PENNSYLVANIA’S ROLE IN THE MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR
by
Robert Van Trombley
Concentration: History
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Master of Arts in Social Sciences
Approved by:
Dr. Ronald Spiller, Committee Chair
Date
Dr. Jerra Jenrette, Committee Member
Date
Dr. Joseph Laythe, Committee Member
Date
ii
© 2013
Robert Van Trombley
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
iii
Acknowledgements
With a great deal of pride, I dedicate this, my thesis, to my Mom, Carol Ann
Trombley. I have never met a person with more fortitude and strength, who has
endured and overcome so much, yet still holds firm to the idea that at their core most
individuals are decent and kind. Her patience, wisdom, kindness and loving nature
has always inspired and impressed me. If I turn out but a tenth of the person she is, I
would count myself lucky.
This work would have never been possible if not for the love and support of
my family, especially my Mom. My family was there for me whenever I needed
them. When I needed to vent my frustrations, they were there to listen patiently.
When I needed a chapter or two examined, they were there to read it. When I thought
I would never complete my thesis, they were there to provide much needed moral
support.
I also owe a great deal of thanks to the faculty of the History Department at
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. They were the ones that provided me with the
tools and knowledge necessary to make this thesis a reality. I will always be indebted
to them. In my humble opinion, they are among the best and most dedicated
professors teaching today.
iv
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
iii
Table of Contents
iv
List of Tables
v
List of Illustrations
vi
Chapter 1: Introduction
1
Chapter 2: Volunteers
14
Chapter 3: Off to Mexico
26
Chapter 4: Vera Cruz
39
Chapter 5: Cerro Gordo and the Long Pause
53
Chapter 6: Into the Valley of Mexico
71
Chapter 7: Siege of Puebla
92
Chapter 8: Occupation
104
Chapter 9: Conclusion
117
Bibliography
124
v
List of Tables
Table 1. First Regiment Organizational Structure, 17 Dec. 1846
19
Table 2. Second Regiment Organizational Structure, 7 Jan. 1847
21
vi
List of Illustrations
Figure 1. Siege of Vera Cruz: General Plan
40
Figure 2. Scott’s Campaign: Advance to Mexico City
51
Figure 3. Battle of Cerro Gordo: General Plan
55
Figure 4. A Part of the Valley of Mexico
74
Figure 5. Battle of Mexico: General Map
78
Figure 6. Battle of Chapultepec
81
Chapter 1: Introduction
During the Mexican American War Pennsylvania raised two regiments of
volunteer infantry, to serve for the duration of the war. These two regiments served
with distinction under General Winfield Scott during his campaign in Central Mexico.
They participated in the Siege of Vera Cruz, the battles of Cerro Gordo, La Hoya,
Huamantla, Chapultepec, Mexico City, and the defense of Puebla.1
When the news reached Pennsylvania in early May 1846 that Brevet Brigadier
General Zachary Taylors’ Army of Observation had been attacked on the Rio Grande
by forces of the Mexican Army, the brave boys of Pennsylvania wasted no time in
offering their services as volunteers to President James K. Polk. They were hoping to
continue the proud Keystone State tradition of volunteer military service, a tradition
established long before Pennsylvania became a state, and a tradition that continues to
live on. The Pennsylvania Militia and its modern incarnation the Pennsylvania
National Guard have participated in nearly every major conflict that the United States
of America has faced.2
Throughout the early months of the Mexican war, patriotism ran high in
Pennsylvania. Quite a few Pennsylvanian wanted to show Mexico the Pennsylvanian
fighting spirit. Yet it was not until November 16, 1846 that President Polk requested
Pennsylvania to raise a regiment of volunteers. Roughly, a month later, on December
1
Randy W. Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico (Shippensburg, PA: White
Mane, 1992), 5, 7, 8.
Pennsylvania National Guard, “About the Pennsylvania National Guard,” http://pa.ng.mil/
PNG/Pages/default.aspx (accessed March 23, 2013); Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 1, 2.
2
1
2
14, 1846 a request for a second regiment was issued. The First and Second
Regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers represented the classical Jeffersonian ideal of
citizen-soldiers. Whenever their state or nation needed them, they willingly and
proudly set aside the tools and implements of civilian life, be they law books or
ploughshare, and gladly took up arms to defend their way of life. Once peace had
been restored and their services were no longer required, they handed in their muskets
and returned to their civilian lives.3
Throughout American history, militia and volunteer units have been looked
down upon and categorized as unprofessional, unreliable, undisciplined, and
incompetent in combat. This mindset dates back to the colonial era of American
history. During the colonial period, a great deal of attention was paid to the
ineffectiveness of colonial militia to the extent that they became the standby British
scapegoat for any defeat they suffered in their North American colonies. By the time
of the American Revolution, the poor reputation of militia was well cemented among
both the colonists and the British. It is a well-known fact that General George
Washington held militia in low regard.4
By the time the Mexican American War broke out the military’s view of the
militia had changed little. The militia was still seen in the poorest of light. General
3
John H. Schroeder, Mr. Polk’s War: American Opposition and Dissent, 1846-1848
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973), 33,34; Morton L. Montgomery, History of Berks
County in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886), 181; Hackenburg, War with
Mexico, 4.
4
Jared Sparks, The Life of George Washington (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, 1853), 70;
Allan R. Millett, and Peter Maslowski, For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United
States of America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 36, 42-46, 57-60.
3
Winfield Scott subscribed to this train of thought and with good reason. During the
first major battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of Queenston Heights, 13 October
1812, General Scott, then only a young lieutenant colonel found himself in command
of around 350 regulars and 250 militiamen on Queenston Heights. After driving off
two British counter attacks, Scott sent word to the 600 New York militiamen still on
the American side of the Niagara River to cross immediately to reinforce him. At this
critical moment, the militia not yet engaged refused to cross the river on the grounds
that as militia they did not have to serve outside the United States. Not long after,
British Major-General Roger Sheaffe arrived from Fort George at the head of 300
regulars from the Forty First Foot and 250 militiamen. Taking advice from his Indian
allies, he launched a surprise attack on the American from the west. After only
fifteen minutes, Winfield Scott was forced to surrender. During the Mexican
American War Scott made it a point to avoid having the success or failure of any
engagement or operation rest solely on the performance of the volunteers unless
absolutely necessary. As a result, he relied heavy on the prewar regular regiments.
These were the regiments he placed at the head of his advance and relied upon in the
heat of battle.5
The First and Second Pennsylvania Regiments did not fit the accepted view of
volunteer and militia units. Both regiments were made up of some of the best militia
companies Pennsylvania had to offer. A few of them even had recent combat
5
Richard Bruce Winders, Mr. Polk's Army: The American Military Experience in the Mexican
War (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1997), 73; Pierre Berton, The Invasion of
Canada, 1812–1813 (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1980), 191-250.
4
experience during the Philadelphia Nativist Riots of 1844. They were also entirely
made up of uniformed militia companies. During this period of Pennsylvania history,
there were two types of militia companies: regular state militia companies and
uniformed militia companies. State law required every able body male citizen of the
state between the age of eighteen and forty-five to belong to a militia company, be it a
regular state one or a uniformed one, for at least seven years. The regular militia was
organized geographically into numbered companies, which were formed into
regiments, brigades, and divisions. The enlisted men seldom wore uniforms and the
offices were required to obtain, at their own expense, uniforms conforming to state
regulations. They normally only met for two days of company drills and one day of
battalion drills each year. These drills usually resembled more of a drunken picnic
then a military command on parade. Most of those that belonged to regular state
militia companies did so because they had to.6
The uniformed militia companies were of an entirely different breed, made up
of like-minded individuals who wanted to be a member of a militia company.
According to Randy Hackenburg, “The ‘Uniformed Militia’ took their soldiering
seriously. Order and discipline were maintained, and violators were dealt with
according to the regulations of the corps.”7 They adopted uniforms of their own
design, or copied designs they had seen, which they paid for out of their own pockets.
6
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, vi, vii; Michael Feldberg, The Philadelphia Riots of 1844: A
Study of Ethnic Conflict (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1975), 105, 106, 113-116, 139, 143-152; John
R. Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” Historical Review of Berks County 15
(October 1949): 131.
7
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, vii.
5
Unlike the regular state militia, the uniformed militia usually met five or six, or more,
times a year depending on the company. Uniformed companies of the same county
would be battalioned together and attached to their local division.8
Far from hindering Scott’s campaign in Mexico, as he probably expected them
to, the First and Second Regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers proved to be a
valuable asset to Scott. They excelled at every tasked they were given. During the
height of the Battle of Chapultepec, as Major General Gideon Pillow’s forces were
making their way up Chapultepec Hill they began to falter and stall. At this critical
point in the battle, the Second Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers arrived on the
scene. Their numbers and spirit reenergized Pillow’s force and together they seized
the castle. During the siege of Puebla, the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers
proved themselves to be more than capable soldiers. If not for their determination
and resilience, the American command at Puebla may not have been able to resist the
Mexican onslaught until help finally arrived on day twenty-eight of the siege.9
While it has been over 164 years since the ratification of the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially ended the Mexican American War, only four
books and a handful of scholarly articles have been written about Pennsylvania’s
8
9
Ibid., vi, vii.
Timothy D. Johnson, A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign (Lawrence:
University Press of Kansas, 2007), 222-225; Robert Selph Henry, The Story of the Mexican War (1950;
repr., New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1962), 349-360.
6
involvement in the Mexican American War. 10 Of the four books, only Randy W.
Hackenburg’s 1992 book Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico examines the overall
role the two regiments played in the war. While an interesting book, it has many
shortcomings. The book’s most apparent shortcoming is that only eighty-nine pages
of it actually deal with the exploits of the two regiments. The remainder is reference
material, six pages of incomplete casualty figures, thirty-six pages of official reports
and correspondence, and 233 pages of muster rolls.11
Besides the lack of narrative and analysis, Hackenburg compounds the
problem by failing to provide citations. As a result, the usefulness of the reference
material is severely compromised. The lack of a citation for the muster rolls is
particularly heart breaking; Hackenburg’s book is the only source that purports to
contain all twenty-two companies’ muster rolls in their entirety.12
Another major problem with Hackenburg’s book is he relied entirely on
American sources, even though many good primary and secondary Mexican sources
were available, including some that have been translated into English. Had
10
The four books are George W. Hartman’s A Private's Own Journal: Giving an Account of
the Battles in Mexico, Under Gen'l Scott, with Descriptive Scenes and a Roll of Company E, 2nd Pa.
Regiment, with the Age, Height, Occupation and Residence of Officers and Men, Also, a Table of
Heights and Distances from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico (Greencastle, PA: E. Robinson, 1849);
Jacob J. Oswandel’s Notes of the Mexican War, 1846-47-48: Comprising Incidents, Adventures, and
Every-day Proceedings and Letters While with the United States Army in the Mexican War; Also
Extracts from Ancient Histories of Mexico, ect.; Also the Names and Numbers of the Different Rulers
of Mexico; Also Influence of the Church (Philadelphia: n. p. 1885); Allan Peskin’s Volunteers: The
Mexican War Journals of Private Richard Coulter and Sergeant Thomas Barclay, Company E, Second
Pennsylvania Infantry (Kent: Kent State University Press, 2003); and Randy W. Hackenburg’s
Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane, 1992).
11
Hackenburg, War with Mexico.
12
Ibid., 90-322.
7
Hackenburg taken the time to consult Ramón Alcaraz’s work The Other Side or,
Notes for the History of the War between Mexico and the United States he would
have produced a more dynamic book. Unfortunately, because he failed to utilize
Mexican sources his book seems extremely one sided.13
The other three books on Pennsylvania’s role in The Mexican American War
are published journals. Of them, only George W. Hartman’s A Private's Own Journal
and Allan Peskin’s Volunteers are of any real use. The exploits in Jacob J.
Oswandel’s Notes of the Mexican War, 1846-47-48, which he claims are his own, are
in fact those of a fellow Pennsylvanian, John Kreitzer. Oswandel’s book is nearly a
word for word duplication of Kreitzer’s unpublished war journal, which is housed at
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.14
The two regiments do not receive any better attention in scholarly journals.
There exist approximately a dozen or so scholarly journal articles on the First and
Second Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiments. The vast majority come out of Western
Pennsylvania Historical Magazine and Pennsylvania Heritage. The remaining
articles come from very small privately published regional journals. Most of the
13
Ibid., 365-370; Ramón Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side or, Notes for the History of the War
between Mexico and the United States, trans. and ed. Albert C. Ramsey (New York: J. Wiley, 1850).
14
Jacob J. Oswandel, Notes of the Mexican War, 1846-47-48: Comprising Incidents,
Adventures, and Every-day Proceedings and Letters While with the United States Army in the Mexican
War; also Extracts from Ancient Histories of Mexico, ect.; also the Names and Numbers of the
Different Rulers of Mexico; also Influence of the Church, Rev. ed. (Philadelphia: n. p. 1885); John
Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 9, 1846- May 21, 1848, John Kreitzer Papers, Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Allan Peskin, ed. Volunteers: The Mexican War Journals of Private
Richard Coulter and Sergeant Thomas Barclay, Company E, Second Pennsylvania Infantry (Kent,
Kent State University Press, 1991); Chauncy Forward Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico: The
Diary of an American Soldier in the Mexican American War, ed. Ann Brown Janes (Lincoln, MA:
Cottage Press, 1990).
8
articles either focus on the exploits of individual Pennsylvanians, such as "A
Westmoreland Guard In Mexico, 1847-1848: The Journal Of William Joseph
McWilliams," which was edited by John William Larner Jr., or a particular
Pennsylvanian company like, John R. Evans’ “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican
War.” The only article that examines the role both Pennsylvanians regiments played
throughout the entire war is Randy W. Hackenburg’s "Pennsylvania Volunteers in
The War with Mexico."15
The Pennsylvania regiments are far from being alone in being overlooked by
historians. The examination of the role individual volunteer units and volunteer units
in general played in the Mexican American war is seriously lacking. This is far from
surprising in American military history the Mexican American War has been allowed
to fall through the cracks. The question of why so many Americans, including
prominent scholars of American history, overlook the Mexican American War is not
an easy question to answer. Yet over the years, many scholars of the Mexican
American War have tried to offer some sort of explanation. Some historians have
suggested that the lack of attention paid to the Mexican American War is a result of
the Civil War. According to them, the events of the Civil War, which began only
thirteen years after the Mexican American War, were so momentous that for the
longest time following the Civil War, historians were only interested in how the
15
Joseph McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico, 1847-1848: The Journal of
William Joseph McWilliams," ed. John William Larner Jr. Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine
52, no. 3, (July 1969): 213-240; Randy W. Hackenburg, "Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War with
Mexico," Pennsylvania Heritage 4, no. 2 (Mar. 1978): 27-30; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the
Mexican War,” 130-141.
9
Mexican American War shaped the Civil War. This, they claim, is why there are
more books on the Civil War that discuss how the Mexican American War helped
bring about the Civil War then there are books on the Mexican American War itself.
Another explanation some historians have provided is guilt. According to these
historians, the historical community and the American public as a whole have for the
longest time believed that invading the sovereign nation of Mexico in order simply to
acquire new lands was morally reprehensible. This interpretation suggests historians
have turned their backs on the Mexican American War out of shame. Still others in
the history community believe that the Mexican American War has been overlooked
because it was not a “total war” like most of America’s wars. According to them, the
Mexican American War was a limited war, with limited objectives, that affected a
relatively small percent of the populations of both nations.16
While far less studied then other conflicts the United States has fought,
historians have produced quite a few excellent studies on the war. One of the most
referenced and revered is Justin Smith’s two-volume study The War with Mexico.
While having been first published nearly 93 year ago it is still considered the seminal
work on the Mexican American War. According to Bernard DeVoto “the research
behind Professor Smith’s book is certainly one of the most exhaustive ever made by
an American historian, and if it came to an issue of fact I should perforce my own
16
Otis A. Singletary, The Mexican War, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960), 4-5;
Ramón Eduardo Ruiz, The Mexican War; Was It Manifest Destiny? (New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1963); Irving W. Levinson, Wars within War: Mexican Guerrillas, Domestic Elites, and the
United States of America, 1846-1848 (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2005), 145-154.
