1846, a discussion took place + between Messieurs Guizot, Thiers, Berreyer and others, in + which the Texas question, and the position of France, in the + event of war between the United States and England, upon the + Oregon question, was warmly debated. The minister, Guizot, + alleged that in all the negotiations with Texas, France had + sought commercial relations in consequence of the advantages + offered of markets for French goods. He declared that it was + his policy to interpose _an independent State in the midst + of the United States_, and _that he believed it to be + advisable to multiply the number of secondary independent + States on our continent_, as the commercial and political + interests of France would suffer materially by the + foundation of a governmental unity in America. He watched + our progress with a jealous eye, and he considered the + policy of the United States in refusing to be the _ally_ of + any European power both right and wise in our view of the + question. + + M. Thiers, the former minister, replied to M. Guizot; and, + after asserting that Texas had been annexed to our Union "to + the great displeasure of England, and, as far as could be + discovered, to the great displeasure of France," he declared + that it was the true interest of his government to place + Texas under the patronage of a powerful nation like ours + rather than to abandon it to the influence of England. "You + are aware," said he, "that _Texas is of great importance to + the United States_, and that its possession was anxiously + desired by that power: _I will add that never was an + annexation made in a more regular manner_. For more than ten + years Texas had been separated from Mexico, and all the + powers, including France, had recognised it." He regarded + the union of England and France in diplomacy between Mexico, + Texas, and the United States, as adopted only to redeem the + faults of the French cabinet during the last five years, and + as a truckling peace-offering for its conduct on the + question of the "right of search." But, of all the French + orators and statesmen, none denounced the conduct of the + cabinet with more zeal than the eloquent Berreyer. He proved + by facts and documents that it was at the instance of + England, and in subservience to her, that the French + government interposed, (as will be seen in the following + chapter,) to maintain the separate independence of + Texas:--"We have not limited ourselves"--exclaimed he--"to a + wish and a counsel that Texas should retain her freedom, but + we have been led to take a part in that which I regret I am + compelled to regard as nothing else than an _intrigue_, + which, unfortunately for our national dignity has borne all + the marks of an _intrigue_, and has met, at last, its + humiliation."--Niles' Register, vol. 70, pp. 25, 26, 27, 28, + and vol. 68, p. 290. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] See Mr. Clay's letter on the Texas question, Raleigh, N. C., April, +1844. I shall discuss the boundary elsewhere in this volume. When Texas +offered herself in 1837 to the United States it was only two years after +Mexico had overthrown the federal constitution, and not even one after +the battle of San Jacinto. A great change however took place in the +general aspect of affairs between that period and the final annexation. + +[40] Executive document, No. 42, H. of R., 25th congress, 1st session, +contains the letters referred to. + +[41] Mr. Clay's letter on annexation, _ut antea_. + +[42] Recollections of Mexico, p. 238. + +[43] It was evidently the intention of Mr. Webster, whilst secretary of +state, to adopt some prudent scheme for the settlement of the war +between Texas and Mexico. In January, 1843, he addressed a despatch to +Mr. Thompson, who was then our envoy in Mexico, in which he directs him +to use his good offices with the Mexican secretary to mitigate the +animosity of the government. "Mexico," says he, "has an undoubted right +to resubjugate Texas, if she can, so far as other states are concerned, +by the common and lawful means of war. _But other States are +interested,--especially the United States, a near neighbor of both +parties, are interested,--not only in the restoration of peace between +them, but also in the manner in which the war shall be conducted if it +shall continue._ These suggestions may suffice for what you are +requested to say amicably and kindly to the Mexican secretary, _at +present; but I may add, for your information, that it is in the +contemplation of this government to remonstrate, in a more formal +manner, with Mexico, at a period not far distant, unless she shall +consent to make peace with Texas, or shall show the disposition and +ability to prosecute the war with respectable forces_. Executive +document, No. 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess., p. 69. + +For the opinions of French statesmen on this question see the debate +between Guizot, Thiers, Berreyer and others, reported in vol. 70, of +Niles' Register, p. 25, 26. + +[44] Debates in the British house of lords, Friday 18th August, 1843, +reported in the London Morning Chronicle of the 19th; and see executive +document, No. 271, H. of R., 28th congress, 1st session. + +[45] Ex. Doc. No. 271, H. of R., 28 cong., 1st sess. p. 48, _et +seq_:--In an interview between Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Everett, in +November, 1843, the secretary of foreign affairs told him that England +had long been pledged to encourage the abolition of the slave trade _and +of slavery_, as far as her influence extended and in every proper way, +but had no wish to interfere with the _internal_ concerns of +governments. In reference to Texas, he said that "the suggestion that +England had made or intended to make the abolition of slavery the +_condition_ of any treaty arrangement with her was wholly without +foundation."--id. page 38. The _direct_ interference of England in the +_internal_ affairs of other governments has often been very distinctly +manifested notwithstanding Lord Aberdeen's disavowal. There is scarcely +a country in Europe which has been unvisited by her arms or her +diplomacy, either when it became her interest to do so, or when she had +the necessary force to make success unquestionable. Her policy is, +perhaps, not so much one of ambition as of avarice or necessity. She +must feed her multitudes at home; and an extension of her wide spread +commerce, with co-extensive privileges in new countries, will open new +sources of wealth to her people. Nations are not to be blamed for +seeking such advantages; but the nearer neighbor should be equally +blameless for grasping, if possible, the benefit for herself, so as to +keep off a dangerous rival and secure the revenues which otherwise would +flow into that rival's coffers. + +The excursive _philanthropy_ of England was admirably depicted by the +Frenchman, who, according to the London Times remarked that: "Your +Englishman knows all about Timbuctoo, or Hindoostan, or the frozen +regions about the North Pole; but ask him about Ireland, the country +lying next his own, and he is perfectly innocent of any information on +the subject. Africa he investigates--Ireland he neglects. He weeps for +the suffering of the negro, but allows his Irish fellow subject to live +in ignorance and filth, and often to die of starvation." + +[46] Ex. Doc. No. 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. p. 101, _et seq._ + +[47] Id.--p. 70. Letter of Mr. Van Zandt to Mr. Webster. + +[48] Id.--p. 100. Washington, 24th January, 1843. + +[49] See Lord Brougham's speech, _ut antea_. + +[50] Any one who is familiar with the condition of our Canadian frontier +will understand the ease with which smuggling in British fabrics is +carried on between the countries. An extensive business has, doubtless, +always been sustained; and it is not unusual even for the ladies of +certain towns along the frontier, to _shop_ in Canada, with the +understanding that their purchases are to be _delivered at the risk of +the British vender, on the other side of the American line_! + +[51] Executive document, 271, H. of R., 28th cong., 1st sess. Letter of +Mr. Allen to Hon. R. J. Walker, and other letters copied on pages 103 +and 105 of the same document. + +The government of the United States entertained such views of the +grasping policy of England for reasons which are clearly set forth in an +able despatch from Mr. Calhoun to Mr. King, our envoy at the court of +France. "The question," says the secretary of state, "is, by what means +can Great Britain regain and keep a superiority in tropical cultivation, +commerce and influence? Or shall that be abandoned and other nations, +suffered to acquire the supremacy even to the extent of supplying +British markets to the destruction of the capital already vested in +their production? These are the questions which now profoundly occupy +the attention of her statesmen and have the greatest influence over her +councils. + +"In order to regain her superiority she not only seeks to revive and +increase her own capacity to produce tropical productions, but to +diminish and destroy the capacity of those who have so far outstripped +her in consequence of her error. In pursuit of the former, she has cast +her eyes to her East India possessions, to Central and Eastern Africa, +with the view of establishing colonies there, and even to restore, +substantially, the slave trade itself, under the specious name of +transporting free laborers from Africa to her West India possessions, in +order, if possible, to compete successfully with those who have refused +to follow her suicidal policy. Her main reliance, however, is on the +other alternative, to cripple or destroy the productions of her +successful rivals. There is but one way by which it can be done, and +that is by abolishing African slavery throughout this continent; and +that she avows to be the constant object of her policy and exertions." +Senate doc. No. 1, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 44. + +[52] President Tyler's message to the senate. 22nd April, 1844. + +[53] Letter of President Tyler to the Richmond Enquirer in 1847. + +[54] President Jackson's letter 17th March, 1844, written in consequence +of a private mission to him from President Houston of Texas. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Change of public feeling as to annexation--Election of President Polk + --Mr. Clay defeated by the abolitionists--Almonte's threat-- + President Tyler attempts to soothe Mexico--His failure to do so + --Mexican projects of reconquest--Want of confidence in Santa + Anna--Loans--Downfall and disgrace of Santa Anna--His expulsion to + Cuba--Herrera made provisional president--Congress of United States + reconsiders annexation--Joint resolution passed with an alternative + of negotiation--President Tyler adopts the first clause, and why-- + European intrigues--France and England operating on Texas and Mexico + --Mexico offers independence provided Texas will not annex herself + to the United States--Defeat of the foreign scheme. + + +When Congress met in December, 1844, a remarkable change had come over +the political would in the United States. The extraordinary popularity +of Mr. Clay induced reflective men to believe, at the close of the last +session, that he would be elected president, and that the prospects of +immediate annexation would probably be blighted by that event. The great +body of his partizans opposed the project of President Tyler; but the +Democratic convention, assembled in Baltimore, in May, inscribed the +fortunes of Texas on its banner together with the name of that party's +candidate. The south immediately rallied around it, whilst the north +assumed strange grounds of objection to the course of Mr. Clay. The +Native American and Abolition parties in New York professed to vote with +the friends of that gentleman in consequence of his opposition to +annexation, and yet a sufficient number to defeat his election cast +their ballots in direct contradiction of their principles. This was but +another lesson of the danger of confiding in men or parties who have but +a single idea. The folly of fanaticism commonly leads to violent +inconsistencies, but perhaps a more palpable one was never exhibited +than in the result of the presidential election of 1844. + +When the project of annexation was first discussed in 1843 in the +gazettes of the day, and before any decided action by the president or +secretary of state, General Almonte, who was then Mexican envoy at +Washington, protested earnestly against the act, and even threatened, by +express order of his government, that on sanction being given to the +incorporation of Texas into the United States, he would consider his +mission as ended, seeing that the Mexican government was resolved to +declare war as soon as it received information of such a deed.[55] + +But Mr. Tyler, disregarding the irascible temper of the minister and his +government, despatched pacific and soothing instructions to our charge +at Mexico, intimating a desire to act justly towards that republic, and +to settle all questions growing out of the treaty as well as of boundary +on the most liberal terms.[56] + +The Mexican government, however, would listen to no proposals of +accommodation. The Texan question, as we have seen, was always one of +great annoyance to the Mexican authorities; for although they +acknowledged, in effect, that their dominion was really lost over Texas, +yet their national pride and public feeling forced them to project, if +they did not attempt, its reconquest.[57] Besides this, darkness was +gathering around the fate of Santa Anna, who dared not undertake +negotiations upon a subject so unpopular. + +When a new congress assembled in Mexico in January, 1844, it was +disposed to aid the executive in his scheme of reconquest. Four millions +of dollars were therefore granted him; but when he claimed ten millions +for the same purpose, whilst it was notorious that the first grant had +not yet been collected, the members of congress absolutely refused to +sustain Santa Anna's measures for the recovery of the lost territory. +This refusal was not grounded upon any aversion of the Mexicans from +reconquest, but solely because they believed the money would be extorted +from the people only to be plundered by the president and his myrmidons. +The politicians and country had alike, lost confidence in him; and Santa +Anna, observing the rising storm, obtained permission from congress to +retire to his estate of Manga de Clavo near the sea coast at Vera Cruz, +whilst his friend Don Valentin Canalizo took his place in the capital as +president _ad interim_. + +Santa Anna hardly reached his estate when a fatal blow was struck +against his administration from the departmental junta of Jalisco. This +revolt was lead by General Paredes, and after a multitude of military +and diplomatic manoeuvres, resulted in Santa Anna's downfall on the +4th of January, 1845. The ex-president fled towards the sea-coast; but +was captured by a detachment of volunteers at the village of Jico, +whence he was transferred under a strong escort to the castle of Perote. +It is difficult even to imagine the bitter wrath with which the Mexican +people assailed the captured chief. He, who but a few months before +exercised despotic sway over the land, was now a prisoner and at the +mercy of the mob. His friends interposed in this emergency to save his +life both from popular fury and judicial action which might make it the +penalty of his misrule. The strife was long and anxious, but, at length, +an amnesty was declared, under which Santa Anna departed for Cuba on the +29th of May, 1845, accompanied by his wife and daughter.[58] The fury of +the people against the exile may be imagined from the fact that they +exhausted every means by which they could manifest their hatred of his +deeds and memory. They thronged the streets singing ribald songs, and +hawking ridiculous caricatures;--they tore his pictures from the walls, +and hurled his statues from their pedestals; and, with the fiendishness +of hyenas, they even snatched from the grave the leg he had lost in +battle with the French at Vera Cruz, and tossed it about the streets of +Mexico![59] + + * * * * * + +The result of Santa Anna's downfall was the establishment of a +provisional government under General Herrera, president of the council. +This person is represented to have been a discreet officer, whose +judgment naturally led him to see the wisdom of a pacific course towards +the United States, but whose destiny was finally controlled by the rash +and unprincipled conduct of insurrectionary demagogues. + +Meanwhile the congress of the United States reconsidered the Texan +question, and after a long and ardent debate, finally passed a joint +resolution for annexation, with an alternative permission to the +executive to negotiate; provided he thought proper to adopt that course. +This was a solemn decision of the question by the representatives of the +people, and it was sustained by the president who did not permit himself +to be influenced by the threats of Mexico or the hostile preparations +made by that country. In fact, Mr. Tyler had been careful to guard +against military surprises, for, in consequence of the early menaces of +Mexico, he deemed it his duty, as a precautionary measure, to +concentrate in the gulf and its vicinity a large portion of the Home +squadron under the command of Commodore Conner, and, at the same time to +assemble at fort Jesup on the Texan border, as large a military force as +the demands of the service at other encampments would allow. + +Thus, the joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United States, with +its alternative power to negotiate, came to President Tyler and was +approved by him on the 1st of March, 1845. On the fourth of the same +month, James K. Polk, who had been chosen president of the United +States, at the last election, was to assume the reins of government. +President Tyler believed that the necessity for annexation was immediate +and urgent in consequence of the reasons he had already presented to +congress in his several messages. The only doubt therefore, that he +experienced in making his selection, arose from a point of delicacy to +his successor. The first section of the joint resolution authorized the +erection of a new State of our Union out of the republic of Texas under +certain conditions contained in the second section; whilst the third +authorized the president to negotiate with that republic for admission +either by treaty to be submitted to the senate, or by articles of +agreement to be presented to our houses of congress, as the president +might direct. + +Under these circumstances a cabinet council was summoned for the 2nd of +March, and the point was resolved by informing the president's +successor, Mr. Polk, of the proposed action, and, if he desired it, +submitting to his perusal the despatch to Texas. Mr. Calhoun, our +secretary of state, at the president's request, accordingly waited upon +Mr. Polk, explained to him Mr. Tyler's selection of the first and second +sections of the joint resolution, and expressed a readiness to exhibit +the despatch to Mr. A. J. Donelson, who had been appointed charge to +Texas.[60] Mr. Polk courteously declined expressing an opinion +concerning the executive action, accompanying his remark with some +complimentary declaration; and, on that evening, a bearer of despatches +with the requisite documents, was on his way to Mr. Donelson.[61] + +This is a brief and accurate summary of the history of annexation so far +as the action of our government is involved, and as is necessary for +this narrative. The terms of annexation which were offered by the United +States were accepted by Texas, and the public faith of both nations was +solemnly pledged to a compact of union, which was finally consummated at +the following session of congress, when Texas became a member of our +confederacy. + +There were other circumstances, however, which properly induced the +prompt course of President Tyler in sending the joint resolution for the +action of Texas; but, in order to understand these perfectly, it is +necessary for us to direct our attention to the French and English +negotiations between that republic and Mexico. In 1840, as we have seen, +England preferred separate action on behalf of Texas, but she was now +willing to unite with France against the aggrandizement of the United +States. Monsieur de Saligny and the Hon. Mr. Elliott were the +representatives of these European courts in Texas, and to the former of +them was entrusted the active part of the diplomacy. Whilst the +discussions were going on in the United States Mr. Elliott was never at +rest. He was heard of in Charleston, in New Orleans, in Havana, in +Mexico, and, again, in Texas. The restlessness of the agent denoted the +anxiety of his government and of France. + +The rejection of the annexation treaty by congress, in 1844, had almost +deprived Texas of hope. She believed it impossible to expect a union +with the United States, and was prepared to receive the mediation of +France and England which would secure her independence. This was surely +gratifying to the emissaries of these powers and they eagerly undertook +the task of obtaining the coveted boon from Mexico. The Mexican +ministry, ever anxious to thwart the union with our confederacy, was +equally pleased to avert it by any diplomatic _ruse_ that would save the +point of honor, and place her erect before the world. Besides this, the +Mexicans relied on a hope that increasing difficulties between the +United States and England upon the Oregon boundary question, would make +us loath to undertake a war with a southern neighbor whilst our north +and our sea board were menaced by Great Britain. This hope of a +counter-menace from England inspirited the Mexican cabinet and made it +solicitous to resist us successfully. Herrera's ministry was composed of +discreet and patriotic men; but, in the first moments of their power, +they dared not oppose popular prejudices. The revolution which +overthrew Santa Anna was one of the few that sprang from the popular +branches of the nation, and originated neither in factions, the army, or +the church, but derived its success from the universal feeling that +existed against the oppressive misrule of the executive.[62] +Nevertheless popular feeling was against our country, and the cabinet +took its tone from its patrons. + +There can be little doubt of the fact, that the notion of probable +difficulties between the United States and England on the boundary +question, was studiously fostered by emissaries who were hostile to us. +Herrera's cabinet therefore hailed with delight the propositions which +were brought to Mexico by Mr. Elliott, and were presented by the Hon. +Charles Bankhead and Baron Alleye de Cyprey, the British and French +ministers. These propositions, Senor Cuevas laid before the Mexican +congress on the 21st of April, 1845. The preliminary conditions offered +by Texas, under French and English mediation, and transmitted from that +republic by President Jones, on the 29th of March, were the following: + +1st. That Mexico shall consent to acknowledge the independence of Texas. + +2nd. That Texas shall engage and stipulate in the treaty _not to annex +herself to or become subject to any country whatever_. + +3rd. The limits and other conditions shall be matter of arrangement by +final treaty. + +4th. That Texas should be willing to remit disputed points _concerning +territory and other matters to the arbitration of umpires_. + +These spiteful stipulations, evidently aimed against the United States, +and bearing the marks of their European parentage, suited the taste of +Mexico precisely. Her congress, therefore, at once deemed it advisable +to entertain the Texan proposals, and to proceed to the celebration of a +treaty. But when the Baron de Cyprey announced this assent to the +president of Texas, on the 20th of May, it was already too late for the +success of European diplomacy. Our congress had passed the +joint-resolution, our president had approved it, and our minister, Mr. +Donelson, was in Texas preparing the cabinet to act favorably upon our +propositions. Accordingly when Mr. Elliott returned in June to Texas in +a French corvette, the public mind was already manifesting its anxiety +to accede to our liberal offers, which were finally sanctioned by the +Texan convention on the 4th of July, 1845. + +Had the resolution for annexation not been adopted at the preceding +session of congress, the pretensions of Mexico, instead of being +lowered, would have been raised still higher than they were on the +receipt of the propositions from President Jones. The mediatorial powers +of Mr. Elliott would, in all probability, have been employed in +negotiating truces and treaties until the foundation was laid for the +operation of those peaceful means by which Lord Aberdeen declared it his +intention to promote his philanthropic views. "Abandoned by the United +States, oppressed by debt, and wearied by the increasing burthens and +privations of war, Texas would have been at the mercy of Britain, and +her statesmen would have accepted almost any terms to secure +independence and peace."[63] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[55] Senate doc. No. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 95. + +[56] Senate doc. No. 1, 28th cong. 2d sess. p. 53. + +[57] General Almonte, the Mexican envoy, in a conversation in New York, +confessed to the writer, in the spring of 1843, that Texas was lost to +Mexico, but that all then desired by his countrymen was to save the +point of honor before they acknowledged its independence. + +[58] Mexico as it was and as it is, 4th Ed. Letter XXV. p. 367. + +[59] Id. page 382. + +[60] House of Rep., doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 125. + +[61] The election of the 1st and 2nd sections of the joint resolution +made by President Tyler was subsequently approved by President Polk, as +he declares both in his negotiations and in his message to congress of +the 2nd December, 1845. H. of R., Doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st session, p. +3. + +[62] Mexico as it was and as it is--p. 390, 4th ed. + +[63] Letter from Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, 2nd June, 1845, H. of R., +doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 52. I do not discuss the question of +the _mode_ of annexation, whether by treaty, joint resolution, or +negotiation, as that would require almost a volume by itself to present +a true sketch of the debate that occurred upon it. It is my purpose +rather to narrate events than to discuss all the various subordinate +questions arising from them. "Annexation," is made one of the great +motives or causes for war by Mexico, no matter in what way it is +effected or attempted. "_Mexico would never agree to annexation_;"--said +Senor Cuevas, the Mexican secretary of foreign affairs, in April, +1845.--Mexico as it was and as it is. p. 391, 4th ed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +General Almonte demands passports and leaves--Shannon and Rejon and + Cuevas--Views of the Mexican cabinet and people--Animosity--Revolt + in Mexico--Political condition of Mexico--Her right of reconquering + Texas--Mr. Buchanan despatches Mr. Slidell as envoy--Rejection of + all accommodation between us--The reason why Mexico refused to + negotiate, after promising to receive a commissioner from the United + States--Subterfuges--Ill feeling in Mexico on the Texas question-- + Herrera overthrown by Paredes--Paredes and the monarchical party-- + Unpopularity of his scheme--Miserable state of Mexican affairs-- + Review of the Texas question. + + +In March, 1845, as soon as congress passed the joint-resolution, Gen. +Almonte demanded his passports and departed. A correspondence which took +place in Mexico between Mr. Shannon, our envoy, and Senor Rejon, the +minister of foreign affairs, relative to the projected union resulted +fruitlessly; and, on the 2d of April, Senor Cuevas, who had succeeded +Rejon in office, announced to our legation that his government could +neither continue diplomatic intercourse with ours, nor maintain +friendship with a republic that violated her obligations and usurped a +portion of Mexican territory. He declared, moreover, that the relations +between the two countries could not be re-established before a complete +reparation of that injury should be made.