The Letters of Barna Upton

Barna Upton was born in 1820.  He grew up on a farm in Massachusetts.  In 1845, he joined the US Army.  Though not a diarist, he wrote regularly to his family.  The collected letters were reviewed by William Goetzmann in 1966 and he published selected ones in American Heritage.

Barna's correspondence began in February 1845 while he was enrolled in basic training on Governor's Island, NY.  He was there at the same time as George Ballantine.  Where George was sent to Rhode Island, Upton found himself in Louisianna at Fort Jessup.  The annexation of Texas was underway and Fort Jessup had served to maintain the Texas (Mexico) & Louisianna (United States) border since 1822.  The new president, James K Polk, had ordered a buildup of troops in case of trouble and Private Upton of the Third Infantry was among them.  General Zachary Taylor was in command.

In July, the army was ordered into Texas.  The annexation was complete and work on statehood had begun.  As such, the US Army moved to Corpus Christi.  In March 1846, Barna marched south to the Rio Grande.  There, he took part in both the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.  In the first, he mostly watched the artillery pound the Mexican lines and the calvary maneuver to no effect.  At Resaca, he charged into the fray and shot a man.  He related these details while in Matamoros and hoped it was the last fight he would have.  No such luck.  He took part in the toughest fighting at Monterrey, avoiding serious injury thanks to his leather cartridge bag absorbing a bullet.

General Winfield Scott confiscated most of the regular troops from General Taylor and landed them south of Vera Cruz.  Barna's part in the Siege of Vera Cruz was mostly as an observer.  The tone of his letters has changed.  Where his early letters indicated that he was content with his life as a soldier, his later ones show that he is eager to go back to the farm.  He had seen enough death, but he had more to go.  He charged up the hill at Cerro Gordo, and fought extensively during the taking of Mexico City.  At the very last battle where the US Army breached the city gates, Barna Upton suffered a mortal wound.  He died on October 15, 1847.

His last letter - or the last one that Goetzmann provides - was from Puebla in August 1847.  In it, he announced that the army was marching to Mexico City and states "...if my life is spared, I will write to you..."

One odd thing that Barna added to many of his letters was that the climate was healthful wherever he was.  This is an unusual claim, since disease was the top killer of US troops throughout the war.  One supposes that he was trying to assure his family that he was well despite what news reports might say.  Then again, disease was far more rampant among the volunteer regiments than the regulars; regulars maintained better hygiene and thus suffered less from diseases.

Like Ballantine, this is an account of an enlisted man.  It is a brief read and recommended.

Alabama Regiment missed the Fighting

No sooner was the war against Mexico declared than Alabama raised a regiment.  By June 1846, approximately 900 volunteers gathered in Mobile.  There was not enough room on the steamship for all of them, so only 8 of the 10 companies set out, the other two waiting for another transport.  The 1st Regiment of Alabama Volunteers arrived at Brazos Santiago on July 4th and were soon encamped on the beach.  After a few days, they relocated to Camp Belknap, a mile or so inland.  A few weeks passed where men became sick with dysentery before the regiment was sent to Camargo.  Camargo proved to be less hospitable still, a dusty, sweltering region that didn't benefit from a sea breeze.  At long last, General Taylor sent the army marching to Monterrey, but the Alabama Regiment was left behind as a garrison.  The Alabama men were disappointed.  Many of the wilder soldiers ravaged the locals, triggering reprisals that left some Alabama volunteers dead.

In November, the US Navy captured Tampico but wanted the army to garrison the city.  Taylor dispatched the Alabama Regiment, among others.  The regiment was posted there until February, when General Scott included them among his forces for a landing at Vera Cruz.  Thus, in March, the Alabama Regiment landed on the beaches south of Vera Cruz and took part in the siege of that city.  Mostly, the regiment sat on its thumbs while US Artillery pummeled the city into submission.

While General Scott directed the majority of the army inland toward Mexico City, the Alabama Regiment was part of an expedition to Alvarado.  General Quitman was to coordinate with Commodore Perry in the capture of the port city.  However, upon arrival, it was discovered that the city had already surrendered to the USS Scourge and there was no battle to be had.  General Quitman led his forces back to Vera Cruz and then followed Scott inland.  They arrived at the Battlefield of Cerro Gordo several days after the battle.  Soon after, the regiment arrived in Jalapa.

As their 1-year terms were about to expire, General Scott asked the volunteers to extend their enlistments.  Few, if any, did.  The Alabama Regiment was sent back to Vera Cruz where it found passage to New Orleans.  Of the 900 men who set out from Alabama, only 550 made this return journey from Vera Cruz.  Many had been discharged for illness throughout the year and 150 had died.

An excellent account of the Alabama Regiment is available here.  Recommended.

My Confession: The Recollections of a Rogue

Samuel Chamberlain was a boy from Boston with a grand sense of adventure.  He viewed himself as a romantic hero right out of the pages of a novel.  He wooed the ladies, clobbered the bullies, and traveled to his next adventure.  Is his autobiography just so much nonsense and self-promotion?  Oddly, a lot of it proved to be true.

Sam was an artistic lad whose father died when Sam was 14.  His wild streak began shortly thereafter.  Being more trouble than not, he went west to live with his uncle in Illinois.  Before long, he was fighting with his cousin, which caused his uncle to come at him with an axe!  Sam fled to Louisianna, where he became an accountant.  An affair with another man's wife sent him flying back to Illinois.  He had hardly arrived when there was a call for volunteers to go to war in Mexico.  Though only 16 years-old, Sam joined immediately.  He traveled to Texas with an Illinois Volunteer Regiment, but he didn't get along well with the command structure.  In San Antonio, he joined the Dragoons and found himself marching with General Wool to Monclova.  Being something of a hellion (his horse's name was Lucifer!), he found himself in several scrapes, sometimes with other troops, sometimes with Mexican guerrillas, and frequently on account of senioritas.

In December 1846, General Wool marched to support General Taylor at Saltillo.  There was a rumor that a grand army was marching north.  The army arrived in February and General Santa Anna attacked.  Samuel Chamberlain joined his first battle, the most epic one of the war: The Battle of Buena Vista.  The Dragoons didn't see a lot of action, but they were posted as sentinels during the breaks.  As action began on the 21st, expanded on the 22nd, and concluded on the 23rd, there was a need for lookouts during the nights.  Thus, Sam was posted between the two armies to be aware of night attacks.  Needless to say, he didn't get a lot of sleep.  It is a very different view of the battle where he spent much of it idle.

For the remainder of the war, he fought guerrillas and wooed the ladies.  When the war ended, he stayed in the service to head to California.  Halfway through the march, he deserted and joined a notorious band of scalp hunters.  Scalp hunters killed Apache and sold the scalps to Mexican authorities; it was a method of curbing the depredations that the Apache committed against the Mexicans.  Sam's tale of adventure ends in the California deserts between Yuma and the Salton Sea.

