About noon the next day, near a clump of tall trees at a spot called Palo Alto, he saw across the open prairie a long dark line with bayonets and lances glistening in the sun. Jacob Brown, he set off May 1 with the bulk of his forces for Point Isabel, where he stayed nearly a week strengthening his fortifications.Īfter loading two hundred supply wagons and acquiring two more ox-drawn 18-pounders, he began the return march to Fort Texas with his army of about 2,300 men on the afternoon of May 7. Leaving an infantry regiment and a small detachment of artillery at Fort Texas under Maj. His immediateĬoncern was that his supply base might be captured. Taylor reported to President Polk that hostilities had commenced and called on Texas and Louisiana for about 5,000 militiamen. They killed eleven men and captured Thornton and the rest, many of whom were wounded. The Mexicans crossed the river in some force and attacked a reconnoitering detachment of sixty dragoons under Capt. These were countered by threats and warnings and on April 25, the day after the arrival at Matamoros of General Mariano Arista with two or three thousand additional troops, by open hostilities. At the same time he sent messages of peace to the MexicanĬommander on the opposite bank. Taylor built a strong fort, which he called Fort Texas, and mounted his siege guns. siege guns from his ships.Īt the boiling brown waters of the Rio Grande opposite Matamoros, Sending the bulk of his army ahead, Taylor went to Point Isabel to set up his supply base, fill his wagons, and bring forward four 18-lb. On March 23 the columns came to a road that forked left to Point Isabel, ten miles away on the coast, where Taylor’s supply ships were waiting, and led on the right to his destination on the Rio Grande, eighteen miles southwest, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoros. Taylor’s supply train of 300 ox-drawn wagons brought up the rear. It was the last word in mobility, for the cannoneers rode on horseback rather than on limbers and caissons. Samuel Ringgold’s battery of "flying artillery," organized in late 1838 on orders from Secretary of War Joel R. The march of more than a hundred miles down the coast to the Rio Grande was led by Bvt. Mexico led large armies during the American Civil War. Grant, and Jefferson Davis, who thirteen years after the conflict in The Mexican War also proved to be a training ground for men likeīraxton Bragg, Robert E. The West Pointers vindicated themselves and the academy in General Scott later commented that without these officers the war would have Military Academy held a majority of fieldĪnd staff officer positions. Negotiations with the Mexican government had brokenī RAGG, L EE, G RANT, AND D AVIS IN THE M EXICAN W ARįor the first time in the Mexican War, graduates of the U.S. Then in February Taylor received orders from Washington to advance into disputed territory to the Rio Grande. For the next six months tactical drilling, horse breaking, and parades, interspersed with boredom and dissipation, A company of Texas Rangers served as the eyes and ears of the Army. This force constituted nearly 50 percent of the 7,365-strong Regular Army. By mid-October, as shipments of regulars continued to come in from all over the country, his forces had swollen to nearly 4,000, including some volunteersįrom New Orleans. Only his dragoons moved overland, via San Antonio. General Taylor selected a wide sandy plain at the mouth of the Nueces River near the hamlet of Corpus Christi and beginning July 23 sent most of his 1,500-man force by steamboat from New Zachary Taylor to move his forces from Fort Jesup on the Louisiana border to a point "on or near" the Rio Grande to repel any invasion from Mexico. In mid-June, nevertheless, anticipating Texas’ Fourth of July acceptance of annexation, he ordered Bvt. President Polk continued to hope that he could settle by negotiation Mexico’s claim to Texas and acquire Upper Californiaīy purchase as well. On March 1, 1845, Congress jointly resolved to admit Texas into the Union and the Mexican Government promptly broke off diplomatic relations. Polk had been elected to the Presidency in November 1844, President John Tyler interpreted the verdict as a mandate from the people for the annexation of Texas, since Polk had come out strongly in favor of annexation. Eceiving by the new telegraph the news that James K.
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