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Chapter VIII - A Small War
A Small War 1845 - 1848
Optimistic James K. Polk, inaugurated in 1845 and nicknamed "Young Hickory," was a staunch expansionist. "0ur system," he proudly claimed, "may easily be extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits, and as it shall be extended the bonds of our Union, so far from being weakened, will become stronger." In order to strengthen the anions Polk intended to take in the territories of Oregon, California and New Mexico, and he also strongly supported the annexation of Texas which finally occurred on March 1, 1845. Polk couldn't have been more wrong. In spite of his enthusiastic vision, the bonds of the Union would steadily fray and finally snap from incessant conflict over territory and slavery.
Two short days after Polk became President, Mexico, outraged by the annexation of Texas, abruptly broke off diplomatic relations with the United States, the first in a chain of events which would ultimately lead to the dissolution of the Union. In response to Mexico's action and persistent rumors that Mexico intended to invade Texas, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to position his troops "on or near the Rio Grande." Polk also sent secret agent John Slidell to Mexico City with instructions to "restore those ancient relations of peace and good will" with Mexico and to open negotiations for the purchase of New Mexico and California. When indignant Mexican government officials angrily rejected Slidell's offer, Polk ordered Taylor and his thirty-five hundred men to trespass south of the Rio Grande. Many years later, Ulysses S. Grant, then an officer serving under Taylor, remarked, "We were sent to provoke a fight, but it was essential that Mexico commenced it." Mexico, insisting that the Neuces River north of the Rio Grande marked the beginning of their territory, sent troops to attack Taylor's forces.
In response to this action, Polk announced that the United States had been reluctantly forced to declare war. "The cup of forbearance has been exhausted," he smugly exclaimed to Congress. "Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil." Some sources say that on the night before the Mexican attack Polk had already written this speech urging Congress to declare war. At any rate, Congress quickly agreed with Polk and signed a declaration of war against Mexico on May 13, 1846.
As in the War of 1812, support for this war was certainly not unanimous. Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln demanded in December of 1846 that Polk name the actual spot where American blood had been shed on American soil, subtly implying that the troops may, in fact, have been in Mexico when fired upon. New Englanders also threatened as they did during the War of 1812 to secede from the Union if the war with Mexico did not immediately cease. Ex-president John Quincy Adams voted as a congressman against participation, calling it a "most unrighteous war."
Even those Americans eager to fight were woefully unprepared. Largely composed of nearly seven thousand untrained volunteers, the United States Army would face a Mexican Army of thirty-two thousand. An Englishman in Mexico described the American Volunteers as "wild looking, hairy faced savages . . . who galloped along the streets and plazas mounted on mules and Mexican ponies and armed with bowie knives and revolvers." Senator Thomas Hart Benton later noted that Polk had only wanted a "small war, just large enough to require a treaty of peace."
Regardless of the many moral objections and the disorganized state of the army, the Mexican War was militarily the most successful of American wars. In February 1847, General Taylor's forces attacked and occupied Monterey, securing the northeastern section of Mexico. Affectionately called "0ld Rough and Ready" by his men, Taylor was outnumbered two to one, but his men "made up with bravado what they lacked in firepower." Polk subsequently ordered General Stephen Kearny to lead a sweeping invasion of New Mexico and California. While Kearny easily captured Santa Fe and struggled to take California, General Winfield Scott landed at Vera Cruz, conquering Mexico City by September. On February 2, 1848, a defeated Mexico and the United States signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican War.
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