Like a good James Bond movie, Chamberlain had a new love interest in each adventure.  There was his true love in Boston, the woman met on the coach heading to Illinois, the girls at an all-girl school in Illinois, the married woman in Louisianna, and on and on.  Each is more beautiful than the last, but dreams of happily-ever-after are always foiled by circumstances.  Though the autobiography is built on actual incidents, his love life is almost certainly wishful thinking.

Chamberlain went on to become a general in the Civil War and lived until 1908.  Of note, his book and the many sketches and watercolors that accompanied it, was not published until 1956.  Doubtless, this book was an inspiration for George MacDonald Frazer's Flashman Papers.

Here is a great read with plenty of action, adventure, and romance.  Highly recommended.

An English Soldier in the United States Army

In the summer of 1845, George Ballantine arrived in New York.  Born in Scotland, skilled as a weaver, and a veteran of the British Army, he sought work.  His best offer was to become a whaler, which did not appeal to him.  Instead, he joined the US Army.  He details his life as a soldier from induction at Governor's Island in New York, to his training at Fort Adams in Rhode Island, his transfer to Fort Pickens at Pensacola, then to Tampa Bay.  The Mexican-American War began less than a year after he joined.

Corporal Ballantine served in the First Artillery Regiment, Company I.  The regiment was sent to Tampico, Mexico, as part of General Winfield Scott's invasion force.  In February 1847, the regiment has shipped south but did not land until March 9.  To George's surprise, the Mexicans did not contest the landing on the beaches south of Vera Cruz.  Assigned to General David "Old Davey" Twiggs Division, he took part in the siege of Vera Cruz, and the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec.

Where most of the memoirs of the war were written by officers (q.v., Lt. Francis Collins, Lt. Henry Benham, Lt. John Hollingsworth, Lt. Harvey Neville, Lt. Albert Brackett), this one was written by a man in the ranks.  As such, it has a very different point of view.  He discusses the discomforts of a soldier's life, the frequent waiting even during the heat of battle, the harsh punishments meted out by officers which contributed to the high desertion rate, the high mortality rate from illness, and the constant quest for alcohol.

Occasionally, he discusses the generals.  He indicates that the men liked Old Davey, but also knew he was not much of a strategist.  Had General Patterson not intervened to prevent it, Twiggs intended to throw his division into a frontal assault at Cerro Gordo.  The men knew it would result in heavy casualties, but Twiggs was raring to go.  When Scott arrived the following day, he sent scouts to find a way around the Mexican strong points.  The men knew that Scott was stingy with their lives, thus his popularity despite his Fuss and Feathers reputation.

Very readable and highly recommended.

Major Lally's March

Colonel Louis Wilson of North Carolina was preparing to lead a relief column of 1000 soldiers to General Scott, but he contracted yellow fever.  With Wilson incapacitated, the next ranking officer, Major Folliot Thornton Lally, took command.  The command was a hodgepodge of regiments: 2 companies of the 4th Infantry, 2 companies of the 5th Infantry, 1 company of the 11th Infantry, 3 companies of the 12th Infantry, 2 companies of the U. S. Voltigeurs, 1 company of the 2nd Artillery, 1 company of the Georgia Volunteers, and a company of Louisianna Mounted Volunteers.  Lally himself was from the 9th Infantry, which had departed with General Pierce more than three weeks earlier.

Paso de Ovejas

The column set out on August 6th.  The pace was slow and guerrillas were always nearby.  Stragglers were frequently captured or killed.  Many soldiers abandoned their knapsacks on the side of the road.  On the 10th, the column neared Paso de Ovejas when gunfire erupted.  Luckily, the enemy was out of range for small arms.  However, the front of the column was soon charged by light cavalry.  Cannons quickly broke their charge and sent them in flight.  Before Lally's forces could engage the men off the roadside, they had fled.  One American was killed.

National Bridge

On the 12th of August, the column arrived at the National Bridge, an impressive structure that spanned the Rio La Antigua.  When General Scott's Army came to the bridge in April, it was abandoned.  When General Pierce came to the bridge in July, a minor skirmish ensued before the guerrillas retreated.  For Major Lally, National Bridge proved to be a fight.  The guerrillas were dug in and ready to repel the Americans.  Thinking to dislodge them with cannon, the artillery was rolled forward.  However, the soldiers were caught in a hail of fire and had to abandon the guns.  Suddenly, the Americans were exposed and at threat of being overrun.  Fortunately, the guerrillas did not take the opportunity to rush the Americans.  A Prussian Baron who happened to be traveling with the army urgently advised an attack, offering to lead it.  Fording the river rather than crossing the bridge, the Americans dislodged the guerrillas and took possession of the fortifications.  The 6-hour battle cost eleven dead and forty wounded, some mortally.

Cerro Gordo

On the 15th, the column arrived at Cerro Gordo, where General Scott had shattered Santa Anna's army in the middle of April.  When General Pierce marched through a month earlier, he experienced only harassment on the fringes of his army.  By contrast, Lally found himself once again in a battle.  The guerrillas had occupied the fortifications on the hills and contested his column's advance.  As luck would have it, a veteran of the April battle was part of the column and offered useful intel.  Lally's force assaulted the three hill forts, capturing 2 cannons, and 9,000 rounds of musket ammunition.  The battle cost another 3 lives and 10 wounded.

Xalapa

On the 19th, Lally approached Xalapa.  Once again, the guerrillas had taken up a position to oppose his advance.  For once, the guerrillas had not taken an advantageous position.  The Americans quickly flanked the enemy and sent them running in the 20-minute skirmish.  Despite the brevity, two more soldiers were killed and half a dozen wounded.  Lally waited until the following day to occupy Xalapa.  His thousand man column was reduced to 700 effective soldiers, the rest were sick, wounded, or dead.  To make things worse, the Louisiana troops deserted almost in mass and returned to Vera Cruz.  Lally opted to secure his forces in Xalapa.

A month later, Captain Sam Walker rode into Xalapa and declared that Colonel Childs was under siege in Puebla.  The sieging force was said to be 4,000 strong.  Despite the numbers, Lally prepared to march.  To his great good fortune, General Lane arrived the following day.  Lally attached his forces to Lane's and the army marched to relieve the Siege of Puebla and give Santa Anna his final defeat of the war.

Lally's column served as reserves at the Battle of Huamantla - October 9th - and later accompanied General Lane's forces for the Action at Atlixco on October 19th.  In December, his column went to Mexico City and the hodgepodge of companies joined their regiments, successfully delivering the reinforcements he had brought.

