Puebla Tehuacán

War of American Intervention

The War of American Intervention was fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It was called the Mexican-American War. In the United States it was also known as the Mexican War, while in Mexico it was called the American invasion.

War between Mexico and the United States officially launched on May 13, 1846, confirmed by the United States Congress in "the law of war", and ended on February 2, 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. The first clash between troops from both countries began the day of April 25, 1846, in what is now the state of Tamaulipas. An American patrol of 63 men, led by Seth Thornton interned clearly in Mexican territory, they were ambushed by Mexican troops under the command of General Anastasio Torrejòn. With this Mexico gave the President of the United States, James Polk, the much-awaited occasion with which to declare war and under this pretext a chance to appropriate much coveted territories in Mexican Upper California and New México.

Background


This war was born of unresolved conflicts between Mexico and Texas. Having declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States in 1845, but the northern and southern borders of Texas remained in dispute during the life time of this republic. That same year tensions increased between the two countries over the territories when the U.S. government offered to pay the debt of Mexican Americans settlers, if Mexico allowed the U.S. to buy the territories of Upper California and New Mexico - a proposal that was rejected by the government of Mexico.

Declaration of War


The Government of the U.S. Stated that the limit of the southern border of Texas was the Rio Grande, the Mexican government maintained that this limit was the Nueces River. The then president James K. Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor and troops to establish between the two rivers. Taylor crosses the Nueces River, ignoring demands for withdrawal by Mexico, and marches toward the Rio Grande, where he began to build Fort Brown. The fighting began on April 24, 1846, when Mexican cavalry captured one of the units near the Rio Grande. After the first encounter at the border and the battles at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Polk requested a declaration of war, announcing the congress that Mexicans had "invaded its territory and shed American blood on the territory of the U.S.". The U.S. congress Declared war on May 13, 1846. The northerners and Whigs generally opposed the war while southerners and Democrats tended to give their support. Mexico declared war on May 23 of that same year.

The Battle


After the declarations of war, American forces invaded Mexican territory at various points. In the Pacific, a naval force commanded by John D. Sloat was to occupy California and reclaim it for the U.S. due to concerns that Britain would also try to occupy the area. He teamed up with English colonists in Northern California who had previously declared an independent republic of California and occupied several key cities. Meanwhile, armed U.S. troops under the command of Stephen W. Kearny occupied Santa Fe, New Mexico, while Kearny led a small army to California where after some initial setbacks, joined with the naval reinforcements under the command of Robert F. Stockton to fill San Diego and Los Angeles.

The main force led by Taylor continued across the Rio Grande into Mexico, winning the battle of Monterrey in September 1846. The Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna marched north personally to fight Taylor but was defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista on February 22, 1847. Meanwhile, instead of reinforcing troops Taylor continued to progress, President Polk ordered a second army under the command of General Winfield Scott in March of that year, which was transported to the port of Veracruz by sea, to start the invasion on Central Mexico. Scott won the port of Veracruz and marched toward Mexico City, winning the battles of Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec, to occupy the Mexican capital.

The Treaty of Cahuenga signed on January 13, 1847, ending disputes in California. The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo was signed on 2 1848, ended the war and gave the U.S. Unquestionable control on Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. In exchange, Mexico received $ 18, 250000 dollars for the cost of war.

Combatants


During the course of the war around 13000 American soldiers were killed. Of these deaths only about 1.5% were a cause of death in combat, the rest was due to disease and unsanitary conditions during the war. It is also estimated that, if assured of the post-war related deaths, the rate would be very high, 30-40% of the Mexican casualties remain somewhat of a mystery, and is estimated at 25000.

A remarkable group of combatants, who are remembered controversially, were the St. Patrick's Battalion, a group of several hundred soldiers' immigrants (most of Ireland) who deserted from the army for the American Mexican side. According to one version of events, the Battalion deserted after experiencing religious discrimination in the United States, and found a common cause in Mexico due to its status as a Catholic country. Most died in the conflict. Some were captured and hanged, with instructions from the general to ensure that the ultimate price was the drop of the Mexican flag and the elevation of the flag of the United States. Some historians say that these men were prisoners of war forced to fight for Mexico. Others argue over whether they were simply traitors and deserters. In any case, several monuments were constructed that remain today in Mexico.

According to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs of the United States, the last American survivor of this conflict, Owen Thomas Edgar, died on September 3, 1929, at the age of 98 years.

Political Implications of the War


Mexico lost much of their territory during the war, bitterly to the United States. Santa Ana fled into exile in Venezuela. General Porfirio Diaz, president of Mexico from 1877-1911, would regret it later: "Poor Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States".

In the U.S. the victory in of the war brought a rise of patriotism and with the acquisition of the territories to the west - the country had also purchased the south side of Oregon in 1846 - appeared to comply with the beliefs of the citizens of Manifest Destiny Country. While Ralph Waldo Emerson rejection war as a means of obtaining the fate of North America, "agreed that" most of the great results of history had been made by means unworthy. The war made a national hero of Zachary Taylor, a Whig supporter and southerner who was elected as president in elections in 1848.

However, this period of national euphoria did not last long. The war had been widely supported in the southern states but rejected by the northern states. This division was developed extensively due to expectations as the expansion of the United States would affect the issue of slavery. At that time, Texas recognized the institution of slavery, but Mexico did not. Many abolitionist northerners saw the war as an attempt to expand slavery and assure their continued influence in the federal government by the owners of slaves. Henry David Thoreau wrote his essay Civil Disobedience and refused to pay taxes because of the war.

During the first year of the war, Congressman David Wilmot introduced a law prohibiting slavery in any territory captured in Mexico. This law, which became known as the Wilmot Proviso (clause) caused a protest immediately by southerners on both sides of the congress. To southerners, it seemed as if the North was ready to abandon the parity within the senate, and Wilmot's clause sparked hostility between the two sections. The law itself was passed by the House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate, with two votes in the sectional lines.

In 1848 Democrats proposed a new solution to the issue of territories which may have permitted slavery, known as popular sovereignty. This enabled voters in the territory to determine for themselves whether slavery would go on inside its territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 made more popular sovereignty of the land, breaking a promise to Missouri. To protest these actions, the Republican Party organized opponents of the expansion of slavery.

Ulysses S. Grant, who served in the war under the command of Taylor, considered later that the war was one of the causes of the American Civil War: "The occupation, separation and annexation of Texas was a conspiracy to acquire territory with which slave states might form an American union". Many of the generals of the war Intervention fought in the subsequent civil war, including Grant, Ambrose Burnside, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee.