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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 12/31/2002 12:02:02 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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and Resaca de la Palma In August, 1843, not long after the Mexican victory at Mier, plans were made in Mexico City for an invasion of Texas. The invasion was canceled, however, when Santa Anna was pressured by foreign governments into exploring the possibilities of peace with the new republic. A peace treaty was proposed in early 1844 whereby the two countries agreed to retain the territory they presently occupied.  General Zachary Taylor In February, 1846, Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, lowered the Lone Star flag in Austin and raised the Stars and Stripes. Mexico, which had previously agreed to recognize Texas if the infant republic remained independent, then broke diplomatic relations with the United States. Both the United States and Mexico rushed headlong into the bloody caldron of war. Anticipating formal annexation, General Zachary Taylor, a thirty-eight year veteran at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, had already taken a position on the Nueces. By August, 1845, General Taylor's "Army of Observation" had set up camp on the beaches at the village of Corpus Christi. There, the army remained camped from August, 1845 to March, 1846. With the United States inheriting the Texas Republic's claim to the Rio Grande, President Polk ordered Taylor to take up a position on the river. Polk, a proponent of Manifest Destiny, was determined to take control of the disputed territory and, if possible, lay claim to California. Many Americans objected and believed the United States to be morally wrong. A young lieutenant in the expedition, Ulysses S. Grant, would later write that he had a "horror of the Mexican War" but did not have the "moral courage to resign." On March 8, 1846, the United States Army marched south from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande. Water was scarce, and the march was regulated by the distance between water holes. At that time, not a single village existed between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. Along the way, the army came across a huge herd of wild horses. Grant, in his memoirs, estimated the herd to be the size of Delaware. "The country was rolling prairie," the future Civil War hero wrote, "and from the highest ground, the vision was obstructed only by the earth's curvature. As far as the eye could reach...the herd extended."  On the morning of March 28, 1846, the American Army came to the great river. Taylor ordered one of his officers to cross the Rio Grande to Matamoros to inform the Mexican commander of the reasons for the American presence on the river. In response, the Mexican commander, referring to the army as intruders, demanded that the American flag be removed from the soil of Mexico. Mexican soldiers and civilians, clearly visible across the river, were seen preparing earthen works and pulling cannon into position. Taylor ordered his men to prepare for battle. War clouds were gathering. Almost every morning, new Mexican breastworks were visible across the river on the outskirts of Matamoros. Taylor, too, decided to fortify. Fort Texas, an earthen compound, was built across from the Mexican city. "Old Zach," riding his horse, "Old Whitey," was everywhere. Often he rode among the men, encouraging them at their work. At other times, he was seen sitting at a table under a cottonwood tree where he had pitched his tent. To Taylor's cottonwood tree came the aides of General Pedro de Ampúdia, hero of the victory over the Texans at Mier, who told Taylor to retreat to the Nueces. Taylor replied that he had no intention of retreating to the Nueces and that the land north of the Rio Grande must be considered part of the United States. Tension reached a breaking point when Mexican forces began to cross the river in large numbers below and above Fort Texas. The 2nd Dragoons, a crack cavalry unit, was ordered into the field to report on the movements of the Mexicans. Taylor feared that the new Mexican commander, Mariano Arista, a tall, red-headed veteran, might be attempting to cut the American supply lines to Point Isabel and Brazos Santiago, where a small American fleet was anchored. On April 24, 1846, two companies of dragoons under Captain Seth B. Thornton were surprised at La Rosita, upriver from Fort Texas. The Americans were surrounded and defeated by 500 cavalry commanded by General Anastasio Torrejón. Sixty-three men were either killed, wounded, or captured. Taylor wrote Polk that "hostilities may now be considered as commenced." Polk, who was preparing to ask Congress for a declaration of war, now reported that "a state of war existed notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it."  President James Polk Today a historical marker on U.S. Highway 281 at the La Rosita site quotes Polk's assertion that "American blood had been shed on American soil." Many abolitionists, especially from the northeast, did not approve of the war and saw the struggle as an attempt by the South to extend slavery. A young congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln even introduced a "spot resolution" in the House of Representatives in an attempt to force Polk to admit that the spot where the attack had come was not in the United States. Many others felt that the prairies and mesquite thickets of the area were not worth a war. On the Rio Grande, rumors, later found to be false, reached Taylor that the American supply base at Point Isabel was under attack. Without hesitation, Taylor ordered his staff to make preparations for a march to relieve the vital port. Leaving Major Jacob Brown in command of Fort Texas with 500 men of the 7th Infantry, Taylor turned east for the coast with 2,300 men. Marching eighteen hours the first day, Taylor was able to complete the twenty-six-mile march to the coast by noon the following day. To their surprise, no Mexican force was in sight, and the men went into camp that evening without incident. Early the next morning, as the sun began to break over the gulf, a distant rumbling could be heard far to the southwest, in the direction of Fort Texas. The thunder from the river could mean only one thing Fort Texas was under attack from Casamata, the military outpost in Matamoros. As Major Brown continued to hold the fort, Taylor, with a baggage train of 250 wagons, began a counter march for the river. General Arista, who had crossed the river with a force of over 6,000 three times that of Taylor's army moved to meet the Americans. One day after leaving the coast, Taylor encountered the Mexican Army near a water hole on the prairie called Palo Alto. General Arista had his army drawn up in impressive battle array across the main road leading to Fort Texas. For more than a mile, the Mexican Army, which consisted of cavalry on the right, infantry on the left, and artillery in the center, stretched across the dry, at, South Texas prairie. Taylor, too, prepared his army for battle. As Taylor gave the order for the troops to advance, the American lines surged forward. When they were seven-hundred yards from the Mexican position, the eerie, frightful atmosphere was abruptly broken by a burst of re from the Mexican artillery. The Battle of Palo Alto, the first of the Mexican-American War, was underway. The date was May 8, 1846.  