The Annexation of Texas and the War with
Mexico.
[=Mexico Gains Its Independence=]
We have spoken, in Chapter xxiii, of the revolt of Texas from Mexico
and the annexation of the newly formed republic to the United States.
In the present chapter it is proposed to deal more fully with this
subject and describe its results in the war with Mexico. In the year
1821, after more than ten years of struggle for freedom, Mexico won
its independence from Spain, and soon after founded a constitutional
monarchy, with Augustin de Iturbide, the head of the revolutionary
government, as emperor. This empire did not last long. General Santa
Anna proclaimed a republic in 1823, and the emperor was obliged to
resign his crown. In the following year he returned to Mexico with the
hope of recovering his lost crown; but, on the contrary, was arrested
and shot as a traitor. Mexico is not a good country for emperors. About
forty years afterward, a second emperor, sent there by France, was
disposed of in the same manner.
[=The Settlement of Texas=]
The establishment of the republic was followed by earnest efforts in
favor of the settlement and development of the unoccupied territory of
the country, and Texas, a large province in its northeastern boundary,
began to be settled by immigrants, very largely from the United
States. By 1830 the American population numbered about 20,000, being
much in excess of that of Mexican origin. These people were largely
of the pioneer class, bold, unruly, energetic frontiersmen, difficult
to control under any government, and unanimous in their detestation
of the tyranny of Mexican rule. Their American spirit rose against
the dominance of those whom they called by the offensive title of
"greasers," and in 1832 they broke into rebellion and drove all the
Mexican troops out of the country.
[=The Career of General Houston=]
It was this revolt that brought the famous Samuel Houston to Texas.
The early life of this born leader had been spent on the Tennessee
frontier, and during much of his boyhood he had lived among the
Cherokee Indians, who looked up to him as to one of their head chiefs.
He fought under Jackson in the war of 1812, and was desperately
wounded in the Creek War. He subsequently studied law, was elected to
Congress, and in 1827 became governor of Tennessee. An unhappy marriage
brought to an end this promising part of his career. A separation from
his wife was followed by calumnies on the part of her friends, which
became so bitter that Houston, in disgust, left the state and proceeded
to Arkansas, where for three years he lived with his boyhood friends,
the Cherokees. The outbreak in Texas offered a promising opportunity to
a man of his ambitious and enterprising disposition, and he set out for
that region in December, 1832.
[=War in Texas=]
For two years after Houston joined fortunes with Texas there was
comparative quiet; but immigration went on in a steadily increasing
stream, and the sentiment for independence grew stronger every day. The
Mexican government, in fear of the growing strength of Texas, ordered
that the people should be disarmed--a decree which aroused instant
rebellion. A company of Mexican soldiers sent to the little town of
Gonzales, on the Guadalupe, to remove a small brass six-pounder, was
met a few miles from the town by one hundred and eighty Texans, who
fell upon them with such vigor that they turned and fled, losing
several men. No Texan was killed. This battle was called "the Lexington
of Texas."
Then war broke out again more furiously than ever. The Mexican
soldiers, who were under weak and incompetent commanders, were again
dispersed and driven out of the country. But now Santa Anna himself,
the Mexican dictator, an able general, but a false and cruel man, took
the field. With an army of several thousand men, he crossed the Rio
Grande, and marched against the Texans.
The town of Bexar, on the San Antonio River, was defended by a garrison
of about one hundred and seventy-five men. Among them were two whose
names are still famous--David Crockett, the renowned pioneer, and
Colonel James Bowie, noted for his murderous "bowie-knife," his duels,
and his deeds of valor and shame. The company was commanded by Colonel
W. Barrett Travis, a brave young Texan. On the approach of Santa Anna,
they took refuge in the Alamo, about half a mile to the north of the
town.
[=The Massacre of the Alamo and Goliad=]
The Alamo was an ancient Franciscan mission of the eighteenth century.
It covered an area of about three acres, surrounded by walls three
feet thick and eight feet high. Within the walls were a stone church
and several other buildings. For two weeks it withstood Santa Anna's
assaults. A shower of bombs and cannon-balls fell incessantly within
the walls. At last, after a brave defense by the little garrison,
the fortress was captured, in the early morning of Sunday, March 6,
1836. After the surrender, Travis, Bowie and Crockett, with all their
companions, were by Santa Anna's especial command massacred in cold
blood.