10
findings and accept his.”17 Two other dated works that are just as useful are Robert
Selph Henry’s The Story of the Mexican War, first published in 1950, and K. Jack
Bauer’s The U.S. War with Mexico, 1846- 1848, first published in 1971. While both
books focus almost exclusively on the combat aspect of the war, they do so in very
different ways. Like the vast majority of military histories that came before it, The
Story of the Mexican War examines how the major battles played out at the
operational level. Whereas Bauer’s U.S. War with Mexico, 1846- 1848 primarily
focuses on lesser-known aspects of the war, which had generally been overlooked,
such as Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the naval campaign along the Gulf Coast
of Mexico. Additionally quite a few excellently researched and written general
histories of the war have been written in recent years. Among them are Timothy D.
Johnson’s A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign, David A. Clary’s
Eagles and Empire: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle for a Continent, and
Timothy J. Henderson’s A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United
States.18
Recently historians have also written some fine works that have examined the
war beyond the actual combat. James M. McMaffrey in Army of Manifest Destiny:
17
Bernard DeVoto, The Year of Decision 1846 (1945; repr., New York: St. Martin, 2000),
524.
18
Seymour V. Connor and Odie B. Faulk, North America Divided: The Mexican War, 18461848 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971), 192-193; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army; Justin H.
Smith, The War with Mexico (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1919); K. Jack Bauer, The
Mexican War 1846-1848 ( New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1974); Singletary, The Mexican War,
106; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War; David A. Clary,
Eagles and Empire: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle for a Continent (New York: Bantam,
2009); Timothy J. Henderson, A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States (New
York: Hill and Wang, 2008).
11
The American Solider in the Mexican American War, 1846-1848 and Richard Bruce
Winders in Mr. Polk's Army: The American Military Experience in the Mexican War
examine the day-to-day life of the common American solider during the war. In
2010, the University Press of Kansas published Tom Reilly’s work War with
Mexico!: America’s Reporters Cover the Battlefront; which looks at how the media
portrayed the war as it was unfolding.19
This study is organized into ten chapters. The Introduction presents the main
concepts of the thesis, as well as provides a brief overview of the current state of
research on the two Pennsylvania regiments as well as the Mexican American War as
a whole. Chapter 2, “Volunteers” looks at Pennsylvania’s reaction to the war, the
organizing and forming of the regiments and their federalization. It also looks at the
men that made up the two regiments and how they differed from the commonly held
idea of volunteers.
Chapter 3, “Off to Mexico” traces the two Pennsylvania regiment’s journey to
the seat of war. All of the Pennsylvania companies began their journey to Mexico in
Pittsburgh. From there, riverboats conveyed them to the famous battlefield of the
Battle of New Orleans, which the army had turned into a staging area for volunteer
units awaiting the arrival of seagoing transports. From New Orleans, they were
transported across the unpredictable Gulf of Mexico to the lush and semitropical
19
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 5-6; James M. McMaffrey, Army of Manifest Destiny: The
American Soldier in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (New York: New York University Press, 1992);
Winders, Mr. Polk's Army; Tom Reilly, War with Mexico!: America’s Reporters Cover the Battlefront,
ed. Manley Witten (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2010).
12
inland of Lobos, located Just off the coast of Mexico some hundred eighty miles
northwest of Vera Cruz.
Chapter 4, “Vera Cruz” opens with the seaborne assault of Collado Beach just
south of Vera Cruz, a seaborne assault that raised the bar on naval landings to a
completely new level. From there it examines the hardships and struggles that the
regiments faced in front of Vera Cruz digging trenches, erecting batteries, and
guarding key positions.
Chapter 5, “Cerro Gordo and the Long Pause” begins by delving into the First
and Second Regiment’s involvement in the Battle of Cerro Gordo. While Cerro
Gordo was far from being their shining moment, it provides a glimpse of what type of
men the two regiments were made of. The chapter then goes on to examines how the
Pennsylvania regiments spent the three months following the battle of Cerro Gordo
while Scott anxiously waited for a sufficient number of reinforcements to arrive to
allow him to continue into the Valley of Mexico.
Chapter 6, “Into the Valley of Mexico” examines the Second Pennsylvania’s
role in General Scott’s Mexico Valley Campaign. It was in the valley that Scott
fought some of the bloodiest and toughest battles of his campaign in Mexico; among
them were the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultepec, and Mexico City and
the attack on Molino del Rey. While circumstance and logistics prevented the Second
Pennsylvanians from participating in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco and the
attack on Molino del Rey, they were actively involved in the Battles of Chapultepec
and Mexico City.
13
Chapter 7, “Siege of Puebla” covers the heroic exploits of the First
Pennsylvania during the siege of Puebla. For twenty-eight days six companies of the
First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers helped hold off a numerically superior
Mexican force commanded first by General Joaquín Rea then by General Santa Anna.
Their professionalism and stout resistance helped insure that the American command
at Puebla held out until relief arrived.
Chapter 8, “Occupation” covers the protracted period the Pennsylvania
regiments spent as part of the occupation force stationed first at Mexico City then San
Angel. It mainly looks at the various ways the Pennsylvania boys fought boredom
and inactivity. This chapter also covers the regiments’ triumphant return home.
Chapter 9, “Conclusion” integrates the main points raised in the proceeding
chapters in a concise and logical manner to reaffirm the primary arguments of the
thesis. The conclusion also discusses areas just outside the scope of this work that are
still in need of further study.
Chapter 2: Volunteers
On March 4, 1845 during a light rainstorm, James K. Polk was sworn in as the
eleventh President of the United States of America. The tiny storm over Washington
that day paled in comparison to the massive dark and foreboding tempest that hovered
between Mexico and the United States. Clouds had been amassing between these two
nations from the time of Texas independence. Although Texas had won its
independence in battle, in 1836, and was recognized by the United States and other
nations, Mexico steadfastly maintained that Texas was still sovereign Mexican soil.20
On December 29, 1845, Polk signed the documents which official brought Texas into
the union as the 28th state with the Rio Grande River being its border with Mexico.
This whole situation greatly infuriated Mexico. Not only did this mean the end of any
hope of reestablishing authority over Texas but America was now claiming Mexican
territory, the strip of land between the Rio Grande and Nueces River, as their own.
Since the end of the War for Texas Independence, it was the position of Mexico that
the border between Mexico and Texas was the Nueces River. In an attempt to settle
the border dispute, Polk sent John Slidell, a secret representative, to Mexico City in
November 1845. He was to secure from the Mexican Government a treaty in which
they recognized the Rio Grande as the official border between Texas and Mexico in
exchange for $25 million dollars. He was also authorized by Polk to offer the
Mexican Government an additional $25 to $30 million as well as a promise to forgive
20
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 1; Robert W. Merry, A Country of Vast Designs: James K.
Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent (New York: Simon & Schuster,
2009), 132-139.
14
15
the $3 million Mexico owed the United States from damages caused by the Mexican
War of Independence in exchange the Mexican territories of Alta California and
Santa Fe de Nuevo México.21
Anticipating negotiations would fail, Polk had ordered General Taylor and his
3,550 men strong Army of Observation to march to the Rio Grande and occupy the
disputed territory between it and the Nueces River. By late March, Taylor and his
entire command had reached the Rio Grande. His Mexican counterpart, General
Pedro de Ampudia, on the far bank of the Rio Grande, demanded in early April that
Taylor withdraw his forces back across the Nueces. General Taylor informed
Ampudia that his orders forbade him from such an undertaking. Upon receipt of this
reply, General Ampudia declared that a state of war already existed. In the early
hours of April 25 1846, Mexican regulars ambushed a force of sixty-three dragoons,
under the command of Captain Seth B. Thornton, at the Ranco de Carrictitos. Eleven
men were killed, eight wounded and the rest including Captain Thornton were taken
prisoner. The war had begun!22
The news of Captain Thornton’s defeat reached Washington in the evening of
May 9, 1846. After conferring with his cabinet, Polk decided to ask Congress for a
declaration of war. On May 13 both the House and Senate, with overwhelming
support, passed a war resolution giving the President the power to call up 50,000
21
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 1-2; Merry, A Country of Vast Designs, 186-188, 193-195;
Henderson, A Glorious Defeat, 151-152; Clary, Eagles and Empire, 76-77.
22
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 2; Merry, A Country of Vast Designs, 186-188, 239-242;
Henderson, A Glorious Defeat, 154-156; Clary, Eagles and Empire, 97-99.
16
volunteers from the various states. These volunteers were to serve either for a year or
for the duration of the war.23
Patriotism and war fever began to surge among the population of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Military drilling and patriotic parades began to
become common sights throughout the state. Rather quickly Pittsburgh took on a war
like appearance. Different groups of men connected with no particular companies
paraded through the streets, one group even attempted to seize the Mexican Consulate
in Pittsburgh.24 “Boxes of muskets, heavy carriages for cannons, and ammunition
were taken from the arsenal to the wharf to be shipped down the river to the seat of
war. The men at the arsenal worked day and night casting balls, preparing carriages,
and manufacturing arms of various kinds all of which were need immediately. The
extensive foundry of Messrs. Knapp and Totten engaged in casting cannons and
bombshells.”25
On May 15, all companies of the city of Pittsburgh held a joint meeting.
There a committee composed of one commission and one non-commissioned officer
from each company passed a resolution expressing their commonly felt belief that an
invasion of any part of American soil was an attack upon the fireside of every
American. They then passed a resolution, ordering Colonel Troville to notify the
President that the city of Pittsburgh had organized a regiment of volunteer to serve in
23
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 2.
Morton E. Stearns, “Pittsburgh in the Mexican War,” Western Pennsylvania Historical
Magazine 7, no. 4 (October 1924): 235.
24
25
Ibid., 235.
17
the war against Mexico.26 With a similar mandate Colonel Francis M. Wynkoop,
commander of the First Regiment of Schuylkill Volunteers went at once to see
Governor Francis Rawn Shunk, and with his approval continued on to Washington, to
offer the services of the entire First Regiment to President Polk in person.27
In mid-May, the Federal Government announced that six regiments were to be
from Pennsylvania. Company after company tendered their service to the
government through Governor Shunk. By July 11, the cutoff date for tendering their
service, ninety fully recruited companies, some 7,475 men, were ready and willing to
go off to war. Many more regiments, battalions, and companies were not accepted
because their rosters did not contain the requisite seventy-six privates, the minimal
number of privates required to be accepted for federal service.28
The various volunteer companies of the state waited anxiously for the
slightest bit of news in regard to the six regiments levied upon the state. As weeks
turned into months the Pennsylvania volunteers began to wonder if they would ever
be called to fight in Mexico. Eventually the initial excitement began to taper off.
Then suddenly, as if the fates themselves had personally intervened on behalf of the
volunteers of Pennsylvania, the War Department on 16 November called upon
Pennsylvania to provide one regiment of infantry. The State Adjutant General, in
Harrisburg, ordered that all companies still interested in serving their nation in
26
Ibid., 235-236.
27
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 2-3.
28
Ibid., 3; George Winston Smith, and Charles Judah, eds., Chronicles of the Gringos: The
U.S. Army in the Mexican War, 1846-1848; Accounts of Eyewitnesses & Combatants (Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1968), 12-13.
18
Mexico notify him immediately. Between November 24 and December 1, the
companies destined to serve their state proudly upon the battlefields of Mexico, as the
First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, were informed of their acceptance and
were ordered to rendezvous in Pittsburgh no later than 15 November. All ten
companies came from political influential parts of the state. Six of the companies
were from Philadelphia, one from Pottsville, one from Wilkes-Barre, and two came
from Pittsburgh.29
With great haste the companies made their way to Pittsburgh. Upon arriving,
they were put up in various warehouses throughout the city.30 The volunteers quickly
garnered the respect and admiration of the population of The Star of the West; or at
least most of them did.31 Within the Philadelphia City Guards, a rowdy and
destructive element existed that called themselves the Killers. From Philadelphia to
Pittsburgh, they had carved a swath of destruction and violence. On the night of
December 16, the Killers introduced themselves to the citizenry of Pittsburgh.
Looking for some fun the Killers forced their way passed the doorkeeper at a local
playhouse in the middle of a performance. They were “hooping and hallouring [sic]
29
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 4; Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 9, 1846; W. H. Newell,
"Schuylkill County in the Mexican War," Publications of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County 1,
no. 5 (1906):325; History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties, Pa, (New York: W. W.
Munsell, 1880), 62.
30
James Nagle, Diary, Dec. 13, 1946, Brown Olio Collection, Center for Digital Initiatives,
Brown University, Providence, RI http://pike.services.brown.edu/repository/repoman.php?verb=render
&id= 1145286811625006 (accessed May 18 2011); Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 4.
‘The Star of the West,’ was a popular nickname for Pittsburgh during this period. See:
McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 213.
31
19
like so many Indians.”32 The police were called and an all-out brawl ensued. The
police did their best but the Killers had the upper hand. Eventually they grew tired
and returned to their quarters.33
Company
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
K
Name
Place Recruited
Company Commander
Jackson Independent Blues
Pittsburgh
Alexander Hay
Washington Artillery
Pottsville
James Nagle
Monroe Guards
Philadelphia
William F. Smalls
City Guards
Philadelphia
Joseph Hill
Washington Light Infantry
Philadelphia
Frederick W. Binder
Philadelphia Light Guards
Philadelphia
John Bennett
Jefferson Guards
Philadelphia
Turner G. Morehead
Cadwalader Grays
Philadelphia
Robert K. Scott
Wyoming Artillerists
Wilkes-Barre
Edmund L. Dana
Duquesne Grays
Pittsburgh
John Herron
Table 1. First Regiment Organizational Structure, 17 Dec. 46
Source: Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 5.
By 17 December First Lieutenant Horace B. Field, of the Third U.S. Artillery
mustered all companies into federal service. Elections for field offices were held the
following day. The men of Pottsville’s Washington Artillery made a deal with those
from the Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre companies that if Private Francis W. Wynkoop
of their company were elected colonel instead of Capt. William F. Smalls of
Philadelphia, Samuel W. Black of the Pittsburgh contingent would be made lieutenant
colonel and First Lieutenant Francis L. Bowman of Wilkes-Barre would be elected
32
Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 16, 1846.
33
Ibid., Dec. 9-10, 1846; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 6.
20
major. When the polls closed promptly at 6 pm, Wynkoop became the regiment’s
colonel, Black its lieutenant colonel, and Bowman its major.34
Beginning December 21 the regiment began departing Pittsburgh by
steamboat for New Orleans. On December 21, Companies B and C departed aboard
Messenger just after 10:00 am, followed two hours later by the Caucasian with
Companies F and H. Companies A and G set sail the following noon aboard the
Aliquippa. Later in the day, Companies E and I said goodbye to Pittsburgh aboard
the St. Anthony. The last steamboat to depart was the New England carrying the
regimental staff and Companies D and K.35
Meanwhile the federal government, realizing it needed more manpower,
requested Pennsylvania provide an additional regiment on December 14, 1846. The
next day, the state sent out notifications to the ten companies that were to make up the
Second Pennsylvania Regiment of Volunteers. Soon after, orders were issued for
them to rendezvous in Pittsburgh no later than January 5, 1847. Unlike the First
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, the companies that made up this regiment
were drawn from a broader geographic base.36
The companies began to arrive in Pittsburgh on January 1, and by the 5th, all
ten companies were mustered into federal service. The next day Captain William B.
34
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 5; Samuel P. Bates, History of Pennsylvania Volunteers,
Vol. 1 (Harrisburg, PA: B. Singerly, 1869), 5; Newell, "Schuylkill County in the Mexican War," 326327.
35
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 6.
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 131; Stearns, “Pittsburgh in the
Mexican War,” 238; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 6.
36
21
Roberts of the Fayette County Volunteers was elected colonel; Captain John W.
Geary of the American Highlanders, lieutenant colonel; and Second Lieutenant
William Brindle of the Columbia Guards, major.37
Company
Name
Place Recruited
A
B
C
Reading Artillery
American Highlanders
Columbia Guards
D
Cambria Guards
E
F
Westmorland Guards
Philadelphia Rangers
Berks County
Summit, Cambria County
Columbia County
Edensburgh, Cambria
County
Westmorland County
Philadelphia
G
Cameron Guards
Dauphin County
Company
Commander
Thomas S. Leoser
John Humphreys
John S. Wilson
James Murray
John W. Johnston
Charles Naylor
Edward C.