USS Cyane: Workhorse of the Pacific Squadron

The USS Cyane was a 22-gun sloop-of-war with a complement of 200 crew that joined the US Navy in May 1838.  In 1845, the Cyane was dispatched to the Pacific Squadron.  At the time, this was a monumental voyage around South America.  It was not until January 1846 that she arrived at Mazatlan.  In February, Lt. Archibald Gillespie of the US Marines came aboard; he had secret messages to deliver to Commodore Sloat, US Consul Thomas O. Larkin, and John C. Fremont.  The Cyane departed Mazatlan and sailed to Monterey, California, by way of the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands.  Gillespie was left in Monterey in April.  By the end of the month, the Cyane was back in Mazatlan where it found an English rear admiral commanding a line-of-battle-ship and two additional ships of the British fleet.  Were the British keeping tabs on the Americans in this tense period between Mexico and the United States?

The Cyane again set out for Monterey in May and arrived in June.  On the 2nd of July, Commodore Sloat arrived on the flagship Savannah, a 54-gun frigate with a complement of 480 men.  Sloat had received word of the battles in Texas but dallied.  Finally, on July 7th, he ordered the capture of Monterey, the capital of Alta California.  Captain Mervine of the Cyane led the landing party that raised the US Flag over California.  The Pacific Squadron was officially in the war.

On July 14th, the USS Congress arrived in Monterey with Commodore Robert 'Fighting Bob' Stockton.  He replaced Commodore Sloat in command of the Pacific Squadron.  The following day, the HMS Collingwood, an 80-gun ship-of-the-line, arrived in Monterey.   Would the American capture of California have been so easy if the Collingwood had arrived a week earlier?

Captain Mervine was transferred to the Savannah and Captain Samuel Du Pont took command of the Cyane.  The Cyane also took aboard Lt. Col. John C. Fremont's California Battalion, providing transport to San Diego.  The Cyane captured a Mexican brig, the Juanita, before it could leave the harbor.  Fremont was let off at San Diego where that port was captured with similar efficiency as Monterey.  Alta California apparently settled, the Cyane set out for a cruise along the west coast of Mexico.

In August, she captured the Primavera.  In September, she blockaded the port of San Blas where she captured two additional ships: Solita and Susana.  Crossing to Baja California and the port of La Paz, the Cyane took control of 7 ships from the harbor, including the Baltimore-built Julia.  The Julia was quickly added to the Pacific Squadron.  Sailing further into the Gulf of California, she captured the Libertad and the Fortuna on the 1st of October.  The following day, she seized the Rosita.  Two days later, she captured the Chapita and the Alerto.  A raid on Guaymas destroyed three additional ships.

In November, the Cyane blockaded Mazatlan, but the ship ran out of supplies.  As the US had no Pacific ports, it depended on friendly ports or supply ships.  Sailing north once again, the Cyane found orders in San Francisco to join the squadron in retaking California; there had been a rebellion during the Cyane's absence.

In January 1847, she provided men for the recapture of Los Angeles, joining in the Battles of San Gabriel (Jan 8) and La Mesa (Jan 9).  Los Angeles was occupied the following day.  But the Cyane was not done with the war yet.

The Pacific Squadron had other duties than just the war and the Cyane went looking for pirates and protecting the US whaling fleet.  In November 1847, the Cyane joined the Congress and the Independence in the capture of Mazatlan.

The Cyane's final operation during the war was to relieve the siege at San Jose del Cabo (Baja California) in February 1848.  The Cyane remained in the region, relocating to Mazatlan.  On June 7th, while at the port of San Blas, the ship recieved word that the peace treaty was signed and the war was over.

No other ship in the US fleet on either coast saw so much action as the USS Cyane.  The ship remained active on the coasts of North and South America until she was decommissioned in 1871.

Dying before the War

In July 1845, Texas accepted annexation to the United States.  Coincident with this, General Zachary Taylor moved his Corps of Observation from Ft. Jessup - on the Texas-Louisianna border - to Corpus Christi, Texas on the Nueces River.  Though the Mexican government still didn't recognize Texas independence, it argued that the Nueces - not the Rio Grande - was the border for Tejas.  Taylor camped on the south side of the river, a clear statement that the US leaned toward Texas' claim that the Rio Grande was the border.

For the next nine months, the US Army of Occupation loitered in Corpus Christi.  Though there were certainly rumors that a Mexican Army would attack, such did not happen.  Even so, the army suffered a surprising number of casualties.  Of the 3,000 troops encamped, around 67 of them died while the army waited for the war to begin.  Most of them died from illness, a common killer for those in a new climate with unfamiliar hazards.  Quite a few died from chronic diarrhea, a few drown, one accidentally shot himself, and another was shot by a man named Springer.  One unfortunate officer, Lieutenant Henry Merrill, who had only just arrived at St. Joseph Island was killed when a ship's mast fell on him; Merrill had graduated West Point on July 1st and was killed less than 4 months later.  Nearly half of the soldiers that died were from Europe: fourteen Irishmen, seven Germans, three Englishmen, three Scots, a Prussian, a Pole, a Swiss, and a Canadian died a long way from home.  Oddly, the 2nd Dragoon Regiment suffered the most deaths: 18.  The 4th Infantry lost a dozen men and the 3rd lost 11.

Steamship Dayton

Corpus Christi Bay was quite shallow and could not accommodate the supply ships.  Thus, supplies were deposited on St. Joseph Island, one of the line of coastal islands on the Texas coast.  From there, riverboats would ferry the men and equipment across the bay - about 20 miles - to the camp.  One of those riverboats was the Dayton.

On September 12, 1845, the Dayton set out on the latest supply run.  Several officers and men from the army were aboard the ship.  2nd Lt. Ulysses S. Grant, who served as a quartermaster in the 4th Infantry, declined to join them.  Captain George Crossman, who was the Chief Quartermaster, was aboard.  The Dayton was somewhat more than halfway to its destination when the boiler exploded.  Bodies tumbled through the air.  Lt. Benjamin Berry and Lt. Thadeus Higgins - both from the 4th Infantry - were killed instantly.  As the boat sank, the other boiler exploded.  There were 8 dead and 17 injured.  Two of the injured died soon afterwards.  Captain Crossman survived with minor injuries.  Captain West, who commanded the Dayton, had been severely scalded and died shortly after the disaster.

In January 1846, Taylor was ordered to move the army to the Rio Grande.  The march began on March 8th.  Those who were too ill to march were left in Corpus Christi.  By the middle of April, 4 more had died.  Approximately 2% of Taylor's troops died while camped.  This was only a hint of what was to come.  In the Mexican-American War, disease killed vastly more soldiers than muskets, cannons, swords, and bayonets.

Archibald Gillespie, USMC

In Dream West, Marine Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie arrived at John C. Fremont's camp in Oregon to relay verbal orders from the president.  Moments later, he was killed in an Indian attack.  This is a rewrite of history.