[64] + +This violent and denunciatory language, together with the hint to our +minister to depart, was of course not calculated to allay ill-feeling in +either country. The Mexican congress was not less bitter in its +animadversions, thereby spreading the animosity among the people. It +promptly seconded the wishes of the cabinet, and offered two projects, +both of which asserted the unalienated rights of Mexico over Texas, and +the national resolve to maintain them by force. + +Meantime, however, domestic discontent was again brewing. A certain Gen. +Rangel attempted to revolutionize the government, and is said to have +been favored by the partizans of the late administration. The insurgents +seized the palace, capturing the president and three of his ministers of +state; but they were speedily overpowered and the insurrection +suppressed. In June and July of this year all the Mexican papers were +loud in their clamors for vengeance. The minister of war, Garcia Conde, +wrote despatch after despatch; and, with the usual spirit of national +gasconade, denounced our "perfidy," and continually alluded to "the war +which Mexico waged against the United States," in consequence of our +"treachery." On the 16th of the latter month, he despatched to the +minister of foreign relations and justice a note detailing a plan for +covering the national frontiers, and asserted that Mexico would maintain +her rights by force, or fall in the struggle. "She will not consent," +says he, "to give up one half of her territory from the base fear of +losing the other!" + +Patriotic and stirring as are these declarations, they cannot but be +regarded otherwise than as the most inflated bombast when we recollect +that they were made in defiance of the United States, and after a +failure for seven years to reconquer even Texas, feeble as she was. What +just hope could distracted Mexico reasonably entertain of ultimate +victory? Several years before this period, her discreet statesmen and +reflecting citizens privately acknowledged that Texas was lost forever. +Pecuniary embarrassments, political misrule, and repeated revolutions +had still more impaired her national strength, and yet, an obstinacy as +inveterate as it was silly, forced her to make declarations of intended +hostilities which only served to kindle and spread the excitement among +the masses. + +It is just that we should concede to national pride and honor all they +reasonably demand of respect, yet I have greatly misunderstood this +spirit of our century, if it does not require nations to be as +reasonable in their quarrels as individuals. Empires, kingdoms, states, +republics, and men, are equally amenable to the great tribunal of the +world's common sense, and all are obliged, if they consult their +interests, to yield to the force of circumstances they cannot control. +What then becomes of the mere abstract and visionary "right of +reconquest" which Mexico asserted, even if she really possessed it after +the central usurpation, and destruction of the federal system in 1824? +What hope was there in a war with the United States, after a failure in +that with Texas? It is true that Mexico had the power to annoy us, and +procrastinate her fate; she might oppose and resist; she might develope +all the evil passions of her people and let them loose on our armies in +irregular warfare; but these, after all were nothing more than spiteful +manifestations of impotent malice, disgraceful to the nation that +encouraged them. The cause of genuine humanity, which, I believe, in our +age, truly seeks for peace, demanded the pacification of Texas. The +cruelty with which the war was waged, and the brutal treatment received +by some of the prisoners of the Santa Fe expedition in 1841 and 1842, +convince us that a strong power should have imposed peace on Mexico. +National propriety demanded it; for how long was the "right of +reconquest" to continue? England, the proudest nation on earth, +acknowledged the independence of the United States after a seven years +war. The great powers of Europe interfered to protect oppressed Greece. +England has several times interposed in the affairs of Spain and +Portugal; and our geographical as well as political affinity to Texas +clearly indicated that it was our national interest to establish a firm +and friendly government on our border. + + * * * * * + +There can be no doubt that when General Herrera was, almost unanimously, +elected president in August, 1845, he saw things in this light, and was +prudently disposed to bend to inevitable fate. Notwithstanding the +warlike despatches, speeches, and proclamations of the Mexicans in the +earlier part of the year, our secretary of state seems to have +sufficiently understood their gasconading habits, to disregard these +inflated productions. He therefore authorized Mr. Black, who remained in +Mexico as consul, upon Mr. Shannon's withdrawal, to propose that we +should send an envoy with full powers to adjust all the questions in +dispute between the two countries. Mexico, notwithstanding her open +bravado, secretly assented to our proposal, declaring that she would +receive "the commissioner of the United States who might come to the +capital with full powers to settle the present dispute in a peaceful, +reasonable and honorable manner." + +Accordingly, Mr. Slidell was hastily despatched so as to be sure of +meeting the same persons in power with whom the arrangement had been +made; for in Mexico, the delay of even a day may sometimes change a +government, and create new or unwilling negotiators. Nevertheless when +our minister presented himself in the capital early in December, having +travelled rapidly but unostentatiously, so as to avoid exciting ill +feeling among the Mexicans as to the purposes of his mission, he found +the secretary unprepared to receive him. It was objected that Mr. +Slidell's commission had not been confirmed by the senate of the United +States and that the president had no constitutional right to send him; +that Mexico agreed to receive a commissioner to settle the Texas +dispute, and not a resident envoy; that the reception of such an envoy +would admit the minister on the footing of a friendly mission during a +period of concord between nations, which would not be diplomatically +proper so long as our amity was in the least interrupted;--and, finally, +that the government had not expected a commissioner until after the +session of congress began in January, 1846. + +There may be some force in technical diplomacy, between the mission as +agreed on by Messieurs Black and Pena, and the one despatched by Mr. +Buchanan, for the letter of credence declares that Mr. Slidell is "_to +reside_ near the government of the Mexican republic in the quality of +envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, and that he is well +informed of the president's desire to _restore_, cultivate, and +strengthen friendship and good correspondence between us." A point of +extreme etiquette raised at such a moment, when both parties were +confessedly anxious for peace, naturally excites some inquiry as to its +probable origin. Accordingly we find that it was a mere subterfuge, +urged by a tottering administration to avert its ruin. The violence of +the cabinet against annexation had done its work among the people. When +Herrera and Pena accepted, in October, our proposal to treat, they hoped +the popular elections, as well as judicious overtures to the departments +and citizens, would so modify national opinion as to permit their +independent and liberal action. But such forbearance could scarcely be +expected from the watchfulness of Mexican intriguers. Herrera was a +federalist, but his failure to proclaim the federal system, and to throw +himself on that party as soon as he attained power, alienated a large +portion of it and made the rest but feeble supporters. The church and +the centralists soon coalesced in hostility to his government; and, +although his measures were moderate, and all his efforts designed to +correct abuses, yet every political symptom denoted his speedy fall. Of +all the popular clamors, probably none was louder in the mob and the +army, than that which arose in consequence of his effort to negotiate a +peace with our Union. General Paredes took advantage of this +unpopularity, and, at the head of five thousand of the soldiery, +pronounced against the government of the president. + +It will be perceived from this sketch how completely this Texas question +and the war with our country have been made electioneering and +revolutionary elements in Mexico: not, however, with patriotic hopes, or +reasonable expectations of reconquest, but with the contemptible anxiety +of usurping a temporary power which, for a while, enabled the aspirant +to govern the country without the least prospect of settling the +difficulty with us or of regaining Texas.[65] + +This revolution commenced with the army of reserve stationed at San Luis +Potosi, and was seconded by the military men generally. On the 15th of +December, 1845, Paredes issued a bombastic proclamation[66] from his +headquarters; and, in the latter part of the month the revolutionary +forces reached the capital, when a portion of the garrison pronounced in +favor of the insurgent chief. This induced an early accommodation +between the parties, and finished the outbreak without bloodshed. Yet +Paredes, having overthrown Herrera, partly in consequence of his +friendly disposition for peace with us, could not now attempt +negotiations successfully. Mr. Slidell renewed his offers to the +cabinet, but was repulsed and left the country. The lame reliance of +Mexico upon bombastic proclamations was again adopted. Yet the people +were discontented with Paredes who soon began to manifest the despotic +tendency of his nature and education. The military life of this +chieftain naturally inclined him towards centralism, but he was +altogether unfit either by character or habits for civil authority. As +soon as he assumed the reins of government, a party which had long +drooped began again to lift its head. The monarchists, led by the +Archbishop Manuel Posada y Garduno, and the wily Don Lucas Alaman, soon +got possession of the insurgent general. They were joined by a large +portion of the higher clergy, some influential men of fortune, a few +soldiers, and a number of silly citizens, who promised themselves a +futurity of progress and felicity by calling to the Mexican throne a +monarch from beyond the sea. This party of royalists was strengthened by +dissensions at home, and by the expected attack from the United States. +Many reflecting men cherished no hope of national progress so long as +the turbulent army was unrestrained by paramount authority. They desired +at once to crush freedom and domestic despotism by a foreign prince +supported by European soldiery, whilst they believed that the +continental sovereigns would greedily seize the opportunity of throwing +their forces into America so as to check the aggressive ambition of the +United States.[67] As soon as this scheme of Paredes was disclosed, his +unpopularity increased. His intemperate habits were well known and +destroyed confidence in his judgment. The financial condition of the +country was exceedingly embarrassed, and foreigners, who were the usual +bankers of the government, refused loans on any terms. Payment was +denied by the treasury to all employed in the civil departments, while +money was disbursed to none but the army. The freedom of the press +moreover was suspended; and, to crown the national difficulties, it was +at this very moment that Mexico dreamed of overthrowing the republic at +home and establishing a monarchy in its stead, whilst it simultaneously +encountered our armies abroad in order to reconquer Texas! With such +deplorable fatuity was Mexico misruled, and entangled in a double war +upon the rights of her own people and against the United States. It was +unfortunate that she fell at this crisis into the hands of a despot and +drunkard, whose mind, perplexed between ambition and intemperance, gave +a permanent direction to that false public sentiment, which Herrera had +been anxious to convert into one of peace and good will towards the +United States. + +I have thus succinctly narrated the events that led to the war between +the United States and Mexico. The annexation of Texas, without the +previous assent of Mexico, may have annoyed that government. It was +mortifying to patriotic pride, and we should laud the republic for +manifesting a proper sensibility. But true national pride is always +capable of manly and dignified opposition. It does not expend itself in +bravado, petulance or querulousness. It does not assail by threats, but +by deeds; and never provokes an attack until it is prepared to return +the blow with earnest force. It is silent as the storm until it bursts +forth in overwhelming wrath. All other kinds of resistance are nothing +but miserable exhibitions of mortified vanity, and invoke the world's +contempt instead of respectful compassion. + +Our government, from the beginning, desired and attempted to allay +excitement, whilst that of Mexico, revolutionary, disorganized and +impotent as it was at home, and as it subsequently proved itself to be +in the field of battle, did all it could to foment animosity between the +two countries. This sturdy resistance of Mexico did not arise from +prudence, patriotism or courage, but from intestine factions, +exasperated by rival usurpers. Our efforts to make peace and establish a +boundary upon the most liberal principles were rejected with +disdain.[68] The authorities, basing their refusal upon a frivolous +subterfuge of diplomatic etiquette, would not even hear our proposals, +or receive our minister. Our presidents were disposed to concede every +thing reasonable in negotiation that could have saved the honor of +Mexico and placed our future relations on the salutary foundation of +alliance.[69] Instead of meeting us with the pacific and compromising +temper of our age, her demagogue chieftains stimulated the passion and +vanity of the mob, until the stormy natures of an ignorant people became +so completely excited that they were unable to control the evil spirit +raised by their wicked incantations. + +Blundering onward and blinded by passion, this unfortunate nation +reminds us of that passage in the AEnead wherein the sightless giant is +described:-- + + "Summo quum monte videmus + Ipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventem + Pastorem Polypheum, et littera nota petentem; + _Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum!_ + + AEnead, B. 3, v. 655. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[64] Mexico as it was and as it is--see original letter in 4th ed. p. +387. + +[65] See Mexico as it was and is, 4th ed. p. 396--and Slidell's +correspondence with our government. Senate doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st +sess. + +[66] See Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 400. + +[67] Tributo a la verdad, Vera Cruz, p. 3. + +[68] See Wheaton's Elements of international law. ed. of 1836, part 2d +chap. 1, pp. 88, 89, 90, 91. On the right of interference of governments +for the pacification of belligerent nations. + +[69] Mr. Slidell was fully empowered to negotiate on liberal terms. + + + + +BOOK SECOND: + +MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND ON + +THE RIO GRANDE. + + + + +BOOK II. + + + + +MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND ON THE RIO GRANDE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Boundary of Texas defined by Almonte--Description of Texas--Rivers of + Texas--Army of observation--General Taylor--Army of occupation--How + formed--Difficulty of landing in Texas--Aransas bay--Army lands at + St. Joseph's island--Kinney's rancho--Corpus Christi--State of the + army during the winter--Sufferings of the troops--Alarms of war-- + General Gaines's views--Necessity of ample preparation--Our first + aggressive war. + + +The scene of our observation is now about to change from the cabinet to +the field. The theatre of war properly attracts our attention, and the +spot of earth which was the chief cause of dispute between Mexico and +the United States, and where our armies assembled, justly demands our +first notice. + +Texas, until she attained the rank of an independent State, seems to +have been almost an unknown country even to the Mexicans. This was +natural for a people who are not essentially agriculturists, but pass +their lives as herdsmen, miners, or merchants, and whose central +government is far removed from its outposts. + +In the year 1834, General Almonte was deputed by the Mexican authorities +to visit this northern province, and prepare a statistical report upon +its extent and character. According to this valuable document, Texas +proper lies between 28 deg. and 35 deg. of north latitude, and 17 deg. and 25 deg. of +longitude, west from Washington. It is bounded on the north by the +territory of Arkansas; east by Louisiana; south by the Gulf of Mexico +and State of Tamaulipas; and west by Coahuila, Chihuahua, and New +Mexico. Almonte was informed, by the State government of Coahuila and +Texas, that instead of the Rio de las Nueces forming the boundary +between Coahuila and Texas, as the map denoted, the true limit commenced +at the embouchure of the Rio Aransaso which it followed to its source, +whence it continued by a direct line until it reached the junction of +the Medina with the San Antonio, and thence proceeded along the eastern +bank of the Medina to its source, terminating, finally, on the borders +of Chihuahua. The territory comprised within these limits is estimated +at near two hundred thousand square miles--a surface almost as extensive +as that of France.[70] But, since Texas receded from the Mexican central +government, these confines have been changed. By an act of her congress, +in December, 1836, the boundary was declared to begin at the mouth of +the Rio Grande, and thence to run up the principal stream of the said +river to its source; thence due north to the 42 deg. of latitude, and +thence, along the boundary as defined in the treaty between the United +States and Spain, to the beginning.[71] + + * * * * * + +The great body of the territory of Mexico is rich in upland vallies, +extensive plains, noble mountains, fertile soil, beautiful groves, and +rich mines, but it is almost entirely deprived of rivers, whilst Texas +is singularly favored in this respect. On the east, the Gulf of Mexico +affords her an extensive sea coast indented by the mouths of the Sabine +river and lake, the Rio Naches, the Rio Trinidad, the Rio San Jacinto, +Galveston bay, the Rio Brazos, Matagorda bay, the Rio Colorado, the Rios +San Antonio and Guadalupe, Aransaso bay and the Rio Grande, besides +numerous smaller streams that drain her soil and almost cover it with an +interlacing network of water. + +Texas presents to the traveller three distinct natural regions. Along +the shores of the gulf from the Sabine to the Rio Grande, a flat country +extends from thirty to one hundred miles in the interior, widening, +towards its centre on the Colorado, and gradually diminishing towards +the Nueces. The sandy wastes and lagunes of the coast give place, at +some distance in the interior, to a rich alluvial country, diversified +by skirts of timber, insulated groves, and open prairies. A large +portion of this part of Texas is described as being singularly free from +those large collections of stagnant water, which, combined with a +burning sun and prolific vegetation, create malaria in our southern +States. + +Westward of this level skirt, begins the rolling region. The land +gradually swells in gentle undulations, "covered with fertile prairies +and valuable woodlands, enriched with springs and rivulets." Farther +westward still, these beautiful hills tower up into the steeps of the +_Sierra Madre_, that great chain of gigantic mountains, which, broken at +the junction of the Rio Grande with the Puerco, takes thence a +north-easterly course, and enters Texas near the source of the Nueces. +These elevations are of the third and fourth magnitude, and abound with +forests of pine, oak, cedar, and an extraordinary variety of shrubbery. +Wide vallies of alluvial soil, commonly susceptible of irrigation from +copious streams in the highlands, wind through the recesses of these +mountains and afford a delightful region for the purposes of +agriculture. The table lands beyond these ranges have been but little +explored, and still less is known of the northern region extending to +the 42 deg. of north latitude, as well as of that portion lying between the +Nueces and the Rio Grande. But such, in brief, is Texas from the gulf to +the mountains;--a country adapted alike to the planter, the grazier and +the farmer, while it offers to commerce a wide extent of sea coast whose +harbors may be made perfectly secure by the skill of modern science.[72] + + * * * * * + +I have already stated that in 1844 President Tyler stationed an army of +observation under General Taylor, at fort Jesup, as soon as he +negotiated the annexation treaty.[73] This corps, but poorly sheltered +from the weather, and in an inhospitable climate, was, for a long time, +left inactive on the banks of the Sabine. In midsummer of 1845, after +the joint resolution was passed, and when our difficulties with Mexico +began to thicken, it was at length ordered to advance, under the same +commander, towards the southern frontier of Texas. The army then +consisted of but two regiments of infantry, one of dragoons, and a +single company of artillery, in all about fifteen hundred efficient men. +As the climate was known to the sickly, the war department despatched +only such an unacclimated force as was deemed absolutely necessary to +protect a tropical region in the month of July, awaiting the colder +months before its numbers were increased. This body was called the army +of occupation, whose appointments seem to have been extremely imperfect. +"The dragoon regiment had just been formed from a rifle corps; half of +its men were raw, undisciplined recruits, and many of them unable to +ride, while their recently purchased horses were small, weak and +undrilled. The infantry regiments were enfeebled by their long +exposure, in miserable tents, to the withering heats and drenching rains +of a low southern latitude; and the artillerists were without their +guns. Towards the end of June, 1845, a company of the last mentioned arm +of the service, equipped as infantry, at fort Moultrie, was ordered to +New Orleans. This body, armed only with muskets, sailed from Charleston +on the 26th of the month, and on its arrival in Louisiana on the 19th of +July, found that it was destined for service in Texas. The instructions +to the commanding officer informed him that his company was to be +mounted and equipped as flying artillery for the campaign under Taylor; +that horses would be sent him and a battery shipped from New York, upon +the arrival of which he was to join his general at the mouth of the +Sabine."[74] Fortunately for these troops they encountered General +Taylor in New Orleans, though they were obliged to depart without their +ordnance, which did not reach them for two months afterwards, while +their horses were even still longer in attaining their destination. + +The war in Texas, and the unsettled state of that country, had prevented +the preparation of an accurate map, or indeed, even of a survey of the +coasts or interior. It was difficult, therefore, to find any one in New +Orleans acquainted with the harbors and rivers of the new State, or who +was willing to incur the responsibility of directing the army's steps. +The topographical bureau at Washington had, with infinite pains and +ingenuity, constructed a map of the country from the scant materials in +its possession; but this chart has since been proved to be almost +entirely useless as a guide. + +However, after considerable difficulty, General Taylor procured a pilot +for large wages, who professed a thorough acquaintance with the Texan +waters, and a particular knowledge of his destination at Aransas bay. +This individual was immediately put in charge of one of the transports +loaded with troops, and under his lead, the commander in chief sailed +from New Orleans with three ships and two steamers in search of the port +of his disbarkation. The blundering pilot grounded his vessel among the +breakers where it would inevitably have been wrecked, had it not been +extricated by timely assistance, while the captain of another transport +coasted the low shores of the gulf for several days, in sight of land, +seeking an inlet, and when his ship was at length anchored off St. +Joseph's, he asserted that it was the island of Espiritu Santo.[75] + +This bay of Aransas was perhaps one of the most unsuitable for the +disbarkation of troops on the coast of Texas, and was selected in utter +ignorance of the country. Indeed we seem to have committed two great and +often fatal errors in warfare when we contemplated hostilities with +Mexico--first, in despising our foe; and secondly, in failing to inform +ourselves of his country's geography. + +Aransas bay lies between the south end of St. Joseph's and the northern +point of Mustang island, quite close to the latter, and almost at right +angles with the coast. It has a narrow but shifting sand bar at its +entrance, upon which the depth of water varies according to the action +of the winds. The bay is about twenty-five miles in length and twelve in +width, but is obstructed by a shoal and a range of islands that traverse +it.[76] + +On the third of August our whole army had landed on St. Joseph's island, +about thirty miles from the Rio Nueces, across which it was to pass to +its proposed encampment on Corpus Christi bay, near a smuggling village +known as Kinney's _rancho_. As Corpus Christi and Aransas bays are +connected by a shallow and winding channel, it was at once discovered +that steamers were altogether inadequate for the transportation of +troops from the islets to the mainland; and our forces would have +remained where they disembarked had not a few skiffs of light draft, +together with some sail and row boats, been obtained in the neighborhood +at considerable expense. In these frail vessels a detachment of forty +men, armed only with muskets, crossed the Nueces, and landed on the +stormy coast as pioneers in a country asserted to be Mexican. Had the +authorities of that republic been prepared to resist our landing, a few +field pieces might have presented the alleged invasion, as our general +was unable to protect the disembarkation of his troops by cannon. In +addition to these mistakes, the 2d regiment of dragoons was not +despatched from fort Jesup in time to co-operate with our forces when +they first landed at Corpus Christi; and, as the artillery had not yet +been forwarded from our arsenals, the campaign may be said to have +commenced with _infantry alone_. This was a novelty in military science, +and indicated an ignorance of war, an unpardonable imprudence, or a +conviction that the whole drama was got up only to intimidate an enemy +we despised. + + * * * * * + +It is impossible to narrate every circumstance of interest that occurred +during the encampment of our forces west of the Nueces, a position taken +by General Taylor with the concurrence of the war department. But a +history of this war would be incomplete were not the position as well as +the condition of our army accurately stated. Our government, relying +probably on the acknowledged feebleness of Mexico, and on the fact that +she had not yet declared war, imagined that the mere presence of +American troops would pacify Texas or prevent hostilities. This was an +unfortunate mistake, especially in the unsettled condition of things; +for in May, 1845, Mr. Donelson, our charge to Texas, had warned the +government to be prepared for an immediate blow upon Mexico, if she +should unfortunately declare war against us, and that declaration might +have been expected at any moment. + +The details of the organization of our forces seem, nevertheless, to +have been sadly neglected. Sailing vessels, alone, were relied on to +convey despatches to General Taylor; and, from the wreck of one of them, +a drummer boy, strolling along the beach, on the 15th of August, rescued +a valuable package containing the proclamation of the Mexican government +in which the people were summoned to unite in an army for national +preservation, under the sonorous title of "Defenders of independence and +the laws."[77] The day after this despatch was received, the smugglers +along the coast reported that Arista was rapidly advancing to attack us +with three thousand choice troops. Without artillery to defend the camp, +or dragoons to act as scouts, our general could do nothing but order +entrenchments to be thrown up. Entrenching tools, however, had not been +furnished; and, with only a few old and broken spades the troops labored +briskly, and erected, in a few days, a solid field-work a few yards from +the beach, protected in the rear by the bay. But the battery had not yet +arrived, nor was Gen. Taylor able to obtain from the sloop of war St. +Mary's, which was on the station, any guns of a suitable calibre. +Fortunately, however, he procured three pieces, indifferently equipped, +and a small supply of ammunition, from the citizens of Corpus Christi. +These guns added materially to the strength of our position in case we +were attacked, but were entirely unsuitable for field service.[78] + + * * * * * + +The proclamation to which we have alluded, and the rumors of vigorous +hostility on the part of Mexico, produced great alarm in the United +States, especially along our southern frontier. In New Orleans, +indignation was openly expressed that our gallant men had been +despatched on this forlorn enterprize without the amplest means of +defence and attack, while our arsenals were filled with all the +munitions of war. A large force of volunteers was, therefore, ordered +out in the south, while two companies of artillery were immediately +despatched to Taylor's succor under the command of Maj. Gally. + +The report of Arista's progress, however, proved to be false, so that we +were fortunately saved from attack. Yet the sufferings of our army did +not cease with those military inconveniences. "Two thirds of the tents +furnished our soldiers were worn out or rotten, and had been condemned +by boards of survey appointed by the proper authorities in accordance +with the army regulations. Transparent as gauze, they afforded little or +no protection against the intense heat of summer or the drenching rains +and severe cold of winter. Even the dews penetrated the thin covering +almost without obstruction. Such were the tents provided for campaigners +in a country almost deluged three months in the year, and more variable +in its climate than any other region, passing from the extreme of heat +to that of cold in a few hours. During the whole of November and +December, either the rains were descending with violence, or the furious +"northers" which ravage this coast were breaking the frail tent-poles or +rending the rotten canvas. For days and weeks every article in hundreds +of tents was thoroughly soaked; and during these terrible months, the +sufferings of the sick, in the crowded hospital tents, were +indescribably horrible. Every day added to the frightfulness of the +mortality. At one time a sixth of the entire camp was on the sick list, +and at least one-half unfit for service, in consequence of dysentery and +catarrhal fevers which raged like a pestilence."