Williams
Fayette County
Fayette County
William Quail
Volunteers
Independent Irish
I
Pittsburgh
Robert Porter
Greens
K
Stockton Artillerist
Carbon County
James Miller
Table 2. Second Regiment Organizational Structure, 7 Jan. 47
Source: Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 7-8, 214, 273.
H
On December 8, companies of the Second Regiment of Pennsylvania
Volunteers began departing Pittsburgh for New Orleans. At 10 am, Companies F and
K aboard the steamer Brunette had the distinction of being the first to depart
Pittsburgh. Two hours later the Anthony Wayne was heading down river, carrying
37
Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties Pennsylvania;
Containing a Concise History of the Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of
Representative Families (Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1915), 1: 78; J. H. Battle, History of Columbia and
Montour Counties, Pennsylvania (Chicago: A. Warner, 1887), 46; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in
the Mexican War,” 131; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 7-10.
22
Companies A and G. Companies E and H were the last to set sail that day aboard the
North Carolina.38
That evening quite a few members from Companies H and I, fully aware that
they and the remaining balance of the regiment were to depart the city in the morning
by steamer, decide to get nice and tight. As a result, the next day was a complete
fiasco. Companies E and H were assigned to the steamer Wisconsin, the regimental
headquarters as well as Companies I and B were assigned to the Cambria. The
Wisconsin did not get under way until 10 am. While Company E, few soldiers of
which had decided to indulge the night before, was ready to depart on time. Many of
the men of Company H could barely stand on their feet and a few of them actually
had to be carried on board. The Irish Greens (Company I) were in even worst shape.
It was not until noon that the Cambria was finally loaded and pulling out into the
Ohio River. Unfortunately, at this point it was discover that eight of the Irish Greens
were missing. A search party was sent back ashore and after three hours of searching,
they found the missing men in a completely intoxicated state. As the final act in the
force, jostling broke out among the men, as the Cambria once more attempted to
depart Pittsburgh and several of them fell overboard into the icy waters of the Ohio
River and had to be fished out.39
38
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 10; Montgomery, History of Berks County in Pennsylvania,
182.
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 10; William Barton Roberts, “Colonel William Barton
Roberts in the Mexican City Campaign―1847,” ed. Bert Anson, Western Pennsylvania History
Magazine 39 (Winter 1956):24; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 15; Stearns, “Pittsburgh in the Mexican War,”
239.
39
23
The departing Pennsylvania Volunteers were treated as heroes and celebrated
throughout Pennsylvania. Their respective hometowns sent them off as best they
could, with parades, banquets, parties, speeches and gifts. Few of the officers
departed home without a new sword presented to them by their community.
Philadelphia not only presented the officers of the Washington Artillery with swords
but every single man with a revolving pistol. Many of the towns established funds to
provide for the well-being of those that their new heroes were to leave behind. In
Pittsburgh Doctor M. Dowell pledged free medical care for the families of the
departing Jackson Blues. As the companies made their way to Pittsburgh,
celebrations and banquets greeted them in nearly every town they passed through.40
As they reveled in the praise bestowed upon them and trembled in excitement
for the adventure they believed lay before them, few really understood what war
really was. Yet among them were a few that had seen the elephant. During the
summer of 1844, two major nativist riots had broken out in Philadelphia. To suppress
them, militia units from surrounding communities were called in to assist the militia
units of the city. Before going off to war in Mexico the Washington Artillery,
40
John Blair Linn, Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-185 (Harrisburg: Lane S.
Hart, 1877), 547; Montgomery, History of Berks County in Pennsylvania, 181-182; Fred Brenckman,
History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania ( Harrisburg: James J. Nungesser, 1913), 97; McWilliams, "A
Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 214; Nagle, Diary, Dec. 6 & 9, 1846; Stearns,
“Pittsburgh in the Mexican War,” 237-238; Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 9,1846.
24
Cadwalader Grays, Reading Artillerist, Washington Artillery, and City Guards had all
helped in the suppression of the riots.41
Around 6 o’clock on Sunday July 6, 1844 General George Cadwalader led a
sizable force towards St. Philip Church, the epicenter of the second riot, to secure it
and to clear the streets around it of rioters. Captain Joseph Hill and his company the
City Guards were at the forefront of the advance.42 As they pushed back the rioters,
they began to be pelted by bricks. Hill warned the crowd if they did not disperse, he
would be forced to take action. Suddenly a local butcher, Washington Conrad,
lunged at Hill and wrestled him to the ground in an attempt to take his sword.43 Hill’s
Lieutenant Thomas Dougherty ordered the City Guard to open fire. Simultaneously,
Cadwalader gave the same order from the rear. Later that evening under the cover of
night a group of 40 to 50 men seized two cannons from the docks.44 As they
advanced the cannons on muffled wheels, streetlights before them were snuffed out.
This had the desired effect of masking their approach as well as silhouetting the
militia from the rear. With their first shot, the rioters killed two militiamen and
Feldberg, The Philadelphia Riots of 1844, ix, 153; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the
Mexican War,” 131; Report of the Second Company State Fencibles, July 7 1844, General George
Cadwalader Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Muster Roll of the Officers
and Members of the State Fencibles, July 7- 8, General George Cadwalader Papers, Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Muster Roll of the National Guards, July 7, 1844, General George
Cadwalader Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Return of members of the
Wayne, July 7-8, 1844, General George Cadwalader Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA.
41
42
During the Mexican American War Joseph Hill served as captain of the City Guards,
Company D, First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. See: Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 127.
43
Feldberg, The Philadelphia Riots of 1844, 153.
44
Ibid., 154.
25
injured three more. The militia returned fire with their field piece. The muffled
wheels allowed the cannons to advance forward after each shot making it difficult for
the militia to locate them. By midnight, the horsemen of the First City Troop
commanded by General Alexander L. Roumfort had arrived.45 As they charged up
Third Street, a rope stretched across the road tripped their horses. While the First
City troopers and their horses lay heaped upon the street, the rioters touched off one
of their cannons. The cannon misfired, however, giving the First City Troop the
opportunity to remount and seize the cannon. The rest of the night, the militia
searched the streets of Southwark without success for the second cannon. This riot
provided the Pennsylvania regiments with something few other volunteer regiments
had, men that recently had fought alongside one another in combat.46
45
Ibid., 155.
46
Ibid., 156-157.
Chapter 3: Off to Mexico
The voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers was no leisurely cruise for
the Pennsylvania boys. Close order drills were conducted daily topside and the living
conditions were deplorable. The steamers were overcrowded and the men poorly fed.
On board the North Carolina, the Westmoreland Guards twice-daily rations consisted
solely of hard crackers, pork and beans, and coffee. So intolerable were the
conditions aboard the Messenger that on reaching New Orleans a mutiny nearly
erupted. Having reached the city on December 28, the rank and file were expecting
to disembark the next day, instead they were informed they would have to remain
aboard an additional day. Talk of forcing their way ashore began to spread, fueled by
hunger. More than twenty-four hours had passed since the last of the rations had been
distributed. Captain William Small, realizing the severity of the situation, placed
himself between the malcontents and the hatch leading topside and unsheathed his
sword. As John Kreitzer recorded in his journal, Small warned the men that “if they
wanted to pass they would have to walk over his dead body.”47 Not willing to kill to
get ashore, the men reluctantly agreed that one more night aboard the Messenger
would not kill them.48
The First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers arrived in New Orleans
between December 28 and 31. All volunteer units upon arriving at New Orleans were
encamped seven miles below the city on the famous battlefield of 1815, amply named
47
Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 29, 1846.
48
Ibid., Dec. 29, 1846; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 16-17; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 12.
26
27
Camp Jackson. The camp was essentially nothing more than a patch of land set aside
for volunteer units, so that they had a place to pitch their tents and drill until sufficient
transport arrived to carry them to the seat of war.49
By the time the Pennsylvanians had arrived, the city and its inhabitants had
become extremely hostile towards all volunteers. Countless volunteers had already
passed through and wrought havoc upon the city. To prevent further incidents from
occurring between the city and the volunteers, access to the city for enlisted soldiers
was heavily restricted. Colonel Wynkoop posted guards at the entrances to the camp,
with orders to allow only members of the regiment bearing passes to continue on to
the city. Passes had to be signed by a soldier’s captain and countersigned by the
regimental adjutant. To insure guards complied with the instructions, Wynkoop
ordered that any guard caught allowing individuals to continue on to the city without
the proper passes would be bucked and gagged, then put in the guardhouse until the
regiment departed New Orleans.50
Such measures proved inadequate however, to prevent the most determined of
individuals from visiting into the city. Individuals and even small groups were able
to sneak out of camp and make their way to New Orleans. Most made it a point to
49
Elias F. Hiney, Diary, Dec. 29, 1846, Private Collection of Susanne Behling,
http://homepages.root s web.ancestry.com/~sam/elias.html (accessed May 18, 2011); Hackenburg, War
with Mexico, 13.
Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 31, 1846; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 13. Being “bucked and
gagged” was a common military punishment at the time. A solider would be made to sit with his knees
drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs with his wrists tied out in front. His ankles
would then be ties tied together. A pole or stick was then passed under his knees. Then a large object
such as a tent peg would be forced into his mouth as a gag. After several hours of being stuck in such
a position, all of his joints including his jaw would be in excruciating pain. See: Johnson, A Gallant
Little Army, 134-135.
50
28
avoided drawing undue attention upon themselves while in New Orleans so as not to
be caught.51
The Killers of Company D on the other hand did not care about following
orders or worry about being caught. All they cared about was having a good time.
While at Camp Jackson they made a habit of evading the guard and raising hell in
New Orleans. To ring in the New Year the Killers went into the city and in an
alcohol-fueled frenzy, commenced destroying anything and everything they could get
their hands on. The city authorities managed to apprehend a few of them and
promptly threw them in jail. Wynkoop left them there for a few days as
punishment.52
On the night of January 6, a surprise roll call was ordered. Discovering that a
fair number of men were missing, including many from company D, Colonel
Wynkoop ordered Captain Hill to lead a detail of fifty men, five from each company,
to apprehend and drag back by force, if necessary the missing men. Upon arriving in
the city, they were informed that they could find a bunch of the missing men at a local
ballroom called the “Washington Ball.” There Hill found his entrance bared by the
doorman. He had his men force aside the doorman and created a path for him to
enter. Inside he was able to apprehend some of the missing men as they attempted to
escape through a window. Emerging from the Washington Ball with his prisoners, a
man calling himself “Officer Whitemore,” slapped him upon the shoulder and
51
Kreitzer, Journal, Jan. 5, 1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 13
52
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 13; Kreitzer, Journal, Jan. 1, 9, 1847.
29
informed him that he was his prisoner. Hill responded by placing Whitemore under
arrest. Hill had his men form square with himself and his prisoners, including
Whitemore in the center. As they were making their way out of the city a sizeable
force of one hundred fifty men, armed with clubs, led by a Mr. Genois attempted to
block their way. Genois demanded that Hill turn over Whitemore. Hill deployed his
men in line opposite Genois’ force. He drew his sword and moved to the front of his
command. As he looked into the faces of his men he informed them that on the
command “Fire” he expected all to obey and that he would run his sword through any
man that hesitated. Immediately after firing they were to ready themselves for the
order “Charge Bayonet.” Hill then retired to the rear of the line hoping Genois had
fallen for his ruse. Hill’s men had not a single cartridge among them.53
Instead of giving way, Genois and his men held their ground. It soon became
apparent to Hill that Genois was not the type to be intimated so easily. At any
moment, he expected Genois and his men to attack. Yet instead of ordering his men
to advance, Genois offered Hill a compromise. Genois would allow Hill and his men
to return to camp unmolested, if Hill agreed to consider himself Genois’ prisoner and
to send for him the next day. Wishing to avoid bloodshed Captain Hill reluctantly
53
Kreitzer, Journal, Jan. 5, 1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 13; Joseph Hill, Letter to
George Cadwalader, Feb. 20, 1847, General George Cadwalader Papers, Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
30
agreed. Two miles from camp, a carriage carrying Lt. Colonel Black halted Hill.
Black informed him that he had to release Whitemore.54
The next day Genois showed up at Camp Jackson wishing to see Hill. At the
meeting Genois demanded a public apology from Hill. Hill resisted at first but
eventually he summit to the request.55
On January 16, the City Guard embarked aboard the Statesman.
Conspicuously missing from the company was Captain Hill. According to Captain
Hill earlier that morning, the owner of the Washington Ball and two police officers
showed up at Camp Jackson and informed Hill that he was under arrest for causing
over $400.00 dollars’ worth of damages to the Washington Ball. Hill informed them
that he could not leave his duty at that moment but he gave them “the word and honor
of a soldier” that he would met with them a 4 pm.56 Finding the terms acceptable, the
owner of the Washington Ball and two police officers departed. Before heading to the
meeting, Hill met with Colonel Wynkoop to ask for a written copy of his orders for
the night of January 6. Instead of giving Hill a copy of the orders Wynkoop ordered
him to “get on board and let them [the owner of the Washington Ball and two police
officers] go to the devil.”57 Hill then informed Wynkoop that he gave his word as an
54
Kreitzer, Journal, Jan. 5, 1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 13; Joseph Hill, Letter to
George Cadwalader, Feb. 20, 1847, General George Cadwalader Papers, Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
55
Hill, Letter to George Cadwalader, Feb. 20, 1847
56
Ibid.
57
Ibid.
31
officer and that only death could prevent him from keeping his word. Soon after Hill
handed in his resignation.58
By the evening of January 17, Hill was able to convince the owner of the
Washington Ball that he had no money and that taking him to court would not be
worth the effort. With the situation with the owner of the Washington Ball resolved
Hill proceeded immediately for Washington D. C. in hopes of regaining his
commission. There he was informed that his resignation was never accepted. On
discovering this, he immediately made preparations to rejoin his company. By April
1847, he was once more the acting captain of Company D, First Regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers.59
As the First Regiment was preparing to depart, the Second Regiment was
arriving. Companies A, G, and K under the command of Colonel Wyncoop, said
farewell to The Big Easy from aboard the sailing ship Oxnard, on January 15. Later
that day Companies E, F, H, and I under the command of Lt. Colonel Black boarded
the sailing vessel Russell Glover. On January 16 Companies B, C, and D embark
Ibid. Captain James Nagle’s Journal reveals that there might have been another reason why
Captain Hill did not what to board the Statesman. His January 16 journal entry reveals that a rumor
was circulating around camp that some of the “Killers” had attempted to ambush Hill that very
morning. Yet Hill made no mention of such an event in his letter to George Cadwalader of February
20, 1847 which contained a detailed account of the events that led to his decision to refuse to board
the Statesmen as well as why he felt that his decision was justified. With only hearsay and
circumstantial evidence, it is impossible to state with any certainty that the “Killers” did ambushed
Hill. Yet if they did, such an incident, hypothetically, could have contributed to Hill’s decision to
remain behind in New Orleans. See: Hill, Letter to George Cadwalader, Feb. 20, 1847; Nagle, Diary,
Jan. 15, 16, 1847.
58
59
Hill, Letter to George Cadwalader, Feb. 20, 1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 13;
Nagle, Diary, Jan. 15, 16, 1847.
32
aboard the Statesman under the command of Major Bowman. All three ships set sail
on the 19th for Brazos Santiago, which they reached on January 28.60
The steamers carrying the Second Regiment began pulling into New Orleans
on January 14. It was not until the 18th that all ten companies of the Second
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers had arrived at Camp Jackson. While Camp
Jackson may have been unpleasant for the First Regiment, it proved to be horrendous
for the Second. By the time the Second Regiment began arriving, the quartermaster
department in New Orleans had long since run out of tents. With no tents and
constant rainstorms, sickness began to spread among the first companies that arrived.
The situation incrementally improved for some on the 16th. The quartermaster
received a large shipment of tents, and began distributing them as fast as he could.61
Then Private Fleming Montgomery of Company I was murdered in his sleep.