But this was not the worst; a few days afterwards a company of over
four hundred Texans, under Colonel Fannin, besieged at Goliad, were
induced to surrender, under Santa Anna's solemn promises of protection.
After the surrender they were divided into several companies, marched
in different directions a short distance out of the town, and shot down
like dogs by the Mexican soldiers. Not a man escaped.
While these horrible events were taking place, Houston was at Gonzales,
with a force of less than four hundred men. Meetings were held in the
different settlements to raise an army to resist the Mexican invasion;
and a convention of the people issued a proclamation declaring Texas a
free and independent republic. It was two weeks before General Houston
received intelligence of the atrocious massacres at Bexar and Goliad,
and of Santa Anna's advance. The country was in a state of panic.
Settlers were everywhere abandoning their homes, and fleeing in terror
at the approach of the Mexican soldiers. Houston's force of a few
hundred men was the only defense of Texas; and even this was diminished
by frequent desertion from the ranks. The cause of Texan freedom seemed
utterly hopeless.
[=General Houston and Santa Anna=]
In order to gain time, while watching his opportunity for attack,
Houston slowly retreated before the Mexican army. After waiting two
weeks for reinforcements, he moved toward Buffalo Bayou, a deep, narrow
stream connecting with the San Jacinto River, about twenty miles
southeast of the present city of Houston. Here he expected to meet the
Mexican army. The lines being formed, General Houston made one of his
most impassioned and eloquent appeals to his troops firing every breast
by giving as a watchword, "REMEMBER THE ALAMO."
Soon the Mexican bugles rang out over the prairie, announcing the
advance guard of the enemy, almost eighteen hundred strong. The rank
and file of the patriots was less than seven hundred and fifty men.
Their disadvantages only served to increase the enthusiasm of the
soldiers; and when their general said, "Men, there is the enemy; do
you wish to fight?" the universal shout was, "We do!" "Well, then," he
said, "remember it is for liberty or death; _remember the Alamo!_"
At the moment of attack, a lieutenant came galloping up, his horse
covered with foam, and shouted along the lines, "I've cut down Vince's
bridge." Each army had used this bridge in coming to the battle-field,
and General Houston had ordered its destruction, thus preventing all
hope of escape to the vanquished.
[=The Battle of San Jacinto=]
Santa Anna's forces were in perfect order, awaiting the attack, and
reserved their fire until the patriots were within sixty paces of their
works. Then they poured forth a volley, which went over the heads of
the attackers, though a ball struck General Houston's ankle, inflicting
a very painful wound. Though suffering and bleeding. General Houston
kept his saddle during the entire action. The patriots held their
fire until it was given to the enemy almost in their very bosoms, and
then, having no time to reload, made a general rush upon the foe, who
were altogether unprepared for the furious charge. The patriots not
having bayonets, clubbed their rifles. About half-past four the Mexican
rout began, and closed only with the night. Seven of the patriots
were killed and twenty-three were wounded; while the Mexicans had
six hundred and thirty-two killed and wounded, and seven hundred and
thirty, among whom was Santa Anna, made prisoners.
The victory of San Jacinto struck the fetters forever from the hands
of Texas, and drove back the standard of Mexico beyond the Rio Grande,
never to return except in predatory and transient incursions. General
Houston became at once the leading man in Texas, almost universal
applause following him. As soon as quiet and order were restored,
he was made the first President of the new republic, under the
Constitution adopted in November, 1835.
[=Texas Applies for Admission to the Union=]
In 1837 the republic of Texas was acknowledged by the United States,
and in 1840 by Great Britain, France and Belgium. The population was
overwhelmingly of American origin, and these people had in no sense
lost their love for their former country, a sentiment in favor of the
annexation of the "Lone Star State" to the United States being from
the first entertained. In 1837 a formal application for admission as
a state of the American Union was made. This proposition found many
advocates and many opposers in this country, it being strongly objected
to by northern Congressmen and favored by those from the South. The
controversy turned upon the question of the extension of the area of
slavery, which was a matter of importance to the South, while others
who supported it held large tracts of land in Texas which they hoped
would increase in value under United States rule.