[79] The camp was +without fires, and, being situated on the edge of a vast prairie +sparsely covered with muskeet trees, was but scantily supplied with wood +even for the most needful purposes. The quarter-master's department +furnished only the weak and stunted _mustangs_ of the country; and the +little and inefficient ponies, geared in the large harness made at the +north for American horses, looked as if they would jump through their +collars instead of use them for traction. With such teams only a +sufficiency of wood could be drawn for cooking, and none for camp fires +to comfort the sick and suffering soldiers. "As winter advanced, the +prairie became a quagmire, the roads almost impassable, and as the +_mustangs_ died in large numbers, wood enough for cooking even, could +not be procured. The encampment now resembled a marsh, the water, at +times, being three or four feet deep in the tents of whole wings of +regiments. All military exercises were suspended, and the bleak gloomy +days were passed in inactivity, disgust and sullenness. The troops, +after being thoroughly drenched all day, without fires to dry them, lay +down at night in wet blankets on the soaked ground, as plank for tent +floors was not furnished by the quarter-masters until the rainy season +was over. At times the men, at tattoo, gasped for breath in the sultry +night air, and, at reveille, found their moist blankets frozen around +them and their tents stiff with ice. A portion of the men were kept +without pay for six months, and the rest for four months, although the +law strictly requires payment every two months. + +"Officers and soldiers, destitute of funds, were compelled to borrow, +upon the strength of pay due, of their more fortunate companions, or of +the Shylocks, in search of victims, that polluted the camp. Sick +soldiers, directed by their surgeons to return to the United States, had +either to remain and die, or to submit to exorbitant exactions from +unfeeling villains in their pension certificates and pay accounts, +though the law requires the paymasters to cash them in specie. + +"On the first landing of the 3d and 4th infantry at Corpus Christi, +"Kinney's Rancho," though a lawless, smuggling town, under the vigorous +sway of its martial proprietor, was as quiet and peaceful as a village +in New England. But every fresh arrival of troops was followed by some +portion of that vast horde of harpies, that are ever to be found in the +train of all armies, ready to prey upon the simple and unsuspecting +among the soldiers. In a short time, hundreds of temporary structures +were erected on the outskirts of the "Rancho," and in them, all the +cut-throats, thieves, and murderers of the United States and Texas, seem +to have congregated. No sight could have been more truly melancholy than +that of their bloated and sin-marked visages, as they lounged through +the purlieus of this modern Pandemonium. The air, by day, was polluted +with their horrid oaths and imprecations,--and the savage yells, +exulting shouts, and despairing groans of their murderous frays, made +night hideous. But, not content with confining their hellish deeds to +their own worthy fraternity, they laid their worthless hands on the +troops. Many of the soldiers, enticed to their dram-shops, were drugged +with stupefying potions, and then robbed of their hard earnings, or +murdered in cold blood." + +General Taylor, looking to the probability of a movement against Mexico, +warned the department that a ponton train was indispensable in a country +wherein streams abounded and wood for bridges was scarce; but it was not +despatched until after the next meeting of congress. + +"Six months after the army had taken the field, there were not teams and +wagons enough to transport one half of the troops; so that, in case of +hostilities, had a forward movement been ordered, it could only have +been effected by detachments, and, in consequence, that most fatal of +all military errors would have been committed, of permitting the enemy +to attack and beat in detail. The few teams furnished, it is natural to +think, were the choicest to be found in the west. For, it had been said, +that though the "Army of occupation" was small, the great celerity of +its movements, from the superiority of the American horses, would +contribute, as well as the greater bravery of its men, to make it more +than a match for the largest Mexican force. Ninety yoke of oxen and +several hundred mustangs were therefore bought, but not a single +American horse! + + * * * * * + +"Three batteries of artillery were added to the one which, at length +reached the company from Charleston. Horses were sent with two of them, +to manoeuvre them rapidly on the field of battle, and to transport +them wherever the army might go. But the third came unprovided with +cavalry. + +"When the New Orleans volunteers left Corpus Christi, their artillery +horses were turned over to the company from Charleston. This company, +having always acted as infantry, had never even seen a flying artillery +drill,--half of the men could not ride,--many had never ridden at all, +and, in mounting for the first time, made Mr. Winkle's mistake as to +which stirrup to use. It was certainly an original idea, to convert, +_in a single day_, a company of foot into light artillery. However, as +horses had at length been given to the company from Charleston, it was +the ardent desire of the lieutenant commanding, to teach his men to ride +and drive, and the sabre exercise. This the loyal quarter-masters +resolved to prevent, and, at the same time, to show the world how +economical they were. They, therefore, refused to purchase any more hay +and told the dragoons and light artillery, that they, themselves, must +cut and haul the dry and sapless broom straw of the prairie, and forage +their horses on that."[80] + +Such is a picture of the sufferings of our army of occupation, drawn by +an eye-witness, and scarcely colored by the warmth of his feelings. If +the advice of military men, and the opinion of persons whose experience +as campaigners entitled them to respect, had been heeded, this war would +have been speedily ended. Ever since the rumor of annexation in 1843, +but, especially, since the inaugural address of President Polk in 1845, +in which he pronounced so emphatic an opinion as to our right to the +whole of Oregon, our political firmament had been clouded. Prudent men +thought it probable that there would be war with Mexico or hostilities +with England, and that the two sources of irritation, by distracting our +powers, would materially increase each other's virulence. + +At this time, General Gaines, a chieftain who has become venerable in +the service of his country, and whose skill and bravery on many a field +have manifested his character in actions that no citizen can ever +forget, commanded on our south-western frontier. The delicate character +of our foreign relations, to which allusion has just been made, +attracted his anxious attention in 1845; and his responsibility as +Chief on a long, exposed frontier, compelled him to give timely warning +to the department. It seemed to this officer, if we engaged hastily in +war with Mexico or England, at such a crisis, and with no preparations +either for an army or its instruction, that the conflict would be +disastrous or procrastinated, especially as the latter power had so far +surpassed us in applying steam to naval purposes. Long years of peace +had rendered us indifferent to war; and unvarying success in other +conflicts had made us confident. Accordingly, he recommended the +concentration of a large force of volunteers on the borders of the +probable theatre of war, where they should be trained in military +science, together with the regulars commanded by General Taylor, until +the spring of 1846. If war could not be averted before that period, we +might then be able to march against the enemy with a powerful and +disciplined army. He contended that the true policy of our country, in +such an assault, was to pursue with relentless energy the military +bandits who swayed the destinies of Mexico, whilst, on all sides, we +protected the persons and property of non-combatants; so that in pushing +onward to the capital we would leave throughout the country traversed an +indelible impression of our justice. Thus the confidence of the best +portions of Mexico would be secured, the _prestige_ of her army promptly +destroyed, and peace obtained before she was able to rally. On the other +hand, General Gaines believed that if we began war without large and +instructed forces, we might count on a protracted struggle, as in the +Seminole campaigns from 1836 to 1842. The precipices upon the doubtful +verge of whose summits we tottered during the war, prove the wisdom of +these suggestions. The faithful page of history admonishes that nations +as well as individuals who recklessly disregard the essential maxims +that prescribe their prudent duties, must sooner or later pay the +penalty of neglect. But politicians, uneducated even in the pleasant +discipline of militia trainings, do not view matters in the same light +as military men whose knowledge of detail, and of the responsibilities +of real service, make them unwilling to engage in war, or even to +threaten hostilities, without the amplest preparation to perform all +they promise. Without such true and earnest discipline warlike array is +but a military cheat. + +It is vain to predict what might have been the result had the advice of +the gallant and prudent Gaines been adopted; yet it cannot be doubted +that a well equipped body of twenty-five or thirty thousand men would +have marched to the city of Mexico and dictated peace at the cost of one +fourth the blood and treasure that were subsequently expended. A +lingering policy of hesitation together with the acknowledged +inefficiency of Mexico, may palliate the errors of our cabinet; but wise +politicians will not henceforth fail to be impressed with the necessity +of military preparation which this conflict has taught us. + +A war which was originally supposed to be one exclusively of defence, +was suddenly changed to an aggressive conflict, and is, perhaps, an +additional excuse for our unpreparedness. Most of the events in this +narrative derive peculiar interest from the fact that it is the first +and only offensive war into which we have been forced. With every known +principle of defence we had been long acquainted; for, in the school of +Washington, we acquired a sound, practical knowledge, which subsequent +experience, under the most perfect system of self-government, enabled us +to improve. But it is to be hoped that many years will elapse before our +volunteers will be again called from their peaceful duties to take part +in an aggressive war, and especially against a government whose theory +of rule is the same as our own. + + NOTE.--General Gaines, who commanded the western division, + was censured by the War department for having made a + requisition on the governor of Louisiana for State troops + to be sent to the army in Texas under Taylor's command, at + the moment of apprehended danger described in this chapter. + General Taylor, for more than a year previous to September, + 1845, commanded one of the brigades of Gaines's division, + and the latter never knew _by authority_ that the former had + been disconnected from him, except upon temporary service, + until advised by the secretary of war on the 13th of + September. He never received a copy of the authority given + to Taylor to go to Texas until after the date of his + requisition for Louisiana volunteers, on the 15th of August, + 1845; consequently he _then_ considered himself responsible + for the strength and support of one of his own brigades, and + bound to succor it speedily when he believed it to be in + imminent danger.--See Senate doc. No. 378, for his + correspondence, and especially p. 48. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[70] Almonte's report. Kennedy's Texas, chap. 1. + +[71] Senate doc. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 56. + +[72] Kennedy's Texas, chap. 1. + +[73] Senate doc. No. 341, 28th cong. 1st sess. p. 76. + +[74] An account of the army of observation and occupation, written by +one of its officers, in the Southern Quarterly Review for April, 1846. + +[75] S. Q. Review, _ut antea_, p. 442. (April, 1846.) + +[76] Kennedy's Texas, chap. 2d. + +[77] Niles' Reg. vol. 68, p. 305. + +[78] S. Q. Rev. _ut antea_. Senate doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. +93. + +[79] S. Q. Rev. _ut antea_. + +[80] Southern Quarterly Review, _ut antea_. These statements are made by +an able and distinguished officer of our army, who was on the field, and +is perfectly versed in all the matters he discusses. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Our position at Corpus Christi--Instructions to Taylor as to the boundary + of the Rio Grande--Taylor's views--Review and history of the boundary + question--Letter from Mr. Adams--Santa Anna's agreements with Texas, + &c.--March to the Rio Grande ordered--Justification in a military + point of view of the occupation of the disputed territory--Anecdote + of Frederick the Great--War in Silesia and Austria--Madison's conduct + to Spain in 1810--Right of declaration of war--Justifiable causes of + war--Opinion of Sir J. Mackintosh--War and diplomacy contrasted. + +One of the most inclement winters in the Gulf of Mexico had passed in +the comfortless manner described in the last chapter. Our attempts to +negotiate with Mexico were repulsed, and although our minister had not +yet returned to the United States--having delayed at Jalapa with the +hope of finding Paredes more accessible than Herrera--every thing +indicated an ultimate defeat of diplomacy. + +Meanwhile our forces at Corpus Christi were gradually augmenting, under +the command of Generals Taylor and Worth. In October, 1845, the troops +amounted to near four thousand, and General Taylor made every +preparation, by reconnoissances between the Nueces and the Rio Grande +for the ultimate defence of soil which had been claimed by our +government as part of Texas.[81] + +As a military man it was not his duty to affix the boundaries that were +to be the subject of negotiation or war; but simply to ascertain +precisely the extent of defence required along a disputed territory, and +to dispose his troops accordingly.[82] + +In October, 1845, therefore, General Taylor reviewed the instructions +from the war department, and, seeing that he had been ordered to select +and occupy near the Rio Grande such a site as would consist with the +health of the troops, and was best adapted to repel invasion, he +ventured to suggest an advance of his army. This however, was done by +him whilst he felt great diffidence in touching topics that might become +matter of delicate diplomacy. Nevertheless, taking a soldier's view of +the topographical and not the diplomatic question, he informed our +government, that if it made the Rio Grande an _ultimatum_ in adjusting a +boundary, he doubted not that the settlement would be facilitated by +taking possession, at once, of one or two suitable points on, or quite +near, that river. At these spots, our strength would be displayed in a +manner not to be mistaken, while the position of our troops at the +remote camp of Corpus Christi, with arid wastes between them and the +outposts of Mexico, altogether failed to impress that government with +our readiness to vindicate by force of arms our title to the country as +far as the Rio Grande.[83] Moreover, General Taylor felt encumbered by +the orders from our war department of the 8th July, in which he was told +that Mexico held military establishments on the east side of the Rio +Grande, whose forces he should not disturb until our peaceful relations +were finally destroyed.[84] + +Accordingly, on the 13th of January, 1846, our commander-in-chief was +directed to advance with his troops to the Rio Grande.[85] This movement +was made in consequence of the anticipated failure of our negotiations, +clearly indicated by the conduct of the Mexican government immediately +upon the arrival of Mr. Slidell in the capital. But before these orders +were despatched to General Taylor, he had already in August, 1845, been +apprised of his duties in the event of hostile demonstrations on the +part of the enemy. In case of an invasion of Texas by the Mexicans, he +was directed to drive them back beyond the Rio Grande; and, although it +was desirable that he should confine himself as much as possible to +defensive measures, yet, in the event of such a repulse, he was +authorized to seize and hold possession of Matamoros and other places on +the soil of Mexico. + +This resolution of our government was made the subject of grave +complaint by persons who opposed the war. The order to advance from +Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande was alleged to be an act of invasion, +and consequently, that _hostilities_ were commenced by us and not by +Mexico. + +It may be pardoned if we pause awhile to consider a subject of such +vital importance. The solution of the question was placed by one party +upon the determination whether the Rio Grande was the boundary between +Texas and Mexico before the battle of San Jacinto; and, if not, whether +it has been made so since by competent authority. Up to that period it +was asserted to be a recognized fact that the Nueces was the western +boundary of Texas. Mr. John Quincy Adams, in his controversy with Don +Luis De Onis, upon the Spanish boundary question, in March, 1818;[86] +and Messieurs Pinckney and Monroe, in their argument with Cevallos at +Madrid in April, 1805,[87] claimed the Rio Grande as the true limit +between the United States and Mexico, by virtue of the ancient rights of +France and the treaties between that sovereignty and the Spanish +king.[88] It was asserted, therefore, that by the cession of Louisiana +all the rights of France over Texas, as an integral part of her +territory, accrued to us; and consequently that when the State of Texas +was united to this country it was only _re_-annexed with what were +_claimed_ to be its ancient limits. But this was not a true statement +of the controversy, for after our treaty with Spain the aspect of the +affair changed. The question then was no longer what had been the +boundary under the laws between France and Spain, or between Spain and +the United States,--but what were the limits either under the colonial +government of the Mexican viceroyalty, or under the laws of Mexico, when +she became an independent republic. It was asserted that no map or +geography existed since the establishment of the republic that did not +lay down the boundary north of the Rio Grande. The map of Texas, +compiled by Stephen H. Austin, the parent of Texan colonization, +published at Philadelphia in 1835, and setting forth all the Mexican +grants in Texas, represents the Rio Nueces as the western boundary. +General Almonte in 1834, as I have previously stated, alleged, upon the +authority of the State government of Coahuila and Texas that the +boundary between them was even east of the Nueces. This was probably in +accordance with the ancient Spanish division; for, in 1805 Cevallos +declared to our ministers at Madrid that the province of Texas, "where +the Spaniards have had settlements from the 17th century, was bounded on +the east by Louisiana, and contains the extensive country which lies +between the river Medina _where the government of Coahuila ends_, and +the post now abandoned." Authorities to this effect might be +extensively multiplied.[90] Brazos de Santiago was a Mexican port of +entry, which continued to be held up to the period of hostilities, and +Laredo was a small Mexican town, occupied by a Mexican garrison. If such +was the geographical division between Texas and Mexico on the lower Rio +Grande, near its mouth in the gulf, it was asserted that there could be +infinitely less right to claim it as a limit nearer its source, since +Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, had never been within the +jurisdiction of Texas, and since the boundaries of Chihuahua commenced +near the head waters of the Nueces. + +These were some of the arguments used by individuals who deemed the +march to Point Isabel an invasion of Mexican territory. It is just that +a few reasons should also be presented on behalf of those who believed +it to be lawful or expedient. + +When Santa Anna was captured after the battle of San Jacinto in 1836, +the leading men in Texas had great difficulty in rescuing him from +popular vengeance for the massacres he had committed. The victory over +the central chief--the despot and dictator of Mexico--was generally +believed to be a crowning measure of success, for the bitter persecutor +soon dwindled into the humble supplicant, and pledged his name and his +oath to secure the independence of the rebellious State. Accordingly, +with every appearance and promise of good faith and honor, he executed +contracts with the Texan authorities which deserve consideration in +discussing this question. On the 14th of May, 1836, at Velasco, two of +these documents were signed by Santa Anna, Burnet, Collingsworth, +Hardiman and Grayson,--the first being a public, and the second a secret +convention between the parties. The third article of the first paper +stipulates that the Mexican troops shall evacuate the _territory_ of +Texas, _passing to the other side of the Rio Grande_, while the fourth +article of the secret agreement declares that a treaty of amity, +commerce and limits shall be made between Mexico and Texas, _the +territory of the latter power not to extend beyond the Rio Bravo del +Norte, or Rio Grande_. In conformity with these contracts, Texas set +free the prisoner, whose "prompt release and departure for Vera Cruz," +according to their tenor, "were necessary for the fulfilment of his +_solemn oath_," to obtain a recognition of the independence of Texas, +and to dispose the Mexican cabinet for the reception of +commissioners.[91] + +Santa Anna returned to his country in disgrace after his disastrous +campaign, and lurked in retirement at his farm until the French attacked +Vera Cruz, when he threw himself again at the head of the departmental +forces. In the action he fortunately lost a limb, and by the skilful +display of his mutilation in defence of Mexico, he renewed his claims +to national gratitude. Instead, however, of using his influence to +obtain the treaty, promised as the boon for his life, he became at once +the bitterest foe of Texas, and pledged himself to fight "forever for +its reconquest." Texas, meanwhile, acting in good faith, and presuming +to adopt the spirit and letter of the convention with Santa Anna, whom +she naturally regarded as the dictator of Mexico, passed the act of +December 19, 1836, establishing the Rio Grande as her boundary from the +gulf to its source. Besides this, her congress created senatorial and +representative districts west of the Nueces; organized and defined +limits of counties extending to the Rio Grande; created courts of +justice; spread her judicial system over the country wherever her people +roamed, and performed other acts of sovereignty which we are compelled +not to disregard. It cannot be contended that these acts and agreements +were alone sufficient, under the laws of nations, to confer upon Texas +unquestionable rights over the soil between the Nueces and the Rio +Grande, for a contract with the captive president and general was not +legally binding; but it is equally clear that all these arguments of the +old authorities as to the original boundary, and all the new claims set +up by Texas, under her statutes, as well as stipulations with Santa +Anna, made that territory a disputed ground whose real ownership could +only be equitably settled by negotiation. The strong language of both +the contracts, just recited, seems to _concede_ the fact that the +president of Mexico regarded, at least the lower Rio Grande, as already +the real boundary between Mexico and Texas, notwithstanding the opinion +of Almonte in 1834; and consequently that it was neither the subject of +treaty or agreement at that moment, nor could it become so afterwards +when commissioners were appointed. + +When Texas was annexed to the United States she was received with these +asserted limits, though she did not join the Union with any specific +boundaries.[92] It was thought best by both parties to leave the +question of confines open between Mexico and our country, so as not to +complicate the national entanglements. After the congress of the United +States and convention in Texas had acted upon the joint resolution it +was impossible for us to recede. The course of our presidents, +therefore, was at once pacific and soothing towards Mexico. For although +they believed that republic had no right to be consulted as to the +annexation of Texas, a free and independent State, they nevertheless +admitted all her natural and just privileges in regard to boundary. Mr. +Tyler and Mr. Polk therefore despatched envoys to Mexico with the offer +of liberal negotiations as soon as a favorable opportunity presented +itself. But the charge and minister of Mr. Tyler were scornfully +rejected, while Mr. Slidell, as has been already related, was refused an +audience upon frivolous pretences at a moment when the Mexican secretary +was secretly craving to receive him.[93] + +In such a juncture what was the duty of the United States? It is an easy +matter for speculative philosophers or political critics to find fault +with the conduct of statesmen and to become prophets of woe _after_ the +occurrence of events they deprecate. But such men are timid actors on +the world's stage, and especially in such a theatre of folly as the +Mexican republic. Governments have but two ways of settling +international disputes,--either by negotiation or war,--and, even the +latter must be concluded by diplomacy, for nations rarely fight until +one of them is completely annihilated. Negotiation, or the attempt to +negotiate, had been completely exhausted by us. Meanwhile Mexico +continued to excite our curiosity by spasmodic struggles in nerving her +people for the war, as well as by gasconading despatches which breathed +relentless animosity to our country for the annexation of Texas. +Nevertheless, this sensitive and vaunting nation would neither make +peace, establish boundaries, negotiate, nor declare war. Was it +reasonable that such a frantic state of things should be permitted to +continue? Could this perverse aversion to fighting or friendship be +tolerated? Were our countries to conclude an eternal compact of mutual +hatred and non intercourse? Was such childish obstinacy and weakness to +be connived at in our country? Was it due to common sense, justice, or +the preservation of a good neighborhood that we should remain supine +under insane threats and dishonorable treatment? We asserted that, upon +the Texas question, we had rightly no dispute with Mexico, except as to +the boundary involved in the territory our forces were then occupying or +about to cross. We did not design discussing our right to annex Texas. +That was an act accomplished and unalterable. It was, doubtless, +exceedingly convenient for Mexico to maintain this pacific state of +_quasi-war_ and to reject, alike, our amity and hostilities, as long as +she owed us many millions of dollars and refused either to pay principal +or interest, or to conclude a treaty for the settlement of unadjusted +claims. Whilst her government was able to enforce non-intercourse, it +was free from importunity and payment. But this adroit scheme of +insolvency was unjust to our citizens, and only served to augment the +liabilities of Mexico. What then remained to be done? The reply may be +found in a significant anecdote related by Mr. Adams in a speech in +congress on the Oregon question, on the 2d of January, 1846. + +"After negotiating"--said he--"for twenty years about this matter we may +take possession of the subject matter of negotiation. Indeed, we may +negotiate after we take possession, and this is the military way of +doing business. When Frederick the Great came to the throne of Prussia +he found that his father had equipped for him an army of a hundred +thousand men. Meeting soon after the Austrian minister, the latter said +to him: "Your father has given you a great army, but ours has seen the +wolf, whilst your majesty's has not." "Well--well!" exclaimed Frederick, +"I will soon give it an opportunity to see the wolf!" Frederick then +added, in his memoirs:--"I had some excellent old _pretensions_ to an +Austrian province, which some of my ancestors owned one or two centuries +before; accordingly I sent an ambassador to the court of Austria stating +my claim, and presenting a full exposition of my right to the province. +The same day my ambassador was received in Vienna, I entered Silesia +with my army!"