At some point, after tattoo was sounded during the evening of January 20, someone
had sneaked into his tent and stabbed him three times in the left shoulder. None of
the other men in his tent had heard a thing. It was only after they attempted to wake
him up the next morning that they realized something had happened.62
The regiment’s misfortunes in New Orleans came to a head on January 23. A
heavy rain began falling early in the morning and continued into the evening.
Colonel William Barton Roberts wrote his wife “I thought I had seen rain, but I never
60
Kreitzer, Journal, Jan. 15, 1847; Nagle, Diary, Jan. 15,1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico,
15.
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 18; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 131;
Brenckman, History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, 98.
61
62
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 14.
33
[had] till Saturday night, when it poured down.”63 By morning, the entire camp was
under water, in some areas five inches and others three feet.64
While most of the regiment was caught in the rising waters, Companies A, E,
H, and I along with Colonel Roberts had the good fortune of having boarded the
sailing ship James N. Cooper during the morning of the 23rd. While the balance of
the regiment may have spent the night cold, wet, and shivering, they were far better
off than many of the other units at Camp Jackson. The ships that were to take the
Second Regiment to Mexico had arrived prior to the flooding and as a result, the men
did not have to worry about spending another night at Camp Jackson. Throughout
January 24, the reminding companies worked tirelessly loading all their equipment
aboard the ships. With nearly the entire camp under water canoes and other small
craft became the regiment’s main means of negotiating Camp Jackson and retrieving
their waterloged equipment. By nightfall Companies B, D, and G under the
command of Lt. Colonel Geary were aboard the General Veazie and Companies C, F,
and G under Major Brindle were aboard the Ocean. However, rough seas off the
63
Roberts, “Colonel William Barton Roberts in the Mexican City Campaign―1847,” 246.
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 131-132; James Skelly, “Diary of a
Pennsylvania Volunteer in the Mexican American War,” Western Pennsylvania History Magazine 12
(1929): 149; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 4.
64
34
coast of the Mississippi River Delta prevented the three ships carrying the regiment,
from leaving port until January 31.65
Heavy seas and ungodly storms in the Gulf of Mexico caused havoc among
the ships carrying the Pennsylvania regiments. On February 2, the James N. Cooper
was caught up in a large gale. Throughout the night, the ship and its contents were
thrown about. Cargo broke loose and began smashing about within the hull. “The
boys in the lower berths were in some jeopardy from the loose barrels.”66 Located
deep in the bow of the ship was a ten-foot square box that constituted the men’s
powder magazine. That evening Tommy McGee of Company I was assigned to
guard the magazine and insure no open flames came near it. Suddenly at around 10
pm a large wave hit the ship broadside and laid her nearly on her side. The sudden
impact tore the magazine from its fastenings causing it began tumbling about the
bow. McGee who had only moments before been sitting upon the magazine found
himself being tossed about as well. Once able to get on his feet he bolted from the
compartment screaming “Sergeant of the Guard, Boss Captain, Hold [Holy] Jasus
65
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 20-21; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 4; George W.
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal: Giving an Account of the Battles in Mexico, Under Gen'l Scott,
with Descriptive Scenes and a Roll of Company E, 2nd Pa. Regiment, with the Age, Height,
Occupation and Residence of Officers and Men, Also, a Table of Heights and Distances from Vera
Cruz to the City of Mexico (Greencastle, PA: E. Robinson, 1849), 5-6; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist
in the Mexican War,” 132.
66
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 25.
35
[sic], the magazine’s loose and chasin’ me through the hould [sic].”67 The Magazine
was eventually secured and by morning, the sea had begun to calm.68
Upon reaching Brazos Santiago, the ships that bore the First Regiment of the
Pennsylvania Volunteers were made to lie at anchor and none of the Pennsylvanians
men were allowed to disembark. The Second Regiment was to make a brief stop at
Tampico, but bad weather and dangerous anchorages made this impossible. Both
regiments were to meet at a small island called Lobos, which was to serve as the
jumping off point for the invasion.69
The Oxnard and the Russell Glover carrying the bulk of the First Regiment
were among the first ships to arrive at Lobos Island on February 11 and 12. The next
day the Ocean and James N. Cooper arrived carrying seven companies of the Second
Regiment. Severe storms delayed the arrival of the Statesman and the General
Veazie. They did not arrive until February 16 and 18, respectively.70
Lobos Island was a lush green semitropical paradise, one mile long and about
half a mile wide, located three-fourths of a mile off the coast of Mexico. It was sixtyfive miles southeast of Tampico and some hundred eighty miles northwest of Vera
Cruz. Nearly the entire island was covered in a dense nearly impassible thicket of
vegetation. According to Lieutenant Colonel Geary “The ground is covered with
almost every species of wild vine rendering the whole surface of the island as a
67
Ibid., 26.
68
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 24-26; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 17-18.
69
Nagle, Diary, Jan. 23-25, 1847; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 6.
70
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 17.
36
perfect thicket or it might say a chaparral so thick that a bird could not wing its…
way thorough it.”71 As each ship arrived, working parties had to be sent ashore to
bushwhack a clearing for their company before the bulk of those onboard could be
disembarked.72 When the first group of soldiers arrived, the rats, lizards, and crabs of
the island made regular attacks upon them as if to “prevent more encroachment upon
their sacred rights.”73
On February 13, three Mexicans were taken prisoner under suspicion of being
spies. The trio had previously been sighted in a small boat just off shore and on the
island suspiciously sneaking about. When detained they swore that they were locals
from the mainland hoping to makes some extra money selling fruits and vegetables to
the American troops. The American authorities felt that aspects of their story did not
add up and they were put in irons and placed under guard. They remained prisoners
of the United States Army until October 25.74
Around 4 am 13 February, the discharge of a sentinel’s gun raised the alarm.
A long drum roll was sounded and all the companies on the island began to form,
believing the island was under attack. The Columbia Guards formed up without a
71
John W. Geary, Dairy, Feb. 18, 1847, John W. Geary Papers, Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. A Chaparral is a dense growth of shrubs or small trees.
72
Allan Peskin, Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms (Kent: Kent State University Press,
2003),148; Reilly, War with Mexico!, 16-19; Jesse G. Clark, Letter to a Friend in Danville, Feb. 19,
1847, copied from “From the Guards,” Danville Intelligencer, March 26, 1847, Randy Hackenburg
Collection, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the
Mexican War,” 132; Geary, Dairy, Feb. 18, 1847; Hiney, Diary, Jan. 19, 1847; Hartman, A Private's
Own Journal, 6.
73
74
Geary, Dairy, Feb. 18, 1847.
Geary, Dairy, Feb. 18, 1847; Nagle, Diary, Feb. 14, 1847; Hiney, Diary, Feb. 14, 1847;
Kreitzer, Journal, Feb. 25, 26, 1847; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 30.
37
single musket among them. Having just disembarked earlier that day their muskets
had yet to be reissued to them. According to Jesse G. Clark, Captain John S. Wilson
realizing that his men needed some way to protect themselves “ordered us to break
rank, go to our tents and arm ourselves with our pistols, knives, axes, hatchets,
spades, and whatever a man could in any way defend himself.”75 Upon reforming,
the company expected that at any moment the Mexicans would emerge from the dark
thicket and let lose a heavy volley of musket fire. Yet not a single Mexican did
appear. It soon became apparent to all, that it was a false alarm. Clark believed it
was “raised for the express purpose of trying the bravery of the Pennsylvania Troops,
knowing that we were wholly underprepared for the battlefield.”76 In the same letter
he wrote “we were not found wanting, I hope never will be while we have the honor
to represent Pennsylvania in the field of battle.”77 In the middle of all the confusion
Thomas Gilpin a member of Company B, First Regiment was accidently stabbed in
the face with a bayonet.78
On February 18, the General Veazie finally arrived. Yet only the ship’s
captain and Lt. Colonel Geary were permitted to go ashore. About February 10, it
had been discovered that smallpox had spread aboard ship. As a result, when the
General Veazie reached Lobos it was placed under immediate quarantine. The men
75
Clark, Letter Feb. 19, 1847
76
.Ibid.
77
78
Ibid.
Clark, Letter Feb. 19, 1847; Nagle, Diary, Feb. 14, 1847; Hiney, Diary, Feb. 27, 1847.
38
were to remain aboard until all signs of smallpox had vanished or until the army had
vacated the island.79
At the height of activity on Lobos, two thousand troops were arriving each
day. From the shoreline, the anchorage began to take on an appearance of a forest of
ship masts and sails. By Late February, the troops on Lobos Island began breaking
camp and re-embarking aboard the transports, in preparation for the naval assault
against Vera Cruz. The First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers boarded their
respective vessels February 25 and the Second Regiment on the 28 and March 1.
When the fleet departed two days later for Anton Lizardo, they did so without
Companies B, D, and G of the Second Regiment, who were still quarantine aboard
the General Veazie. Lieutenant Colonel Geary was also left behind to serve as their
commanding officer. With the island deserted, the three companies were finally
allowed to disembark. They were to remain there under the command of Lt. Colonel
Geary until all signs of smallpox had disappeared; at which point they would be
allows to rejoin their regiment.80
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 17; Geary, Dairy, Feb. 18, 1847; Skelly, “Diary of a
Pennsylvania Volunteer in the Mexican American War,” 150; Dewey S. Herrold, "Brigadier-General
Edward Charles Williams," Snyder County Historical Society Bulletin 2, no. 4: 24.
79
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 132; Hackenburg, War with Mexico,
18-19; Alex Brown, Letter to Grays, Feb. 10, 1847, General George Cadwalader Papers, Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
80
Chapter 4: Vera Cruz
The rapid seizure of Vera Cruz was essential to the success of General Scott’s
invasion of Mexico. The general realized that to defeat Mexico he had to strike at its
heart, Mexico City. One of the best and quickest routes to the capital was the
National Highway, which linked Vera Cruz to Mexico City. The highway roughly
followed the route Cortés took when he invaded Mexico three-hundred twenty-eight
years before.81
The city of Vera Cruz was a roughly triangular walled city. A fort stood at
each of its angles. At the eastern angle stood Fort Santiago, the northwestern angle
Fort Concepción, and the southern angle Fort Santa Barbara. Between Fort
Concepción and Fort Santiago ran a massive granite seawall that protected the city’s
waterfront. The landward facing sections of the city wall were far less impressive.
Made of brittle coral and only fifteen feet high and three feet thick at the base they
were never designed to stand up to heavy cannon fire. Evenly spaced along the
landward facing wall were nine well-built bastions, each bastion was capable of
mounting between eight to ten guns. A garrison of 3,360 men guarded the city and
manned its eighty-six guns. Immediately around Vera Cruz stretched a sandy plain,
bounded by sand hills, which stretched inland about a thousand yards to the west and
southwest and two miles to the south.82
81
Merry, A Country of Vast Designs, 307-308.
82
Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, ed. Mary Rachel Wilcox
(Washington, DC: Church New, 1892), 251-252; Jack K. Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines: U.S.
Naval Operations in the Mexican War, 1846-48 (Annapolis: Naval Institute ,1969), 83-84, 89;
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 11.
39
40
Across the harbor from Vera Cruz, upon a small coral island, stood the Castle
of San Juan de Ulua. The castle and its water batteries, which boasted one hundred
twenty-eight guns most of heavy caliber, dominated the seaborne approaches to the
city. The island was manned by 1,030 men and officers.83
Figure 1. Source: adapted from “Siege of Vera Cruz: General Plan,” map, in Smith, The
War with Mexico, 2: 24.
The transports from Lobos Island met up with the rest of the fleet assembling
off the coast of Vera Cruz near the island of Anton Lizardo on March 5, 1847. The
Pennsylvanians had been keeping themselves busy aboard ship, since departing
Lobos, cleaning muskets, sharpening knifes and bayonets, and making sure every
piece of equipment was in good order. On March 9, the Pennsylvania regiments were
83
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 251-252; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 11; Bauer,
Surfboats and Horse Marines, 83.
41
transferred onto the forty-two gun frigate USS Potomac. Just days before the landing
was to commence General Scott and Commodore David Conner were made aware
that the anchorage that was to be used during the landing could not accommodate all
of Commodore Conner’s United States Navy vessels and General Scott’s Army
transports. It was therefore decided that the vessel of Conner’s squadron would carry
the bulk of Scott’s army to the shores of Mexico. Aboard the USS Potomac, each
man was issued sixty rounds of buck and ball, extra flint, and three days of rations.84
During the morning of March 9, the invasion fleet raised anchor and
proceeded at once to the anchorage just off shore of Collado Beach, two and a half
miles south of Vera Cruz. For the landing, Scott organized his force into three
divisions, two of regulars under Brevet Major General William Jenkins Worth and
Brigadier General David Emanuel Twiggs and one of volunteers under Major
General Robert Patterson. The two Pennsylvania regiments along with Colonel Jonas
E. Thomas’ First Tennessee Regiment and Colonel William B. Campbell’s Second
Tennessee Regiment made up Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow’s Second Brigade
of General Patterson’s division. General Worth’s division, the First Division, was to
land first followed by General Patterson’s division, the Third Division. For this
operation, General Twiggs’ division, the Second Division, was to act as a floating
reserve until the beach was secured at which point it to would be landed.85
84
Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 77; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 37,38; Henry, The Story of
the Mexican War, 262-263; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 9; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico,
5; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War, 263.
85
Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 77, 79-80; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 23
42
At 3:30 pm, three flag were hosted up the main mast of General Scott’s
flagship the USS Massachusetts, signaling that Worth’s division was to commence
boarding the fleet’s surfboats, which were then to form up for the landing. Two hours
later a single shot fired from the USS Massachusetts singled the surfboats to
commence landing. With all their might, the oarsmen aboard the surfboats pulled for
shore. Once ashore the division quickly formed up, and proceeded to scale the sand
dunes to their front. All assumed that upon broaching its summit Worth’s division
would confront a sizable Mexican force laying in wait on the dunes’ reverse slope.
Yet that was not the case, for upon reaching the summit not a single Mexican could
be found. With the beach firmly in American hands, the remaining divisions were
ordered to commence landing. The Pennsylvania regiments along with the rest of the
volunteer division were making their way ashore by 7 pm. Like most of the man
landing that day their surfboats were only able to get them to within twenty yards of
the shore. At which point they had to jump over the sides and wade the rest of the
way ashore. By 10 pm, all three divisions were ashore along with a few pieces of
light artillery.86
With the setting sun, the Pennsylvania regiments settled in for a night among
the sand dunes in their wet uniforms, with only their blankets to shelter them.
Around midnight the sound of gunfire followed by the cries of “to arms! to arms!”
86
Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 81; Ephraim Kirby Smith, To Mexico with Scott:
Letters of Captain E. Kirby Smith to his Wife, ed. Emma Jerome Blackwood (Cambridge, Harvard
University Press, 1917), 114; John S. Jenkins, History of the War between the United States and
Mexico, from the Commencement of Hostilities to the ratification of the Treaty of Peace ( New York:
Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855), 252; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 25-26; Wilcox, History of the
Mexican War, 244-245; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 181; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 40.
43
roused the men from their sleep. 87 In the darkness, a small group of Americans on
picket duty became disoriented and wandered into their Mexican counterparts.
Caught off guard both sides began to firing wildly at each other accomplishing very
little in the process. The engagement lasted but a few moments before the
outnumbered Mexican pickets decided to fall back. Few on either side were hurt, and
most of those that were hurt, were hit by stray bullets that could have easily came
from either side. Among those hurt were two members from the Washington
Artillery.88
Following an early breakfast, Patterson’s division headed off across the sand
dunes to extend the line of investment around the city. Around 8 am, Pillow’s
brigade was on the march with the Tennesseans thrown out as skirmishers. The
extreme heat and the rough terrain made the advance difficult. Thomas Barclay wrote
that “the sand was deep, being so loose that every step the foot sunk several inches.”89
By 3 pm, they had reached the summit of the highest dune on that side of the city.
From that vantage point, generals Pillow and Patterson could see a force of Mexican
infantry and lancers below them. They were in position about an old stone ruin, the
Hacienda Malibran, directly in front of them and in a magazine some one hundred
yards to the south. A single 6-pounder under Lieutenant William H. French was
directed upon the magazine and Pillow’s brigade advanced against the hacienda from
87
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 6-7.