Gillespie was born in New York in 1812 and joined the Marines in 1832.  In October 1845, President Polk provided him with secret messages for Commodore Sloat of the Pacific Squadron, US Consul Thomas O. Larkin (based in Monterrey, California), and John C. Fremont.  He sailed to Vera Cruz, arriving on December 10th.  His efforts to cross the country were hindered by the latest uprising.  However, he crossed the country and arrived in Mazatlán.  In late February, he was picked up by an American ship on the west coast of Mexico and made his way to Monterrey, California.  Having delivered his messages to both Sloat and Larkin, he then went in search of Fremont.

Fremont had been ejected from California by General Castro and was near Kamath Lake in Oregon, which is where Gillespie found him.  No sooner had Gillespie arrived with his secret message than Fremont marched back into California.  Little did they know, the war had begun with the Thornton Affair almost 2 weeks earlier.  The Bear Flag Revolt took place on June 14th and Commodore Robert "Fighting Bob" Stockton raised the US flag on July 18.  Los Angeles surrendered on August 13th, thus concluding the initial conquest of California.

Captain Gillespie was named military commandant of the southern district.  He had 48 men to hold Los Angeles.  This might have been fine if he had not imposed martial law.  The locals soon rose in rebellion.  The American forces were soon under siege at Fort Moore Hill.  By the end of September, Gillespie surrendered and marched to the coast, leaving Los Angeles to the Californios.  An initial effort to retake the city with the help of the US Navy failed.  The Navy transported Gillespie and his men to San Diego.

In early December, news arrived that General Kearny was nearby.  Stockton sent a detachment under Gillespie to escort him the rest of the way to San Diego.  Gillespie arrived with 40 men and a field gun.  After his long march, Kearny was itching for a fight.  He had traveled from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to California without a shot fired.  So it was that the weary Dragoons charged to battle against fresh Californio lancers who knew the terrain much better and whose lances were not rendered useless by the rain.  The Californios recognized Gillespie from his tyrannical rule in Los Angeles and targeted him.  He was lanced in the chest, puncturing a lung.

Despite the disastrous battle, the column arrived in San Diego on December 12th.  Despite his injuries, Gillespie was well-enough to ride north the following month.  He was again wounded during the battle to retake Los Angeles.  On January 10, 1847, Gillespie was called upon to raise the US Flag, the very one he had hauled down in September.

Gillespie remained with the Marines until 1854.  He died in San Francisco in 1873.

Though most of this falls outside the story that Dream West tells, Gillespie should not have been killed off.  Though Fremont's party was attacked by Indians and also 'got even' with them soon after, Gillespie was not one of the fatalities.  Gillespie should have been yet another cameo, like Jim Bridger or Tom Fitzpatrick.

Stephen Watts Kearny

In Dream West (1986), Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearny is cast as the villain.  In the first episode of the miniseries, an animus is established between Kearny and Fremont.  Fremont requested a cannon for his expedition, which Kearny reluctantly provided.  In conversation, Kearny asked what year Fremont graduated West Point.  Fremont did not attend West Point.  Kearny clearly looks down on him for this failing.  That is peculiar since Kearny was not a West Point graduate either.  In fact, though both had attended college, neither managed to complete their degrees.  In the second episode, Kearny and Fremont clash about who is in charge in California.  In the final episode, Kearny is a witness at Fremont's court martial, a court martial instigated by Kearny.  His final appearance in the series is to plead for forgiveness from Jessie Benton Fremont before he died from Yellow Fever.  Kearny deserved better.

Stephen Watts Kearny was born in 1794.  He dropped out of Columbia to join the Army when the War of 1812 began.  He was captured at the Battle of Queenstown.  His bravery at that battle earned him the rank of Captain.  After the war, Kearny stayed with the army and was posted on the frontier.

In 1819, he was part of the Yellowstone Expedition.  The expedition failed spectacularly, getting bogged down in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  The following year, he was part of another expedition, this one exploring and mapping the territory between Council Bluffs and Fort Snelling (Minneapolis, MN).

In 1825, Major Kearny was part of General Atkinson's Rocky Mountain Expedition.  Nearly 500 troops traveled from Fort Atkinson (Omaha, NE) up the Missouri River, replicating Lewis and Clark's travels.

The following year, he supervised the building of Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, where none other than William Clark lived.  Kearny courted and married William Clark's step-daughter, Mary Radford.

In 1833, Lt. Colonel Kearny was made second in command of the newly formed 1st Dragoon Regiment, based in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  In 1836, he rose to Colonel and became the commander of the 1st Dragoons.

With all this western experience, it is unsurprising that Brigadier General Kearny was made commander of the Army of the West when the Mexican-American War was declared.  His westward march was surprisingly uneventful.  He captured Santa Fe, New Mexico without firing a shot.  He then set out for California, unaware that Commodore Stockton and Lt. Col. Fremont had already captured it.  He learned of those events when he met Kit Carson on the road.  Based on Carson's reports, Kearny sent two-thirds of his men back to Santa Fe and continued to California.  By the time he arrived, the state was in rebellion.

The Battle of San Pasqual

Having learned of a band of Californios in the area, Kearny decided to attack.  However, his men were poorly mounted; they had just suffered a trek across the southwestern deserts.  The rain made the gunpowder damp and surprise had been lost.  The Dragoons charged in a ragged line.  By contrast, the Californios had excellent horses and were armed with lances.  The Dragoons were no match and only the presence of a cannon saved them.

Kearny thus arrived in San Diego with a pitiful and beaten force.  Compared to Fremont's California Battalion and Stockton's sailors and marines, Kearny was all bark and no bite.  He conceded command to Stockton and joined in the retaking of Los Angeles.  When Stockton sailed away and Commodore Shubrick took over the Pacific fleet, Kearny made his move for command.  The Mormon Battalion and New York volunteers arrived to give him the biggest army in California.  He had been sent to take California and he outranked Fremont.  Fremont continued to balk and earned himself a court martial.

Fremont's court martial lasted 3 months, concluding in February 1848.  Afterwards, Kearny was sent to Mexico as military governor of Vera Cruz and then Mexico City.  He contracted Yellow Fever and was sent home.  He died in St. Louis in October, 1848.

Fremont put Kearny in an impossible situation.  Should he have just endured insubordination?  Certainly not.  In the best of times, Kearny was known to be difficult.  He was a harsh man who made few friends.  This is not the sort of soldier to forgive and forget.  On the other hand, Fremont was a national hero.  President Polk attempted to split the difference by nixing the punishment while affirming the verdict.