[94] + +Such would be a prompt and impulsive answer to the manifold +prevarications of seditious Mexico. But the army we advanced and the +country we occupied, were neither the army of Frederick nor the pleasant +vales of rich and populous Silesia. A nearly desolate waste, stretched +from the Nueces to the Rio Grande, barren alike in soil and inhabitants, +and tempting none to its dreary wilderness but nomadic _rancheros_ or +outlaws who found even Mexico no place of refuge for their wickedness. +It was, surely, not a land worthy of bloodshed, and yet, in consequence +of its sterility, it became of vast importance on a frontier across +whose wide extent enemies might pass unobserved and unmolested. With the +entire command of the Rio Grande from its source to its mouth in the +hands of our enemy, and the whole of this arid region flanking the +stream and interposing itself between Mexico and our troops, it is +evident that our adversaries would possess unusual advantages over us +either for offensive or defensive war. The mere control of the +embouchure of the river was no trivial superiority, for, on a stormy and +inhospitable coast, it was almost impossible to support an effectual +blockade and thus prevent the enemy from being succored along his whole +frontier with arms and provisions from abroad. By seizing, however, the +usual points of transit and entrance on the lower Rio Grande many of +these evils might be avoided; and, if Mexico ultimately resolved on +hostilities, we should be enabled to throw our forces promptly across +the river, and by rapid marches obtain the command of all the military +positions of vantage along her north-eastern boundary. + +The foresight of Frederick the Great disclosed to him the military value +of Silesia in the event of a war with Austria, and it was probably that +circumstance, quite as much as his alleged political rights, that +induced him to enter it with an army on the day when he commenced +negotiations. He began the war with Austria by surprising Saxony, and, +during all his difficulties, clung tenaciously to the possession of +Silesia. Saxony was important as a military barrier covering Prussia on +the side of Austria, while Silesia indented deeply the line of the +Austrian frontier and flanked a large part of Bohemia.[95] Thus Saxony +and Silesia formed a natural fortification for Prussia, just as the +deserts of the disputed land, when in our rear, covered the undefended +confines of Texas at the same time that they gave us the keys to the +enemy's country at Point Isabel and Matamoros. + + * * * * * + +It may be asserted that, when vacant or nearly vacant territory is in +controversy between two nations, and forms the only subject of real +dispute between them, it would be better for both to refrain from an +attempt to occupy it, provided they are willing to arbitrate the +quarrel, or settle it by diplomacy. But, when both parties assert +claims, both have equal rights to enter it, when negotiation fails. The +decision is then to be made only by intimidation or war. There is no +alternative by which collision can be escaped, and it is the duty of the +wiser of the disputants to place his national forces in such an +advantageous position as either to defend his acknowledged territory or +force himself to be driven from the soil he claims. "I do not consider +the march to the Rio Grande to have been the cause of the war"--said a +distinguished statesman, "anymore than I consider the British march on +Concord or Lexington to have been the cause of the American revolution, +or the crossing of the Rubicon to have been the cause of the civil war +in Rome. The march to the Rio Grande brought on the _collision of arms_, +but, so far from being the cause of the war, it was itself the effect of +those causes." + + * * * * * + +The power of declaring war is expressly reserved by the constitution to +congress, and, though the president is commander in chief of the army +when called into actual service, he should be extremely cautious in +issuing orders or doing acts which may lead to hostilities resulting in +war. Our congress was in session in January, 1846, when Mr. Slidell was +rejected by Mexico, when our international relations were complicated as +I have described, and when the secretary of war, by the president's +direction, gave the order for Taylor's advance to the Rio Grande. This +was an act that brought the armies of Mexico and the United States in +front of each other; and although there can be no doubt that congress +would have authorised the movement of our troops under the military +advice of General Taylor,--provided the Rio Grande was to be made an +ultimatum in the ratification of a treaty by our senate,--it is, +nevertheless, to be profoundly regretted that the question was not +previously submitted to our national representatives. At that moment the +public mind was distracted between Mexico and England; but the Oregon +question nearly absorbed the apparently minor difficulties with our +restive neighbor. Congress contemplated the solemn probability of war +with one of the mightiest nations of our age, and even some of our +experienced statesmen,--as we have seen in the example of Mr. +Adams,--recommended the most stringent measures of armed occupation. At +such a crisis, and with a confidential knowledge of all our foreign +relations, it was the duty of the president to represent these matters +frankly to congress and to ask the opinion of his constitutional +advisers, as he subsequently did in the settlement of the dispute with +Great Britain. This prudent act would have saved the executive from +needless responsibility, whilst it indicated a sensitive devotion to the +behests of our constitution. Congress met whilst our troops were +encamped at Corpus Christi, as an army of observation, whose hostile, +though protective character, was unquestionable; yet our representatives +neither ordered its return nor refused it supplies. This denoted a +willingness to sanction measures which might either pacify Mexico, or +impose upon that republic the immediate alternative of war. It is not +improbable that congress would have adopted such a course, because, +according to the pretensions of Mexico, our troops had already invaded +her domains. This is an important view of the question which should not +be passed by silently. Mexico, it must be remembered, never relinquished +her right to reconquer Texas, but always claimed the _whole_ province as +her own, asserting a determination to regard its union with our +confederacy as justifiable cause of war. The joint-resolution, alone, +was therefore a belligerent act of the congress of the United States, +sufficient, according to the doctrine of Mexico, to compel hostile +retaliation. But, moreover, as the entire soil of Texas, from the Sabine +to the Nueces or Rio Grande was still claimed by Mexico as her +unsurrendered country, the landing of a single American soldier anywhere +south of our ancient boundary with Spain, was quite as hostile an +invasion of Mexican territory as the passage of our army from Corpus +Christi to Point Isabel. + +Occasions upon which the eminent right of self protection has been +adopted as a principle of action in the United States, are not wanting +in our political history. The circumstances in all, are of course not +precisely the same, but the policy is identical. The conduct of our +government in regard to General Jackson's invasion of Florida for the +suppression of Indian cruelties may be referred to. But congress might +have found a still more analogous case, in the dispute between Spain and +the United States as to the eastern limits of Louisiana. Spain alleged +that Florida extended to the Mississippi, embracing what was then a +wilderness, but, now, forms the populous States of Alabama and +Mississippi; while our government asserted that all the territory +eastward of the Mississippi and extending to the Rio Perdido belonged of +right to us by virtue of the treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of +April, 1803. By acts of congress in 1803 and 1804 the president was +authorized to take possession of the territory ceded by France, to +establish a provisional government, to lay duties on goods imported into +it; and, moreover, _whenever he deemed it expedient_, to erect the bay +and river Mobile into a separate district, in which he might establish a +port of entry and delivery. + +In 1810, President Madison believing that the United States had too long +acquiesced in the temporary continuance of this territory under Spanish +domain, and that nothing was to be gained from Spain by candid +discussion and amicable negotiation for several years, solved the +difficulty by taking possession of Mobile and Baton Rouge and extending +our jurisdiction to the Perdido. This possession, he took means to +ensure, if needful, by military force. Mr. Madison's conduct was +assailed in congress by the federalists who regarded it as an +unjustifiable and offensive demonstration against Spain, but it was +defended with equal warmth by the opposition,--especially by Mr. +Clay,--and the Rio Perdido has ever since continued to form the western +limit of Florida.[96] + + * * * * * + +When nations are about to undertake the dread responsibility of war, and +to spread the sorrow and ruin which always mark the pathway of +victorious or defeated armies, they should pause to contemplate the +enormity of their enterprise as well as the principles that can alone +justify them in the sight of God and man. Human life cannot be lawfully +destroyed, assailed or endangered for any other object than that of just +defence of person or principle, yet it is not a legal consequence that +defensive wars are always just.[97] + +"It is the right of a State," said that profound moralist and statesman, +Sir James Mackintosh, "to take all measures necessary for her safety if +it be attacked or threatened from without: provided always that +reparation cannot otherwise be obtained; that there is a reasonable +prospect of obtaining it by arms; and that the evils of the contest are +not probably greater than the mischiefs of acquiescence in the wrong; +including, on both sides of the deliberation, the ordinary consequences +of the example as well as the immediate effects of the act. If +reparation can otherwise be obtained, a nation has no necessary, and +therefore no just cause of war; if there be no probability of obtaining +it by arms, a government cannot, with justice to their own nation, +embark it in war; and, if the evils of resistance should appear on the +whole greater than those of submission, wise rulers will consider an +abstinence from a pernicious exercise of right as a sacred duty to their +own subjects, and a debt which every people owes to the great +commonwealth of mankind, of which they and their enemies are alike +members. A war is just against the wrongdoer when reparation for wrong +cannot otherwise be obtained; but is then only conformable to all the +principles of morality when it is not likely to expose the nation by +whom it is levied to greater evils than it professes to avert, and when +it does not inflict on the nation which has done the wrong, sufferings +altogether disproportioned to the extent of the injury. When the rulers +of a nation are required to determine a question of peace or war, the +bare justice of their case against the wrongdoer never can be the sole, +and is not always the chief matter on which they are morally bound to +exercise a conscientious deliberation. Prudence in conducting the +affairs of their subjects is in them a part of justice." + +These are the true principles by which Mexico should have judged the +controversy between us, before she rejected all our efforts to +negotiate, and forced our government to prepare for hostilities. + + * * * * * + +The idea of war, for mere conquest, seems now to be obsolete among +civilized nations. To political dominion, as exhibited in the various +governments of the old world, and in most of the new, geographical +limits are definitely assigned. This fact must, hereafter, greatly +modify the objects of war, by narrowing them to _principles_ instead of +_territory_. Principles, however, are always the fair subjects of +controversy for the diplomatic art. Yet such is the perversity of human +nature, that, although we are convinced of the propriety and possibility +of adjusting our disputes by reason, we nevertheless go to war for +these very principles, and, after having done each other an incalculable +amount of injury, at last sit down like cripples, to negotiate the very +matters which ought to have been treated and terminated diplomatically +at first. It is, perhaps, the folly of mankind to believe that there is +more wisdom in negotiators and diplomacy when nations are lame and +weakened by war than when they are full of the vigorous energy and +intelligence of peace! + + NOTE.--It may be useful to record the following proclamation + of General Woll, before annexation, in order to show, that + the agreements between Santa Anna and the Texans in 1836, are + not the only Mexican documents in existence which seemed to + open the boundary question between Texas and Tamaulipas. + + + "_Headquarters of the Army of the North, Mier, June 20, 1844._ + + "I, Adrian Woll, general of brigade, &c., make known: + + "1. The armistice agreed on with the department of Texas + having expired, and the war being, in consequence, + recommenced against the inhabitants of that department, all + communication with it ceases. + + "2. Every individual, of whatever condition, who may + contravene provisions of the preceding article, shall be + regarded as a traitor, and shall receive the punishment + prescribed in article 45, title 10, treatise 8, of the + articles of war. + + "3. _Every individual who may be found at the distance of + one league from the left bank of the Rio Bravo, will be + regarded as a favorer and accomplice of the usurpers of that + part of the national territory, and as a traitor to his + country; and, after a summary military trial, shall receive + the said punishment._ + + "4. Every individual who may be comprehended within the + provisions of the preceding article, and may be rash enough + to fly at the sight of any force belonging to the supreme + government, shall be pursued until taken, or put to death. + + "5. In consideration of the situation of the towns of La + Reda and Santa Rita de Ampudia, as well as of all the _farm + houses beyond the Rio Bravo_, I have this day received, from + the supreme government, orders to determine the manner by + which those interested are to be protected; but, until the + determination of the supreme government be received, I warn + all those who are beyond the limits here prescribed, to + bring them within the line, or to abandon them; as those who + disobey this order, will infallibly suffer the punishment + here established. + + ADRIAN WOLL. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[81] On the 15th of June, 1845, Mr. Bancroft, as acting secretary of +state, wrote to General Taylor as follows: + +"The point of your ultimate destination is the western frontier of +Texas, where you will select and occupy, on or near the Rio Grande del +Norte, such a site as will consist with the health of the troops, and +will be best adapted to repel invasion, and to protect what, in the +event of annexation, will be our western border." + +On the 30th of July, 1845, the secretary of war, Mr. Marcy, declared to +him that "the Rio Grande is claimed to be the boundary between the two +countries, and up to this boundary you are to extend your protection, +only excepting any posts on the eastern side thereof which are in the +actual occupancy of Mexican forces, or Mexican settlements over which +the republic of Texas did not exercise jurisdiction at the period of +annexation, or shortly before that event. It is expected that, in +selecting the establishment for your troops, you will approach as near +the boundary line--the Rio Grande--as prudence will dictate. With this +view, the President desires that your position, for a part of your +forces, at least, should be west of the river Nueces." + +This, and even more forcible language, was repeated in letters from the +same source on the 23d and 30th of August, and on the 16th of October, +1845. In the last letter the secretary of war states distinctly that the +western boundary of Texas is the Rio Grande. See Senate doc. No. 337, +29th cong. 1st sess. pp. 75, 77, 80, 81, 82. + +[82] That this was General Taylor's view of the question is proved by a +remark in his letter to General Ampudia on the 12th of April, 1846, on +being warned by that officer to break up his camp and to retire to the +other bank of the Nueces. General Taylor says: I need hardly advise you +that charged as I am, _in only a military capacity, with the performance +of specific duties, I cannot enter into a discussion of the +international question involved in the advance of the American +army_.--id. p. 124. + +[83] See Senate Doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. p. 99. + +[84] Id. p. 75. + +[85] Id. p. 82. + +[86] American State papers, vol. 4, p. 468. + +[87] Id. vol. 2, p. 662. + +[88] As it may be important that the reader should understand the title +to Louisiana under which the boundary of the Rio Grande was claimed, the +following is a summary of its history. Louisiana originally belonged to +France, but by a secret compact between that country and Spain in 1762, +and by treaties, in the following year, between France, Spain, and +England, the French dominion was extinguished on all the continent of +America. In consequence of the treaty between this country and England +in 1783, the Mississippi became the western boundary of the United +States from its source to the 31 deg. of north latitude, and thence, on the +same parallel to the St. Mary's. France, it will be remembered, always +had _claimed_ dominion in Louisiana to the Rio Bravo or Rio Grande, by +virtue + +1st. Of the discovery of the Mississippi from near its source to the +ocean. + +2d. _Of the possession taken, and establishment made by La Salle, at the +bay of St. Bernard, west of the rivers Trinity and Colorado, by +authority of Louis XIV, in 1685_; notwithstanding the subsequent +destruction of the colony. + +3d. Of the charter of Louis XIV, to Crozat in 1712. + +4th. The historical authority of Du Pratz, Champigny, and the Count de +Vergennes. + +5th. Of the authority of De Lisle's map, and of the map published in +1762 by Don Thomas Lopez, _geographer to the king of Spain_, as well as +of various other maps, atlases, and geographical and historical +authorities. + +By an article of the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, in October, 1800, +Spain retroceded Louisiana to France; yet this treaty was not +promulgated till the beginning of 1802. The paragraph of cession is as +follows: "His Catholic majesty engages to retrocede to the French +republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the +conditions and stipulations above recited relative to his Royal +Highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony and province of Louisiana, with +the same extent that it already has in the hands of Spain, _and that it +had when France possessed it_, and such as it should be, after the +treaties passed subsequently between Spain and other powers." In 1803, +Bonaparte, the first consul of the French republic, ceded Louisiana to +the United States, as fully and in the same manner as it had been +retroceded to France by Spain in the treaty of San Ildefonso; and, by +virtue of this grant, Messieurs Madison, Monroe, Adams, Clay, Van Buren, +and Jackson contended that the original limits of the state had been the +Rio Grande. However, by the 3rd article of our treaty with Spain in +1819, all our pretensions to extend the territory of Louisiana towards +Mexico or the Rio Grande, were resigned and abandoned by adopting the +River Sabine as our southern confine in that quarter. See Lyman's +diplomacy of the United States. Vol. 1, p. 368, and vol. 2, p. 136. + +The following extract from a valuable letter with which the author was +favored by Ex-President Adams, who, as secretary of state, conducted the +negotiations with Spain, will explain his opinions and acts upon a +subject of so much importance. + + QUINCY, 7th July, 1847. + + * * * * * + + "Whoever sets out with an inquiry respecting the right of + territories in the American hemisphere claimed by Europeans, + must begin by settling certain conventional principles of + right and wrong before he can enter upon the discussion. + + "For example what right had Columbus to Cat Island, + otherwise called Guanahani? Who has the right to it now and + how came they by it? The flag of St. George and the Dragon + now waves over it; but who had the right to take possession + of it because Christopher Columbus found it,--the paltriest + island in the midst of the ocean. European statesmen, + warriors, and writers on what are called the laws of + nations, have laid down a system of laws upon which they + found this right. Have the Carribee Indians, in whose + possession that Island was discovered by Columbus, ever + assented to that system of right and wrong? + + "You remember that Hume, in commencing his history of + England by the Roman conquest says--"that without seeking + any more justifiable reasons of hostility than were employed + by the later Europeans in subjecting the Africans and the + Americans, they sent over an army under the command of + Plautius, an able general, who gained some victories, and + made a considerable progress in subduing the inhabitants." + Then, no European has ever had any better right to take + possession of America, than Julius Caesar and the Romans had + to take possession of the island of Britain. + + "What then was the right either of France or Spain to the + possession of the province of Texas? To come to any question + of right between the parties upon the subject you must agree + upon certain conventional principles: where and when your + question of right must become applicable to the facts; and, + as between them, it was a disputed question, and had been so + from the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi river by + La Salle, and from his second expedition to find the mouth + of the Mississippi coming from the ocean, in which he + perished. + + "Spain had prior claims to the country, but the claim of + France was founded upon the last voyage of La Salle, and by + extending a supposed derivative right, from the spot where + La Salle landed half way to the nearest Spanish settlement. + + "Mr. Monroe and Mr. Charles Pinckney, in their + correspondence with Cevallos, assumed this as a settled + principle between European nations, in the discussion of + right to American territory. It was not contested, but was + not assented to on the part of Spain; and, having found it + laid down by Messieurs Monroe and Pinckney, I argued upon + it, and it was never directly answered by Don Luis De Onis, + who could not controvert it without going to the Pope's + Bull.[89] + + "As between France and Spain therefore, I maintained that + the question of right, had always been disputed and never + was settled, from which opinion I have not since varied. + That we had a shadow of right beyond the Sabine I never + believed since the conclusion of the Florida treaty, and, it + is from the date of that treaty, that Great Britain had not + a shadow of right upon the Oregon territory until we have + been pleased to confer it upon her." + + * * * * * + + "I am, dear sir, with great respect, your very obedient + servant, + + J. Q. ADAMS." + + To BRANTZ MAYER, ESQ., Baltimore." + + +[89] Alexander VIth's Bull of Donation. + +[90] See "Matthew Carey's general map of the world,"--29th +map--published 1814.--Kennedy's Texas, p. 4.--Mrs. Holley's +Texas.--History of Texas, by D. B. Edwards, preceptor of Gonzales +Seminary, Texas, 1836, p. 14. He says:--"Texas is bounded on the north +by Red river, which divides it from Arkansas, Ozark District, and New +Mexico; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio de las Nueces, +_which divides it from the States of Coahuila and Tamaulipas_; on the +east by the eastern branch of the river Sabine and the State of +Louisiana; on the west by the State of Coahuila and the territory of New +Mexico." + +Accompanying the work is a map of Texas with boundaries, as laid down +above. In a note on one corner of the map, speaking of the Rio Grande, +he says: "_If_ this river should ever become the western boundary of +Texas (as desired by the inhabitants) it will add a hundred miles to its +sea-coast and fifty thousand square miles to its superficies; the +southern section of the surface is sandy, barren prairie, almost +destitute of water; and its northern rocky, sterile mountains, nearly as +destitute of timber." + +[91] Primera Campana de Tejas: by Ramon Martinez Caro, secretary of +Santa Anna, pp. 122, 125. + +[92] Mr. Donelson wrote to Mr. Buchanan on the 2d July, 1845, from +Washington, Texas, as follows: "_My position is_ that we can hold Corpus +Christi and all other points up the Nueces. If attacked, the right of +defence will authorise us to expel the Mexicans to the Rio Grande. It is +better for us to await the attack than incur the risk of embarrassing +the question of annexation with the consequences of immediate possession +of the territory on the Rio Grande. * * * The government left for treaty +arrangement the boundary question in the propositions for a definitive +treaty of peace. H. of R. doc. No. 2, 29th cong. 1st sess. pp. 78, 79. + +[93] I am informed by Mr. Parrott, the secretary of legation who +accompanied Mr. Slidell, that no form of letters of credence--or +evidence of powers as "_commissioner to settle the Texan dispute_," +would have secured a hearing for our envoy. The mob, the army, and +Paredes were determined that no missionary of peace should be received +from the United States. + +[94] The _claim_ of Frederick the IInd to Silesia was considered +_plausible_. As Bohemia renounced not only the possession, but all its +rights to Silesia by the treaties of Breslau and Berlin and other +subsequent treaties, the kings of Prussia pretended, that by virtue of +the renunciation, they became sovereign dukes of the country and not +subject to the emperor in their new character. To this claim it was +replied that Bohemia being an imperial State, could not, of its own +authority, destroy the feudal tenure by which Silesia was attached to +it, and through it to the empire. The question was rendered more +intricate, for one party considered Bohemia feudal only as to the +electoral dignity, but as a kingdom free and independent of Germany. The +Germans argued that Silesia was part of the empire, the Prussians +considered it a separate and independent State. Frederick took advantage +of these "state right" doctrines to sustain his claim, as Texas took +advantage of her state right sovereignty when the central despotism of +Santa Anna overthrew the federal constitution of 1824. + +[95] Arnold's fourth lecture on Modern History. + +[96] Waite's State papers, 1809-11, p. 261; and Clay's speech on the +line of the Perdido. + +[97] Pufendorf, Lib. VIII, c. 6.--Note by Barbeyrac. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Army marches from Corpus Christi--Taylor prepares the Mexicans for his + advance--Description of the march--Beautiful prairie and desolate + sand wilderness--Rattlesnakes--Chapparal--The Arroyo Colorado--First + hostile demonstrations of the Mexicans--Expected fight--Cross the + Colorado--Worth and Taylor separate--True nature of discipline-- + Characters of Mexican and American soldiers contrasted. + + +On the 8th of March, 1846, the joyous news ran through the American +camp, at Corpus Christi, that the tents were at last to be struck. The +worn out soldiery had nothing to regret in quitting a spot where their +eyes were only relieved by looking from the dreary sea in front to the +desolate prairie in the rear. General Taylor had already taken means to +prepare the Mexicans for his advance, although he scarcely expected +resistance. Respectable citizens from Matamoros had frequently visited +his camp; and to all of those who were represented as possessing +influence at home he proclaimed the unhostile feelings of our government +towards their country, and that when our army marched southward it would +not pass the Rio Grande unless Mexico provoked war. He invariably +apprized these strangers of his resolution to protect the peaceful +inhabitants in all their rights and usages, as well as to pay for every +thing needed by his forces instead of plundering the country for +support. + +Accordingly, on the morning of the 8th of the month, the advanced guard, +composed of the cavalry and Major Ringgold's light artillery,--the +whole under the command of Colonel Twiggs, and numbering twenty-three +officers and three hundred and eighty-seven men,--took up its line of +march towards Matamoros. This corps was succeeded by the brigades of +infantry, the last of which departed on the 11th followed immediately by +the commander in chief with his staff. The weather was favorable; the +roads in tolerable order; the troops in good condition notwithstanding +the winter's hardships; while a general spirit of animation pervaded the +whole body, inspired as it was with the hope of adventure in the +neighborhood of an enemy. All, therefore, departed on this day from +Corpus Christi by land, except the command of Major Monroe, who was to +reach the Brazos de Santiago in transports under convoy of the United +States brig Porpoise and the Woodbury. This officer was to embark with a +siege train and field battery, in season to reach his destination when +the army would be in the vicinity of Point Isabel. + +The last adieus of our forces to their dreary winter quarter were by no +means tearful, as with colors flying and music playing, they crossed the +sandy hills that concealed it forever from their sight. The first day's +march passed through alternate patches of prairies and timber to the +Nueces; but, on the two next, these sad wastes were exchanged for +splendid fields blossoming with flowers of every hue. A delicious +fragrance filled the air, and the whole surface of the earth as far as +the eye could reach, seemed covered with a beautiful carpet. The edge of +the horizon, in every direction, was crowded with wild animals. On one +side thousands of mustangs curvetted over the gentle elevations of the +rolling prairie; on another herds of deer might be seen standing for a +moment filled with wonder at the unwonted sight of human beings, and +then bounding off until they were lost in the vast distance. Beautiful +antelopes, nimble as the wind, were beheld in countless numbers, while +pecarys and wild bulls rushed in droves across the path of our men. But, +on the fourth day of the march, this scene of enchantment suddenly +vanished. Uncultivated prairies and immense herds of savage beasts had +already testified the abandoned state of the country; yet the region our +forces now entered disclosed the frightful "nakedness of the land." The +water became exceedingly bad, and there was scarcely fuel enough for +culinary purposes. The blooming vegetation of the preceding days was +exchanged for sands through which the weary men and cattle toiled with +extreme difficulty. Salt lagunes spread out on every side. At each step +the fatigued soldier plunged ankle-deep in the yielding soil, while a +scorching sun shone over him and not a breath of air relieved his +sufferings. At times, a verdant forest loomed up along the heated +horizon, fringed by limpid lakes, and our wearied columns moved on +gaily, cheated, again and again, by the hope of shade and water. +Suddenly the beautiful groves dwindled into jagged clumps of thorns or +aloes, and the fairy lakes changed to salt and turbid lagunes. "The +wormwood star had fallen on every thing and turned the waters to +bitterness." The plant whose piercing spines and sword-like leaves have +entitled it to the name of the "Spanish bayonet," was the hermit shrub +of this dreadful Zaharah. Around its roots the snakes lurked and +crawled. Whenever the soldiers' path was unimpeded by these annoyances, +scarifying his limbs as he advanced, the ground seemed heated and +sinking like the _scoriae_ of Vesuvius. Man and beast sank exhausted +and panting on the earth. The want and value of delicious water are +never known till we pass a day like this under the burning rays of a +tropical sun, toiling on foot over a scorched and arid soil without +refreshment! At length the word ran along the line that it was +approaching a lake whose waters were not salt. "Under the excitement of +hope the faint and exhausted infantry pressed onward with renewed life, +while, some miles ahead, the artillery were seen to halt enjoying the +luxury of _water_. As the soldiers reached it all discipline was +forgotten; their arms were thrown down, and they rushed boldly in, +thrusting their heads beneath the waves in their desire to quench the +thirst that was consuming their vitals."[98] + +Such is the natural aspect and character of the desolate region between +the Nueces and the Rio Grande,--a chequered wilderness of sand and +verdure,--fit only for the wild beasts that inhabit it, and properly +described in former days, as a suitable frontier between the great +republics of North America. + + * * * * * + +On the 21st of March, all our forces concentrated on the Arroyo +Colorado,--a salt stream or lagune nearly one hundred yards broad, and +so deep as to be scarcely fordable,--situated about thirty miles north +of Matamoros. Had the enemy attacked us here his assault would have been +formidable, wearied as were our troops with the distressing marches of +previous days. Bold, bluff banks, twenty or thirty feet high, hem in the +stream, whose borders, on both sides, are lined, for a considerable +breadth, with impervious thickets of _chapparal_. These thorny groves +are to be found in all sections of the south, varying in size from a few +yards to a mile in thickness, so closely interlaced and matted with +briers and bushes as to prevent the passage of animals larger than a +hare. They are the sorest annoyances of travellers in Mexico, and often +force the wayfarer to make a long circuit to pass their limits, though +they reward him for his trouble by supplying an abundance of the +_tuna_--a luscious fruit of the prickly pear,--which grows luxuriantly +on these natural and impenetrable walls. + +Such, with the barrier of the stream, was the fortification nature had +interposed for the safe guard of Mexico at the Arroyo Colorado. But the +inert natives seemed indisposed to take advantage of those rare +defences, though not without some hostile demonstration which the +resolute conduct of Taylor soon overcame. + +When our advanced corps encamped near the banks of the stream on the +19th, an armed _reconnoisance_ was sent forward to examine the country. +On reaching the river, our scouts discovered that the opposite side was +lined with a body of _ranchero_ cavalry, from whom they learned, +although no opposition was made to our examination of the ford, that we +should be treated as enemies if we attempted to pass it. Impossible as +it was to ascertain accurately the amount of the opposing force, our men +were prepared for the worst, and, at an early hour of the 20th, the +cavalry and first brigade of infantry were thrown in position, at the +ford, while the batteries of field artillery were formed so as to sweep +the opposite bank. All was now anxiety and eagerness among our gallant +men. Far along the borders of the river, above and below, the bugles of +the enemy were heard ringing out in the clear morning air. But the hope +of frightening our men by overwhelming numbers was of no avail. Our +pioneers worked steadily on the road they were cutting to the brink of +the river; and, when all was ready for the passage, the adjutant general +of the Mexican forces appeared on the ground for a final effort of +intimidation. With Spanish courtesy, he informed our general that +positive orders were given to his men to fire upon our forces if they +attempted to cross, and that our passage of the river would be +considered a declaration of war. At the same time he placed in Taylor's +hands a warlike proclamation issued by Mejia at Matamoros on the 18th, +containing unequivocal manifestations of the intention of the Mexicans +to molest us. + +Our commander-in-chief, however, was not to be deterred by these threats +from the fulfilment of the orders he had received to pass the Rio +Grande. He answered the officer that he would "_immediately_ cross the +river, and that if his hostile party showed itself on the other bank +after our passage was commenced, it would unquestionably receive the +fire of our artillery." In the meantime the second brigade, which had +encamped some miles in our rear, came up and formed on the extreme +right; and, as the road to the river bank was by this time completed, +the order to advance was given. + +It was a moment of intense excitement. What forces might not lurk behind +the dense walls of _chapparal_, ready to dash upon our ranks as they +deployed on the other side? Our artillerists stood to their aimed and +loaded guns. The Mexicans were doubtless eager and panting for +resistance in the rear of the bristling plants that lined the lofty +parapet of the river's bank. Every eye was strained upon the first +daring rank that was to plunge into the stream as a "forlorn hope." +Mexico would fight now if ever; for her mettle was as yet untried! For +an instant, profound silence reigned along the anxious line which the +next moment might be involved in the fire of battle. Suddenly the +gallant Worth spurred to the head of our troops, and dashing boldly into +the flood, waved them on to the further shore. But not a shot was fired +by the recreant foe, and as our men rose shouting from the water and +rushed up the steeps of the opposite bank they beheld the valiant +Mexicans in brisk retreat towards Matamoros! The fugitives were +unmolested;--a laugh of scorn and pity ran through our ranks;--and, +before nightfall, the first and second brigades of infantry, with a +train of two hundred wagons had crossed the stream and encamped three +miles from its banks. + +This was an important affair, as it was the first in which the Mexicans +showed themselves in a decidedly hostile attitude; and it furnished an +excellent opportunity to try the mettle of our men both in spirit and +discipline. Not a soldier faltered. + + * * * * * + +On the morning of the 23d of March, General Taylor departed with his +whole army from the camp near the Colorado. After a march of fifteen +miles he reached, on the 24th, a position on the route from Matamoros to +Point Isabel,--distant about eighteen miles from the former and ten from +the latter,--where he left the infantry brigades under the command of +General Worth, with instructions to press on in the direction of +Matamoros until a suitable position for encampment was obtained, at +which he might halt, holding the route in observation, whilst the +commander-in-chief proceeded with the cavalry to Point Isabel. At that +post General Taylor expected to meet the transports from Corpus Christi +with the force under Major Monroe, and to make the necessary +arrangements for the establishment and defence of a depot. + +As soon as the army left the Colorado a new object, of more interest in +natural history than military memoirs, presented itself to the notice of +our troops. The soil was covered with a long wiry grass among which +glided immense numbers of huge rattlesnakes, more appalling to our +soldiers than the Mexicans. The country literally swarmed with serpents. +From the Colorado to within a few miles of Point Isabel their warning +rattle was heard on all sides. They crept between the ranks as our men +marched through the long herbage, and at night coiled themselves +comfortably under their blankets for warmth. + + * * * * * + +Familiar as we are with the campaigns of Frederick and Napoleon, and +willing to record as classical the great deeds of the old world's +heroes, we are still often loath to do justice to the brave men in our +own country who have served the State so zealously in Florida and +Mexico. It is not simple bravery in battle that commends a soldier to +admiration, for few are cowards when the excitement of action hurries +them headlong among their foes amid the shouts and thunder of actual +carnage. But it is the preparatory discipline that tests a military +character. The camp and the march are the soldier's training. The dreary +winter-quarter passed in patient service, and the wearying advance over +burning plains or snowy mountains, are the real touchstones of courage, +and prove those powers of _endurance and subordination_ which make +resistance staunch and stubborn. These are the sources of discipline; +and it was with troops that had borne the winter hardships at Corpus +Christi, I have described, and made the short but arduous march to Point +Isabel, that Taylor felt sure of victory. They had encountered +extraordinary fatigue, and yet were ready at a moment's notice for +battle without flinching. With such schooling an army becomes a gigantic +instrument moving with the accuracy of clock-work, put in motion by the +general's genius. It can endure as well as perform all he requires, and +he knows that the result of a battle depends alone on his numbers, his +position, or his individual skill in military combination. The common +soldier and the officer thus react upon each other, and the electric +chain of mutual _confidence_ makes success an impulse. + +The American and the Mexican soldier are essentially different, though +both, according to the report of distinguished officers, are almost +equally brave. In the anglo-saxon race bravery is the balance between +prudence and courage, exercised with an indomitable resolution to +achieve a desired end. The American soldier is fearless, yet he values +life and seeks to protect it. His object is to subdue or slay his foe, +still he determines to avoid, if possible, a fatal catastrophe. This +renders him intrepid while it teaches the importance of discipline and +obedience to resolute and skilful officers. He perceives at once the +object to be secured or the thing to be done, and he marches on with the +mingled caution and spirit requisite for success. + +It may be said that a certain degree of timidity is necessary in every +balanced character in order to ensure reflection, for natural courage, +unaided by sensitiveness, would render it rash. But the Mexican soldier +seems to be guided by a different system, and to be brave without either +prudence or enduring discipline. He is trained in manoeuvres; and, +believing that when he masters his manual he is equal to all military +emergencies, he supposes that a battle is little more than a parade. As +Mexican troops are rather political engines, designed for the domestic +police of cities, than for actual service in the field, the soldier is +more of a plaything than a tool or weapon. Vague, ideal notions of Roman +patriotism, are infused into his mind by the demagogues of the army in +bombastic proclamations, and he imagines it better to perish than +surrender to his foe. But this murderous doctrine of "revenge or death" +serves rather to animate him _before_ battle than to carry him steadily +through its perils. He has the ability to perceive the beauty of +abstract virtue, but lacks the sustained energy, the profound +endurance, to realize it. He rushes onward without deliberation, or +regard of consequences. An international war is, in his estimation, a +personal not a political quarrel. A brutal ferocity marks every headlong +movement, and deprives him of the control of reason. Besides this, +_life_, has not the same value to a Mexican as to an American warrior, +for the objects and hopes of their lives are incapable of comparison. +One lives for practical liberty and progress, the other's existence is a +mere strife for bread under military despotism. A Mahomedan +fatalism--derived, perhaps, from his Moorish kindred--tinges the nature +of a Mexican, and the impulsive blood of a tropical climate subjects him +almost exclusively to his instincts. Hence Spanish wars have been long +and sanguinary butcheries, while their civil dissensions are the feted +ferment of corruption. + +The Mexican, hot and fretful in controversy, is ever quick and sometimes +secret, in ridding himself of his foe;--the American is equally prompt +with his pistol, but gives his insulting enemy an equal chance. A sudden +conflict with knives ends a Spanish rencontre or dispute; while periods +of deliberation and cool arrangements precede the fatal field between +our countrymen. The American officer is scientifically educated in +military schools and _leads_ his men to battle. The Mexican is ignorant +of all but ordinary drills, and either _follows_ his impulsive +squadrons, or, flies at the approach of personal danger. The one has +nerve and endurance, the other impulse and passion; hence, while the +Mexican strikes his blow and retreats to his lair if foiled, the +American, equally unchanged by victory or defeat, moves onward with +indomitable purpose until his object is successfully accomplished. The +one dwindles too often into the cruel assassin or relentless +persecutor,--the other, as frequently, attains the dignity of a clement +hero. + +These general observations apply, of course, only to the masses, for +truly brave and patriotic men exist in all countries, and nowhere are +the examples of heroic qualities more conspicuous than among the Spanish +races. The fault lies more in temperament than in soul. An equipoise +between intellect and passion is alone deficient in the nature of the +Mexican people, for the savage has not been entirely extirpated from the +mingled blood of Indian and Spaniard. + +When the remarkable energy of men, born in genial climates, is tempered +by self restraint, it produces that urbane and chivalrous character +which once made war the school of gentlemen. But the modern ideas of +liberty and patriotism have deprived standing armies of all exclusive +claim to national protection; and, as long as each citizen feels that +the defence of his native land or of his country's rights depends upon +himself, the volunteer as well as the regular will be prompt to +discharge his military duty with skill, alacrity and irresistible +resolution. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[98] Army on the Rio Grande, p. 13. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Character of Mexican diplomacy--Genius of the Spanish language--Paredes's + proclamation--Hostilities authorized by him--Taylor goes to Isabel-- + Description of the Brasos St. Jago and Point Isabel--burning of the + custom-house--Made a depot and fortified--Taylor and Worth unite and + plant the American flag opposite Matamoros--Worth's interview with + La Vega and Cesares--Fruitless efforts of our generals to establish + amity--Description of the country round Matamoros--appearance of the + town. + + +The qualities which characterize the Mexican soldier, as described in +the last chapter, mark also the statesman of that country. Their loud +and vain-glorious professions of resolve; their bombastic proclamations; +their short, passionate and revolutionary governments; their personal +rivalries and universal anarchy, denote impulsive tempers utterly +incapable of sustained self-rule or resistance. To those who are +familiar with Mexican history, this is not a novel fact, yet it has been +astonishingly manifested in the war between our countries. It would be a +tedious task to recount the various manifestos and despatches that were +written to control and satisfy public sentiment in regard to the pending +difficulties. Diplomacy is the weapon of weak powers, and the pen is a +most important implement when defeat, inaction or incompetency are to be +excused to the Mexicans. There is something perhaps in the genius of the +Spanish language that renders it peculiarly appropriate to appease the +vanity of those who speak it. The natural vehicle of eloquence, its +magic words, its magnificent phrases and its sonorous sentences march +along in solemn and pompous procession, and compel the attention of +every listener. Simple sentiments, clothed in the expressions of this +beautiful tongue assume new and striking shapes, and the judgment is +charmed or swayed by sympathy with the ear. + +The statesmen of Mexico are aware of these extraordinary advantages, and +whether they have to account for a lost battle, tranquillize a +passionate mob, or satisfy an importunate _diplomat_, they are equally +ready to resort to the armory of their resounding language for defence. + +We have already seen that Paredes overthrew Herrera's administration by +means of the Texan question and opposition to negotiation with our +government. When General Taylor advanced towards the Rio Grande this +chieftain was still president and quite as unable to fulfil the promises +to repel us as his predecessors had been in 1844 and 1845. Feeling, +under the peculiar views of the controversy they entertained, that the +honor of their country required our expulsion from Texas, they had +announced and pledged this auspicious result to the people. But at the +moment when all these extraordinary boasts were made, they were, +doubtless, designed only to serve a temporary purpose, under the hope +that some fortuitous circumstance might occur which would exonerate them +from war. I have heretofore stated that the Mexicans were encouraged in +resistance by the belief of impending difficulties with England. In +addition to this, Paredes probably relied on foreign interference in +consequence of his monarchical schemes; nor was it until the spring and +summer of 1846, that all these prospects were blighted by the energetic +course of our senate and the discretion the British cabinet in regard to +Oregon. But it was then too late to retreat, for hostilities had already +commenced. + +Loud as were the Mexicans in their fulminations against our alleged +usurpation, I am inclined to believe they never seriously contemplated +the invasion of Texas, but hoped either to let the question sleep for +many years in the portfolios of negotiators whilst a rigorous +non-intercourse was preserved, or to solicit, finally, the mediatorial +influence of Great Britain and France in order to prevent war if our +congress intimated a disposition to declare it. This opinion is founded +upon the remarkable proclamation issued in Mexico on the 21st of March, +1846, by General Paredes.[99] His language is still decided in regard to +Mexican rights over Texas; but he asserts that "_the authority to +declare war against the United States is not vested in him_," and that +the congress of the nation, which is about to assemble, must consider +what is necessary in the approaching conflict. This proclamation was +issued in the capital after it was known that our army was advancing to +the Rio Grande, and on the very day when Mr. Slidell's passports were +sent him at Jalapa by the Mexican government. But between the 21st of +March and the 23d of April the provisional president's opinion of his +rights underwent a change, for, on that day, he published another +proclamation in which he asserts that he had "sent orders to the general +in chief of the division of the northern frontier to _act in hostility_ +against the army which is in hostility against us; to oppose war to the +enemy which wars upon us;" though, in conclusion, he announces that +still he "does _not declare war_ against the government of the United +States of America."[100] Thus, under the masked name of _hostilities, +the Mexican government authorised the first warlike blows to be struck_, +because, as it alleged, we had invaded the national domain by marching +to Matamoros. It was the forced realization of all those gasconading +manifestos, which for the last two years had breathed war and defiance +against the United States. Such, then, was the actual origin of the +collision, for the troops and officers of General Taylor religiously +abstained from acts of military violence, and confined themselves +exclusively to the defence of the territory they were directed to hold. +That mere _protection_ was the undoubted purpose of our government, will +not be questioned by the reader when he recollects the smallness of our +army, and its entire want of preparation to molest or invade a nation of +more than seven millions of inhabitants. + + * * * * * + +In the last chapter, General Taylor was left on his way to Point Isabel, +while Worth moved in the direction of Matamoros.[101] During the march +of our column towards the sea shore it was approached, on its right +flank, by a party of Mexicans bearing a white flag, which proved to be a +civil deputation from Matamoros desiring an interview with the +commander-in-chief. General Taylor apprised the representatives of +Tamaulipas that he would halt at the first suitable place on the road to +afford them a reception; but it was found necessary to pass on to Point +Isabel without delay in consequence of the want of water elsewhere on +the route. The deputation, however, declined accompanying our forces +towards their destination, and halting a few miles from the Point, sent +a formal protest of the prefect of the northern district of Tamaulipas +against our occupation of the disputed country. At this moment it was +discovered that the buildings of Point Isabel were in flames. The +retreating Mexicans had set fire to the edifices to prevent our +occupation; and, as General Taylor considered this a direct and +vexatious evidence of hostility, and was unwilling to be trifled with by +the tools of the military authorities of Matamoros, he dismissed the +deputation with the information that he would answer the protest when he +was opposite the city. + +The cavalry was forthwith pushed on to the burning town in time to +arrest the fire which consumed but three or four houses; yet the +inhabitants had already fled, and the officer, who committed the +incendiary act under the orders, it is said, of General Mejia, was +nowhere to be found. + +As our troops entered the village they were gratified to find that the +transports from Corpus Christi had exactly answered their land movement, +and that the steamers had arrived in the harbor with the convoy close in +their rear, only a few hours before our forces entered from the desert. +General Taylor immediately directed the engineers to examine the ground +with a view of tracing lines of defence and strengthening a position, +which he decided should form the great depot of our forces. + + * * * * * + +Point Isabel is approached from the sea through the Brazos de Santiago. +It is a wild and desolate sea coast, defended by bars and strewn with +wrecks. In former years, a small Mexican village and fort, containing a +couple of cannons, stood upon the Brazos Point, but during one of those +terrific storms which ravage the Mexican coast, the sea rose above the +frail barrier of shifting sand, and when the tempest subsided, it was +discovered that the village and fortification had been engulfed beneath +the waves. Few places are more inhospitable on the American coast than +the bar of Brazos. There is no friendly shore under whose protecting lee +ships may seek safety during the awful hurricanes that so often descend +upon them without a moment's warning. But when a vessel has fairly +passed the entrance, she moves along securely over the waters of the +bay, and anchors under cover of the sand hills to the left whilst her +passengers and freight are landed in boats or lighters. + +On a bluff promontory jutting out into the bay and sloping gradually +inland, stands the village of Isabel. Its houses denoted the character +of its people. The spars of wrecked vessels, a few reeds, and the +_debris_ of a stormy shore, thatched with grass and sea weed, formed the +materials of which they were built, while a vagabond race, fifty or +sixty in number, constituted the official but smuggling population, +which was prepared to protect the revenue of Mexico or receive bribes +from contrabandists, as their interests might dictate. A certain Senor +Rodriguez was the captain of this important port at the period of our +occupation; and, being a person equally ready to take pay from importers +or exporters of goods as well as to receive further compensation for +concealing his roguery from the government, he deemed it his duty, as a +faithful officer, to destroy the custom house by the conflagration that +incensed General Taylor against the prefect of Tamaulipas.[102] Such +was Point Isabel and its vagrant inhabitants, when abandoned to our +forces, and adopted as a depot. + + * * * * * + +While the engineers were engaged in fortifying a position, which was +soon to become of so much importance in the war, General Taylor rejoined +the division under Worth's command, and on the morning of the 28th of +March, the order was given for all the columns to advance towards +Matamoros. At half past six the movement began. The arms were closely +inspected, and every man was directed to be on the alert in case of +sudden attack. Yet no symptom of fear was exhibited in our ranks, while +the squadrons pressed on gaily, with merry songs and pleasant chat. +About a mile from the Rio Grande they saw the first house on their route +of more than one hundred and fifty miles from Corpus Christi. The dark +eyed Mexicans were lounging with apparent indifference about their +doors, and returned civil answers to our inquiries. Soon after, the city +of Matamoros came in sight; and, with bands playing, and regimental +colors flying to the wind, we arrived opposite the town at noon. From +the head quarters of General Mejia, the Mexican standard was displayed, +and, in a short time a temporary flagstaff, prepared by the eighth +regiment, under the superintendence of Lieut. Col. Belknap, was raised +aloft bearing the American ensign; but no other manifestation of joy was +given than by the national airs which were pealed forth from our +regimental bands. The moment our flag was displayed, it was saluted, +from Matamoros, by the _consulate_ flags of France and England; while +the absence of our own banner from the opposite shore denoted the +departure or restraint of the commercial representative of our +Union.