88
Hiney, Diary, Mar. 10, 47; Reilly, War with Mexico!, 23-24; Hartman, A Private's Own
Journal, 6-7.
89
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 43.
44
which the Mexicans were driven after a short skirmish. Pillow then ordered the First
Tennessee Regiment against the magazine, which the Mexicans abandoned upon
sighting the Tennessee Regiment. Leaving the First Tennessee Regiment at the
magazine, and the Second Pennsylvania Regiment at Malibran, Pillow with the
remaining two regiments proceeded to pursue the fleeing Mexicans. His force drove
them from hill to hill until the Mexicans were well within range of the city’s guns, at
which point Pillow was force to give up the chase. That night the First Regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers dug into a prominent hill two miles from the city, while the
Second Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers took up a position in and around the
Malibran.90
On March 11, 1847, Twiggs’ division passed Patterson’s division to continue
the line of investment. The First Pennsylvania awoke that morning, however, to
discover a sizable enemy force on an adjoining hill. The Pennsylvanians went on the
offensive and drove the Mexicans from the hill. While musket and cannon fire rained
down upon them General Patterson came up the hill and addressed them, “Good
morning my brave boys it makes me feel proud to see the Pennsylvanians act so
nobly.”91 “In fact the men did act more like veterans than green horns,” wrote Private
90
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 44-45; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 245-246; Kreitzer,
Journal, Mar. 10, 1847; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 6; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal,
7; Reilly, War with Mexico!, 25; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 24-25; Nagle, Diary, Mar. 10, 1847;
Hiney, Diary, Mar. 10, 1847; Clarence H. Frick, Letter to Arthur W. Frick, March 28, 184, George W.
Armstrong Papers, Mexican War Documents Collection, U.S. Army Military History Institute,
Carlisle, PA.
91
Kreitzer, Journal, Mar. 11, 1847.
45
John Kreitzer of the Monroe Guards.92 Upon being relived they were ordered to fall
back to the old ruins were they were tasked with erecting a breastwork across the
railroad to cut the city off from the outside world.93
The Second Pennsylvania were detailed as snappers and miners and were
engaged all day in cutting an artillery road through the chaparral around a hill from
their camp at the ruins to the railroad. The entire time, according to Private William
McWilliams they were “exposed to imminent danger from the bombs & round shot
which the enemy showered fast on us all day.”94 Towards evening, they were
relocated to the railroad with orders to guard it. Being a political appointee
completely lacking any military experience General Pillow posted the regiment in
two lines twenty yards opposite to each other on both sides of the railroad. According
to Sergeant Barclay of the Westmoreland Guards “this was the most dangerous
position our Company had been placed in, not that we feared the Mexicans but being
directly opposite, we were in range of the ‘revolvers’ of Co. A, every member of that
company being armed with that amiable weapon.”95 At 10 pm, much to the relief of
the entire regiment, especially the Westmoreland Guards, General Patterson showed
up and relocated the entire regiment to one side of the railroad.96
92
Ibid.
93
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 27; Hiney, Diary, Mar. 11, 1847; Kreitzer, Journal, Mar.
11, 1847; Nagle, Diary, Mar. 11, 1847.
94
McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 220.
95
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 46.
96
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 46-48; McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July
1969): 220-221; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 7-8.
46
On March 13, 1847, Twiggs’ division reached the city of Vergara thus
completing the line of investment around Vera Cruz. With that task complete, all
efforts were concentrated on constructing fortified works and gun emplacements to
force the city to capitulate. The Pennsylvania regiments soon settled into a routine of
fatigue duty during the day and guard duty at night.97 During this period, General
Scott decided to inspect the First Pennsylvania’s line. Seeing that the men were much
exposed to fire from Fort Santiago, he ordered them to take cover and lie down. A
soldier replied, “Lie down yourself, General, or the Mexicans will presently knock
you over.”98 “No, sir,” replied the general, “my duty requires me to be here, where I
am. The President of the United States can make Generals every day, but he cannot
make good soldiers.”99
General Scott, on March 22, offered the commander of Vera Cruz the
opportunity to surrender, but the offer was flatly refused. As a result, Scott ordered
the three recently completed batteries of 12-inch siege mortars in front of Worth’s
line to open fire.100
97
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 246-247; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 28, 30-31;
Jenkins, History of the War, 255-256; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 49-51; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in
Mexico, 6; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 133; Nathan Covington Brooks, A
Complete History of the Mexican War: Its Causes, Conduct, and Consequences; Comprising an
Account of the Various Military and Naval Operations, from Its Commencement to the Treaty of Peace
(Philadelphia: Grigg, Elliot,& Co. 1865), 302.
98
Newell, "Schuylkill County in the Mexican War,” 328.
99
Ibid.
100
Kreitzer, Journal, Mar. 17, 1847; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 55; Reilly, War with Mexico!, 2829; Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 92; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,”
133.
47
In addition to the three batteries, which mounted seven mortars, all ready at
play, two more army batteries were in various stages of being constructed, a three gun
10-inch siege mortar battery and a battery of four 24-pounder siege cannons and two
8-inch siege howitzers. For the siege, Scott had requested fifty 10-inch siege mortars
yet only ten had arrived. Faced with this deficit, he was forced to grudgingly accept
Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s offer of transferring ashore naval artillery, which
were to be manned by naval personal. On March 22, 1847, the Navy landed three
long 32-pounder cannons and three 8-inch Paixhan shell-guns.101
The Second Pennsylvania and many other units assisted in the herculean task
of transporting the naval guns, each weighing as much as three tons, into position. To
move the guns through the three miles of loose deep sand and through a two-foot
deep lagoon they had to be slung under the axle of a large set of wheels, called a sling
cart. Unfortunately, the fleet had only two such carts. Each cart required more than
two hundred men to pull, tug, haul, and shove it along. To keep the Mexicans
ignorant of their intentions the Americans only moved the guns at night.102
Throughout the daylight hours of March 23 and 24, the Second Regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers kept busy assisting in the construction of the naval battery.
101
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 39, 41; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 249-251,
253; R. S. Ripley, The War with Mexico (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1849), 2: 31-32;
Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 183-184; Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 249; Bauer, Surfboats
and Horse Marines, 88; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 29-30; Daniel, H. Hill, “Siege of Vera Cruz,”
Southern Quarterly Review 20, no. 39 (July 1851): 30.
102
Alfred Hoyt Bill, Rehearsal for Conflict: The War with Mexico, 1846-1848 (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1947), 216; Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines, 92; Hill, “Siege of Vera Cruz,” 31;
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 38; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 57; Peskin, Winfield Scott and the
Profession of Arms, 157; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 33; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico,
7.
48
The sandbag breastwork was eight feet high, ten feet deep, and more than one
hundred twenty feet in length. The guns were mounted on ships’ carriages upon
heavy platforms and between each pair of guns were sandbag traverses six feet thick.
According to Private Richard Coulter “it is the most secure and will be the most
effective, being within [point] blank shot of all parts of the city.”103 By late morning
on the 24th, the battery’s breastworks were complete and all but one cannon was
emplaced. The night before, the cannon had been dragged within view of the battery
before the first glimmer of daylight had put a halt to the effort. Completely
disregarding orders and needlessly risking the lives of his men, General Pillow
ordered the Second Pennsylvania Regiment to haul the gun into place. The majority
of its route the gun was well within rage of the city’s guns and potentially visible to
the Mexican defenders. The regiment should have been torn asunder by the city’s
guns and most likely would have been, had the Mexican view in the direction of the
naval battery not been obscured by the smoke from their own cannon fire. Once the
gun was emplaced Pillow had the chaparral that had been masking the existence of
the battery from the Mexicans during its construction cut down and ordered the
battery to open fire.104
Many of the Pennsylvanians took great enjoyment in watching the naval
personal manning the guns. The officers acted as if there were on the quarterdeck of
a ship. They gave all their orders in naval jargon much to the amusement of the
103
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 57.
104
Peskin, Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms, 157.
49
soldiers. “‘More men on the Starboard’ they would shout and the tars would
cheerfully resound, ‘aye, aye, sir’.”105 "Pull away on the board side." an officer
would bellow and “‘Ay, Ay, Sir,’ answered the men at the ropes.”106 Sergeant
Barclay thought they were a “jovial set.”107 He felt “they were all so brisk and active
and worked with good will;” so much so that he thought “it is amusing to see them at
work.”108
On the morning of the 26th, the Mexican commanders sent out a flag of truce,
indicating that he wished to surrender the city and San Juan de Ulua. A cease-fire
went into immediate effect. On March 29, 1847, the official surrender of the city and
San Juan de Ulua took place. Corporal Elias F. Hiney felt the surrender ceremony
was memorable enough for him to take the time to record his impressions of the event
in his journal.109
This was a glorious day. The most wonderful day ever recorded on the annals
of History. We were arrayed in line of Battle whilst the Mexicans marched
out of the city and castle to surrender up their arms as prisoners of war. 9,000
arms took from Mexicans. Our line 12,000 strong as the Mexicans march out,
we march into the city and planted the old Stars and Stripes on every fort and
the castle while the Navy fired a salute and the band struck up
Yankee [doodle] and the variations, of course. Thus, after three weeks hard
fighting, we achieved a glorious victory.110
105
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 57.
106
Ibid.
107
Ibid.
108
Ibid.
109
Hiney, Diary, Mar. 29, 1847; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 60-61; Bauer, The Mexican War
1846-1848,252-253; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 40-44; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 32-35;
Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 194-195; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War, 269.
110
Hiney, Diary, Mar. 29, 1847.
50
The First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers suffered twelve casualties and
the Second Regiment, three during the siege. Three of the fifteen were killed in
action and one died later of his wounds.111
Following the surrender, the Pennsylvania regiments received orders to
encamp just outside the walls of Vera Cruz. For many of the men this was their first
opportunity to sleep in a tent since leaving Lobos Inland. While they were glad the
guns of Vera Cruz were silent and that they were finally issued tents the fact that
General Scott heavily restricted their access to the city, greatly upset the volunteer
units.112
One of the ways they made the best of their situation was celebrating the fall
of Vera Cruz with a bit of alcohol. Yet getting their hands on intoxicates was not that
easy. Upon taking command of the city of Vera Cruz Scott had issued an order
outlawing the sale of intoxicating beverages to those camped outside the city. The
always-resourceful Pennsylvanians soon found a way around such policies. They
would lure Mexicans they believed to be carrying alcohol into their camp whereupon
they would ‘confiscated’ it for their own enjoyment.113
Camp life outside the walls of Vera Cruz did not last long for the First and
Second Regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers. On April 6, orders to proceed inland
were issued. It was decided that Twiggs’ division was to depart on the morning of
111
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 29-30.
112
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 10; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 30.
113
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 65; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 57.
Figure 2. Source: “Scott’s Campaign: Advance to Mexico City,” map, in Stephen A Carney, The Occupation of Mexico, May
1846-July 1848 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2006), 26-27.
51
52
the eighth, followed twenty-four hours later by two brigades of Paterson’s division,
one of which was General Pillow’s brigade.114
The first day’s march out of Vera Cruz proved extremely difficult for not only
the Pennsylvania Volunteers but also Patterson’s entire division. Instead of sticking
to the National Highway, they cut cross-country though the tangled chaparral and
ever shifting sand dunes that surround Vera Cruz. With each step, their feet sunk
ankle deep in hot sand.115 According to researcher John R. Evans:
The March was the most severe of the campaign, because the men went
through a burring desert in an intense, tropical sun. They had little water and
were unable to obtain any on the way. Hundreds of troops dropped out along
the way and many threw their equipment away. The next day, they moved on
to the National Highway, and made better time.116
114
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 268-269; Kreitzer, Journal, April 9, 1847; Nagle,
Diary, April 8-9, 1847; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 56; Jenkins, History of the War, 265-267;
Nathan Covington Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War: Its Causes, Conduct, and
Consequences; Comprising an Account of the Various Military and Naval Operations, from Its
Commencement to the Treaty of Peace (Philadelphia: Grigg, Elliot, & Co., 1865), 321-322.
115
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 62; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 8; Ripley, The
War with Mexico, 2: 56; Jenkins, History of the War, 265-267; Brooks, A Complete History of the
Mexican War, 321-322.
116
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 134.
Chapter 5: Cerro Gordo and the Long Wait
On April 12, 1847 after three days of hard marching, the Pennsylvania
regiments crossed the National Bridge, which spanned the Rio del Plan, and entered
the village of Plan del Rio. There they came upon Twiggs’ division in the process of
readying itself for an assault.117
Five miles up the road the National Highway ran through a long narrow
ravine, referred to as the Cerro Gordo Pass. Santa Anna believed that the key to
defeating Scott’s army laid in occupying the pass. He was convinced that all his army
had to do to insure victory was to hold the pass until mid-May. Mid-May meant the
arrival of yellow fever, which he believed would decimate Scott’s forces. Once
sufficiently decimated Santa Anna and his army would swoop down and finish the
Americans off with ease. With a force of fifteen thousand men and over thirty-six
pieces of artillery occupying fortified and seemingly unflankable positions Santa
Anna believed that there was no way Scott could take the pass.118
From Twiggs’ men the Pennsylvanians learned that the Twiggs was planning
to launch a direct assault against the pass in the morning. Within both divisions,
many cringed at the very idea, including a fair number of high-ranking officers.
Fortunately, General Patterson after being briefed on the situation ordered that the
McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 224; Hackenburg, War
with Mexico, 33-34.
117
118
Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 41-44, 47-49; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 42-45, 199201; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 63- 83; Clary, Eagles and Empire, 309-311; Arthur D. Howden
Smith, Old Fuss and Feathers: The Life and Exploits of Lt.- General Winfield Scott; the Only
American Commander Who Never Lost a Battle; the Only Victorious General to Lose a Presidential
Election; Patron of Lee; Protector of Lincoln; Most Inept of Politicians; Strategist Statesman;
Humanitarian (New York: Greystone Press, 1937), 277.
53
54
assault cancelled until a more thorough reconnaissance could be conducted. A
thorough reconnaissance of the area by Scott’s engineers revealed the existence of a
path that ran north of the pass that could be used to gain access to the rear of the
Mexican positions. Thanks to this discovery, Scott soon devised a plan of attack to
out flank Santa Anna.119 According to historian Justin H. Smith, “Its essential point
was, in accordance with Scott’s announced aim, to gain the highway in the Mexican
rear first of all, and then – not until then – attack in the rear and perhaps also on the
front.”120
Scott’s men were soon hard at work cutting down chaparral and widening the
path to allow artillery to be moved along it. By the morning of April 17, 1847,
Twiggs’ forces were able to take up the line of march and began proceeding along the
path. Twiggs’ orders were to reach a position just shy of where the path joined the
highway to the Mexican rear without alerting Santa Ann’s forces. They were to
remain concealed there until morning at which point they were to launch a surprise
attack against the Mexican rear.121
119
Clary, Eagles and Empire, 309-313; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 47-50; Smith, Old
Fuss and Feathers, 277; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 70-81; John Edward Weems, To Conquer a
Peace: The War Between the United States and Mexico (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company,
1974), 364-366; Levinson, Wars within War, 149; Bill, Rehearsal for Conflict, 227.
120
121
Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 50.
Clary, Eagles and Empire, 311-313; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 49-50, 52- 53; Bill,
Rehearsal for Conflict, 227-228; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 77-79; Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in
the War with Mexico, 33-34.
Figure 3. Source: adapted from “Battle of Cerro Gordo: General Plan,” map, in Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 43. Mexican
positions south of the National Road numbered by the author.
55
56
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The Mexicans spotted Twiggs’
division as it advanced down the path and opened fire on them. Twiggs’ men quickly
drove the Mexicans back and, in the process, captured a key height called Atalaya.
Realizing the importance the hill could play in the next day’s battle three guns from
Captain Edward Steptoe’s battery of the Third U.S. Artillery were hauled up Atalaya.