Dream West (Part 2)

John Charles Fremont (Richard Chamberlain) finished his expedition by testing a raft on the river.  Loading all the gear and valuable data into inflatable boat, the explores raft back toward civilization.  Unfortunately, they were not ready for the rapids.  Much of the equipment is lost but the records are recovered. Back home, it is now time to write the report, but Fremont finds he has not talent for it.  Jessie (Alice Krige) gladly takes over.  She has a talent for making the report readable.  When the book is published, it proves to be a great success.  During a celebratory dinner, Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft suggested that Fremont should travel to California on his next expedition and be ready for war between the United States and Mexico.  However, no written orders were provided.

With Kit Carson (Rip Torn) at his side, Fremont set out on his 3rd Expedition.  Once in California, his wanderings drew the ire of General Castro.  Fremont was ordered out of the state.  While in Oregon, a Marine Lieutenant, Archibald Gillespie (Johnathan Frakes), arrived.  Fremont needed to get back to California, but there are still no written orders.  Soon, Fremont is nudging American settlers to overthrow the California Government, infuriating John Sutter (Jerry Orbach).  The Bear Flag Republic is born.  Only weeks later, the US Navy raised the US flag over California.  Eager to report the success to Washington, Fremont sent Kit east with dispatches.  On the way, Kit encountered General Stephen Watts Kearny (G D Spradlin) heading toward California with his column of US Dragoons.  Kearny roped Kit into leading the column back to California.  When Kearny arrived in California, he immediately clashed with Fremont.  Fremont declined to follow Kearny's orders; after all, Commodore Robert Stockton was in charge of California.

In Washington, Jessie sought help for her husband.  Bancroft denied any orders for Fremont to topple California.  When she met with President Polk (Noble Willingham), he was equally adamant that no such orders were conveyed.  Unsurprisingly, Kearny placed Fremont under arrest for mutiny and marched him east for an eventual court martial.

This episode gets several things wrong.  Firstly, Lt. Gillespie is killed during an Indian attack.  This came as a real shock when I watched it, as I thought it was going to be fun to have Commander William Riker of Star Trek play second fiddle again.  Nope, he's barely arrived when he is killed.  In truth, Gillespie was second in command of the California Battalion during the conquest.  He survived the war.  Polk is portrayed more like Andrew Jackson.  Polk was quite mild, letting folks convince themselves that he agreed with them by being pleasant.  Here, he denounced Jessie for implying that he sent Fremont to conquer California.  The initial conquest of California saw almost no fighting whereas this has a montage of battles as Fremont leads his men from town to town, guns blazing and cannon firing.  Senator Benton (Fritz Weaver) is still avoiding his daughter more than 5 years after her marriage.  In fact, the ostracism was quite brief, but it is ongoing throughout this chapter.

As with the previous episode, there are numerous historical figures beyond those already mentioned who get cameos: Tom Fitzpatrick, General Jose Castro, Ezekial Merritt, and Sagundai.  For a TV production, it is quite immersive of the period.

Recommended.

Lt. Charles Hunter: Court Martial!

General Quitman had marched his brigade through unpleasant terrain to achieve a joint capture of Alvarado with the Navy under Commodore Perry.  However, upon arriving at the outskirts of Alvarado, he was startled to find the stars and stripes flying over the fortress.  In fact, the city was already captured and Quitman's march had been for naught.

With the fall of Vera Cruz, the troops at Alvarado had foreseen an inevitable loss to an American assault.  If Vera Cruz had fallen, Alvarado was doomed.  The garrison had marched away as soon as an American ship was spotted off the coast, evacuating with whatever war material it could.

For having captured 4 Mexican ships and captured two Mexican towns, Lt. Charles Hunter was court martialed.  He had arrived in the theater less than a week prior.  The charges pressed against him were 1) Treating with contempt his superior, and 2) disobedience of orders.  On the first, he had captured Alvarado without the authority to do so, he had captured Tlacotalpan without authority, and finally he had captured and burned a ship without authority.  On the second, he had been ordered to report to Captain Breese and assist in the blockade, not enter the harbor to capture the town.  Lastly, he failed to report in person to Commodore Perry at 10 AM.

Hunter's defense to the charges was that he had little choice.  When the enemy offers a white flag, what was he supposed to do?  Decline to accept the surrender?  When news of escaping ships came his way and he was not in immediate contact with his superior, what should he do?  Let them go?  Regarding the grounded ship, should he have left the cargo for the enemy to salvage?  When he arrived at Tlacolplan, should he have left the enemy ships at the port and declined the surrender of this town?  As for being late, he admitted to forgetting the appointment.

The findings were that he was guilty on both counts though not all the specifics.  He was therefore reprimanded and dismissed from the theater.  For an ambitious officer, this was a heavy blow.  Promotion and advancement, glory and distinction were won during conflicts.  He was sent back to the US to find out what would become of his career.

Though his immediate commanders did not appreciate his energy and flouting of command, the American public was more forgiving.  He was greeted as the hero of the hour in New York and presented a sword.  He gained the name of "Alvarado" Hunter.  In August 1847, he was given command of the schooner Taney and sent to the Mediterranean.

Lt. Charles Hunter: Scourge of Alvarado

As the Mexican-American War was underway, the US Navy needed more ships.  It purchased the USS Bangor and rechristened it as the USS Scourge, a gunboat.  Lt. Charles Hunter, then 37 years-old, was given command and sent to join the fleet in the Gulf of Mexico.  He arrived on station on the day that Veracruz had surrendered.  He reported to Commadore Matthew Perry, who had recently taken over from Commadore Conner.

Commadore Perry had been serving as second in command for several months.  Now that Veracruz was secured, he had plans to capture less important ports, most notably Alvarado.  The US Navy had already made two efforts to capture the well-fortified port but had to retreat each time.  He had consulted with General Winfield Scott about a joint operation to capture Alvarado.  It was only a 30-mile march from Veracruz.  Scott agreed and allocated General Quitman's brigade to help capture Alvarado.  With this in mind, Perry ordered Lt. Hunter to Alvarado where he was to report to Captain Breese of the Albany.  There, he would maintain the blockade of that port.  Lt. Hunter eagerly set out.

The Scourge was a steamer with only 3 guns and 50 men.  Arriving at Alvarado, Hunter saw no sign of the Albany.  The Albany was a sloop-of-war, having only sails for propulsion.  The wind along the gulf coast had presented difficulties for staying on station.  Certain that the Albany would appear in a day or two, the Scourge took up a position off the coast and fired at the fort.  The following day, he resumed his bombardment only to have the fort surrender!  Both pleased and astonished, he navigated into the port and demanded that Alvarado surrender.  The city complied immediately.  One of Hunter's crew was fluent in Spanish and learned that the garrison had fled after the bombardment, departing with several ships as well as military equipment.  Hunter left a midshipman and several sailors to hold the fort at Alvarado and immediately steamed upriver.