[103] + +As soon as our colors were raised on the eastern bank of the Rio +Grande, General Worth and his staff descended to the water's edge, +bearing a white flag and a communication from the commander-in-chief, +announcing formally the purpose of our advance to the dividing stream. +General Taylor believed that this would be the means either of +establishing friendly relations between the posts, or of eliciting the +final decision of the Mexican government. As soon as Worth and his +companions were perceived from the opposite bank two cavalry officers +crossed with an interpreter. After some delay in parleying, it was +announced that General La Vega would receive our messenger on the right +bank of the river, to which he immediately passed, accompanied by his +aid-de-camp Lieutenant Smith, and Lieutenants Magruder, Deas, and Blake, +attached to his staff, and Lieutenant Knowlton as interpreter. + +On arriving at the Mexican quarters, General Worth was courteously +received by La Vega and introduced to Don Juan Garza, _oficial de +defensores_, and to the _Licenciado_ Cesares, who represented the +authorities of Matamoros. La Vega informed General Worth that he had +been directed to receive such communications as might be presented, and +accompanied his tender with the remark that the march of the United +States troops through a portion of Tamaulipas was considered by his +country as an act of war. + +This was no time to discuss the international question, and Worth, +properly refraining from conversation upon so vexatious a topic, +proceeded, as an act of courtesy, to read the open document he bore, +which he afterwards withdrew inasmuch as it had not been received +personally by General Mejia the commander-in-chief at Matamoros. + +A demand to see our consul was refused by the Mexicans, and although we +learned that he was not under restraint but still continued in the +exercise of his official duties, all communication with that +functionary was peremptorily denied. Thus terminated, unsatisfactorily, +another effort on our part to employ diplomacy in the establishment of +harmonious feelings with the local authorities of Matamoros; and +notwithstanding General Worth was assured that "Mexico had not declared +war against the Union," and that "the countries were still at peace," he +returned to the American camp with gloomy forebodings for the +future.[104] + + * * * * * + +If there was little to hope from the people of Mexico, or little +attractive in the prospect of social intercourse between the camp and +town, there was much to gratify the eye of our fatigued soldiers in the +scenery that lay before them. On their long and toilsome march they had +been relieved from the dreary wastes of Texas as soon as they beheld the +blue haze hanging over the distant windings of the Rio Grande. The city +of Matamoros, as seen from the opposite side of the river, skirts the +stream for more than a mile with its neat and comfortable dwellings. As +the trade of this town is chiefly carried on with the interior, there +has been no need of encroaching with wharves and walls on the margin of +the river. Hence the city is somewhat removed from the banks, and +embowered amid extensive groves and gardens, from the midst of whose +luxuriant foliage its towers and dwellings rise in broken but graceful +lines. There is but little timber near the river, which traverses +beautiful prairies as it approaches the sea. The hand of culture has +taken these waving meadows under its protection; and, on all sides the +landscape is dotted with abundant vegetation. The grass covered banks +are screened by shrubbery or grazed by cattle; while the stream, winding +along in easy curves, is so narrow near the city that conversation may +be easily carried on from its opposite sides. "The rich verdure of the +shores,--the cultivated gardens scattered around,--the clustering fig +and pomegranate trees," contrasted with the desert through which our +troops had passed, converted this land into a scene of enchantment. The +fatigued soldiers were repaid for all their toils. Existence, alone, in +so beautiful a climate and with such delicious prospects, was sufficient +recompense for our men, and they gazed with delight at the hostile shore +as martial _don_ and gay _donzella_ poured out in crowds from the walls +of Matamoros to behold the foreign flag and the bold intruders clustered +beneath its folds. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[99] See Mexico as it was, &c., 4th ed. p. 407. + +[100] Diario oficial--April 24. + +[101] I desire it may be remembered that the important facts related by +me in regard to our military and diplomatic movements are all given upon +the authority of official papers published by congress. The reader who +wishes to verify them will do well to provide himself with the volumes +of executive documents, for I shall not deem it necessary to incumber +the margins of my pages with continual references. I have been +scrupulously accurate in all my quotations from American authorities, +and have observed the same course in regard to the Mexican reports, +proclamations and manifestos. See especially, (for this volume,) Senate +doc. No. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess.--H. of R. doc. No. 197, id.--Senate +doc. No. 378, id.--Senate doc. No 388, id.--H. of R. doc. No. 4, 29th +cong. 2d sess.--H. of R. doc. No. 19, id.--H. of R. doc. No. 42, +id.--Senate doc. No. 107, id.--H. of R. doc. No. 119, id. + +[102] Our army on the Rio Grande, chap. v. + +[103] Army on the Rio Grande, chap. ii. + +[104] See Senate doc. 337, 29th cong. 1st sess. for a memorandum of +General Worth's spirited interview with La Vega and Cesares. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Military and civil proclamations against the United States at Matamoros + in April, 1846--General Taylor's pacific policy--Desertion from our + army promoted by Ampudia and Arista--Shooting of deserters, seen + swimming the river, ordered--Construction of the fort opposite + Matamoros--Guerillas on the left bank--Ampudia and Arista arrive-- + Death of Colonel Cross--Expedition of Lieutenants Dobbins and Porter + --Death of Porter--Surprise and surrender of Captain Thornton's + party of dragoons--Ampudia and General Taylor on the blockade of the + mouth of the river--Fort capable of defence; left under the command + of Major Brown--Walker's men surprised on the prairie--Taylor goes to + Point Isabel--Cannonade heard from Matamoros--May with his dragoons + and Walker sent to the fort for tidings--Their adventures--Return to + Point Isabel--Taylor calls on Texas and Louisiana for reinforcements + --character and quality of the Texan Ranger. + + +The months of March and April, 1846, were fruitful in civil and military +proclamations at Matamoros, manifesting a hostile spirit against our +country, but General Taylor persisted in his pacific conduct and +directed all under his command to observe a scrupulous regard to the +municipal rights and religious usages of the quiet Mexicans whom they +found in the neighborhood of the Rio Grande. In order that no pretext of +ignorance might be pleaded by our adversaries, in this respect, his +orders were published in Spanish as well as English, and freely +distributed among the people. It is to be regretted that a similar +forbearance was not exhibited by our opponents. As soon as our forces +appeared in the vicinity of Matamoros they began to intrigue with our +subalterns. It was known that our army, made up at random from a +population of natives and emigrants, contained individuals born in +Europe; and, to the religious and political prejudices of this class, +the authorities addressed themselves.[105] + +In consequence of these seditious appeals, the evil of desertion +increased to an alarming extent, and the most effectual measures were +necessary to prevent the contagion from spreading. As our deserters, by +merely swimming the narrow river, were at once within the enemy's lines, +pursuit and apprehension, with a view to trial, were out of the +question. General Taylor, therefore, deemed it his duty, warranted by +the hostile attitude of the Mexicans, to order that all men seen +swimming across the river should be hailed by our pickets and ordered to +return, and, in case they did not obey this summons, they should be +shot. These stringent orders were verbally given to the several +commanders, about the beginning of April, and checked the practice, +though it is believed that only two men,--privates of fifth and seventh +infantry, from France and Switzerland,--fell victims to the fatal +command. Thus failed so dastardly an attempt to interfere by intrigue +with the _morale_ of our army. Taylor was undoubtedly justified in +resorting to the most efficient means to prevent the decimation of his +scant forces; and although some sensitive politicians in our Union were +scandalized by the severity of his orders, yet, when they learned that +the men who were induced to desert had been used in subsequent actions +against us by the Mexicans, their philanthropic clamor was drowned in +the universal voice of approval. + + * * * * * + +The manifestly warlike appearance of the Mexicans, and the attempts they +were making to fortify the right bank of the river, induced General +Taylor to strengthen the position of his camp on the opposite side. + +Accordingly on the 6th of April a battery for four eighteen pounders, +bearing directly on the public square and in good range for demolishing +the town, had already been completed and the guns mounted, whilst the +engineers were busy in laying out a strong bastioned field fort for a +garrison of five hundred men in the rear of the battery. But the +Mexicans did not leave us long in doubt as to their ultimate designs. +Their chief embarrassment seemed to consist in a want of troops and +efficient commanders, yet this was remedied by the arrival of +considerable reinforcements in the course of the month. Meantime, +however, the chapparals and lonely prairies of the left bank of the Rio +Grande, swarmed with ranchero cavalry, not authorized perhaps by the +powers in Matamoros to attack us directly, but whose predatory habits +and Arab warfare were encouraged against small bodies of our men until +the main army should be enabled to strike a decisive blow. + +On the 10th of April, Colonel Cross, a deputy quarter-master-general +mounted his horse and proceeded to ride, as usual, for exercise, but the +night passed without his return, nor was his fate known until ten days +after, when a skeleton, found on the plains, was identified as that of +the unfortunate officer. The mode of his death or the names of his +slayers have never been discovered. But it was generally reported and +believed that he had been captured by the lawless band of Romano Falcon, +a ranchero bandit, and, after being robbed of every thing valuable, was +shot with a pistol by the robber captain. + +With a view to check the depredations of these guerillas, Lieutenants +Dobbins of the third infantry, and Porter of the fourth,--two bold and +hardy soldiers,--were authorised to scour the country with a body of +picked men, and capture or destroy any such parties they might +encounter. It appears that they separated in quest of the enemy, and +that Lieutenant Porter at the head of his own detachment surprised an +armed troop, numbering nearly one hundred and fifty, engaged in jerking +beef. Upon the approach of our officer one of the Mexicans snapped a +musket at him, a salutation which Lieutenant Porter returned by the +discharge of his double barreled gun. Upon this the Mexicans fled to the +screen of the chapparal. Porter took possession of the horses and +blankets of the fugitives, and, mounting his men, started for head +quarters. At this moment, however, the rain began to pour down with the +violence that is only witnessed in tropical climates, and whilst the +Lieutenant and his party were passing through a dense copse of chapparal +they were fired on by the enemy from an ambush. Shot followed shot from +the secret foe in rapid succession, but our unfortunate men were unable +to sustain the contest, as their powder had been soaked by the sudden +shower. They wisely retreated, therefore, to the chapparal, and, +separating into three parties, found their way to camp; but the luckless +Porter, having been wounded in the thigh, was seized by the Mexicans as +soon as his men departed, and despatched with their knives whilst they +shrieked and yelled over his mangled body like a band of infuriate +demons. + +Acts like these, characteristic of the worst periods of border raids, +denoted the approaching storm. The country east of the Rio Grande +bristled with irregular troopers. It was unsafe to go beyond the hail of +sentinels, and the peaceful aspect of nature which had charmed our men +so greatly upon their arrival was changed for the stern alarums of war. +By the joyous peals of the church bells, the shouts of acclamation, and +the report of spies, we learned that General Ampudia had arrived in +Matamoros, and that, some days later, he was followed by Arista, who +immediately assumed the chief command and apprised General Taylor, in +courteous terms, that he considered hostilities commenced and was +resolved to prosecute them. + + * * * * * + +Among all these notes of warlike preparation, none perhaps were more +significant than the adventure which must be now recorded. On the 24th +of April a squadron of dragoons, sixty-three in number, under the orders +of Captains Thornton and Hardee, and of Lieutenants Mason and Kane, was +despatched by General Taylor to reconnoitre the river for thirty miles +above the camp in the direction of La Rosia. When the troopers arrived +within three miles of the post they learned that the enemy had crossed +and occupied the country in considerable force. This was about +twenty-eight miles from our camp, and as soon as the news was received, +the guide, by name Capito, refused to proceed any further. It appears +from all the documents I have been able to examine that Captain Thornton +exercised a wise precaution on the march and in the disposition of his +troops, by throwing out advance and rear guards although it was +impossible to avail himself of the advantage of flankers in consequence +of the nature of the road which was often a perfect defile, admitting, +at times, of the passage only of a single horseman. As he had reason to +doubt the fidelity of his guide, he resolved to advance without him, +redoubling, however, his vigilance, and increasing his van guard, under +the command of Lieutenant Mason, whom he ordered not to fire upon the +enemy unless assaulted. The rear was assigned to Captain Hardee, and, in +this order, the party cautiously proceeded until it reached a large +plantation bordering the river and hemmed in by a fence of lofty and +impenetrable chapparal. Captain Thornton endeavored to approach the +houses at the upper end of this enclosure by entering its lower +extremity, but failing to accomplish his object, he passed around the +thicket and reached the field across a pair of bars which served for +gateway. The edifice was situated about two hundred yards from this +narrow aperture in the bristling wall, and, towards it, the whole +command directed its steps in single file, without placing a sentinel at +the bars, or observing any other precaution to prevent surprise. It +seems that Captain Thornton, though a skilful and brave officer, as his +campaigns against the Indians in Florida had proved, was prepossessed +with the idea that the Mexicans had not crossed the river, and that even +if they had, they would not fight. It was a fatal mistake. Captain +Hardee, as has been stated, was charged with the rear guard and was +therefore the last to enter with his horsemen. As he approached the +dwelling he perceived the troopers who were already within the enclosure +scattered in every direction seeking for some one with whom to +communicate. At length an old Mexican was discovered, and, while +Thornton was conversing with him, the alarm was given that the enemy +were seen in numbers at the bars. This was a bewildering surprise. Yet +the gallant commander immediately gave the order to charge and +personally led the advance to cut his way through the Mexicans. But it +was too late; the enemy had already secured the entrance, and it was +impossible to force their serried lines. Cooped and hampered as were our +men within the impervious walls of chapparal and aloes, their flight was +almost hopeless. The Mexican infantry had been stationed in the field on +the right of the road while their cavalry lined the exterior fence, so +that our retreat was entirely cut off. Seeing this, Thornton turned to +the right, and skirted the interior of the chapparal with his command, +whilst the enemy poured in their vollies in every direction. By this +time disorder was triumphant. Hardee dashed up to Thornton and urged +that the only hope of safety was in concentrated action and in the +destruction of the fence; but, though the order was immediately given, +he could neither stop his men nor his horse. Our troopers, perfectly +ensnared, seem to have become frantic with rage, and consequently to +have lost the control of discipline. Like so many animals at bay, each +one sought safety for himself, by attempting to traverse or leap the +thorny boundaries of the farm. Yet all efforts were useless, for, by +this time, the enemy had gained on our men with great numbers, and, +completely surrounded as the plantation was, nothing remained but to +surrender according to the usages of civilized nations. General +Torrejon, who commanded the Mexicans, received the submission of +Captain Hardee; and, together with Lieutenant Kane, who had also been +captured, he was conducted to Matamoros on the 27th, where they were +lodged with General Ampudia and treated most graciously by Arista. +Forty-five of our cavalry were taken prisoners in this disastrous +affair, but the brave Mason was slain during the conflict. Sergeant +Tredo, a valiant soldier, fell in the first charge;--Sergeant Smith was +unhorsed and killed,--and the bodies of seven men were found on the +field of strife.[106] + +This was a disheartening event for the Americans, and a subject of +exultation for the Mexicans. It was neither a battle nor even an affray; +yet, bearing to warfare the same relation that trapping does to +sportsmanship, it nevertheless afforded material for Mexican gasconade. +"This,"--said Arista in his letter of acknowledgment to Torrejon,--"has +been a day of rejoicing to the division of the north which has just +received the joyous news of the triumph of your brigade. The delighted +country will celebrate this preliminary to the glorious deeds that her +happy sons will in future present her!" For some days it was supposed +that Thornton had been slain, but on the 29th his comrades were +delighted to hear that he had cut his way through the enemy, and after +running the gauntlet of his foes, had been captured only in consequence +of the fall of his horse. + + * * * * * + +As soon as Ampudia assumed the command he ordered all Americans to leave +Matamoros within twenty-four hours for Victoria, a town in the interior +of Tamaulipas; and on the twelfth of April he addressed a note to +General Taylor requiring him, within the same peremptory period of time +to break up his camp, and retire to the other bank of the Nueces, whilst +their respective governments were deciding their quarrel by negotiation. +He informed our commander that if he persisted in remaining on the +alleged soil of Tamaulipas, arms, alone, could decide the dispute, but +that the war, which would necessarily ensue, should be conducted, upon +the part of Mexico, conformably to the principles and rights established +by the civilized world. General Taylor did not delay his reply. On the +same day he answered the Mexican chief, that inasmuch as he was charged +with the military and not the diplomatic duties of the controversy, he +could not discuss the international question involved in the advance of +the American army, but that he would unhesitatingly continue to occupy +the positions he held at Isabel and opposite Matamoros in spite of all +menaces. The hostile declarations and alternative presented by Ampudia +induced Taylor to order the stringent blockade of the Rio Grande, so as +to stop all supplies for the city, and the naval commander at the Brazos +de Santiago was directed to dispose his forces accordingly. A body of +Texan rangers, under the command of Captain Walker, a tried and daring +soldier of the frontier, was stationed on the road to Point Isabel. +During the night of the 27th and 28th of April, the troops, at the +latter place, consisting chiefly of two companies of artillery, under +the command of Major Monroe, were in momentary expectation of attack in +consequence of rumors from the enemy, for it was known that large bodies +of Mexicans had crossed the river and were striving to interpose +themselves between Isabel and the fort opposite Matamoros in order to +cut off supplies for the garrison. Several teams that departed from the +depot for the fort were forced to return, and, on the morning of the +28th the camp of Walker was surprised on the prairie by a party of bold +rancheros who killed five of our rangers and dispersed the rest, while +the officer of the company and half of his command were absent on +detached service. + +By this time the works opposite Matamoros were well advanced, yet, owing +to the peculiar nature of the country and our deficiency in the proper +description of light troops, we were kept in ignorance of the enemy's +movements on the left bank. It was ascertained, however, with sufficient +certainty, that they were continuing to throw considerable forces on the +eastern shore, with the design of attacking our command; and General +Taylor received information, upon which he could rely, that Arista had +prepared to pass the Rio Grande, below Matamoros, in order to effect a +junction with his forces from above. It was not believed, however, that +he would assault the position opposite that city even with four thousand +men, and hence our commander-in-chief supposed that the depot at Isabel +was the object of his movement. This impression was strengthened by the +fact that since a rigid blockade of the river was maintained, provisions +had become exceedingly scarce at Matamoros; and, therefore, hastening +the completion of the field work, he was able by great exertions on the +part of our troops, to bring it to a good state of defence by the first +of May. The seventh infantry under Major Brown, Captain Lowd's and +Lieutenant Bragg's companies of artillery, together with the sick of the +army, were left in the work; and, on the afternoon of that day, General +Taylor moved with the main force under his immediate command in the +direction of Point Isabel. At eleven o'clock, the army, by a rapid +march, was enabled to bivouac on the prairie at a distance of ten miles +from the depot, and on the next day, it reached its destination without +encountering the enemy, though the scouts surprised and shot several +men belonging to the Mexican pickets. + +On the morning and during the day of the 3d of May, a heavy cannonade in +the direction of Matamoros announced to General Taylor that an attack +had probably been commenced on the American fort. This was a different +result from his anticipations, and made him extremely anxious for the +fate of the small but brave command that had been left, with slender +supplies of rations and ammunition, in the incomplete field work. + +Accordingly, on the evening of that day, a squadron of one hundred +dragoons under Captain May, accompanied by Walker and ten of his daring +rangers, was despatched to pass, if possible, through the hordes of +Mexican guerillas that lined the road. They were ordered to proceed +within a few miles of Fort Brown and reconnoitre the country on the left +towards the river; next to take a position on the edge of the chapparal, +and, if the commander heard no firing from our fort, he was then to +despatch a small command under Walker to communicate with Major Brown. +After this he was to await the return of the gallant rangers, and repair +to Point Isabel. + +May and his troopers, alert for such an adventurous enterprize, stole +onward towards Matamoros, under cover of night, and, about nine o'clock, +beheld the enemy's camp fires on the field of Palo Alto. Avoiding the +outposts and cautiously circling the Mexican front, he passed the foe, +and galloped towards the American fort, until, hearing no sound of +cannon in that direction, he halted with his command under the +protecting screen of an extensive chapparal, about seven miles from +Matamoros. Here he detached Walker and six of his rangers, best skilled +in woodcraft, to communicate according to orders, with Major Brown, +while he awaited their return in his concealed position. + +It was between two and three o'clock in the morning that Walker crept up +to the bastions of our fort and was hailed by the sentinel. As soon as +he was recognized his party was placed in a secure position, and the +bold ranger admitted by a ladder to the fort. Major Brown reported the +facts of the assault from Matamoros and the condition of his defences, +as speedily as possible, and Walker and his men, mounting fresh horses, +dashed off towards May so as to pass the enemy's lines before day-light. +But, as he approached the thicket where he left the command, he found +the troopers gone; and returning to the fort, which he reached before +_reveille_, he awaited the approach of night before he again attempted +to perform his dangerous service. + +Meanwhile May and his men had remained in their saddles until about half +an hour before day, when, from the protracted absence of the ranger, +they believed that the enemy's scouts had detected him. Walker had been +already away about six hours; and as May's force was unable to cope with +the supposed numbers of the Mexicans, and peremptory orders had been +given to retire to Isabel, he immediately passed down the enemy's lines +at a brisk gallop over the prairie. About twelve miles from our camp he +suddenly discovered a hundred and fifty lancers drawn up across the road +to dispute his passage, but speedily forming his line, he charged the +troop, and, driving it towards the Mexican camp, followed the fugitives +for three miles on his wearied horses. Fearing, however, that larger +forces might be lying in ambush in the fields, and perceiving that the +enemy's cavalry was fleeter than his own, he abandoned the pursuit and +reached Point Isabel about nine o'clock. + +But Walker was not to be defeated in his gallant effort to bear tidings +to Taylor of the fortunes of the fort. As soon as it was dark on the +4th, he remounted with his trusty band and concealed on his person the +despatch which Major Brown had prepared in the interval. Every copse and +thicket along the road, suitable for an ambush, was filled with foes +anxious to cut off his return to camp, for, as it was subsequently +ascertained, the Mexicans had obtained information of his purposes. But +Walker passed unhurt through all these impediments, and brought the +cheerful news that all was as yet safe in the staunch little fort. + + * * * * * + +Late in April, and while the events, related in this chapter, were +occurring, by which it became evident that serious hostilities were, at +length, intended, General Taylor prudently began to strengthen his army +by demands for reinforcements under the discretionary powers vested in +him by government. In March, he had already called the notice of the war +department to the necessity of sending recruits to fill up the regiments +even to the extent of the existing feeble establishment; but, in April +he authorized the raising of two companies of mounted men from Texas, +and called upon the governor of that State for four regiments of +volunteers, two of which were to act as cavalry and two to serve on +foot. As some delay might occur in collecting these troops, he, +moreover, desired the governor of Louisiana to despatch four regiments +of infantry as soon as practicable, and, with this auxiliary force of +nearly five thousand men, he hoped to prosecute the impending war with +energy, or to carry it, if needful, into the enemy's country. + +On the sixth of May, Lieutenant McPhail reached Point Isabel with some +recruits for the army; and, after filling up the permanent garrison with +the men who were still too raw to encounter the dangers of actual field +service, General Taylor determined to march on the following day with +the main body of the forces to open a communication with Major Brown and +to throw forward the needful supplies of ordnance and provisions. The +language of our chief did not betoken the fears which, at that moment, +were felt throughout the country for the fate of his brave command, +surrounded as it was believed to be, by an imposing army of Mexicans led +by their bravest generals. "If the enemy oppose my march, in whatever +force," said Taylor, "_I shall fight him_!" It was this little phrase +that inspirited the anxious heart of his country and denoted the +energetic character of the hero whose skill and genius were so soon to +be developed in active warfare. When he marched from the banks of the +Rio Grande on the 1st of May, the Mexicans believed that he fled to +secure his personal safety at Point Isabel, whilst he abandoned the +infantry and artillery in the fort opposite Matamoros as an easy prey to +their valiant arms. Accordingly, the bells of the city rang their merry +peals, and repeated bursts of military music denoted that it was a gala +day in the ancient city. At that moment the great body of the Mexican +army crossed the stream under the orders of General Torrejon, and these +were the forces that Walker and his rangers had eluded while bearing to +Isabel the cheering despatch from Major Brown. + + * * * * * + +At the close of this chapter, and while we are preparing for graver +subjects, it may not be uninteresting for the reader to obtain a careful +picture of those TEXAN RANGERS, whose services had already +proved so useful, and who were to play an important part in this bloody +drama. + +These were the bold and reckless children of the frontier, who lived +forever in warlike