Life of Maj. Gen. John E. Wool

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  He sent out scouts and discovered that his initial plan of capturing Chihuahua was pointless as the troops there had withdrawn.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.

Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest

Born in 1784 and the son of a Revolutionary War officer, Zachary Taylor grew up in Kentucky.  Louisville was a backwater when he was a child but boomtown as he reached adulthood.  In the wake of the 1807 attack by the British on an American frigate (Chesapeake-Leopard Affair), President Jefferson called for an increase in the military.  Thus began Zachary Taylor's army career.  Based in the far west during the War of 1812, he saw little action.  Soon, he was commanding forts along the Mississippi to protect settlers from the various Indian tribes.  He slowly gained rank and was Colonel of the 1st Infantry Regiment during the Black Hawk War (1832).  He came to national attention by 'winning' the Battle of Lake Okeechobee (1837) in the Seminole War (1835-1842).  It was a technical win as his forces took the battlefield, but the cost was 26 killed and 112 wounded.  The Seminole forces lost 11 killed and 14 wounded.  He did not care for Florida and was glad to be sent back to the western forts.  In 1845, Texas was annexed, and General Taylor was sent to Corpus Christi to command the Army of Occupation.  In March of 1846, he led his forces to the Rio Grande and built Fort Texas.  In late April, Mexican cavalry attacked US Dragoons on the northside of the Rio Grande.  On May 8th, 2,300 American soldiers met 3,700 Mexican soldiers at Palo Alto.  The American officer corps, composed of West Point graduates, proved their worth.  The following day saw the last battle in Texas at Resaca de la Palma, another victory for Taylor.  If Okeechobee made him known to the nation, these two battles made him a hero.  In September, he captured the city of Monterey and there was talk of running him for president in 1848.  No one knew if he was a Democrat or a Whig, so both parties courted him.  When it was clear that he leaned more Whig, President Polk - a Democrat - sought to sideline him and sent General Winfield Scott to take over.  Despite having the majority of his veterans reallocated to General Scott, Taylor won the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847 and cemented his national fame.   Though he wanted to be a non-partisan president, he accepted the Whig nomination.  He was elected by a plurality (47.3%) of the vote, the Democrats having split between former President Van Buren (10.1%) and Lewis Cass (42.5%). During the contentious debates about admitting new states - especially California - from among the territory captured in the recent war, Taylor sided with the North.  Despite growing up as a Southerner and being a slave owner, he sided against the South during his presidency.  He was an American first and a Southerner second.  His political naivete was just fading away and he was starting to assert himself in the political games of Washington when he died of cholera in July 1850.  The Whigs had only won the presidency twice.  First with William Henry Harrison and then with Zachary Taylor.  Harrison died 1 month into office, Taylor lasted 16 months.

K Jack Bauer has written an interesting and informative biography.  It paints a picture of an incurious but persistent man.  Taylor was diligent in building a fortune during his lifetime.  He was one to hold a grudge.  He was beloved by his troops who gave him the name of Old Rough and Ready.  Indeed, Taylor was more likely to be mistaken as a farmer than a general, as he typically wore plain clothes and a straw hat.  After reading this, I had a lower opinion of his abilities as a general but a higher opinion of him as a president.

Recommended.