Many of the Americans were surprised at the performance of the Mexican artillery, as some of the cannonballs fell short of their target and bounced along the prairie toward the American lines. More important, the American artillery squadrons had trained for quick mobility and rapid firing, which enabled their six-pounder guns to shoot three or four rounds per minute, as opposed to one or two rounds for the Mexican artillery. By three o'clock in the afternoon, as the American artillery returned the Mexican fire, the temperature became unbearably hot. Arista moved to envelop the Americans and capture Taylor's baggage train, but Taylor countered by shifting his light and easily movable "Flying Artillery" to his flank. He opened fire on the charging Mexican cavalry, which took a terrible toll. A second attempt by the Mexican Army at envelopment was stopped by the fire of the American infantry. With artillery shells bursting in the ranks of both armies, the tall, dry grass of the Palo Alto prairie caught fire. Within a few minutes, a dense smoke belched skyward, obscuring both armies. When the smoke cleared, fighting continued to rage. Only sunset brought an end to the bloodletting. As darkness crept across the battlefield, the Mexican Army, among the groans of the wounded and the silence of the dead, withdrew into the chaparral. Arista's casualties in the battle included 320 killed and 400 wounded, while Taylor had lost nine men killed and forty-seven wounded. Although victorious, the General realized his army was too fatigued to pursue Arista. One of those killed in the Battle of Palo Alto was Major Samuel Ringgold, who had developed the rapid-ring techniques that had proven so effective in the fighting. Ringgold, Major Jacob Brown and Colonel James Simmons McIntosh, all victims of the war, would later have forts on the Rio Grande named in their honor. Today, on FM 1847, a small park at the edge of the battle site commemorates the events at Palo Alto. On the morning after the battle, Taylor called his top officers together. Seven of his ten commanders voted to entrench and wait for reinforcements. Taylor, instead, ordered his army forward to relieve Fort Texas. Halfway down the road to the Rio Grande on May 9th, Taylor found Arista again.  This time, the Mexican general had chosen an excellent position for the battle the Resaca de la Palma (presently known as Resaca de la Guerra). The Resaca, once part of the Rio Grande, was now a dry riverbed shaped like a sickle across the mesquite-infested landscape. Dismissing rumors of internal intrigue and sustaining his command after his defeat at Palo Alto, Arista still hoped his larger army would prevail and the Americans could be driven north. After resting his men briefly, Taylor threw his elite cavalry, the dragoons, at the center of the Mexican lines. Although the dragoons were able to capture several Mexican artillery pieces, they were unable to hold the guns. The dragoons did capture General Romualdo Díaz de la Vega, who had bravely attempted to defend one of the guns. Taylor next ordered his infantry into the fray. Although great confusion prevailed in the ranks of both armies, neither side would retreat. Instead, each stood and fought. Fighting hand-to-hand in the dense chaparral, many of the officers lost contact with their men. Suddenly, the tide of battle began to turn. Small units of the Mexican Army began to fall back from the chaparral and the dry riverbed as the retreat became general. With Arista's right wing in complete collapse, defeat became inevitable. Arista even lost his personal papers in the fight. Among the items seized was a letter from Mexico City directing that Taylor be sent to the capital as a prisoner.  The Battle of Resaca de la Palma proved to be even more decisive than Palo Alto. The loss of life was also more frightening. Arista's losses were said to be several hundred, while Taylor counted thirty-three killed and eighty-nine wounded. "The enemy's loss was very great," Taylor wrote. "Nearly two hundred of his dead were buried by us on the day succeeding the battle. Our victory has been decisive. A small force has overcome immense odds against the best troops that Mexico can furnish. Eight pieces of artillery, several colors and standards, a great number of prisoners, including fourteen officers and a large amount of baggage and public property have fallen into our hands." After bringing up additional supplies and reinforcements, Taylor made plans to cross the river and invade Matamoros. Arista, following his defeat, decided to give up Matamoros and retreated into the interior toward Linares.  On May 18, 1846, Taylor entered Matamoros without opposition. The American occupation of Texas had now become an invasion of Mexico. A war was underway that would redraw the political map of North America. Furthermore, old "Rough and Ready" had emerged from Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma as an American hero. The Whig Party was even considering nominating him for president. In June, 1846, General Taylor began his advance from Matamoros. The army moved up the Rio Grande to Reynosa and then to Camargo, where it remained for six weeks. While several regiments moved upriver on foot or horseback, many others went by steamer. Although the troops were seriously plagued by disease and temperatures that reached 112 degrees at Camargo, Taylor continued to build his army with green recruits and headed south to Monterrey. The theater of the Mexican War had now moved away from the Lower Rio Grande.
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Best wishes to everyone!
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