harness, prompt to suppress the savage raids of the +Indians and mongrel Mexicans who harrassed the settlements of western +Texas in the neighborhood of the Guadalupe, La Vaca and San Antonio. +Organizing themselves in regular companies for mutual protection along a +ravaged border, they were continually prepared alike for camp or battle, +and opposed themselves to the enemy at the outpost barriers of +civilization. + +It must not be supposed that men whose life is passed in the forest, on +the saddle, or around the fire of a winter bivouac, can present the +gallant array of troopers on parade, hence the Texan Ranger is careless +of external appearance, and adapts his dress strictly to the wants of +useful service. His first care is to provide himself with a stalwart and +nimble horse, perfectly broken and capable of enduring fatigue in a +southern climate. His Spanish saddle, or saddle frame, is carefully +covered with the skins of wild animals, while, from its sides depend +some twenty or thirty leathern thongs to which are attached all the +various trappings needed in the woods. No baggage is permitted to +accompany the troop and encumber it in the wilderness. A braided +_lariat_ and a _cabaros_ of horse-hair are coiled around his saddle bow, +the latter to be unwound at nightfall and laid in circles on the ground +to prevent the approach of reptiles which glide off from the sleeper +when they touch the bristling hair of the instrument, while his horse, +tethered by the long and pliant _lariat_ trailing along the ground, +wanders but little from the spot where his master reposes. + +Stout buckskin leggings, hunting shirt, and cap, protect the ranger's +body from the sharp spines of aloes, or the briars and branches of the +matted forest. His weapons, next to his horse, exact his attention. His +long and heavy rifle carries from fifty to sixty bullets to the pound; +around his waist is belted a bowie-knife or home made hanger, and +sometimes, a brace of revolving pistols is added to this powerful +armory. Across his right side are slung his pouch of balls and +powder-horn, and the strap by which they are suspended is widened or +padded over the shoulder to relieve the weight and pressure of his gun. +A practised shot, he can hit his mark unerringly in full career. He may +be called a "picked man," though not in the sense of the phrase as +ordinarily used in military affairs. Nevertheless he is a choice +soldier, for none but men of equal stamp and hardihood find their way to +the border and congregate naturally for the hazardous life they endure. + +From the period of the battle of San Jacinto to the year 1841, when they +formed themselves into regular squadrons of rangers, these were the +hardy woodsmen, who defended the frontier as independent troops, free +from the control of State or government. Whenever Indians or Mexicans +approached the settlements, runners were quickly despatched along the +streams to sound the alarm, and in a few hours the wild huntsmen were +roused for a campaign of months. All they needed for the foray was their +horse, their weapons, their blankets, their pouch with fifty balls, and +their bushel of parched and pounded corn. In hot weather or cold, in wet +or dry, they carried no tents, and required no fresh food save the game +of the forest. Such was the Texan Ranger at the outbreak of this +war,--light in heart, indomitable in courage, capable of vast endurance, +and sworn in his hatred of Indians and Mexicans. His life was one of +continual anxiety and surprises which made him alert and watchful. He +was neither a troubadour nor a crusader, yet his mode of existence had +charms for multitudes of adventurers. It was not disgust with society or +disregard of its comforts that forced these knights errant to the forest +and kept them in a state of continual excitement; but there was a +certain degree of romance in their wandering career that entitled them +to respect and consideration even from the more sentimental inhabitants +of cities. A life without restraint, except needful subordination when +on actual duty, is always attractive, and the forester realizes it +completely. Thinking much and speaking little, he considers his officer +of no more value or importance than himself. Hence he yields obedience +only because he knows the necessity of discipline in a hazardous +service, while, off of duty, he is as familiar with his commander as +with a private. + +Thus the Ranger's existence has ever been a scene of fierce +independence; and though approaching the _ranchero_ in some of his +restless habits, he has, nevertheless, always been distinguished from +that vile compound of ferocity, treachery and cruelty, by the remnants +of civilization he has borne to the solitudes of the wilderness. He was +destined to be of infinite value to the regular army in a country where +it was important to obtain information by reckless means among an almost +Arab population. Subsequent events proved that no scouting service was +so severe, no adventure so dangerous, that he would not risk his life +and exercise the cunning of his craft in performing it either on the +thorny banks of the Rio Grande or among the mountain defiles of +Monterey. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[105] The following document was circulated by Mexican emissaries and +spies among our troops: + + "_The commander-in-chief of the Mexican army to the English + and Irish under the orders of the American General Taylor_: + + "KNOW YE: That the government of the United States is + committing repeated acts of barbarous aggression against the + magnanimous Mexican nation; that the government which exists + under "the flag of the stars" is unworthy of the designation + of Christian. Recollect that you were born in Great Britain; + that the American government looks with coldness upon the + powerful flag of St. George, and is provoking to a rupture + the warlike people to whom it belongs, President Polk boldly + manifesting a desire to take possession of Oregon, as he has + already done of Texas. Now, then, come with all confidence + to the Mexican ranks, and I guarantee to you, upon my honor, + good treatment, and that all your expenses shall be defrayed + until your arrival in the beautiful capital of Mexico. + + "Germans, French, Poles, and individuals of other nations! + Separate yourselves from the Yankees, and do not contribute + to defend a robbery and usurpation which, be assured, the + civilized nations of Europe look upon with the utmost + indignation. Come, therefore, and array yourselves under the + tri-colored flag, in the confidence that the God of armies + protects it, and that it will protect you equally with the + English. + + PEDRO DE AMPUDIA. + + FRANCISCO R. MORENO, Adj. of the commander-in-chief. + _Head Quarters, upon the Road to Matamoros, April, 2, 1846._" + +Another and similar appeal was made by Arista on the 20th of April. + +[106] Captains Thornton's and Hardee's reports to General Taylor. H. of +R. doc. No. 119, 29th cong. 2d sess. pp. 19 and 20. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The Battle of Palo Alto. + + +On the night of the 7th of May, with a force of over two thousand men +and a supply train of two hundred and fifty wagons, General Taylor +bivouacked on the plains about seven miles from Point Isabel. The whole +of the country is extremely flat in the neighborhood of the river and on +the road to Matamoros. In some places, broad thickets cover the levels, +in others, wide prairies spread out dotted, here and there, with bushes +and ponds. Early on the morning of Friday, the 8th, our camp was broken +up and the little army set in motion towards the fort. About noon the +scouts reported that the Mexicans were drawn up in our front, covering +the road with all their forces; and as soon, therefore, as we reached +the broad field of Palo Alto, a halt was ordered to refresh our men, and +form our line of battle with due deliberation. Far across the prairie, +at the distance of three quarters of a mile, were discerned the +glittering masses of the enemy. Infantry and cavalry were ranged, +alternately, on the level field and stretched out for more than a mile +in length, backed by the wiry limbs of the tall trees from which the +battle ground has taken its name. The left wing, composed of heavy +masses of horse, occupied the road, resting on a thicket of chapparal, +and flanked by ponds, while large bodies of infantry were discovered on +the right, greatly outnumbering our own force and standing somewhat in +a curved line, ready, as it were, to embrace our advancing columns. + +Orders were directly given on the American side to form the array for +action. On our extreme right were ranged the fifth infantry under +Colonel McIntosh; Major Ringgold's artillery; the third infantry +commanded by Captain L. M. Morris; two eighteen pounders drawn by twenty +yoke of oxen and commanded by Lieutenant Churchill, and lastly, the +fourth infantry under Major Allen. The third and fourth regiments, +formed the third brigade under Lieutenant Colonel Garland, and all these +corps, together with two squadrons of dragoons led by Ker and May, +composed the right wing under the orders of Colonel Twiggs. The left was +composed of a battalion of artillery commanded by Colonel Childs, +Captain Duncan's light artillery, and the eighth infantry under Captain +Montgomery,--all constituting the first brigade under the orders of +Lieutenant Colonel Belknap. The train, meanwhile, was packed near a pond +under the direction of Captains Crossman and Myers, and protected by the +squadron of Ker's dragoons. + +It was about two o'clock in the afternoon that our march against the +enemy began by heads of columns, whilst the eighteen-pounder battery +followed slowly along the road. During our advance it was deemed +especially important to ascertain with accuracy the number and calibre +of the enemy's cannon, and for this hazardous reconnoissance on an open +plain, Lieutenant Blake, of the topographical engineers, immediately +volunteered. Passing the advanced guard at full speed, he dashed over +the long grass that concealed the opposing forces, until he approached +within about eighty yards of the line where he had a distinct view of +the enemy. The Mexicans gazed with surprise at this daring act, while +Blake alighted from his horse, surveyed the whole array with his glass, +counting the squadrons and ordnance carefully, and then galloped down +their front to the other wing of their extended line.[107] + +Scarcely had this gallant officer reported to our general when two of +the enemy's batteries opened on us vigorously. Taylor immediately +ordered our columns to halt, and deploying into line, our artillery +returned the fire, whilst the eighth infantry, on our extreme left, was +thrown back to secure that flank;--and, thus, with the distance of only +seven hundred yards between the opposing lines, the battle began with +rattling vollies of ball and grape bounding over our heads. The first +fires of the enemy injured us but little, while the heavy metal of our +eighteen-pounders, and the smaller shot of Ringgold's battery, quickly +dispersed the masses of cavalry on the left. Duncan's battery, supported +by May's dragoons, was then thrown forward on that flank, and for more +than an hour the incessant thunder of a cannonade raged along both +fronts, making sad gaps in the battalions, rending the prairie, filling +the air with dust and smoke, killing and wounding a few, yet, producing +no decided effect. The Mexicans, unskilled in gunnery, fired without +precision; but, at almost every discharge of the American ordnance, the +shot told with wonderful precision among the Mexicans. Our artillery was +directed not only to masses and groups of the enemy, but often to +particular men, so that the officers felt as certain of their aim, as if +firing with rifles. + +Meanwhile our infantry had been hitherto rather spectators of the +artillery's prowess, than active combatants; but as the battle thickened +the manoeuvring of the enemy to outflank us commenced. With infinitely +smaller forces than the Mexicans, our policy had been to act on the +defensive as much as possible, and to _feel_ the enemy before we engaged +at closer quarters. Hence we awaited their first assault, made by a +regiment of Mexican lancers led by Torrejon and supported by two pieces +of artillery, which threatened our right flank by moving through the +chapparal in the direction of our train. The fifth infantry was +immediately detached together with a section of Ringgold's battery and +Walker's Texans, to check this dangerous movement. The gallant regiment +was thrown into a square with the Ranger and twenty of his troopers on +its right, and thus stood ready to repulse the charge. On came the +advancing squadrons in splendid array, moving in solid masses of men and +horse, each lance tipped with its gay and fluttering pennon. Ringgold, +from his advanced position, galled them as they trotted onward; Ridgely, +from his closer ground, poured into them rapid vollies of grape and +canister; still they surged onward in spite of all resistance. At +length, when within shot of the impervious square, suddenly, a sheet of +deadly flame burst from the regiment, and breaking their array, forced +them to recoil in confusion. Nevertheless the daring troop was not +dismayed by the carnage. Forming rapidly from its ruins an imposing +mass, again it dashed towards the train, until the third infantry on our +extreme right, under the orders of Colonel Twiggs, crippled its advance +so completely, that it was impossible to rally. This was the last effort +of the brave lancers. Repulsed in every effort, they began to retreat +rapidly but in order; yet Ringgold, Ridgely, and the regiments of +infantry, still hung upon their flank, and with their terrible +discharges of grape and bullets, mowed wide openings in the flying ranks +until they reached their line. Meantime the incessant blaze of our +artillery had set fire to the withered prairie, whose tall grasses +touched the very muzzles of our guns, and for a while the armies were +concealed from each other in the mingled smoke of the recent battle and +of the burning field. + + * * * * * + +There was a pause in the conflict, as if the two combatants, like +gallant boxers, stopped a moment to take breath and survey each other +with looks of defiance. The enemy's left had been driven back in +confusion; and, as their cannonade ceased, the road remained free for +the advance of our eighteen-pounders close to the first position that +had been occupied by the Mexican cavalry. This was promptly ordered by +General Taylor who caused the first brigade to take a new post on the +left of that formidable battery. The fifth was also advanced to the +extreme right of our new line, while the train was moved accordingly to +suit the altered front. As the battalion of artillery advanced slowly +over the field it came up to a private of the fifth, a gallant veteran +of the old world who had escaped the fires of Austerlitz and Waterloo to +die at Palo Alto. He was one of the first who fell in the action, and as +his fellow soldiers paused a moment to compassionate his sufferings, +when they saw the blood gushing with each pulsation from his shattered +limbs--he waved them onward--"Go on companions, regardless of +me,"--shouted he,--"I've got but what a soldier enlists for,--strike the +enemy;--let _me_ die!" Such were the exclamations of Napoleon's +soldiers, at Marengo, when the advancing squadrons of cavalry hesitated +to leap over the heaps of wounded Frenchmen: "Tread on _me_ comrades; +make a bridge of my body! Long live France! Vive la liberte!" The +romantic fervor of warlike enthusiasm deprives battle of half its +horrors, and makes death on the field a glorious exit from the +sufferings of humanity. + + * * * * * + +The movements we made in changing our line were answered by +corresponding alterations of the Mexican front, and, after a suspension +of action for nearly an hour the battle was resumed. The effect of these +changes was to edge our right flank somewhat nearer Matamoros, and to +enable our forces to hold the road against the Mexicans who rested their +lines on the thickets in their rear. + +The attack was recommenced by a destructive fire of artillery. Wide +openings were continually torn in the enemy's ranks by our marksmen, and +the constancy with which the Mexican infantry endured the incessant +hurricane of shot was the theme of universal admiration. Captain May, +detached with his squadron to make a demonstration on the left of the +enemy, suffered severely from the copper grape of the Mexican artillery. +Whilst passing the general and his staff with his troopers, the enemy +concentrated the fire of their batteries upon him, killing six of his +horses and wounding five dragoons. Nevertheless he succeeded in gaining +his desired position in order to charge the cavalry, but found the foe +in such overwhelming numbers as to render utterly ineffectual any +assault by his small command. The fourth infantry, which had been +commanded to support the eighteen-pounders, was also exposed to a +galling fire by which several men were killed and Captain Page mortally +wounded. The great effort of the Mexicans was to silence that powerful +battery, whose patient oxen had dragged it into the midst of the fight. +Hence they directed their aim almost exclusively upon these tremendous +pieces and upon the light artillery of Major Ringgold, who was fatally +struck by a cannon ball at this period of the conflict.[108] + +Meanwhile the battalion of artillery under Colonel Childs had been +brought up to support the artillery on our right, and a strong +demonstration of cavalry was now made by the enemy against this part of +our line, while the column continued to advance under a severe fire from +the eighteen-pounders. The battalion was instantly formed into square +and held ready to receive the charge; but when the advancing squadrons +were within close range, a storm of canister from the eighteen-pounders +dispersed them. A rattling discharge of small arms was then opened upon +the square, but well aimed vollies from its front soon silenced all +further efforts of the Mexicans in that quarter. It was now nearly dark, +and the action terminated on our right, as the enemy were completely +driven back from their position and foiled in every attempt either to +break or outflank our gallant lines. + +While these actions were occurring on our right under the eye of General +Taylor, the Mexicans had made a serious attempt against our left. The +smoke hung densely over the field and bushes so as almost to obscure the +armies from each other, and under cover of this misty veil and of +approaching night, the enemy suddenly rushed towards that wing and the +train with an immense body of cavalry and infantry under the command of +Colonel Montero. The movement was rapid and daring, but it did not +escape the quick eye of Duncan, who dashed back with his battery to the +left flank in full view of the enemy and engaged them within point blank +range of his deadly guns. So sudden and unexpected was this gallant +manoeuvre to the enemy, who, a moment before, saw this battery +disappear in the opposite direction behind the smoke of the burning +prairie,--that their whole column halted in amazement before a shot had +been fired or a gun unlimbered. But they were neither repulsed nor +dismayed. A strong body of infantry, supported by two squadrons of +cavalry, debouched from the extreme right of the chapparal, and moved +steadily forward to attack us. One section of Duncan's battery began to +play upon them with round shot, shells, and spherical case, so well +directed that the whole advance, both horse and foot, fell back in +disorder to the bushes. Meantime the other section opened upon the +masses of cavalry that halted at the first sight of our approaching +guns, and although these shots were well delivered and each tore a vista +through an entire squadron, the enemy remained unshaken. At every +discharge the havoc was frightfully destructive, but the gaps in the +Mexican ranks were immediately closed with fresh horsemen as they +pressed on to assail us. + +The column of cavalry and infantry, driven back into the chapparal by +the other section, re-formed in the thicket, and, a second time, +dauntlessly advanced in order. After it approached about a hundred yards +from the screen of bushes, the section that was previously ordered to +repel it, re-opened a deadly fire and drove the foe head long into the +forest. The supporting cavalry rushed back upon the ranks that hitherto +withstood our shot, and the hurried retreat became a perfect rout. +Squadron after squadron joined tumultuously in the race, and the whole +right wing of the Mexicans was soon in rapid flight, while our +relentless sections continued to send their vollies into the broken and +scampering columns until they disappeared in the chapparal or were lost +in the darkness of night. Thus ended the brilliant affair of Palo Alto. +The enemy retired behind a protecting wood, and our army bivouacked on +the ground it had won and occupied during the protracted fight. + + * * * * * + +Both parties slept on the battle field. It had been a fierce and +dreadful passage of arms, yet it was not a decided victory. We had +repulsed the Mexicans, fatally, in every attempt; we had gained a better +position, enabling us to press onward towards Matamoros, and had +inflicted serious injury on the foe; but the enemy still rested on their +arms and seemed disposed to dispute the field with us again on the +morrow. They were sadly crippled though not defeated, and had exhibited +a degree of nerve, mettle, and firmness that was entirely unexpected +from the vanquished soldiery of San Jacinto. + +Wearied by the excessive labor of nearly six hours fighting, our +infantry and artillery sank on the ground wherever they found a resting +place, whilst the alert dragoons circled the sleeping camp and rode on +their outposts, among heaps of the enemy whose dying groans were heard +on all sides from the thickets to which they had crept. All night long +the medical staff was busy in its work of mercy, while the officers who +felt the dangerous responsibility of their situation collected in groups +to discuss their prospects. Some were doubtful of success, some anxious +to obtain reinforcements, some full of hope and animation, but all were +satisfied that it was prudent to hold a council on the impending +fortunes of the army. After a full examination of the difficulties and a +proper display of their resources, the enthusiasm of the young and the +experience of the old, alike, sanctioned the heroic determination of +Taylor to advance without succor. This brave resolve reassured the army, +and all prepared with alacrity and confidence for the dangers of the +9th. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[107] Lieutenant Blake died about the time our fight commenced at Resaca +de la Palma, on the 9th, from a wound inflicted by one of his own +pistols. He had thrown his sword, to which his pistols were attached, on +the ground on entering his tent. One pistol was discharged accidentally +in the fall, and the ball entered his thigh, but was cut out of his +breast. He died three hours afterwards. + +[108] Ringgold died the day after the battle, but Page survived some +time though he was shockingly mangled by the ball which shot off the +lower part of his face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The Battle of Resaca de la Palma--Defence of Fort Brown--The Great +Western. + + +When the sun rose on the morning of the 9th a mist of mingled smoke and +vapor hung over the battle field of Palo Alto, but, as the haze lifted +from the levels, the Mexicans were perceived retreating by their left +flank, in order, perhaps, to gain a more advantageous position on the +road in which they might resist our progress towards Matamoros. This +movement inspirited our troops, who, craving the interest of a new +position, were loath to repeat the battle of yesterday on the same +field. Accordingly General Taylor ordered the supply train to be parked +at its position and left under the guard of two twelve-pounders and the +fatal eighteens which had done such signal service on the 8th. The +wounded men and officers were next despatched to Point Isabel, and we +then moved across the Llano Burro towards the edge of the dense +chapparal which extends for a distance of seven miles to the Rio Grande. +The light companies of the first brigade under Captain Smith, of the +second artillery; and a select detachment of light troops, all commanded +by Captain McCall, were thrown forward into the thickets to feel the +enemy and ascertain the position he finally took. + +In our advance we crossed the ground occupied by the Mexicans on the 8th +where their line had been mowed by our artillery. Shattered limbs, +riven skulls, slain and wounded horses, dying men, military +accoutrements, gun stocks and bayonets lay strewn around, the terrible +evidences of war and havoc. As our men pressed on they encountered, at +every step, appeals to their humanity, from the famished and thirsty +remnants of the Mexican army whose wounds did not permit them to advance +with their compatriots; but it may be recorded to the honor of the +troops, that our maimed enemies were in no instance left without succor, +and that officers and men vied with each other in relieving their wants +and despatching them to our hospitals. + +About three o'clock in the afternoon a report was sent from the scouts +that the enemy were again in position on the road, which they held with +at least two pieces of artillery. The command was immediately put in +motion, and, about an hour after, came up with Captain McCall. + +The field of Palo Alto was an open plain, well adapted for the fair +fight of a pitched battle, but Resaca de la Palma, which we now +approached, possessed altogether different features. The position was +naturally strong, and had been judiciously seized by the Mexicans. The +matted masses of chapparal, sprinkled in spots with small patches of +prairie, formed an almost impassable barrier on both sides of the road +along which we were forced to advance. The Resaca de la Palma, or, +Ravine of the Palm, fifty yards wide and nearly breast high, crosses the +road at right angles, and then bends, at both ends, in the shape of a +horse shoe. The low portions of the gully are generally filled with +water, forming long and winding ponds through the prairie, whilst, in +the rainy season, these pools unite across the ridge which forms the +road and flow off towards the Rio Grande. Along the banks of this ravine +the thickets of chapparal, nourished by the neighboring water, grow more +densely than elsewhere, and, at the period of the battle, formed a +solid wall penetrated only by the highway. + +It was along the edges of this hollow that the Mexicans, led by Arista +and Ampudia, had posted themselves in two lines,--one under the front +declivity, and the other entrenched behind the copse of chapparal which +shielded the bank in the rear. In the centre of each line, on the right +and left of the road, a battery was placed, whilst other batteries were +disposed so as to assail us in flank. In this strongly fortified +position, supported by infantry, cavalry and ordnance, several thousand +Mexicans stood around the curving limits of the ravine, ready to rake us +with their terrible cross-fires as we advanced by the road between the +horns of the crescent.