To assisted Steptoe in the coming battle a number of men from the Pennsylvania
regiments had been assigned to his command.122
That night General Scott sent word to Twiggs that he was to continue his
advance in the morning and that Worth’s division would form up behind his. He also
sent word to Pillow that in the morning his brigade was to make its way through the
chaparral towards a series of three parallel ridges south of the highway near the
mouth of the pass, which may be designated from south to north as 1, 2, and 3 (see
Figure 3). Upon each ridge, the Mexicans had established a cannon battery,
supported by infantry and protected behind low parapets. Pillow’s forces were to
remain out of sight until they heard the sound of Twiggs’ forces attacking; they were
then to attack ridge 3. The purpose of this attack was to confuse Santa Anna about
the point of the main attack and to prevent Santa Anna from repositioning the troops
in front of Pillow against Twiggs’ command.123
122
Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 50-52; Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 142; Hackenburg,
Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 34.
123
Clary, Eagles and Empire, 311-313; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 49-50; Bill,
Rehearsal for Conflict, 227.
57
At approximately 6 am April 18, 1847, the men of Pillow’s Brigade began to
assemble and proceed down the National Highway to the merry beat of drums. After
marching four miles down the road, Pillow’s force came to a halt at a cluster of
abandoned huts.124 It was at this point Patterson rode up in front of the First
Pennsylvania and uttered the following words of encouragement:
Boys you are about to storm the enemy’s heights and the honor of old
Pennsylvania is now in your hands and it could not be in better ones. I have
not the least doubt in my mind but that you will do your duty and more.
Follow your commander for he is capable of leading you on. And should I be
wanten [sic], you will find me with you… Good bye boys I expect to hear
from you.125
Following this brief respite Pillow led his force off the National Highway and into the
chaparral. The goat path they were led onto was so narrow that the regiments had to
proceed in single file; with the First Pennsylvania in the lead followed by the Second
Tennessee then the First Tennessee and finally the Second Pennsylvania.126
Soon after leaving the comfort of the National Highway, Pillow decided that
instead of concentrating all his forces to attack ridge 3, the least defended ridge, he
would attack the Mexican defenses right between ridges 3 and 2. To do this he
divided his forces in half. The First Pennsylvania, with the First Tennessee in
reserve, were to attack the left flank of ridge one; while the Second Tennessee and
Company F of the Second Pennsylvania, with the reminder of the Second
124
Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 35-36; Charles H. Heyer, “Letters to
Ann, January 11, 1848,” Magazine of History 17, no. 6 (1913): 238.
125
126
Kreitzer, Journal, April 18, 1847.
Weems, To Conquer a Peace, 391; Levinson, Wars within War, 65; Hackenburg,
Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 38.
58
Pennsylvania acting as a reserve, were to attack the right flank of ridge two, the most
heavily defended ridge.127
Because of the terrain and having to explain this new plan to his subordinates,
it was not until a little after 9 o‘clock that Pillow’s troops approached their positions.
The first regiment to get into position was the Second Tennessee for there was
nothing to impede them from moving off the goat path to a position in front of ridge
two. As the Second Tennessee was forming ranks the First Pennsylvania under
Colonel Francis Wynkoop was in the process of counter marching around a large hill
in order to get to position where they could form up.128 Irritated at how long it was
taking the First Pennsylvania to get into position Pillow wailed at the top of his lungs,
“Why the Hell dont Colonel Wynkoop file to the right.”129 Almost at once, a bugle
blared from behind the Mexican works and within minutes, the Mexicans open up
upon the volunteers.130
Being the closest unit to the Mexican fortification the Second Tennessee
became the focus of most of the Mexican gunners. As the heavy grape and canister
fire intensified their commander, Colonel William Haskell, in violation of Pillow
127
Smith, Old Fuss and Feathers, 283-284; Bill, Rehearsal for Conflict, 229; Hackenburg,
Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 38; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 78.
128
Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 142; Peskin, Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms, 167;
Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 38; Roberts, “Colonel William Barton Roberts in
the Mexican City Campaign―1847,” 247.
129
George Brinton McClellan, The Mexican War Diary of George B. McClellan, ed. William
Starr Myers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1917), 83.
130
Smith, Old Fuss and Feathers, 283-284; Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with
Mexico, 38; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 78, 80-81; Randy W. Hackenburg, “The Columbia Guards:
Danville’s Volunteer Infantry, 1817-1861” (Master’s thesis, Bloomsburg State College, 1975), 59.
59
order to wait for his order to do anything, ordered his regiment to charge.131
According to Sergeant Thomas Barclay of Company E, Second Pennsylvania, “They
dashed most gallantly forward and were received by murderous fire of cannon and
musketry.”132
Unable to see what was happening on their right, the First Pennsylvania held
their position waiting for the order to attack. Three times Wynkoop sent out runners
to make contact with Pillow to inquire from him what his orders were. Was he to
continue to hold his position or should he charge? Yet none of his runner could find
Pillow. As soon as the shooting started, Pillow had immediately sought cover,
claiming that he had been shot to pieces. Grazed by a piece of shrapnel he ran toward
the rear claiming that he needed a surgeon.133
With Pillow leading a one-man retreat, Colonel William B. Campbell took
command. He immediately ordered the Pennsylvania Regiment to advance;
unfortunately, he failed to specify which Pennsylvania regiment. As a result, neither
regiment advanced, both convinced the order had been directed to the other. As this
was going on the Second Tennessee began to fall back and in the process knocking
over many of the members of the Second Pennsylvania, who were still trying to form
up. As Campbell, disparately tried to organize another assault on the Mexican
131
Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 163; Peskin, Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms, 168;
Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 39; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 78-79, 81; Hartman, A
Private's Own Journal, 44.
132
133
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 78.
Smith, Old Fuss and Feathers, 283-284; Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with
Mexico, 36-39; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 80-81; McClellan, The Mexican War Diary of, 83-84.
60
positions Pillow reappeared and took back command. Not long after this, word
reached Pillow that Santa Anna was in full retreat, and that the Mexicans in front of
him were surrendering. As a result, no further attack was necessary; all that was left
for his men to do was to relieve the Mexicans in front of them of their arms.134
The Battle of Cerro Gordo not only shows how brilliant of a military tactician
Scott was, but also the steadfast resolve and courage of the Pennsylvania regiments.
While they were only in combat for less than an hour, they did not falter and behaved
honorably. Few regiments, especially volunteer regiments would continue to hold
their ground after seeing their general running away in fear at the onset of combat.
While the role they played that day was but a minor one, had they and the Tennessee
regiments faltered and fled back to the National Highway the Mexicans may have
been able to redeploy the artillery and men upon the ridges in an effort to blunt
Twiggs’ attack which surely would have caused more American casualties.135
The Second Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers spent most of the April 18,
1847 guarding prisoners until the Mexicans were paroled later in the afternoon.
Meanwhile ten men from each company of the First Regiment of Pennsylvania
Volunteers assisted the Third Artillery in their effects to remove Steptoe’s Battery
from atop Atalaya. Pillow’s Brigade, minus the Second Tennessee, which were left
behind to care for the sick and wounded of the brigade, broke camp on 20 April with
134
Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 53-59; Levinson, Wars within War, 30; Hackenburg,
Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 40.
135
Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 33-40; Smith, The War with Mexico,
2:56-58; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 211-212.
61
orders to proceed at once to Jalapa, which had surrendered to General Worth on the
19th without a fight. 136
Having reaching their designation on April 21, 1847, Pillow’s command was
ordered to proceed straight through Jalapa to a large meadow three miles west of the
city. There other volunteer units joined them and this new encampment soon picked
up the moniker “Camp Patterson.” The senior commanders felt it was in the
mission’s best interest to keep the volunteers outside of the city and to limit their
entrance into Jalapa. They feared if the volunteers had full reign of the city their
actions would turn the town’s population against the Americans.137
Having departed Vera Cruz on April 17, 1847 General John Quitman’s
column of reinforcements reached Jalapa on April 23, 1847. Among them were
companies B, D, and G of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment as well as the sick and
wounded that both Pennsylvania regiments had left behind. All signs of smallpox had
disappeared among those left behind at Lobos Island by April 3. They were able to
embark aboard the General Veazie on the 8th and by the 11th, they had reached Vera
Cruz. Having arrived two days too late to rejoin their regiment before it had
Hackenburg, Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico, 40-41; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist
in the Mexican War,” 135.
136
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 135; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 84;
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 105; Louis C. Duncan, "Medical History of General Scott's Campaign
to the City of Mexico in 1847," The Military Surgeon, 47, no. 4 (Oct 1920): 445; Nagle, Diary, April
21, 1847.
137
62
proceeded inland, the three companies were forced to remain in Vera Cruz until
General Quitman’s column was ready to head inland.138
The joy and excitement brought on by the reunification of the Second
Pennsylvania did not last long. The rainy season had already begun by the time
Companies B, D, and G had reached Jalapa. Near constant downpours soon rendered
Camp Patterson a quagmire of mud and human filth. To make matters worse many of
the regiments including the Second Pennsylvania Regiment had not been issued tents
until well into the month of May. Such conditions provided an ideal breeding ground
for disease and sickness. The men began dying off an alarming rate, eventually as
many as ten or twelve a day. Eventually the men began to refer to Camp Patterson as
“Camp Misery.” 139
Believing that the war with Mexico would only last for a few months most of
the state volunteer regiments had been enlisted for only twelve months of service. By
May, most of Scott’s volunteers were nearing the end of their enlistment. Unable to
convince them to reenlist General Scott made the decision to send them home
immediately. On the morning of May 6, 1847 the First and Second Tennessee, the
Tennessee Mounted Volunteer Regiment, the Third and Forth Illinois, the Fourth
Kentucky, Alabama Regiment, the Georgia Regiment and several independent
Skelly, “Diary of a Pennsylvania Volunteer in the Mexican American War,” 151-152;
Roberts, “Colonel William Barton Roberts in the Mexican City Campaign―1847,” 256; Geary, Dairy,
April 3, 8-9, 23, 1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 31, 41.
138
139
Hugh McFaddin, Letter to Jackson McFaddin, April 25,1847, copied from untitled article
Danville Intelligencer June 25, 1847, Randy Hackenburg Papers U.S. Army Military History Institute,
Carlisle, PA; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 11-112; Geary, Dairy, April 27-30, 1847.
63
companies departed Camp Misery for Vera Cruz and home. Also joining them were
Generals Patterson and Pillow. The remaining volunteer regiments, the First and
Second Pennsylvania, the New York, and the South Carolina were organized into a
division under the command of Brigadier General John A. Quitman.140
The Second Pennsylvania also said their goodbyes to Camp Misery on the 6th.
Their orders were to occupy the National Guard Barracks in Jalapa as part of the
city’s new garrison. The garrison consisted of the entire Second Pennsylvania
Regiment, four companies from the Second U.S. Dragoons and five companies from
the First Artillery. Brevet Colonel Thomas Childs, who had also been appointed
governor of the city, commanded the entire garrison. The next day the First
Pennsylvania departed Camp Misery for Perote. Arriving on May 8, 1847 the First
Regiment took command of Perote Castle as part of the city’s garrison. Soon after
they arrived, General Scott appointed Colonel Wynkoop, Governor, and Lieutenant
Colonel Black, troop commander. Company C of the United States Mounted Rifles,
commanded by Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker and a single company from the
Third U.S. Artillery were also assigned to Wynkoop’s command. On May 14, 1847,
under the command of Major Francis Bowman, Companies A, G, and I of the First
140
Geary, Dairy, May 4, 1847; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 63-65; Johnson, A Gallant
Little Army, 112; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 305; Jenkins, History of the War, 287-290;
Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 270; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2:86-87, 118-119;
Henderson, A Glorious Defeat, 167.
64
Regiment departed Perote for Jalapa with orders to reinforce the garrison of said
city.141
Both regiments soon became accustomed to garrison life, finding their new
accommodations and quality of life far better than they had been at Camp Misery.
After living in the field for more than three months, in some of the worst conditions
imaginable, the primitive, spartan quarters of Jalapa and Perote would have look like
plush Manhattan hotel rooms.142
Garrison duty also provided them with easy access to comforts and
entertainment the likes of which they had not seen for quite a while, if ever. Both
towns had plenty of bars, taverns, and restaurants were a man could have a few drinks
with comrades and senoritas. One of the most common and affordable drinks
available was pulque, which was made from the fermented sap of the century plant.
While most accounts describe it as foul smelling and unpalatable, it still became very
popular among the men mainly, if not solely, for its potency. It has been said that a
quart was sufficient to intoxicate twenty men. Drinking and flirting were not the only
ways a Pennsylvanian could spend his free time. For those that enjoyed gambling
there was always a card game or a cockfight going on somewhere. Attending local
dances and theater productions also became very popular. A few of the men, driven
141
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 306; McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in
Mexico,” (July 1969): 227; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 90; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 120; Geary,
Dairy, May 6, 1847; Roberts, “Colonel William Barton Roberts in the Mexican City
Campaign―1847,” 259-260; Kreitzer, Journal, May 8, 14, 1847; Nagle, Diary, May 8, 1847; Smith,
and Judah, eds., Chronicles of the Gringos, 223; Jenkins, History of the War, 299, 301; Ripley, The
War with Mexico, 2: 107-108.
142
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 90; McFaddin, Letter to Jackson McFaddin, April 25, 1847;
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 11-112; Geary, Dairy, April 27-30, 1847.
65
by curiosity, chose to investigate one of Mexico’s most treasured traditions, the
bullfight.143 After attending a bullfight at the Plaza de Toros, in which five bulls were
killed, Private Richard Coulter noted in his journal that “it was the first performance
of the kind I have ever seen and therefore a novelty, but at the same time, from my
ideas of a Spanish bull fight I think it must have been rather a small performance.”144
Instead of going wild and possible burning entire towns down, which was
what many regular officers believed would happen if volunteers were given
unrestricted access to population centers, the Pennsylvania volunteers garrisoning
Jalapa and Perote maintained their composure and adhered to the highest standards of
military discipline. Neither town experienced any major incidents or confrontations
between the Mexican residences and the United States military while being
garrisoned by members of the Pennsylvania regiments. Through their actions, they
were able to show the military brass of the Regular Army that the Pennsylvania
Regiments of Volunteers could be entrusted to complete an assigned mission just as
well and if not better then long standing regular army units.145
While the Pennsylvanians were enjoying garrison life, General Scott was
making preparations in Puebla for the army’s final thrust into the Valley of Mexico.
Various shortages and delays had plagued the campaign from the very beginning. At
143
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 96, 103; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 13; McWilliams, "A
Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 227; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican
War,” 136; Geary, Dairy, May 15, 1847; Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 136; Johnson, A Gallant Little
Army, 131.
144
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 96.
Roberts, “Colonel William Barton Roberts in the Mexican City Campaign―1847,” 251;
Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 11; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 97.
145
66
Puebla, Scott was forced to confront and deal with his army’s most dire shortage, its
lack of manpower. He was painfully aware that his command lack the manpower
necessary to both threaten Mexico City and insure that his supply and communication
lines to the coast remained opened. This realization forced General Scott to alter his
plans for his advance into the Valley of Mexico drastically. He decided that he would
advance on Mexico City with nearly the entire bulk of his available forces, leaving
behind the bare minimum necessary to garrison Vera Cruz, Perote, and Puebla. In
doing this, he would be essentially severing all lines of communications and supply
between his forces and the coast. As Scott expressed it, “we had to throw away the
scabbard and to advance with the naked blade in hand.”146 While brilliant, this new
plan ran counter to the accepted military wisdom of the time.147 No less an authority
than the Duke of Wellington, on hearing of Scott’s plan remarked to a friend, “that
poor young man is lost. He has been carried away by successes. He cant take the
city, and he cant fall back upon his bases. He wont leave Mexico without the
permission of the Mexicans.”148
Early on the morning of June 8, 1847, Colonel Childs received orders that
Jalapa was to be abandoned and that he and his men were to proceed to Puebla at
once. Companies A, G, and I of the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers
departed that afternoon for Perote with the garrison’s sick and hospital stores. A few
146
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 337.
147
Smith, Old Fuss and Feathers, 249; Merry, A Country of Vast Designs, 383; Hackenburg,
War with Mexico, 44-45.
148
Smith, Old Fuss and Feathers, 249.