Shortly, he caught one of the ships.  It had run aground.  Viewing it as not worthy of salvage but also not wanting it left to the enemy, he set it ablaze.  Continuing his cruise, he captured 3 ships and secured the surrender of Tlacotalpan, a town on the Papaloapan River.  He put prize crews on the captured ships and returned to Alvarado.

When Commadore Perry received word of Lt. Hunter's exploits, he decided how to proceed in a snap.  Here was a man who had accomplished with one small ship what the whole fleet had failed to do on two previous occasions.  Clearly, this called for a court-martial!

USS Spitfire on the Panuco River

In November 1846, the US Navy moved to capture the Mexican port city of Tampico.  This proved easier than might be expected, as Santa Ana had ordered the troops withdrawn.  He was assembling his grand army at San Luis Potosi; he wanted to concentrate every soldier and cannon he could gather to use them against General Taylor's weakened force in the north.  That battle - Buena Vista - was still three months in the future.  Having captured Tampico, Commodore Perry soon discovered that many cannon and other military supplies had been evacuated upriver.

Most US Navy vessels were not suited to riverine use.  However, the USS Spitfire had been commissioned by the Mexican government before the war.  Only days after the war began, the US seized it and sent it to the theater.  As a sidewheel steamer with light draft, it was perfect for use along the gulf coast and traveling upriver.  As such, the Spitfire was dispatched to find the missing cannon.

Commander Josiah Tattnall steamed up the Panuco River on November 18, 1846.  He was joined by the Schooner Petrel, another Mexican ship that had been captured and now served the US Navy.  His crew was reinforced with twenty marines and a dozen sailors.  It was approximately 80 miles to Panuco and they had not reached the port by nightfall.  The next morning, the Spitfire and Petrel arrived.  It was clear they were expected though the city did not put up a fight.  The cannons discovered, Tattnall had nine 18-pound cannons destroyed and the ammunition tossed into the river.  They sailed off with a 24-pound gun and lots of grape and cannister shot.  Tattnall's mission may have diminished the number of cannon that Santa Ana had available.

The Spitfire saw further action in Veracruz, Tuxpan, Alvarado, and Tabasco.  However, at the end of the war in 1848, it was sold.

Seeing as Panuco was easily accessible by the US Navy, it is no surprise that Colonel DeRussy chose to reroute there rather than risk his intended path back to Tampico.

Escape After Dark: The Skirmish of Tantoyuca

As General Santa Ana marched north toward General Taylor's forces in February 1847, his army captured a number of scouting parties.  These captives were marched back to Mexico City, where they would wait for exchange or sit out the war.  In April 1847, Santa Ana clashed with General Winfield Scott at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.  It was a tremendous defeat for the Mexicans, resulting in a large portion of the army being captured by the Americans.  Not having the ability to house so many captives, the Americans gladly offered them in exchange for American captives.

In June 1847, a column of American POWs were marched toward Tampico as the soldiers to be exchanged.  Upon reaching Huejutla, the march was halted.  General Garay declared that the paperwork was wrong.  In fact, Santa Ana didn't want any Americans returned.  However, six of the prisoners escaped and successfully arrived at Tampico in July.  Learning the story of these men, Colonel Gates - commander of the troops at Tampico - outfitted an expedition to retrieve the rest of the prisoners.  He chose Colonel Lewis DeRussy to lead it.

DeRussy departed Tampico on the 8th of July, 1847, and marched without incident down the coast and then into the interior.  He explained his mission to the various authorities he met along the way and was not harassed.  The expedition arrived in Tantoyuca on the 11th.  DeRussy had about 120 men in his command.  There were 35 Maryland Dragoons under Captain James Boyd, 34 artillerymen of the 3rd Artillery under Captain Francis Wyse, 44 soldiers of the Louisiana Volunteers under Captains Russell Mace and Bornt Seguine, and a dozen citizens who styled themselves as the Tampico Rangers.  The column had only one artillery piece, a six-pound cannon.

The Battle of Rio Calabozo

On the morning of the 12th, the column set out for Huejutla.  DeRussy had Boyd's Dragoons in the van, about 200 yards ahead of the main party.  During the march, an Indian revealed that there was an ambush awaiting them at the Calabozo River.  DeRussy dispatched Lt. Lindenberger to warn Boyd but it was too late.  Musket fire erupted from the other side of the Calabozo, killing Capt. Boyd and several others.  Even on their side of the river, gunfire came from the trees on either side.  The Americans counterattacked, the Louisiana Volunteers splitting to the right and left to the treeline while Captain Wyse's artillery pounded away at the Mexican troops on the otherside of the river.  While the Americans were engaged, Mexican lancers fell upon the baggage train and rode off with most of the provisions.  A bugle sounded and the Mexicans withdrew.

The Skirmish of Tantoyuca

Though DeRussy inflicted more casualties than he suffered, there was no question of continuing.  Captain Wyse only had 3 rounds left for the cannon and most of the baggage was gone.  The retreat proved to be a running skirmish.  Upon returning to Tantoyuca - which had been quite friendly when they left that morning, they found Mexican lancers and soldiers standing ready for battle.  DeRussy marched toward the waiting force then let Captain Wyse blast a hole in the Mexican line.  The cannon proved decisive, and the Americans soon captured Tantoyuca.  The men scoured the town for powder and ammunition, managing to assemble some makeshift cannister rounds for the cannon.

Sometime after dark, an officer from General Garay approached.  He demanded the surrender of the American force, explaining how hopeless their situation was.  DeRussy refused and had his men settle in for the night.  It had not escaped his notice that many Mexican soldiers had headed north along the road the Americans had traveled from Tampico; clearly, there was another ambush being readied.

At 2 AM and during a heavy rainstorm, the Americans departed.  Opting to avoid the presumed ambush, they took the road toward Panuco.  As after his shipwreck, DeRussy had once again escaped an encircling force after dark.  Though the column suffered further attacks along the way, the Mexican forces came to respect the devastating effects of the cannon and avoided open engagements.  Once in Panuco, DeRussy sent for a relief column which Colonel Gates sent.

The expedition lost 11 killed and 6 missing and presumed dead.  Lt. Tannehill, one of Boyd's Dragoons, had been mortally wounded and could not be transported.  They left him in Tantoyuca; he died 2-weeks later in Huejutla.

Escape After Dark: The Wreck of the Ondiaka

At the end of January 1847, a regiment of Louisiana Volunteers set out for the Mexican War aboard the Ondiaka.  The ship stopped along the Texas coast, where many of General Taylor's veteran troops were being assembled for transport to Veracruz.  The ship then went to Tampico, a Mexican port city that had been captured a couple of months prior.  The next stop would be Isla de Lobos, where the fleet had an interim concentration point.  Unfortunately, the Ondiaka didn't make it.