As a result of the opposition, the question remained open for years,
and was prominent in the presidential campaign of 1844, in which
Henry Clay, the Whig candidate, was defeated, and James K. Polk, the
Democratic candidate, was elected on the annexation platform. This
settled the dispute. The people had expressed their will and the
opposition yielded. Both Houses of Congress passed a bill in favor of
admitting Texas as a state, and it was signed by President Tyler in
the closing hours of his administration. The offer was unanimously
accepted by the legislature of Texas on July 4, 1845, and it became a
state of the American Union in December of that year.
[=Mexico Protests=]
In admitting Texas, Congress had opened the way to serious trouble.
Though Mexico had taken no steps to recover its lost province, it
had never acknowledged its independence, and stood over it somewhat
like the dog in the manger, not prepared to take it, yet vigorously
protesting against any other power doing so. Its protest against the
action of the United States was soon followed by a more critical
exigency, an active boundary dispute. Texas claimed the Rio Grande
River as her western boundary. Mexico held that the Nueces River was
the true boundary. Between these two streams lay a broad tract of land
claimed by both nations, and which both soon sought to occupy. War
arose in consequence of this ownership dispute.
[=A Disputed Boundary=]
In the summer of 1845 President Polk directed General Zachary Taylor
to proceed to Corpus Christi, on the Nueces, and in the spring of
1846 he received orders to march to the Rio Grande. As soon as this
movement was made, the Mexicans claimed that their territory had been
invaded, ordered Taylor to retire, and on his refusal sent a body of
troops across the river. Both countries were ripe for war, and both had
taken steps to bring it on. A hostile meeting took place on April 24th,
with some loss to both sides. On receiving word by telegraph of this
skirmish, the President at once sent a message to Congress, saying:
"Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, and shed American
blood upon American soil. * * * War exists, notwithstanding all our
efforts to avoid it."
[=War Declared Against Mexico=]
The efforts to avoid it had not been active. There was rather an
effort to favor it. Abraham Lincoln, then a member of Congress, asked
pointedly if special efforts had not been taken to provoke a war. But
Congress responded favorably to the President's appeal, declared that
war existed "by the act of Mexico," and called for fifty thousand
volunteers.
The declaration of war was dated May 13, 1846. Several days before
this, severe fights had taken place at Palo Alto and Resaca de la
Palma, on the disputed territory. The Mexicans were defeated, and
retreated across the Rio Grande. They were quickly followed by Taylor,
who took possession of the town of Matamoras. The plan of war laid out
embraced an invasion of Mexico from four quarters. Taylor was to march
southward from his position on the Rio Grande, General Winfield Scott
to advance on the capital by the way of Vera Cruz, General Stephen W.
Kearny to invade New Mexico, and California was to be attacked by a
naval expedition, already despatched.
[=The Storming of Monterey=]
Taylor was quick to act after receiving reinforcements. He advanced
on September 5th, and on the 9th reached Monterey, a strongly
fortified interior town. The Mexicans looked upon this place as almost
impregnable, it being surrounded by mountains and ravines, difficult
to pass and easy of defense. Yet the Americans quickly penetrated to
the walls, and were soon within the town, where a severe and bloody
conflict took place. The stormers made their way over the house roofs
and through excavations in the adobe walls, and in four days' time were
in possession of the town which the Mexicans had confidently counted
upon stopping their march.
[=Taylor at Buena Vista=]
Some months passed before Taylor was in condition to advance again,
his force being much depleted by reinforcements sent to General Scott.
It was February, 1847, when he took the field once more, reaching a
position south of Monterey known as Buena Vista, a narrow mountain
pass, with hills on one side and a ravine on the other. This bold
advance of an army not more than 5,000 strong seemed a splendid
opportunity to Santa Anna, then commander-in-chief of the Mexican army,
who marched on the small American force with 20,000 men. The battle
that followed was the most interesting and hard fought one in the war.
Santa Anna hoped to crush the Americans utterly, and would perhaps
have done so but for the advantage of their position and the effective
service of their artillery.
"You are surrounded by twenty thousand men, and cannot, in all human
probability, avoid suffering rout and being cut to pieces with your
troops." Such were the alarming words with which the Mexican general
accompanied a summons to General Taylor to surrender within an hour.
Taylor's answer was polite but brief. "In answer to your note of this
date summoning me to surrender my forces at discretion, I beg leave to
say that I decline acceeding to your request."
[Illustration: BATTLE OF RESACA DE LA PALMA
Captain May leaped his steed over the parapets,
followed by those of his men whose horses could do a
like feat, and was among the gunners the next moment,
sabering them right and left. General La Vega and a
hundred of his men were made prisoners and borne back
to the American lines.]