67
days later Colonel Childs received word that a train of reinforcements under the
command of Brigadier General George Cadwalader had departed Vera Cruz and were
proceeding in his direction. Concerned over the increase activity among the
guerrilleros in the area Childs decided that it would be prudent to hold off departing
Jalapa until the arrival of the reinforcement train so that they could proceed to Puebla
together.149
Repeated clashes with guerrilleros between Vera Cruz and Jalapa greatly
hindered General Cadwalader’s progress inland and not until June 15, 1847 where
they finally able to reach Jalapa. So exhausted were Cadwalader’s men and wagon
teams upon reaching Jalapa they required three days of rest to regain their strength.
In the early hours of June 19, the combined force of Cadwalader’s and Childs’
commands departed Jalapa for Perote.150
At Perote Colonel Wynkoop had been keeping himself abreast of the situation
in Jalapa and the troubles General Cadwalader’s train had encountered. On June 16,
1847, he received intelligence from a courier that a sizable guerrillero force
commanded by Padre Celestino de Jarauta was planning to ambush Cadwalader’s
train between the villages of La Hoya and Las Vigas, at La Hoya Pass. The pass was
a narrow rough road running some six or eight miles flanked on both sided by near
149
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 13; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 317-318;
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 136; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 106-107; Geary,
Dairy, June 6, 1847; Jenkins, History of the War, 300-301; Reilly, War with Mexico!, 133-137;
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 44-45.
150
Jenkins, History of the War, 300-301; Reilly, War with Mexico!, 133-137; Henry, The
Story of the Mexican War, 319; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 444-446; Johnson, A
Gallant Little Army, 138-240; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 76-77; Geary, Dairy, June 18-19, 1847;
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 136; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 107.
68
vertical heights. Fearing for the safety of Cadwalader’s approaching command;
Wynkoop departed Perote late on June 19 at the head of a two hundred fifty-man
relief column consisting of Companies B, C, F, H, and K of the First Pennsylvania
and Walker’s company of Mounted Rifles. They reached Las Vigas in the predawn
hours of June 20, 1847. Just beyond the village, they came upon the guerrilleros
main camp. Completely caught off guard, the guerrilleros began to break ranks and
retreat.151
Cadwalader’s forces had reached La Hoya, on the evening of the 20th. Upon
entering the pass early the next morning, the left heights were discovered to be
fortified with rough breastworks. Four companies led by Captain Winder of the First
Artillery were thrown out in advance with orders to seize the heights. Company G of
the Second Pennsylvania and a company from the First Artillery took the lead with
the other two companies, both from the First Artillery, acting as their reserve.
Captain Winder’s detachment advanced along the ridgeline for quite some distance
without meeting the enemy, until the head of the main column neared the western
extremity of the pass. The detachment had stumbled upon the guerrilleros occupying
a most difficult to access height that completely dominated the National Highway
below. As Captain Winder’s four companies began to lay into the Mexicans with a
heavy fire, a twelve-pound mountain howitzer attached to the Voltiguers Regiment
151
Clary, Eagles and Empire, 338; Jenkins, History of the War, 302; Kreitzer, Journal, June
19-20, 1847; Nagle, Diary, June 19, 1847; Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 273; The Philadelphia
Grays' Collection of Official Reports of Brigadier-General George Cadwalader's Services during the
Campaign of 1847, in Mexico (Philadelphia: T. K. and P. G. Collins, 1848), 11-12.
69
was wheeled to the head of Cadwalader’s train and brought to bare. After the
howitzer fired three of four rounds, the Mexicans began pouring down the sloop of
the ravine in full retreat. In an attempt to cut them off Company A of the Second
Pennsylvania was deployed in a wooded area between the hill and the road and
Companies B and D along with one company of the First Artillery were deployed on
the road.152
Having been alerted by the rapport of musket and cannon fire, Wynkoop’s
relief column raced forward, arriving just as the guerrilleros, retreating down the hill,
reached the highway. Caught between two American forces the guerrilleros suffered
greatly. The two Pennsylvania regiments soon became intermixed as they proceeded
to chase after the fleeing Mexicans. They pursued them for more than four miles,
before receiving orders to return to the highway. With many of their men completely
exhausted both Wynkoop and Cadwalader though it was prudent to encamp near Las
Vigas for the evening and then proceed onto Perote in the morning.153
Upon reaching Perote around noon on June 21, 1847, the Second
Pennsylvania Regiment, along with the rest of Cadwalader’s train were encamped
under the guns of the castle. They remained there just long enough to become
152
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 13-14; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican
War, 446-448; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 45-46; Jenkins, History of the War, 301-302; Herrold,
"Brigadier-General Edward Charles Williams," 26; Geary, Dairy, June 20, 1947; Ripley, The War with
Mexico, 2: 137-138; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 109- 112; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 140-141.
153
Kreitzer, Journal, June 19, 20, 1847; Nagle, Diary, June 19, 1847; Bauer, The Mexican
War 1846-1848, 273; The Philadelphia Grays’, 11-12; Jenkins, History of the War, 301-302; Herrold,
"Brigadier-General Edward Charles Williams," 26; Geary, Dairy, June 20, 1947; Ripley, The War with
Mexico, 2: 137-139; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 109- 112; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 140-141;
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 45-46;
70
familiar with the castle and town. On the 28th, the Second Regiment along with
Colonel Childs’ command relocated to the nearby village of Tepegahualco. They
were forced to remain there until 3 July because of their old friend General Pillow.
Major General Pillow had ordered Cadwalader and his entire command to wait for
him and his new command at Perote so that they could all enter Puebla as one large
well-organized force.154 Also taking up the line of march for Puebla on July 3 were
Companies A, C, D, G, I, and K of the First Regiment. All sixteen Pennsylvanian
companies reached Puebla, the second largest city in Mexico at that time, on July 8,
1847. Having first received marching orders for Puebla on June 8, 1847, it had taken
thirty days for the Second Pennsylvania Regiment of Volunteer to reach their
designation.155
154
Upon returning to the States with the twelve-month volunteers Pillow was promoted to the
rank of Major General. See: Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2:86-87.
155
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 112; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 138-139; Geary, Dairy, June
21, 1947; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 136; Hackenburg, War with Mexico,
45-46; Nagle, Diary, June 27, 1847; George Cadwalader, Order Book, June 24th 1847, Mexico,
General George Cadwalader Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Johnson, A
Gallant Little Army, 141-142; Jenkins, History of the War, 302.
Chapter 6: Into the Valley of Mexico
Upon first setting eyes on Puebla, many of the Pennsylvanian were awestruck
by its size and splendor. Private George Hartman of the Westmoreland Guards wrote
a great deal about Puebla in his journal.
Puebla really exceeds my expectations; it is a beautiful place; the streets are
very clean and well paved. The buildings are not high, but they are regular
and present a very good appearance. The population of the city is 70,000. It
has sixty churches, many of which are capacious and magnificent. The
Cathedral is said to have cost six millions of dollars.156
The sheer size of Puebla also meant that there were plenty of locations
suitable for the housing of troops. Both Pennsylvania regiments were able to acquire
some rather nice accommodations within the city. The Second Pennsylvania
Regiment took up residence in a monastery run by Saint John’s Church. They were
quartered in the porticos that surrounded the monastery’s courtyard, half the regiment
in the lower and the other half in the upper portico. The six companies of the First
Pennsylvania Regiment were quartered in a large four-story amphitheatre located in
the Plaza de Toros. Private John Kreitzer of the Monroe Guards thought the
accommodations there were far superior to any of the other places the Monroe Guards
had been quartered in since arriving in Mexico. Mainly because it was the first place
in Mexico he had slept that was not infested with fleas.157
On August 6, 1847, Brigadier General Franklin Pierce arrived at Puebla with a
contingent of 2,500 men. Their arrival was a great relief for General Scott. Scott was
156
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 15.
157
Kreitzer, Journal, July 9, 1847; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 123-124; Hartman, A Private's Own
Journal, 15.
71
72
on the cusp of making the decision to advance on Mexico City without Pierce’s
detachment, fully aware that without them his chances of success would be greatly
reduced. Yet, he also knew that the longer he remained in Puebla the more time
Santa Anna had to organize his forces and constructed defenses.158
Among the fresh recruits of Pierce’s detachment were two independent
volunteer companies from Pennsylvania. On 19 April 1847, realizing that additional
troops were needed, Secretary of War William L. Marcy made a formal request to
the State of Pennsylvania to call up two additional companies. The State’s Adjutant
General selected the Wayne Guards of Mifflin County, commanded by Captain James
Caldwell, and the Independent Grays of Bedford, led by Captain Samuel M. Taylor.
Both companies were federalized by May 26, and by June 22, they were aboard the
steamship Alabama in route to Vera Cruz. On August 7, 1847, they were official
attached to the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, the Grays as Company L and the
Guards as Company M.159
For the advance on Mexico City General Scott organized his army into four
divisions. Brigadier Generals William J. Worth and David E. Twiggs commanded
the First and Second Divisions, respectively. Both of which were made up of regular
regiments. Commanded by Major General Gideon J. Pillow the Third Division was
158
Connor and Faulk, North America Divided, 120; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 49-50;
Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 164-166; Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 273-274; Johnson, A
Gallant Little Army, 147, 149; Jenkins, History of the War, 302-303.
159
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 132-134; Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 71-72; Jacob C.
Higgins, “Mexican War Memoirs by Jacob C. Higgins,” in Minute Men of Pennsylvania, with a Brief
Biography of Their Leaders in Blair, Bedford, and Cambria Counties, Col. Jacob C. Higgins,
Including a Copy of Col. Higgins’ Diary of the Mexican War, ed. Milton V. Burgess (Martinburg, PA:
Morrisons Cove Herald, 1962), 80.
73
made up of recently formed regiments whose term of service was limited to one year.
The Fourth Division was commanded by Major General John A. Quitman and
consisted of two brigades of volunteers and an independent battalion of three hundred
Marines under Lieutenant Colonel Samuel E. Watson. Brigadier General James
Shields commanded the First Brigade, consisting of the New York and South
Carolina Volunteer Regiments. Colonel William B. Roberts led the Second Brigade,
the reinforced Second Pennsylvania Regiment.160
Missing from Quitman’s division of volunteers were the six companies of the
First Pennsylvania Regiment that had accompanied Pillow to Puebla. These
companies were supposed to be a part of Quitman’s division. That was why they had
been order to Puebla in the first place. They had even been issued orders during the
evening of August 6, 1847 that the march on Mexico City was about to commence
and that they should ready themselves to depart Puebla for Mexico City.161
On morning of August 7, they were informed that their marching orders had
been countermanded. They were told that Colonel Watson’s Marines were going in
their place and that they were to take the duty that the Marines had originally been
assigned, remaining behind in Puebla as part of the town’s new garrison. The rumor
was that Major Levi Twiggs of the Marine detachment whose brother was General
David Twiggs, used his family connections to get the Marines included in the Mexico
City force. Not surprisingly, the men of the First Regiment were in a complete
160
Jenkins, History of the War, 304; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2:77-78; Hackenburg, War
with Mexico, 51.
161
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 51; Kreitzer, Journal, Aug. 7, 1847.
74
uproar. So upset in fact, was Lieutenant Colonel Black that he immediately tried to
hand in his commission to General Scott in protest. The general refused to accept it,
and told Black that he had the upmost confidence in him and his regiment.162
Figure 4. Source: “A Part of the Valley of Mexico,” map, in Smith, The War with
Mexico, 2: 80.
With much pomp and circumstance, General Scott and his army of 10,738
departed Puebla on August 8, 1847. As Scott rode up the column, dressed in his
finest uniform, his men greeted him with joyful cheers and each regimental band in
turn struck up “Hail to the Chief.” By the evening of the 9th the Second Regiment of
162
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 51; Kreitzer, Journal, Aug. 7, 1847.
75
Pennsylvania Volunteers had reach San Martin, a small town at the base of Mount
Popocatepetl. From there the National Highway climbs rapidly until reaching the Rio
Frio pass, nearly ten thousand feet above sea level. On August 11, 1847, the Second
Regiment had cleared the pass and proceeded down the far side of Mount
Popocatepetl and into the Valley of Mexico. By nightfall they had reached Quitman’s
temporary headquarters at an old hacienda near Buena Vista, five miles from the of
Scott’s headquarters at Ayotla.163
For four days the bulk of Scott’s army remained at Ayotla so that the Scott’s
engineers and topographers could determine the best route to take into Mexico City.
Three possible routes were soon discovered. Option 1 was to swing around Lake
Tezcoco and enter the city by way of Guadalupe from the north. Opinion 2, was a
route that proceeded straight forward upon the National Highway. The last option
was to swing around lakes Chalco and Xochimilco and approach the city from the
south. Option 1 was taken off the table right away as being too long and difficult.
Reconnaissance of El Peñón on the 12th and 13th revealed that the bulk of Santa Anna
forces were occupying its heights and that the works could not be taken except with
great loss of life. On August 14, 1847, after further reconnaissance of the southern
163
Jenkins, History of the War, 304; Bill, Rehearsal for Conflict, 265; Johnson, A Gallant
Little Army, 149; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 238; Smith, To Mexico with Scott, 189; Geary, Dairy,
Aug 8, 1847; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 151-152; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican
War,” 137; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 187 Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 135.
76
route determined that with a little work artillery could traverse it, General Scott
decided on that route.164
During their short stay at Buena Vista Colonel Roberts made sure his regiment
of Pennsylvanias did not succumb to boredom by giving them plenty of work
assignments. On August 13,1847 Captain James Miller with a detail of four men
from each company were ordered to collect all the boats in the areas and drag them to
Chalco in case General Scott decided to advance on Mexico City by boat. A more
common and practical detail, however, was foraging. Each day parties would be sent
out to search for food to augment what supplies they had brought with them from
Puebla.165
On August 15, 1847, Scott‘s army was once more on the march. Early in the
morning Worth’s division, followed by Pillow’s proceeded out of Ayotla toward
Buena Vista and Chalco. At the same time, Twiggs’ and Quitman’s divisions
advanced from Ayotla towards El Peñón. After marching directly on Mexico City
directly for most of the day they were abruptly countermarched back to Ayotla. From
Ayotla they proceed east and then south along the route the other two divisions had
taken. This was done on Scott’s orders to mask the army’s departure from Ayotla and
164
Jenkins, History of the War, 245-346; Connor and Faulk, North America Divided, 123;
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 357-359; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 187-189;
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 154-157; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 15.
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 137; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in
Mexico, 15; Higgins, “Mexican War Memoirs by Jacob C. Higgins,” 84-86.
165
77
to convince Santa Anna that Scott was not attempting to bypass El Peñón but take it
by force.166
On August 19, 1847, after three hard days of marching, the Second
Pennsylvania Regiment entered San Augustin. Soon after, they and the rest of
Quitman’s division were tasked with defending the headquarters, trains, and supply
depot that Scott had established there the day before. Meanwhile Scott’s other
divisions were advancing on Mexican held positions at Padierna and San Antonio and
by midday men from Pillow’s and Twiggs’ divisions were heavily engaged with
Mexican forces near Padierna. During the evening Shields’ brigade was detached
from Quitman’s division and sent forward. The next day while Shields’ brigade was
earning its pay in the back to back battles of Contreras and Churubusco the
Pennsylvania Regiment, back at San Augustin, were lamenting and sulking over their
misfortune at being assigned to the Army’s rear area. More than anything else, they
wanted an opportunity to show what Pennsylvanian men were made of. Yet instead,
they were left behind to guard the luggage.167
166
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 154, 157-158; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the
Mexican War,” 137; Richard McSherry, El Puchero; or, A Mixed Dish from Mexico, Embracing
General Scott's Campaign, with Sketches of Military Life, in Field and Camp, of the Character of the
Country, Manners and Ways of the People, Etc (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., 1850), 64;
Clary, Eagles and Empire, 346; Herrold, "Brigadier-General Edward Charles Williams," 27; Smith,
The War with Mexico, 2: 96-97.
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 137; McSherry, El Puchero, 64, 74;
Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 209-210; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 158-165, 173- 191;
McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 235; Battle, History of Columbia and
Montour Counties, 47; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 142-143.
167
78
Figure 5. Source: adapted from “Battle of Mexico: General Map,” map, in Smith,
The War with Mexico, 2: 141.
