Image: The Battle of Chapultepec was a battle between American forces and Mexican forces holding the strategically located Chapultepec Castle just outside Mexico City, fought 13 September 1847 during the Mexican–American War. American forces under General Winfield Scott would enter Mexico City the next day. (Wikimedia Commons.)
On this day in history, September 14, 1847, during the Mexican-American War, the United States Army under General Winfield Scott entered Mexico City. They raised the American flag over the Hall of Montezuma, ending a difficult advance that began with their landing at Vera Cruz six months earlier.
The Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 was the first U.S. conflict mainly contested on foreign soil. It set against each other a politically divided and militarily unready Mexico against the expansionist-minded presidency of James Polk, who believed that Americans possessed a “Manifest Destiny” to move beyond their current borders to the Pacific Ocean. A series of American victories followed a border skirmish along the Rio Grande River that started the fighting. When the war ended, the U.S. gained about one-third of Mexico’s territory, including nearly all of modern California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.
In 1836, Texas was declared independent from Mexico. Initially, America refused to integrate it into the country, mainly because northern political concerns were against adding a new state that endorsed slavery. In addition, the government of Mexico was also promoting border raids and cautioning the U.S. that any effort to annex Texas would lead to war.
Despite this, Polk immediately instigated annexation measures after his election victory in 1844. He firmly believed in the doctrine of “Manifest Destiny.” During the election, he campaigned on the platform that Texas should be “re-annexed” and that the Oregon Territory should be “re-occupied.” Polk also coveted California, New Mexico, and the rest of modern-day Southwest America.
When his bid to acquire those territories through cash purchases failed, he initiated war by putting American soldiers into the disputed area between the Rio Grande River and the Neuces River – an area both countries had earlier acknowledged as part of the Mexican state of Coahuila.
On April 25, 1846, the Mexican army assaulted a party of American troops in the contested area under the command of General Zachary Taylor, killing about 15 soldiers. The Mexican force then blockaded Fort Texas along the Rio Grande River. Taylor called for reinforcements and, with the help of the U.S. armies’ superior rifles and artillery, was able to conquer the Mexicans at both the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma.
After these two battles, Polk explained to the American Congress that “the cup of forbearance has been exhausted, even before Mexico passed the boundary of the United States, invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon American soil.” Two days after, on May 13, Congress declared war on Mexico, despite the disapproval of some northern politicians. Mexico did not reciprocate with its own declaration of war.
In 1847, only 75,000 Mexican citizens resided north of the Rio Grande River. Consequently, U.S. armies led by Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny and Commodore Robert Field Stockton seized those lands with minimal resistance. Taylor also needed little help moving forward, and he seized the city of Monterrey in September.
With the failures beginning to accumulate, Mexico brought back one of its favorite leaders to take control of the government. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the captivating leader who had spent the last several years living in exile in Cuba, was asked to return to Mexico. Santa Anna assured Polk that if permitted to return to Mexico, he would end the war on terms beneficial to America.
Yet when Santa Anna appeared, he instantly betrayed Polk by seizing control of the Mexican army and leading it into battle. In February 1847, during the Battle of Buena Vista, Santa Anna suffered heavy casualties and was obliged to abandon the field. Despite this defeat, he accepted the Mexican presidency in March.
In the meantime, American soldiers led by General Winfield Scott arrived in Veracruz and took control of the city. Then they began moving toward Mexico City, using the same path Hernan Cortes used when conquering the Aztec empire.
The Mexicans fought at the Battle of Cerro Gordo and elsewhere but were always beaten. In September 1847, Scott effectively laid siege to Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle. During that engagement, a small band of military school cadets – the so-called Ninos heroes – allegedly committed suicide rather than surrender.
Even though the war had ended, the Mexicans resorted to guerilla attacks against U.S. supply lines. Santa Anna stepped down, and the Americans paused, waiting for a new government to form in Mexico so they could negotiate.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was agreed to on February 2, 1848, establishing the Rio Grande River as the new U.S.-Mexican border. Under the treaty’s terms, Mexico also agreed that the U.S. had annexed Texas. They agreed to sell California and the rest of its land north of the Rio Grande for $15 million and agreed to resolve all claims by American citizens against Mexico. The area comprising all or parts of present-day California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming was included in the land deal.
Ultimately, the U.S. gained roughly 525,000 square miles of territory after the Mexican-American War, an enormous tract of land – nearly as much as the Louisiana Purchase’s 827,000 square miles – and that would change America’s geography, culture, and economy forever.
Although the outcome of Polk’s war was positive, he lost public support after almost two bloodstained and expensive years of combat. In addition, the contentious war reignited the slavery expansion debate that would ultimately cause the American Civil War in the early 1860s.
Polk did not re-offer after the end of his first term, and he died at 53 in June 1849, shortly after leaving office. After becoming a national hero during the Mexican-American War, Zachary Taylor decided to run for president in the 1848 election and was victorious. Taylor’s tenure as president would be short, though, because 16 months after his inauguration, Taylor became ill and died unexpectedly of gastroenteritis on July 9, 1850.
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