General John Ellis Wool was born and raised in New York. In 1812, he joined the army on rumors of war with Great Britain. Indeed, there was a war. He took part in the Battles of Queenstown Heights (1812) and Plattsburgh (1814). A taskmaster and stickler for detail, Wool was promoted to Inspector General of the Army after the war (1816). In 1841, he was promoted to brigadier general. When hostilities finally erupted on the Rio Grande in April 1846, General Wool was called upon to call up 12,000 volunteers from the states to reinforce the 3,000 regular troops of Taylor's Army of Occupation. By August, he was in San Antonio, Texas to train many of those volunteers while the rest had been sent to the Rio Grande. While General Taylor marched on Monterey, Wool set out for Chihuahua. His march across the Rio Grande and thence to Monclava involved no battles. When he arrived in Monclava, he received word that General Taylor had arranged a two-month armistice in the wake of capturing Monterey (Sept 24). As such, Wool cooled his heels. However, he was not idle. He sent out scouts and discovered that his initial plan of capturing Chihuahua was pointless as the troops there had withdrawn. He proposed joining Taylor. Rumors of a grand army headed north resulted in an urgent call from Wool's forces. He arrived in Agua Nueva by December 21, but there was no grand army. However, that did not prevent him from surveying the region and deciding that the pass of Buena Vista would be the best place to defend should such an army arrive. On February 21st, after most of the veteran soldiers had been sent to Tampico to join Major General Scott, Santa Anna arrived with 20,000 troops. While Taylor marched back to Saltillo, he left Wool to arrange the defense at Buena Vista. The most harrowing battle of the war then commenced, with Wool more often than not in command. Indeed, Taylor's dispatches after the victory indicated that he was not present for the placing of forces or during a particularly ferocious attack by the Mexican Army. In the aftermath of the battle, Wool became military governor of Saltillo and, when Taylor returned to the US, he was the commander of Northern Mexico until the war's conclusion. He returned home to Troy, New York to the cheers of his fellow citizens.
This hagiography to Wool was published in 1851, a year after President Taylor had died in office. The essay - only 30 pages in length - misses no opportunity to acclaim Wool, often at the expense of Taylor. Where Taylor's volunteer regiments were a rabble that created guerillas among the Mexicans, Wool's were disciplined, and occupied territory peacefully and even received the gratitude of those occupied. While Taylor was oblivious of the approach of Santa Anna, Wool had argued for a withdraw from Agua Nueva. Indeed, it took Santa Anna's Army appearing in the distance to convince Taylor that Agua Nueva was a terrible battlefield when he was so outnumbered. While Wool placed troops at Buena Vista, Taylor marched the most seasoned troops back to Saltillo to 'inspect the defenses.' Amazingly, all of these claims are supported by General Taylor's reports after the fact. Truly, it does appear that Wool won the battle in spite of Taylor's interference in strategy. Of course, this victory cemented General Taylor's nomination for the presidency.
Had Santa Anna won at Buena Vista, he could have marched to Texas. That may have resulted in the recall of Scott's invasion force to counter Santa Anna. Such a reversal could have changed everything. Where the victory made Taylor president, a defeat would have greatly extended the war and probably reduced the amount of territory the US finally secured.
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