[Illustration: JOHN L. MOTLEY
WM. H. PRESCOTT
GEO. BANCROFT
JOHN B. McMASTER
JAMES PARTON
GREAT AMERICAN HISTORIANS AND BIOGRAPHERS]
General Taylor, or "Rough and Ready" as he was affectionately called
by his men, had long before--he was now sixty-three years old--won his
spurs on the battlefield. He was short, round-shouldered, and stout.
His forehead was high, his eyes keen, his mouth firm, with the lower
lip protruding, his hair snow-white, and his expression betokened his
essentially humane and unassuming character. No private could have
lived in simpler fashion. When he could escape from his uniform he
wore a linen roundabout, cotton trousers, and a straw hat, and, if it
rained, an old brown overcoat. In battle he was absolutely fearless,
and invariably rode a favourite white horse, altogether regardless of
attracting the enemy's attention. The old hero never wavered when he
heard of the approach of the dreaded Santa Anna. He quietly went to
work, and, having strongly garrisoned Saltillo, placed his men so as to
seize all the advantages the position offered.
[=The Field of Battle=]
Imagine a narrow valley between two mountain ranges. On the west side
of the road a series of gullies or ravines, on the east the sheer sides
of precipitous mountains. Such was the Pass of Angostura, which, at one
spot three miles from Buena Vista, could be held as easily as Horatius
kept the bridge in the brave days of old; and here was placed Captain
Washington's battery of three guns, with two companies as a guard. Up
the mountain to the eastward the rest of the American army was ranged,
more especially on a plateau so high as to command all the ground east
and west, and only approachable from the south or north by intricate
windings formed by ledges of rock.
At nine o'clock on the morning of the 22d of February the advance
pickets espied the Mexican van, and General Wool sent in hot haste to
Taylor, who was at Saltillo. The Mexican army dragged its slow length
along, its resplendent uniforms shining in the sun. With much the
same feelings as Macbeth saw Birnam Wood approach, must many of the
Americans have watched the coming of this forest of steel. Two hours
after the pickets had announced the van, a Mexican officer came forward
with a white flag. He bore the imperious message from the dictator the
opening words of which have already been quoted.
The fight on that day was confined to an exchange of artillery shots,
and at nightfall Taylor returned to Saltillo, seeing that the affair
was over for the time. But during the night the Mexicans made a
movement that put the small American force in serious peril. While the
Americans bivouacked without fires in the bitter chill of the mountain
height, some 1,500 Mexicans gained the summit under cover of the
darkness, and when the mists of morning rose the Americans, to their
surprise and chagrin, saw everywhere before them the battalions of the
enemy.
[=The Mexican Cavalry Charge=]
[=O'Brien's Battery=]
Up the pass soon came heavy force, in the face of Captain Washington's
battery, while a rush, that seemed as if it must be irresistible, was
made for the plateau. The fight here was desperate. The soldiers of
neither army had had any experience in battle, and an Indiana regiment
retreated at the command of its colonel, and could not be rallied
again. This imperilled the safety of all who remained, many of them
being killed, while only the active service of the artillery prevented
the loss of the plateau, upon whose safe keeping depended the issue of
the day. So fierce was the Mexican charge that every cannonier of the
advanced battery fell beside his gun, and Captain O'Brien was obliged
to fall back in haste losing his guns. He replaced them by two six
pounders, borrowed from Captain Washington, who had repulsed the attack
in the pass. Meanwhile, more American artillery on O'Brien's left was
driving the Mexicans back upon the cavalry opposed to the gallant
captain. The Mexican lancers charged the Illinois soldiers--"the very
earth did shake." It was not until the lancers were within a few yards
of O'Brien that he opened fire. This gave the Mexicans pause, but
with cries of "God and Liberty!" on they came. Once more the deadly
cannonade--another pause. O'Brien determined to stand his ground until
the hoofs of the enemy's horses were upon him, but the recruits with
him, only few of whom had escaped from being shot down, had no stomach
left for fighting. The intrepid captain again lost his pieces, but he
had saved the day.