Shipwrecked near the Mexican coast, four companies of Louisiana volunteer regiment and the crew of the Ondiaka struggled to shore without losing anyone.  However, only 100 or so functional muskets and a week's worth of provisions made it ashore.  Colonel Lewis De Russy had the men setup a perimeter.  Soon, Mexican peasants and fishermen were scouting the camp and offering assistance.  Or were they?  Not much later, Mexican soldiers under command of General Cos encircled the American position.

General Cos was a veteran of the Texas campaign of 1835 and 1836.  He had been marching to relieve Santa Ana at San Jacinto but arrived too late.  Since then, he had been relegated to a command in Tuxpam.  Here was an opportunity.  He demanded the American surrender.

Colonel De Russy requested until the following morning to provide his answer, which Cos allowed.  The men lit campfires for the night.  Then, around midnight, De Russy marched his command north, avoiding any of General Cos' pickets.  They had left most of their baggage on the beach, only taking what would aid in their escape.

Meanwhile, news of the wreck of the Ondiaka had reached Tampico and a rescue mission was launched.  A navy ship found and burned the Ondiaka so as to deny it to the Mexicans.  The rescue mission intercepted the Louisiana Volunteers and escorted them the rest of the way to Tampico.  Only 6 men were lost.

The wreck of the Ondiaka left De Russy and his men in Tampico.  They did not join the landings at Veracruz that happened the following month.  Instead, they were garrisoned in Tampico.  Had De Russy missed the war on account of the shipwreck?  Maybe not.

The Mormon Battalion

In 1846, the United States went to war with Mexico.  President Polk brushed off his plans for how the war should go.  One of his plans was to dispatch General Stephen Watts Kearney to secure New Mexico and California.  While he was arranging this, he met Mr. Jesse Little.  Little was a Mormon who looked for governmental assistance for the Mormon migration to the Great Salt Lake.  This was timely.  Polk needed more Americans headed west just then and proposed that the Mormons raise a battalion to join the Army of the West under Kearney.  Little eagerly agreed and set out for Iowa, where the Mormons were currently encamped.  Soon thereafter, James Allen of the First Dragoons met with Brigham Young to discuss the details.  Five companies - approximately 500 men - were recruited and set out for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

As with most volunteer units, the Mormons elected their officers from among them.  Of course, Colonel Allen remained as the overall commander.  He had several other US Army officers as part of his staff, notably Lt. AJ Smith and Lt. Stoneman.  Allen's death at Fort Leavenworth left command of the battalion in confusion.  Captain Jefferson Hunt of Company A was now the highest-ranking officer.  Lt. Smith noted that he was still only a volunteer with no real rank in the US military, which meant Smith was in command.  The various officers didn't much like that reasoning, but Smith got his way on account of being able to control government funds.  He was not a popular commander.

The battalion commenced its march on August 12, 1846.  They arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico between October 9th and October 12.  The city had already been captured by Kearney and was currently governed by Colonel Doniphan of the First Missouri Mounted Volunteers.  News returned from General Kearney that Colonel Philip St. George Cooke would take command of the battalion as it blazed a wagon road to California.  Cooke found many of the recruits to be in poor condition and mustered them out of service.  The remaining troops began the grueling trek across the southwestern desert.

As the men had sent their clothing allowance back to Iowa to aid in the support of their families, the men only had the clothes in which they arrived.  After so long a march, their clothes - especially footwear - were in poor condition.  Soldiers fashioned makeshift shoes out of hides and otherwise unwearable clothing.  Thirst and hunger were constant companions and the labor was intense.  At times, the men had to help the mules drag wagons through deep sands and at other times they had to hew a path through a rocky canyon.

On the 27th of January, the Mormon Battalion spotted the Pacific Ocean near what is now Oceanside.  The battle for California was already won.  The Battalion found itself on garrison duty until the end of their enlistment.  The men had enlisted for 1 year.  When that year was up, the governor and General Kearney urged them to re-enlist.  The Mormons had been exemplary soldiers.  However, fewer than 100 chose to enlist for another year.  Most of the rest set out for Salt Lake City.  Many found themselves in what would soon be the gold fields of California.

BH Roberts was a prolific writer on Mormon topics.  He addressed the Mormon Battalion in this 1919 book.  It is a quick read that hits the highlights without going into much depth.  An excellent summary that provides a good overview of the Mormon Battalion and its service in the Mexican-American War.  Recommended.

Elisha Kane, Arctic Explorer

During the Mexican-American War, Albert Brackett was a lieutenant in an Indiana Volunteer regiment under the command of General Joseph Lane.  In December of 1847, while garrisoned in Puebla, Bracket met Dr. Elisha Kane of the US Navy.  Kane had been escorted by the Spy Battalion (Mexicans who fought for the US and were used to counter the guerrillas that lurked along the national highway) and even found himself in a confrontation with guerrillas.  While Colonel Dominguez, leader of the Spy Battalion, wanted to shoot the captured guerrillas, Kane convinced him to turn them over to the regular army in Puebla.  In addition to saving them from being shot, Dr. Kane saved the life of one of the injured captives.  Interesting, but why does Brackett make a point of mentioning a random courier who passed through Puebla?  By the time Brackett wrote his memoir, Kane was famous.

Elisha Kane graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1842 and joined the US Navy the following year as an assistant surgeon.  He sailed the world aboard the USS Brandywine, having a variety of adventures but nothing to earn him fame.  Not long after his return to the US, he requested that Secretary of State James Buchanan send him as an envoy to Mexico City during the war.  Thus, in the Fall of 1847, he was dispatched with a message to General Winfield Scott.

After the war, he was back to regular naval service.  Of course, the issue of the time was what happened to Sir John Franklin's expedition in the Arctic?  Lady Jane Franklin had appealed to President Zachary Taylor to help find her missing husband.  However, the US Congress was clearly not keen on buying ships for such a task.  In stepped Henry Grinnell, a successful American merchant.  He purchased two brigs - the Rescue and the Advance - and loaned them to the US government.  Elisha Kane was the chief medical officer of the expedition.  On this first expedition, the graves of three of Sir John's crewmen were discovered, but no more.

Upon his return, Kane spoke about his arctic travels to many groups and eventually wrote a book about the Grinnell Expedition.  In 1853, Grinnell funded a second expedition and Kane was given command of the USS Advance.  This time, he pressed further north, providing a path for future explorers to reach the north pole.  He returned in October of 1855, still having failed to find Sir John Franklin.  Even so, he was hailed as a hero.  He traveled to England to report his failure to find Sir John to Lady Jane Franklin.

