In January 1847, Lt. Henry Washington Benham arrived at the mouth of the Rio Grande. The Mexican War had been ongoing for 8 months, the most recent battle being Monterrey (September 1846). Benham found Major General Scott appropriating much of General Taylor's army, which he planned to use for his invasion by way of Vera Cruz. Most of the troops left to Taylor were volunteers with limited training. Benham was to join Taylor's weakened army and even weaken it further; he was to deliver orders to send yet another regular army artillery battery to Scott.
Benham joined a wagon train bound for Monterrey and found the teamsters to be a villainous bunch who created a lot of hard feelings among the locals. Upon reaching Monterrey, Benham joined with Captain Thomas Sherman, an artillery officer, and departed for Saltillo. The pair arrived at General Zachary Taylor's encampment in Agua Nueva in the first week of February. Even then, there were rumors of a massive army on the way. On the evening of February 20th, the approaching army was confirmed. Taylor's base at Agua Nueva was indefensible and a hasty retreat was made to the pass at Buena Vista.
As a member of the engineers of fortifications, Benham soon found himself crisscrossing the planned battlefield. He served as a courier and scout. He provides an account of the battle that paints a picture of competing blunders.
First, Santa Anna dispatched his cavalry to the field, assigning them to his rightwing. However, the US Army had barely begun to take positions. Had the Mexican cavalry pressed down the road, it would have been an immediate victory. In fact, Taylor was not even on the battlefield yet, having withdrawn to Saltillo the previous evening.
Second, O'Brien's battery was giving the Mexican army a drubbing and had cleared an area forward of its current position. O'Brien set to move his guns forward. However, the volunteer regiment that served as protection for the battery, mistook the connecting of guns with horse carts as a sign of retreat. Soon, the volunteer regiment was in flight and the Mexican army pressed into the gap. Only the advance of the Mississippi Rifles under Jefferson Davis, Captain Sherman's artillery, and May's Dragoon squadron averted disaster.
Third, nearly a thousand Mexican cavalry got lost in the smoke of battle and found themselves hemmed in and in serious threat. At this moment, two Mexican officers proposed a parley. This was a ruse that bought a brief one-sided ceasefire that allowed the Mexican cavalry to escape back to the Mexican lines.
Fourth, it appeared that the Mexican army was withdrawing. Therefore, three volunteer regiments - constituting 1500 men - advanced. The battlefield was a series of arroyos, thus requiring the advancing troops to descend into the arroyo before climbing to the opposite ridge. Too late they discovered that the Mexicans had vanished into an arroyo and were now descending on them from the high ground or pressing them into the open where Mexican Lancers commenced to slaughter. This time, O'Brien's battery was captured. Of note, his guns were recovered some months later during Scott's campaign to Mexico City.
In his brief retelling of the battle, he has criticism of both Taylor - whom he lays the blame for the charge into the arroyo - and Wool - whom he states had ordered a suicidal cavalry charge but remanded it before it was begun. He further accuses Taylor of nearly inducing a panic by ordering Washington's battery to be ready to retreat.
During the Civil War, Benham proved to be an unreliable subordinate, who repeatedly disobeyed orders. With that in mind, how accurate is his retelling of Buena Vista. He wrote his recollections in 1871, noting that it was the 24th anniversary of the battle. It is also of note that he was top of his West Point class in 1837. Did this color his views thereafter, that he was better than others? Generally, his writing is clear and informative. However, he has a habit of name-dropping (he seldom fails to mention all the officers at Buena Vista who went on to be generals in the Civil War) and reporting gossip (the blundering orders of Taylor and Wool).
A short and interesting read for any student of the Mexican-American War.
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