At this point the leisurely General Taylor, on his white horse, so
easily recognisable, came from Saltillo to the field of battle. North
of the chief plateau was another, where the Mississippi Rifles,
under Colonel Davis--who, although early wounded, kept his horse all
day--stood at bay, formed into a V-shape with the opening towards the
enemy. Nothing loth, the Mexican lancers rushed on, and the riflemen
did not fire until they were able to recognize the features of their
foe and to take deliberate aim at their eyes. This coolness was too
great to be combated.
For hours the active and deadly struggle went on. The Mexican lancers
made an assault on Buena Vista, where were the American baggage and
supply train, but were driven off after a sharp contest. At a later
hour of the day the brunt of the fight was being borne by the Illinois
regiment and the Second Kentucky Cavalry, who were in serious straits
when Taylor sent to their relief a light battery under Captain Bragg.
It was quickly in peril. The Mexicans captured the foremost guns and
repulsed the infantry support.
[=The Work of Captain Bragg=]
Bragg appealed for fresh help. "I have no reinforcements to give you,"
"Rough and Ready" is reported to have replied, "but Major Bliss and I
will support you"; and the brave old man spurred his horse to the spot
beside the cannon. Unheeding, the Mexican cavalry rode forward--the
day was now theirs for a certainty, "God and Liberty!" their proud
cry again rang out. Their horses galloped so near to Captain Bragg's
coign of vantage that their riders had no time in which to pull them
up before the battery opened fire with canister. As the smoke cleared,
the little group of Americans saw the terrible work they had done in
the gaps in the enemy's ranks, and heard it in the screams of men and
horses in agony. They reloaded with grape. The Mexicans pressed on;
their courage at the cannon's mouth was truly marvelous. This second
shower of lead did equal, if not greater, mischief. A third discharge
completely routed the enemy, who, being human, fled in headlong haste
over the wounded and the dead--no matter where. The American infantry
pursued the flying foe, with foolish rashness, beyond safe limits.
The Mexicans, all on an instant, turned about, the hounds became the
hare, and had it not been for Washington's cannon checking the Mexican
cavalry, who had had enough grape and canister for one day, they would
have been annihilated.
At six o'clock, after ten hours of fierce and uninterrupted fighting,
the battle came to an end, both armies occupying the same positions as
in the morning, though each had lost heavily during the day. General
Taylor expected the battle to be renewed in the morning, but with
daylight came the welcome news that the enemy had disappeared. The five
thousand had held their own against four times their number, and the
victory that was to make General Taylor President of the United States
had been won.
[=Scott's Advance Against the City of Mexico=]
Meanwhile General Scott, the hero of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane in 1814,
had sailed down the Gulf with a considerable force to the seaport city
of Vera Cruz, which was taken after a brief bombardment. From here an
overland march of two hundred miles was made to the Mexican capital.
Scott reached the vicinity of the City of Mexico with a force 11,000
strong, and found its approaches strongly fortified and guarded by
30,000 men. Yet he pushed on almost unchecked. Victories were won at
Contreras and Churubusco, the defences surrounding the city were taken,
and on September 13th the most formidable of them all, the strong hill
fortress of Chapultepec, was carried by storm, the American troops
charging up a steep hill in face of a severe fire and driving the
garrison in dismay from their guns.
This ended the war in that quarter. The next day the star and stripes
waved over the famous "Halls of the Montezumas" and the city was ours.
On February 2, 1848, a treaty of peace was signed at the village of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, whose terms gave the United States an accession of
territory that was destined to prove of extraordinary value.
[=New Mexico and California=]
New Mexico, a portion of this territory, had been invaded and occupied
by General Kearny, who had taken Santa Fé after a thousand miles'
march overland. Before the fleet sent to California could reach there,
Captain John C. Fremont, in charge of a surveying party in Oregon, had
invaded that country. He did not know that war had been declared, his
purpose being to protect the American settlers, whom the Mexicans
threatened to expel. Fremont was one of the daring pioneers who made
their way over the mountains and plains of the West in the days when
Indian hostility and the difficulties raised by nature made this a very
arduous and perilous enterprise. Several conflicts with the Mexicans,
in which he was aided by the fleet, and later by General Kearny, who
had crossed the wild interior from Santa Fé, gave Fremont control of
that great country, which was destined almost to double the wealth of
the United States. Whatever he thought of the ethics of the acquisition
of Texas and the Mexican war, their economical advantages to the United
States have been enormous, and the whole world has been enriched by the
product of California's golden sands and fertile fields.