[109] + +It will be perceived, from this description, that the character of the +action was essentially changed from the affair of the 8th. Almost +entrenched as were the Mexicans behind the ravine and chapparal, they +now stood on the defensive resolutely awaiting our assault, whilst, at +Palo Alto, they had assumed an offensive attitude, aiming either to +capture or destroy our army. + +In the passage of our troops between Matamoros and Point Isabel, the +practiced eye of our military men often remarked the value of this +ravine as a point of strength; and it had been already supposed that +when the enemy halted, to resist our march, they would avail themselves +of it for a battle ground. Hence this excellent position was not unknown +to General Taylor, and he promptly prepared a combined attack of +infantry, artillery and cavalry by which he might succeed in driving the +American army like a wedge, through the narrow but only aperture that +admitted its transit to our fort. + +Accordingly, as soon as Captain McCall received his orders, in the +earlier part of the day, he advanced with his men, and directed Captain +C. F. Smith, of the second artillery, with the light company of the +first brigade, to move to the right of the road, whilst he proceeded on +the left with a detachment of artillery and infantry. Walker and a small +force of rangers was despatched to make a hazardous reconnoissance of +the road in front, while Lieutenant Plesanton, with a few of the second +dragoons, marched in rear of the columns of infantry. + +After following the trail of the enemy for about two miles and a half +across the Llano Burro, and learning from Walker that the road was +clear, McCall pushed the rangers into the chapparal, within supporting +distance, and soon dislodged some parties of Mexicans. On reaching the +open ground near Resaca, the head of his column received three rounds of +canister from a masked battery, which forced his men to take cover, +after killing one private and wounding two sergeants. They rapidly +rallied however, and Captain Smith's detachment being brought to the +left of the road, it was proposed to attack by a flank movement, what, +at the moment, was supposed to be only the rear guard of the retiring +army. But after a quick examination of the field by Dobbins and McCoun, +who discovered large bodies of Mexicans in motion on our left, while the +road, in front, was held by lancers, McCall resolved to despatch three +dragoons to the commander in chief with the news and await his arrival. + +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon that General Taylor came up +with the skirmishers and received an exact report of the enemy's +position. Lieutenant Ridgely, who, upon the Major's fall, had succeeded +to the command of Ringgold's battery, was immediately ordered to advance +on the highway, while the fifth infantry and one wing of the fourth +were thrown into the chapparal with McCall's command on the left, at the +same time that the third and the other wing of the fourth entered the +thicket on the right with Smith's detachment. These corps were employed +to cover the battery, to act as skirmishers, and engage the Mexican +infantry. The action, at once became general, spirited and bloody, for +although the enemy's infantry gave way before the steady fire and +resistless progress of our own, yet his artillery was still in position +to check our advance by means of the fatal pieces which commanded the +pass through the ravine. + +This was the moment, however, when the centre was destined to be +penetrated and broken--Ridgely, as has been stated, had been ordered to +the road, and, after advancing cautiously for a short distance, he +descried the enemy about four hundred yards in advance. Pressing onward +until within perfect range of his guns he began to play upon the foe +with deadly discharges. But the resolute Mexicans were not to be +repulsed. Returning shot for shot, their grape surged through our +battery in every direction, yet without repulsing the intrepid Ridgely, +who, as soon as the opposing fire slackened, limbered up and moved +rapidly forward, never unlimbering unless he perceived the enemy in +front or found from the fire of their infantry that they still hung upon +his flank. During this fierce advance into the jaws of the Mexican +crescent, he frequently threw into it discharges of canister when not +over one hundred yards from the opposing batteries and their support. + +After hammering the centre for some time with this iron hail, and +keeping the wings of the Mexicans engaged with the other troops, a +movement with dragoons was planned for the final onslaught. May, with +his powerful corps, was directed to report to the general, and +immediately received orders from Taylor to charge the enemy's battery. +Thridding the mazes of the chapparal and of the road with his dense +squadron he came up with Ridgely, and halting a moment while that +gallant soldier poured a volley into the enemy, which was answered by a +shower of rattling grape, he dashed at the head of his troopers, like +lightning from the midst of the cloud of smoke, over the guns of the +astonished Mexicans. As the dragoons rushed at full tilt, with gleaming +swords, along the road, the artillerists leaped upon their pieces and +cheered them on. The infantry in the chapparal took up the shout, and +before the combined thunder of cannon, huzzas, and galloping cavalry had +died away, May and his troopers had charged through the seven opposing +pieces, and rose again on the heights in rear of the ravine. Graham, +Winship and Plesanton led the movement on the left of the road, whilst +the captain, with Inge, Stevens and Sackett, bore off to the right. But, +after gaining the elevation, only six dragoons could be rallied, and +with these May charged back upon the gunners who had regained their +pieces, drove them off, and took prisoner the brave La Vega who stood to +his unwavering artillery during the heat of the dreadful onslaught. + +Meanwhile Ridgely, as soon as May had passed him, followed the charge at +a gallop, only halting on the edge of the ravine where he found three +pieces of deserted artillery. Here the Mexican infantry poured into him +a galling fire at a distance of not more than fifty paces, and a most +desperate and murderous struggle ensued, for the charge of cavalry had +not been promptly sustained by the infantry in consequence of the +difficulty it experienced in struggling through the masses of chapparal. +It was about this time that the eighth regiment was encountered by May +who informed Colonel Belknap of the exploit which had been rendered +almost unavailing for want of supporting infantry. Belknap promptly +ordered the regiment to form on the road with a part of the fifth, +whence, it was impetuously charged on the enemy's guns. This admirable +assault was executed with the greatest celerity; the battery was +secured; the infantry sprang across the ravine amidst a sheet of fire +from front and right, and drove the supporting column before it, +destroying in vast numbers the troops that pertinaciously resisted until +forced headlong from the fatal hollow. Montgomery with his regiment +pursued the Mexicans vigorously into the chapparal on the opposite side +of the Resaca until from their rapid flight, further attempts were +utterly useless. + +Thus was the centre of the enemy's lines completely broken. The task +would be endless were I to recount the valiant deeds of the American and +Mexican wings in the thickets on the right and left of the road. It was +a short but severe onset, disputed on both sides, with an intrepidity +that resembled rather the bitterness of a personal conflict than a +regular battle. The nature of the ground among the groves was such as to +forbid any thing but close quarters and the use of the bayonet, knife, +or sword. Officers and men fought side by side, supporting more than +leading each other upon the opposing ranks. Bayonets were crossed, +swords clashed, stalwart arms held foes at bay, and American and Mexican +rolled side by side on the blood stained earth. + +I have dwelt upon the action in the centre because it controlled the +road, dispersed the foe and won the day; but the effort would be +invidious were I to relate instances of individual hardihood and skill, +when all the valiant actors in the drama were fearless and unfaltering. +The charge of May was not unlike the assault at Waterloo of Ponsonby's +victorious cavalry, supported by Vandeleur's light horse, upon the +twenty-four pieces of D'Erlon's battery; in regard to which Napoleon +was heard to exclaim, in the heat of the battle,--"How terribly those +gray horsemen fight!" But in that conflict, Frenchmen opposed the +Anglo-saxons, and Milhaud's steel clad cuirassiers, charging Ponsonby's +brigade after it had carried the guns and attacked even a third line of +artillery and lancers, readily overcame the exhausted troopers and slew +their gallant leader. + +At Resaca de la Palma, however the result was different. The artillery +battalion, which, with the exception of the flank companies, had been +ordered to guard the train on the morning of the 9th, was now ordered up +to pursue the routed enemy; and the third infantry, Ker's dragoons and +Duncan's battery followed the Mexicans rapidly to the river. Shouting, +singing, almost frantic with delight at their eminent success, our men +rushed after the flying Mexicans. The pursuit became a perfect rout as +they pressed on to the banks of the Rio Grande, and numbers of the enemy +were drowned in attempting the passage of the fatal stream. The pursuing +corps encamped near the Rio Grande, while the remainder of the army +rested for the night on the field of battle. The want of a _ponton +train_[110] prevented us from following the foe across the river on the +night of the 9th; but, as the government had failed to provide General +Taylor with that useful equipage, notwithstanding his frequent warnings +of its need, he was deprived of the first chance in this war to +annihilate the Mexican army and to seize all the arms and ammunition +collected in Matamoros. The capture, however, of Arista's camp and its +equipage was a recompense for our men who had fought so bravely. The +Mexican chief had gone into the campaign with every comfort around him, +and was evidently unprepared for defeat at Resaca de La Palma, for, at +the moment of our victory, his camp-kettles were found simmering over +the fires filled with viands from which he had doubtless designed to +make a savory meal after our capture. The food however was destined to +other uses; and, after a communication with the fort which held out +staunchly against the enemy during both contests, our men sat down to +enjoy the repast which the Mexicans had cooked. + + * * * * * + +Unable as we were to secure the best results of victory, from the cause +already narrated, these battles were, nevertheless, of great importance. +We had achieved success in the face of brave foes outnumbering us more +than two to one, and had conquered an army of Mexican veterans, +perfectly equipped and appointed. In the battle of Palo Alto our force, +engaged, had been one hundred and seventy-seven officers, two thousand +one hundred and eleven men, or an aggregate of two thousand two hundred +and eighty-eight;--in the action of Resaca de la Palma we brought into +the field one hundred and seventy-three officers and two thousand and +forty nine men, or, an aggregate of two thousand two hundred and +twenty-two, while the actual number _engaged_ with the enemy did not +exceed seventeen hundred. In the first affair we had nine killed, +forty-four wounded[111] and two missing; but in the second, our loss was +three officers and thirty-six men killed, and seventy-one wounded. +Lieutenant Inge fell at the head of his platoon while charging with May; +Lieutenants Cochrane and Chadburne likewise met their death in the +thickest of the fight; while Lieutenant Colonels Payne and McIntosh; +Captains Montgomery and Hooe; and Lieutenants Fowler, Dobbins, Gates, +Jordan, Selden, Maclay, Burbank and Morris, were wounded on the field of +Resaca de la Palma. + +The Mexican army, under Arista and Ampudia, amounted to at least six +thousand men, having been strongly reinforced with cavalry and infantry +after the battle of the 8th; and it is highly probable that the whole of +this force was opposed to us in their choice position. In one of his +despatches, after the battles, Arista confesses that he still had under +arms four thousand troops exclusive of numerous auxiliaries, and that he +lost in the affair at Palo Alto four officers and ninety-eight men +killed;--eleven officers and one hundred and sixteen men wounded, and +twenty-six privates and non-commissioned officers missing;--while in the +battle of Resaca de la Palma, six officers and one hundred and +fifty-four men were slain; twenty-three officers and two hundred and +five wounded, and three officers and one hundred and fifty-six +missing,--making a total loss of seven hundred and fifty-five. Eight +pieces of artillery, several colors and standards, a great number of +prisoners, including fourteen officers, and a large quantity of camp +equipage, muskets, small arms, mules, horses, pack-saddles, subsistence, +personal baggage, and private as well as regimental papers, fell into +our hands. The plan of campaign, as alleged to have been developed by +Arista's port-folio, was based upon the "reconquest of the lost +province," into which the Mexican forces were to have been pushed as +soon as our army was demolished on the Rio Grande. If it should be +necessary to secure the fruits of victory by further military efforts, +it was arranged that ample reinforcements were to be brought into the +field, and subsequently that President Paredes, himself, should march +an army of occupation into Texas and bear his conquering eagles to the +Sabine! + + * * * * * + +After this narrative of our actions in the field let us recur for a +moment to the gallant garrison which had been shut up in the fort since +the beginning of the month, and in regard to whose fate the liveliest +anxiety was experienced. + +When the commander-in-chief departed on the 1st of May to open the line +of communication with Point Isabel, prevent an attack upon the depot, +and, finally, to succor the fort with subsistence and munitions, the +field work, though capable of defence, was not completed. The events of +the few preceding days had denoted a resolution on the part of the +Mexicans to assail us immediately, and warned our small garrison to +prepare for all emergencies. Accordingly the labor of ditching and +embanking on the unfinished front was resumed; but neither the +draw-bridge nor the interior defences were yet commenced, and to all +these works, Mansfield, with his engineers and detachments of infantry, +devoted themselves unceasingly during the whole of the bombardment, +which began at day-break, on Sunday, the 3d of May. + +The Mexicans had been engaged for some time erecting fortifications +along the river front of their town opposite our field work, and by +this time had prepared them for action. They commenced their attack +from the fort and mortar battery called _La redonda_, which they had +placed under the orders of a French officer of artillery, who +manifested a perfect knowledge of his profession during the conflict. +Nine pieces of ordnance,--four omortars, and the remainder six and +eight-pounders,--poured into our works an incessant shower of shot and +shells; but our batteries returned the fire so effectually, that in +thirty minutes, _La redonda_ was abandoned. Passing from this +fortification to another lower down, the enemy again opened upon us +from _La fortina de la flecha_, as well as from intermediate batteries +and a mortar in their vicinity. It soon became evident that our +six-pounders produced no serious effects in consequence of the +distance; and, desiring to husband his resources for greater +emergencies, Major Brown ordered the firing to cease entirely on our +side of the river. The garrison had been left with only one hundred and +fifty rounds of ammunition for each eighteen-pounder while the +six-pounders were as badly provided! + +The silence of our guns in the presence of an assailing foe, +disheartened our men for an instant, but they immediately betook +themselves energetically to their task on the defences, though the +enemy's shells exploded in every direction about them. On the 4th the +Mexicans again resumed the fight and continued their vollies until +midnight. At nine o'clock on that evening irregular discharges of +musketry were heard in our rear apparently extending a mile up the +river, and continuing until near the termination of the cannonade. Every +soldier in the fort therefore stood to his arms all night long, manning +each battery and point of defence in expectation of an assault from the +forces that had crossed the river and filled the adjacent plains and +thickets. But the anxious night passed without an attack at close +quarters, and, at day-light, on the 5th, the enemy again commenced their +fire from the distant batteries. The sound of war was gratifying to the +Mexicans, but its conflicts were safer from behind the walls and +parapets of their forts, with an intervening river, than in dangerous +charges against the muzzles of our guns! As soon as the cannonade +recommenced, it was immediately returned by a few discharges from the +eighteen-pounders and six-pounder-howitzer; and the voice of our guns +once more exhilarated the men, though their shots were ineffectual. Both +batteries ceased firing simultaneously, and our indefatigable soldiers +again set to work on the defences, completed the ramparts, and made +rapid progress in the construction of a bomb-proof and traverse in rear +of the postern. + +These were anxious days and hours for a garrison short of ammunition, +assailed by an enemy equipped with every species of deadly missile, +probably surrounded by superior numbers concealed on the left bank of +the river, and yet forced to labor on the very fortifications which were +to keep off the foe. During all this time, however, no one desponded. +Day and night they toiled incessantly on the works amid the shower of +shot and bombs, nor was a sound of sorrow heard within the little fort +until its brave commander fell, mortally wounded by a shell, on the 6th +of May. The game was kept up during all this day; mounted men were seen +along the prairie, while infantry were noticed creeping through the +thickets; but a few rounds of canister, from Bragg's battery, dispersed +the assailants. + +About four o'clock of this day a white flag was observed at some old +buildings in the rear of our work, and a parley was sounded by the +enemy. Two officers were soon descried approaching us, and an equal +number were despatched by Captain Hawkins, (who had succeeded Major +Brown in the command of the fort,) to meet them within two hundred and +fifty yards of our lines. A communication from General Arista was +delivered by the herald, and the Mexicans were requested to retire a +short distance and await the reply. + +In this document Arista declared that our fort was surrounded by forces +adequate to its capture, while a numerous division, encamped in the +neighborhood, was able to keep off all succors that might be expected. +He alleged that his respect for humanity urged him to mitigate as much +as possible the disasters of war, and he therefore summoned our garrison +to surrender, in order to avoid by capitulation, the entire destruction +of the command. This mingled mission of humanity and revenge demanded +the immediate notice of our troops, and, accordingly, a brief council +was held in which it was unanimously resolved to decline the +philanthropic proposal. Hawkins, at once despatched his courteous but +firm reply, and the enemy acknowledged its receipt by a storm of shot +and shell which was literally showered into the works. + +It would be but repeating a narrative of one day's scenes were we to +detail the events of the 7th, 8th and 9th of May. The bravado contained +in Arista's despatch, had failed in its effort to intimidate us; +nevertheless we were compelled to undergo the severest task that a +soldier can suffer in passive non-resistance, whilst the enemy, from +afar, strove to bury our fort under the weight of their projectiles. +Bombs and shot were, however, unavailing. The defences proved equal to +our perfect protection; and all continued to work cheerfully in the +trenches until the distant sounds of battle were heard booming from Palo +Alto and Resaca. Anxiety was dispelled, and hope ripened into certainty +as the cannonade grew louder and drew nearer the river, until, at last, +on the evening of the ninth, the Mexican squadrons raced past the fort +and received the reserved shot of the eighteens which poured their +masses of grape among the flying groups. As our pursuing forces rushed +out from behind the thickets and beheld the American flag still aloft in +the works, they sent forth a cheer which was answered by the rejoicing +garrison, and the valley of the Rio Grande reverberated with the +exultation of delight. Victory and relief; a routed foe and succored +friends, enlivened every heart, and even the foremost and bitterest in +pursuit halted a moment to exchange congratulations upon the events of +the glorious day. + +Thus the separate forces of the United States were again brought +together; and FORT BROWN,--which now received its name from the +brave Major who died on the 9th,--was found to have lost but two by +death and only fourteen wounded during the whole bombardment. + + * * * * * + +Every war produces its singular characters whose influence or example +are not without their due effect upon the troops, and, at the conclusion +of these chapters, which are so stained with blood and battle, it may +not be useless to sketch, even upon the grave page of history, the deeds +of a woman whose courageous spirit bore her through all the trials of +this bombardment, but whose masculine hardihood was softened by the +gentleness of a female heart. Woman has every where her sphere of power +over the rougher sex, but the women of a camp must possess qualities to +which their tender sisters of the saloon are utter strangers. + +Some years ago, in the far west, a good soldier joined one of our +regiments, with his tall and gaunt wife, whose lofty figure and stalwart +frame almost entitled her as much as her husband to a place in the ranks +of the gallant seventh. Unwilling to abandon her liege lord upon his +enlistment, this industrious female was immediately employed as one of +the laundresses, three of whom are allowed to draw rations in each +company, and are required to wash for the soldiers at a price regulated +by a council of officers. The "Great Western,"--for by this soubriquet +was she known in the army,--arrived at Corpus Christi with her husband, +and up to the period of our departure for the Rio Grande performed all +her appropriate duties, keeping, in addition, a "mess" for the younger +officers of the regiment. When the army advanced, the women, with some +exceptions, were despatched by sea to Point Isabel, while a few procured +ponies to follow the soldiers in their tedious march. The husband of the +Great Western was sent in one of the transports to the Brazos, but his +hardy spouse did not deign to accompany him in this comfortable mode of +transit, declaring that "the boys of her mess must have some one to take +care of them on their toilsome march." Accordingly, having purchased a +cart and loaded it with luggage, cooking utensils, and supplies, she +mounted behind her donkey with whip in hand, and displayed during the +wearisome advance, qualities which the best teamster in the train might +have envied. Throughout the whole journey she kept her boarders well +provided with excellent rations; and, when her brigade reached the banks +of the Colorado she was one of the first who offered to cross in the +face of the resisting enemy. After calmly surveying the scene, which has +been described in another chapter, she remarked, with great coolness, +that "if the general would give her a stout pair of tongs she would wade +the river and whip every scoundrel Mexican that dared show his face on +the opposite side!" + +When Taylor marched to Point Isabel on the 1st of May, the Great Western +was of course left behind with the seventh infantry. Together with the +eight or ten women who remained, she moved, at once into the fort, where +her mess was soon re-established in a tent near the centre of the works. +The enemy's fire began on the 3d, as she was commencing her preparations +for breakfast, and the women were, of course, immediately deposited for +safety in the almost vacant magazines. But it may be recorded to their +honor that they were not idle during the siege. Nobly did they ply their +needles in preparing sand bags from the soldiers' and officers' tents to +strengthen the works and protect the artillerists whilst serving at +their guns; yet, the Great Western, declining either to sew or to nestle +in the magazine, continued her labors over the fire in the open air. +After the discharge of the first gun all were at their posts, answering +the shot from the Mexican forts; and, when the hour for breakfast +arrived, none expected the luxury that awaited them. Nevertheless the +_mess_ was as well attended as if nothing but a morning drill, with +blank cartridges, had occurred, and, in addition, a large supply of +delicious coffee awaited the thirsty, who had but to come and partake, +without distinction of rank. To some of the artillerists who were unable +to leave their guns, the beverage was carried by this excellent female; +and, as may readily be believed, no _belle_ of Orleans, ever met a more +gracious reception. The fire of the artillery was kept up almost +incessantly until near the dinner hour, when the Great Western again +provided a savory soup which she distributed to the men without charge. + +Thus did she continue to fulfil her duties during the seven days that +the enemy kept up an incessant cannonade and bombardment. She was ever +to be found at her post; her meals were always ready at the proper hour, +and always of the best that the camp afforded. When the despatches, sent +by Walker, were made up for General Taylor on the evening of the 4th, a +number of officers and men wrote to their friends at Point Isabel; and +among them this courageous woman found time to communicate with her +husband who had not been despatched from the depot to Fort Brown. In +this document she expressed her full confidence in the ability of the +garrison to sustain itself, and only regretted the absence of her +spouse. To supply his place, however, she applied, early in the action, +for a musket and ammunition which she placed in security, expressing her +determination to have full satisfaction whenever the enemy dared to +approach within range of her piece. This they never did, and our +indomitable heroine must rest contented with the reflection that she +nobly performed her duty, and will long be remembered by the besieged +garrison of Fort Brown. + + NOTE.--The reader who desires to verify the accounts of + the actions narrated in the two last chapters, will find + all the authentic papers upon which they are founded, in + the national documents relative to the war published + during the two sessions of the twenty-ninth congress. + + * * * * * + + It will be observed that the name of General Worth does not + occur in the account of these recent transactions on the Rio + Grande. This excellent soldier had left Florida in + September, 1845, and was early on the ground at Corpus + Christi in command of the first brigade consisting of one + artillery battalion and the eighth regiment of infantry. His + march and acts on the Rio Grande have been recounted in the + preceding chapters; but soon after his arrival he received + the mortifying intelligence that he had been superseded in + rank by an arrangement announced from the war department. + He, therefore, deemed it due to himself as an officer to + demonstrate his sensibility by resigning at once, especially + as he was convinced that there would be no engagement + between the armies, and that the war would be concluded by + despatches and bulletins instead of arms. Nevertheless he + left the American camp with regret, (tendering his services + "out of authority," to the general in command,) and + travelled with despatch to Washington. On arriving there he + learned that hostilities had actually commenced; and waiving + all his personal feeling, he immediately withdrew his + resignation, with a request for permission to return + forthwith to the command of the troops from which he was + separated, by army orders, in April, 1846. His wish was + granted by the secretary of war as soon as it was made known + on the 9th of May, and Worth hastened back to Mexico, where + his bravery and skill were subsequently so conspicuous.--See + Niles's Register, vol. 70, p. 313. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[109] Army on the Rio Grande, p. 93, and see plan of the battle. + +[110] In May 1846, _after these battles_, an act of Congress was finally +passed authorising the organization of a company of sappers, miners and +pontoniers. The war department had not the right to form such a corps +previous to this enactment. + +[111] Page and Ringgold died subsequently. + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 2 ^ shows that the following letters are | + | superscript | + | Page 9 bucaneers changed to buccaneers | + | Page 13 repartiamentos changed to repartiamientos | + | Page 16 leatheren changed to leathern | + | Page 24 felitously changed to felicitously | + | Page 31 cannister changed to canister | + | Page 46 beseiged changed to besieged | + | Page 47 Cohuila changed to Coahuila | + | Page 50 Campaga changed to Campana | + | Page 57 preponderence changed to preponderance | + | Page 62 maratime changed to maritime | + | Page 63 exhorbitant changed to exorbitant | + | Page 70 statutes changed to statues | + | Page 76 Herera changed to Herrera | + | Page 83 petulence changed to petulance | + | Page 89 Guadelupe changed to Guadalupe | + | Page 93 Neuces changed to Nueces | + | Page 96 reveillee changed to reveille | + | Page 97 villians changed to villains | + | Page 97 stupifying changed to stupefying | + | Page 97 portions changed to potions | + | Page 97 exhorbitant changed to exorbitant | + | Page 123 Puffendorf changed to Pufendorf | + | Page 125 Matamoras changed to Matamoros | + | Page 125 seige changed to siege | + | Page 135 Metamoros changed to Matamoros | + | Page 136 exhonerate changed to exonerate | + | Page 140 moments changed to moment's | + | Page 140 engulphed changed to engulfed | + | Page 144 pomegranite changed to pomegranate | + | Page 154 bivouack changed to bivouac | + | Page 155 canonnade changed to cannonade | + | Page 159 leatheren changed to leathern | + | Page 159 bivouack changed to bivouac | + | Page 160 presure changed to pressure | + | Page 165 manoeuvreing changed to manoeuvring | + | Page 176 Pleasanton changed to Plesanton | + | Page 178 curiassiers changed to cuirassiers | + | Page 183 exhilerated changed to exhilarated | + | Page 188 superceded changed to superseded | + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the War Between Mexico and +the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1, by Brantz Mayer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEXICAN WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 33568.txt or 33568.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/6/33568/ + +Produced by Julia Miller, Barbara Kosker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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