Kane had never had the best constitution.  He had originally set out to be a civil engineer, but his health argued against it.  Thus, he switched to medical school.  Despite his physical ailments, he again pursued an active career.  He had contracted coast fever (probably malaria) in Africa during his time on the Brandywine, forcing him to return to the US to recover.  After the 2nd Grinnell Expedition, his health was once again failing.  He went to Havana to recover.  He died there in February 1857.  He was only 37.

Capt. Samuel H. Walker, Texas Ranger

In 1882, Edmund Dana wrote a brief biography of one of the most famous Texas Rangers: Samuel Hamilton Walker.  Though born in Maryland, Walker set out south in his late teens.  He became an Indian fighter and scout in both Alabama and Florida before heading to Texas in 1842.  He was immediately involved in the ongoing conflict with Mexico.  Captured during a battle in Meir, he spent the next two years as a captive in Mexico.  It is unsurprising that he eagerly joined General Taylor at the Rio Grande in 1846.  His exploits won him national fame.  After the capture of Monterrey, he went east to recruit soldiers in Maryland.  He returned in time to join General Winfield Scott's march into Mexico.  After Mexico City was captured, Walker and his men ranged near and around Perote, hunting for guerillas and protecting supply wagons.  In October of 1847, he joined General Lane's brigade as it marched to relieve a siege at Puebla.  On the way, they learned of Santa Anna's forces in Huamantla.  As was his custom, Walker charged in the vanguard but was taken down by a sniper's bullet.

The biography is extremely brief and fails to mention Walker's meeting with Sam Colt to help design what came to be the Walker Colt, a monster of a gun.  It was nearly five pounds, over a foot long, and fired a .44 caliber ball.  This has been the official handgun of Texas since 2021.  Doubtless, Chuck Norris' Ranger Cordell Walker drew inspiration from Sam Walker.

Too short but still entertaining and educational.   

General Pierce's March

In 1852, noted author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a glowing biography of Franklin Pierce, then a candidate for president.  Pierce was a successful New Hampshire lawyer, a stalwart Democrat, and had been a Brigadier General during the Mexican War.  Hawthorne dedicates two chapters of the biography to Pierce's war service, which proves to be as hagiographic as the rest of the biography.  However, the most interesting part was that Hawthorne included Pierce's war journal.

The war journal begins when Pierce arrived in Vera Cruz at the end of June, 1847, when yellow fever was in full bloom.  He camped outside the city to avoid the disease and spent his days trying to gather the needed mules to transport his reinforcement army to Puebla, where he was to rendezvous with General Winfield Scott.  Though expecting to only take a few days, it was nearly 3 weeks before his troops departed, and then at a snail's pace.  Throughout the march, his army was repeatedly harassed by guerillas.  The guerillas would vanish into the countryside when the Americans sought to counterattack.  At the National Bridge, the guerillas setup a blockade and looked to be prepared for a battle.  Once again, when the Americans leapt the barricades, the guerillas fled.  The next bridge, an old Spanish stone bridge that had spanned a deep crevasse for more than a century, had been blasted apart.  Were the Americans now stuck?  No, Pierce declared that Yankee ingenuity would overcome and by the following day they had built their own route a few hundred yards further down the water way.  Named for the man that engineered it, Captain Caldwell Road saw Pierce's Brigade back on track with only a day's delay.  Pierce camped near Xalapa for a few days before continuing to Perote Castle.  There, he met Captain Samuel Walker, Texas Ranger.  It was the first of August.

Though only about halfway to Puebla, the journal ends here.  Perhaps this was as much of it as Pierce provided to Hawthorne.  Despite my extensive reading of the Mexican-American War, this is the only account I have found of Pierce's march inland.  Despite many skirmishes with hundreds of guerillas at a time, Pierce was never able to pin them down to have a proper battle.  Thus, his march is largely forgotten by historians.  Or I just haven't found the book that details it yet.

Only for the hardcore history nerds.

The War with Mexico, Volume II

In the second volume of The War with Mexico, Justin H Smith opens with a discussion of Mexican politics.  The country had been ill-managed since its founding and had succeeded in chasing its entrepreneurial, wealth-generating class back to Spain.  The country had been stripped of most wealth, with the exception of the Catholic Church.  Unable to secure loans thanks to its long history of financial mismanagement, the government looked to plunder the church.

Meanwhile, Winfield Scott landed his army virtually unopposed on the beaches south of Veracruz.  Over the next 7 months, Scott's relatively small army trekked across Mexico in a path not unlike Hernan Cortes.  Veracruz was pounded into submission with artillery by early March.  Santa Anna was once again sent retreating to Mexico City after the Battle of Cerro Gordo in April.  Though some of his generals argued for an immediate assault into the capitol, Scott wanted more troops, supplies, and money.  The campaign stalled until August when he resumed his march to Mexico City and captured it.

The differing viewpoints of the Americans and the Mexicans is one of the more interesting parts of the book.  Where the Americans would willingly halt after a victory to discuss peace, the Mexicans - especially Santa Anna - viewed this as just an opportunity to rebuild his shattered army and somehow appropriate more money to take another crack at defeating the Americans.  Nicholas Trist, the plenipotentiary minister for the United States, had many conferences during the lulls in fighting and nothing ever emerged.  It was not until the Americans captured and occupied Mexico City and Santa Anna was forced to flee the country that real peace talks could take place.

Where the first chapter discussed politics in Mexico City, the final chapters look at the politics of Washington, from financing the war to lobbying for or against it, to international relations regarding it.  The overwhelming victory by American forces was in spite of, rather than thanks to, the machinations of DC.  Polk had wanted an inexpensive war but the costs grew rapidly and the Congress was not eager to provide funding, thus explaining Scott's halting advance.  Arguments about how much of Mexico to annex ran the gamut from virtually nothing to all of Mexico.  Polk himself was leaning toward a much larger chunk than was ultimately secured if only to justify the expense.  However, Trist's unauthorized treaty - though not to Polk's liking - was an opportunity to end the war as soon as possible.  As for international relations, Mexico had not won itself the allies it had expected because it had so often reneged on loans and harassed foreign merchants.  The US earned grudging respect for winning what many - even Lord Wellington! - thought was an unwinnable campaign.

Of particular note, Smith paints a picture that is mostly approving of the US arguments for the war.  The US invasion of the 1840s for unpaid debts was not unique. France invaded during the Pastry War of 1838 and again during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867), which initially saw Great Britain and Spain as French allies.  Smith argues that Mexico brought most of its troubles upon itself.

The final chapters are dreary reading.  Where the marches of Taylor and Scott offered a strong narrative that drew the reader along, the jump among various politicians and their disparate goals was often hard to follow and not very interesting.  However, the footnoting is spectacular and so expansive as to make one wonder how one man could have gone through so much material for this work.  Of course, he won the Pulitzer Prize for The War with Mexico.

Recommended.