January 13, 1846, General Taylor is directed by the President to
advance and occupy the left or Texas bank of the Rio Grande River; he
has been reinforced by recruits, and is authorized to apply to the
Southern States for volunteer troops.
March 8 the first detachment is started forward to cross the disputed
strip between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Other detachments
follow. Part way General Taylor is officially warned by a Mexican
officer that a farther advance will be deemed a hostile act. He
proceeds, with his 4000 Regulars (half the army of the United States),
and establishes a base of supplies at Point Isabel, on the Gulf shore,
about thirty miles this side of the Rio Grande River.
March 28 the American army of now 3500 men, called the Army of
Occupation, encamps a short distance above the mouth of the Rio Grande
River, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoros and 119 miles from the
mouth of the Nueces.
The Mexican forces at Matamoros immediately commence the erection of
new batteries and the American force begins a fort.
April 10 Colonel Truman Cross, assistant quartermaster general in the
American army, is murdered by Mexican bandits.
April 12 General Ampudia, of the Mexican forces at Matamoros, serves
notice upon General Taylor either to withdraw within twenty-four hours
and return to the Nueces out of the disputed territory, or else accept
war. General Taylor replies that his orders are for him to remain here
until the boundary dispute is settled. He announced a blockade of the
Rio Grande River.
April 19 Second Lieutenant Theodoric Henry Porter, Fourth Infantry, is
killed in action with Mexican guerillas.
April 25, this 1846, occurs the first battle of the war, when at La
Rosia a squadron of sixty-three Second Dragoons under Captain Seth B.
Thornton, reconnoitering up the Rio Grande River, is surrounded by 500
Mexican regular cavalry. Second Lieutenant George T. Mason and eight
enlisted men are killed, two men wounded, Captain Thornton, two other
officers and forty-six men are captured.
By this victory the Mexicans are much elated; the flame of war is
lighted in the United States.
May 11 President Polk announces a state of war, and a bloody invasion
of American soil by the Mexican forces that had crossed the Rio Grande.
May 13 Congress passes a bill authorizing men and money with which to
carry on the war, and declaring that the war has been begun by Mexico.
There were objections to the bill on the ground that the President had
ordered troops into the disputed territory without having consulted
Congress, and that war might have been avoided. But all parties agree
that now they must support the Flag.
General Taylor calls on the governors of Louisiana and Texas for 5000
volunteers.
April 28 Captain Samuel Walker and some seventy Texas Rangers and
Volunteers are attacked and beaten by 1500 Mexican soldiers near Point
Isabel, the American base of supplies. Captain Walker and six men make
their way to General Taylor with report that his line of communication
has been cut.
May 1, having almost completed the fort opposite Matamoros above the
mouth of the Rio Grande, General Taylor leaves a garrison of 1000
men and marches in haste to rescue his supplies at Point Isabel. The
Mexican troops are appearing in great numbers, and matters look serious
for the little American army.
May 3 the Mexican forces at Matamoros open fire upon the fort, thinking
that General Taylor has retreated.
May 8 General Taylor, hurrying back to the relief of the fort, with his
2300 men defeats 6500 Mexicans under General Arista in the artillery
battle of Palo Alto or Tall Timber, fought amidst the thickets and
prairie grasses about sixteen miles from Point Isabel. American loss,
four killed, forty wounded; Mexican loss, more than 100 in killed alone.
The next day, May 9, “Old Rough and Ready” again defeats General Arista
in the battle of Resaca de la Palma, or Palm Draw (Ravine), a short
distance from Palo Alto. Having withstood a fierce bombardment of seven
days the fort, soon named Fort Brown, of present Brownsville, Texas, is
safe. The Mexican forces all flee wildly across the Rio Grande River.
May 18 General Taylor throws his army across the river by help of one
barge, and occupies Matamoros. Here he awaits supplies and troops.
August 20 he begins his advance into Mexico for the capture of the city
of Monterey, 150 miles from the Rio Grande River and 800 miles from the
City of Mexico.
Meanwhile General Paredes, president of Mexico, has been deposed by
another revolution, and General Santa Anna has been called back.
September 21–22–23 General Taylor with his 6600 men assaults the
fortified city Monterey, in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northeastern
Mexico, and defended by 10,000 Mexican soldiers under General Ampudia.
September 24 the city is surrendered. American loss, 120 officers and
men killed, 368 wounded; Mexican loss, more than 1000.
General Taylor proceeds to occupy northeastern Mexico. In November he
receives orders to detach 4000 men, half of whom shall be Regulars, for
the reinforcement of General Scott’s expedition against Vera Cruz.
February 22, 1847, with 4300 Volunteers and 450 Regulars he encounters
the full army of General Santa Anna, 20,000 men, at the narrow mountain
pass of Buena Vista, near Saltillo seventy-five miles southwest of
Monterey.
The American army, holding the pass, awaits the attack. In the terrible
battle begun in the afternoon of February 22 and waged all day February
23, the Mexican troops are repulsed; and by the morning of February
24 they have retreated from the field. American loss, 267 killed, 456
wounded, 23 missing; Mexican loss, 2000.
The battle of Buena Vista leaves the American forces in possession of
northeastern Mexico. General Santa Anna now hastens to confront General
Scott and save the City of Mexico. General Taylor returns to Louisiana,
and there is no further need for his services in the field.