79
The next day Scott received word from Santa Anna that he desired a ceasefire
to discuss the possibility of entering into a treaty of peace. The terms of the ceasefire
were signed on the 23 August. On September 6, 1847, fully aware that the peace
negotiations were going nowhere and that Santa Anna had been using the ceasefire to
reorganize his shattered army, Scott officially called off the ceasefire. On September
7, Scott advanced his army all the way to Tacubaya. At about 3 o’clock in the
morning of the 8th, Scott launched an attack on the Molino del Rey, a group of
buildings which he had been told the Mexicans were using to cast cannons. After a
great deal of heavy fighting, in which the Pennsylvania Regiment played no role, the
Molino del Rey was seized. To the dismay of Scott and his men, no cannons could be
found nor had any evidence that cannons had ever been forged there. After blowing
up the nearby Casa de Mata, which the Mexicans were using as a gunpowder
magazine, the American forces made a hastily withdraw back to Tacubaya.168
Following the Battle of Moilno del Rey Scott began making preparations to
take Mexico City. On September 11, 1847, after deliberating with his fellow officers
and painstakingly going over the information gathered by his engineers Scott decided
that his army would attack the city from the west. The first obstacle that they would
have to overcome would be Chapultepec, an isolated hill some one hundred fifty feet
168
Weems, To Conquer a Peace, 414; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War, 351; Peskin,
Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms, 186; Singletary, The Mexican War, 94; Peskin, ed.
Volunteers, 155-157; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 386-402, 405-410; Ripley, The
War with Mexico, 2: 316-354, 357-358; Henderson, A Glorious Defeat, 170-171; Jenkins, History of
the War, 385-398; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 133-138; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 300-323.
80
in height. Its north, east, and most of its southern slope were extremely steep while
its western slope gradually descends toward Moilno del Rey. Upon its summit stood
the Castle of Chapultepec, which was built as a country house for the Viceroy of New
Spain, but by 1847 housed the National Military School. The castle itself boasted
thirteen guns all mounted along its walls. An outer wall enclosed the grounds around
the castle. The Moilno del Rey bounded the western wall. The northern wall was
created by filing in the arches of the aqueduct of San Cosme with heavy masonry.
The southern wall which overlooked the road from Tacubaya to Mexico City boasted
a fighting platform and a number of projections, including a redan.169 The castle was
linked to the Belén Causeway by a road that switchbacked down the south face of the
hill then passed through the eastern outer wall.170 Scott intended to launch a twoprong attack against Chapultepec. Pillow’s division was to attack from the west
through Molino del Rey and up the western slope of the hill. Quitman’s division,
reinforced by Brevet Brigadier General Persifor F. Smith’s brigade, was to advance
up the Tacubaya Road and seize the outer wall’s main entrance. Not only would this
169
A redan was a V-shaped fortification angled toward an expected attack, usually projecting
from a fortified line. See: Dennis Hart Mahan, A Treatise on Field Fortification: Containing
Instructions on the Methods of Laying Out, Constructing, Defending, and Attacking Intrenchments,
with the General Outlines Also of the Arrangement, the Attack and Defence of Permanent
Fortifications, 3rd rev. ed. (New York: John Wiley, 1861), 12.
170
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 446-447, 449-451; Henry, The Story of the Mexican
War, 358; Daniel H. Hill, “Chapultepec and the Garitas of Mexico,” Southern Quarterly Review 23,
no. 45 (January 1853): 24; Jenkins, History of the War, 404-405, 408-409; Smith, The War with
Mexico, 2: 147-149, 151-152; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 391-405; Alcaraz, et al. The Other
Side, 355-356; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 402-405, 411-412.
81
prevent Santa Anna from reinforcing Chapultepec but place Quitman’s men in the
ideal location to assault the castle from the south.171
Figure 6. Source: “Battle of Chapultepec,” map, in Smith, The War with
Mexico, 2: 150.
In preparation for the assault on Chapultepec a special “forlorn hope” was
formed, made up of volunteers from the different regiments and the entire Marine
171
Jenkins, History of the War, 404-405; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 149; Ripley, The
War with Mexico, 2:391-396.
82
detachment. On September 11, 1847, each Pennsylvanian company sent three men
up to headquarters, with the hope that one of two of them would be selected for the
detail. Among those selected was Private Hagan Carney of the Westmoreland Guards
(E). His departure filled his fellow Guards with both pride and fear; pride that one of
their own had been selected for such a coveted duty and fear that they might never see
him again.172 Sergeant Thomas Barclay was able to capture how his entire company
felt at the moment of Carney’s departure in his journal: “The honor of our Company
will be safe in his hands and in the darkest hour of battle may the God of Battles
shield and protect him.”173
At sunset, the Pennsylvania Regiment was on the march once more.
Marching all night, they were able to reach Tacubaya around dawn. Just outside of
the town, they were ordered off the road and given a short rest. The men had just
settling down when suddenly a team of horses, pulling a cannon, spooked and bolted
off the road. In the chaos Private Edward Hansberry of Company E’s feet were
crushed under a wheel of the cannon’s carriage. So bad were his injuries, that he was
discharged on March 5, 1848 with a surgeon’s certificate of disability.174
Upon reaching Tacubaya, just before dawn, companies E, I, L, and M were
detached under Major Brindle in support of Battery Number Two, which was located
172
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 162-163; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 55; Peskin, Winfield Scott
and the Profession of Arms, 186; Clary, Eagles and Empire, 370; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in
the Mexican War,” 138; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 18; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 218.
173
174
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 162.
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 163-164; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 54, 241; McWilliams, "A
Westmoreland Guard In Mexico,” (July 1969): 236-237; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 17.
83
halfway between Tacubaya and Molino del Rey. The remainder of the regiment
remained near Tacubaya in support of Battery Number One. All day both battalions
came under heavy fire from Chapultepec, a fire that did not let up until after dark.175
The American batteries renewed their bombardment at dawn and continued
firing until 9:00 am. The abrupt termination of American cannon fire was the signal
all were waiting for, the signal to attack. With much vigor and tenacity, Quitman’s
forces boldly proceeded down the Tacubaya Road. Leading the advance were the
storming parties and the Marines, followed closely by the New York, South Carolina,
and Pennsylvania regiments in that order. As they drew near the bend in the road, the
fire from Chapultepec and a small gun battery less than two hounded yards further up
the road became so intense that the division could no longer advance. Quitman
ordered the three volunteer regiments off the road to the left with orders to advance
against the southern outer wall.176
Reaching the wall was no easy task. The men had to cross a cornfield then a
marsh both of which were crisscrossed with massive drainages ditches, some ten to
twelve feet wide and filled with three to four feet of mud and water. At first, many of
the men were able to simply jump across the ditches. Yet as they pushed forward, the
heat and terrain began taking a toll on them. By the time the men reached the last of
175
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 162, 164; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 54-55; McWilliams, "A
Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 237; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 18; Ripley,
The War with Mexico, 2: 403.
176
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 221; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War,
416; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 157; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 165, 168; Wilcox, History of the
Mexican War, 460-461; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 55.
84
the ditches many could barely lower themselves in, let alone claw their way back out.
So exhausted were the men that upon reaching the wall many were forced to seek
shelter alongside it, if but for a brief moment, to catch their breath. This advance had
taken quite a toll on the regiment. In reaching the wall, quite a few casualties had
been incurred. Among those injured was Lieutenant Colonel Geary, who had taken
temporarily command of the regiment when Colonel Roberts fell ill sometime after
the armistice began. While advancing forward he told those around him that he had
been hit near the groin by a spent canister ball. Claiming that he was too injured to
advance he sought shelter along the wall. He remained there until after the castle
fell.177
Once the Pennsylvanians had caught their breath, they proceeded through an
opening in the outer wall at the redan. From there they proceeded east along the wall
until they reached the base of Chapultepec. There they made contact with Pillow’s
command and learned from them that the advance was stalling. Realizing the
direness of the situation Major Brindle formed the regiment in line and led them
straight up the hill, thereby throwing their strength into the advance and
reinvigorating it. With the added weight of the Pennsylvanians, and the arrival of
177
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 221-222; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican
War, 416; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 157; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 165, 168- 171; Hackenburg,
War with Mexico, 55; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2:424.
85
storming ladders, the Americans breached the ramparts and soon after seized the
castle.178
With the castle firmly in American hands, those upon the hill turned their
attention and the castle’s guns upon the Mexicans on the southeast slope of the hill
and those stationed outside the main gate, who had been holding up Quitman’s and
Smith’s advance. Now that the Mexican forces in front of Quitman were taking fire
from two directions Quitman’s command was able to push them aside and seize the
main gate. With their only route of escape cut off what was left of Chapultepec’s
garrison was forced to surrender.179
Once all of Chapultepec had been secured and the American flag had been
hoisted up the castle’s flagpole a wounded General Pillow had his men carry him up
Chapultepec and into the castle upon an old blanket.180 Inside the castle’s walls, he
came upon Sergeant Absolem Guiler of Company H and inquired, “What troops are
these?” “Sir,” replied Guiler, “this is the 2nd Pa. Regt., the men who you said waved
[sic] at Cerro Gordo.”181 Immediately Pillow’s pleasant disposition turned to anger
178
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 221-223; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican
War, 416-417; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 157; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 169-171; Wilcox, History
of the Mexican War, 460-463, 465; Weems, To Conquer a Peace, 424-425; George H. Gordon, “The
Battle of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec,” in Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, Civil and
Mexican Wars, 1861, 1846, Vol. 13 of Papers of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts
(Boston: Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, 1913), 626; Henry, The Story of the Mexican
War, 360; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 55,59; Jenkins, History of the War, 416-417; Ripley, The
War with Mexico, 2:421,424.
179
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 224; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 157-158; Wilcox,
History of the Mexican War, 462-463; Jenkins, History of the War, 415.
180
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 179; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 227.
181
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 179.
86
and after some delay he replied, “I think you have a damn sight of impudence for a
sergeant.”182
Word soon reached the regiment that they were to grab what ammunition they
could find and proceed without hast to the main outer gate of Chapultepec. Quitman
intended to launch an immediate attack on the city. Just outside the outer gate was
the Benén Causeway. The causeway ran east for two or three miles before passing
through the Garitade Benén and entering the city.183 Quitman knew that reaching the
Garita de Benén would not be easy. The Benén Causeway was flanked on both sides
by deep canals and marshlands and the only cover his men would have as they
advanced would be the open arches of a large aqueduct that ran straight down the
center of the causeway. To protect the Garita de Benén the Mexicans had established
a battery of three guns immediately in front of the garita. There was also a small
two-gun battery next to an infantry parapet halfway between Chapultepec and the
Garita de Benén.184
Led by the Regiment of Mounted Rifles and South Carolina Regiment of
Volunteers, Quitman’s force proceeded forward. As they neared the Bridge of
Insurgents heavy fire from the two-gun battery and the small parapet halted their
182
Ibid.
Garita, is Spanish for gate. Besides meaning gate, it can also mean “sentry box.” The
Mexico City garitas were not gates but stone guardhouses that controlling the entry and exist of traffic
into and out of the city. See: Edward H. Simmons, “Who Was First at Chapultepec?” Fortitudine 1112, No. 4-1 (Spring-Summer, 1982): 4.
183
184
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 469-470; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 174; Johnson, A
Gallant Little Army, 221; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 158-159; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2:
158.
87
forward progress. Yet they were not halted for long. A long eighteen-pounder and a
twenty-pounder howitzer commanded by Captain Simon H. Drum and Lieutenant
Calvin Benjamin of the Forth Artillery were manhandled forward and in short-order,
the battery and parapet were silenced. As Quitman’s forces continued forward, the
Mexican fire only intensified. It was so intense that the men could only advance by
leapfrogging from the cover of one arch to the next. Yet in this manner, they were
able to advance to within yards of the garita. At a little past 1:00 pm, Quitman seized
a rifle from a wounded rifleman, fired the weapon and then tied a red silk
handkerchief to the barrel. He leaped forward and began waving the weapon above
his head. Yelling for his men to follow him Quitman led his men into the fray. At
the forefront of the charge were the South Carolinians and the Rifles with the
Pennsylvanians and part of the Sixth Infantry following close behind. At precisely
twenty past one Quitman seized the Garita de Benén.185
Once the Garita de Benén was seized, Quitman’s forces began taking up
positions in the immediate area around the garita. Upon entering the city, the
Philadelphia Randers (F) and the Reading Artillerists (A), were ordered to seize an
abandoned sandbag redoubt that the Mexicans had erected, one hundred yards north
185
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 469-47; Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 318319; Bill, Rehearsal for Conflict, 297-298; Jenkins, History of the War, 419-420; Brooks, A Complete
History of the Mexican War, 418-422; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 434; Johnson, A Gallant Little
Army, 215, 230-233; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War, 364; Hill, “Chapultepec and the Garitas of
Mexico,” 31; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 173; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 366-369; Smith, The War
with Mexico, 2: 159; McWilliams, “A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,” (July 1969): 239.
88
of the Garita de Benén, between the garita and the Ciudadela.186 Soon after the
Pennsylvanians seized the redoubt the Mexicans began launching a series of counter
attacks which continued until the sun began to set. Under the cover of darkness,
much need ammunition as well as siege guns were brought forward. The
Pennsylvania Regiment along with many others toiled throughout the night building
barricades and gun emplacements for an assault against the Ciudadela that was to be
launched the next day.187
By the time the sun began to raise nearly every position and emplacement was
finished and manned. Geary and everyone else expected at first light “to receive an
iron hailstorm from the enemy.”188 With their guns at the ready Quitman’s men
braced themselves for the anticipated Mexican onslaught. Yet no attack materialized.
Instead, a single Mexican carrying a white flag approached Quitman’s front lines.
From him, General Quitman learned that under the cover of darkness Santa Anna and
the army had abandoned not only the Ciudadela but also the entire city.189
186
A redoubt was an enclosed defensive work of polygonal form usually erected outside a
larger fort. See: Mahan, A Treatise on Field Fortification, 12-13. Ciudadela is Spanish for citadel.
The Ciudadela was originally built as a tobacco factory, but by the time of the Mexican American War,
it had been converted into a heavily fortified military barracks, which housed the city’s permanent
garrison. See: Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 318.
187
Bill, Rehearsal for Conflict, 299; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 434- 435; Hill,
“Chapultepec and the Garitas of Mexico,” 33; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 215, 232-233, 237;
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 172, 173-177; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 19; McWilliams, "A
Westmoreland Guard In Mexico,” (July 1969): 239-240; Jenkins, History of the War, 421; Wilcox,
History of the Mexican War, 472.
188
189
Geary, Dairy, Sept. 14, 1847.
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 175-176, 178-179; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 371-373;
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 19-20; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 238; Ripley, The War with
Mexico, 2: 443-444; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 482.
89
After insuring that the Ciudadela had truly in fact been abandoned, Quitman
proceeded immediately in the direction of the National Palace, leaving only the
Pennsylvania Regiment behind to guard the Ciudadela. It was his intention that his
command be the one that had the honor of seizing the Palace. At approximately 7:00
am, Quitman’s command entered the Grand Plaza and soon after seized the Palace.
On hearing that Scott was making his way towards the plaza at the head of a massive
procession Quitman lined his men up at attention along the western side of the plaza.
At 8:00 am, in full dress uniform and escorted by Brevet Brigadier General William
S. Harney’s Dragoons, General Scott led his victorious army into the plaza. He then
proceeded to canter down Quitman’s line. Upon reaching a point opposite the
National Palace, he turned left and rode over to the palace. There he dismounted,
named Quitman the civil and military governor of the city, and then marched into the
“Halls of Montezuma.”190
Soon after Scott took command of the National Palace, the sound of gunfire
could be heard echoing throughout the city. The city’s clergy had freed all those held
in the city’s jails and convinced them and the poorest of the poor of the city that they
should rise up against the Americans after Santa Anna had departed the city. Scott
showed not a single ounce of kindness or restraint in dealing with the uprising.
Cannons escorted by infantry were wheeled up the city’s streets. If the inhabitants of
a building showed even the slightest sign of resistance, the cannons would let lose a
190
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 179-180; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 163; Johnson, A Gallant
Little Army, 238-239; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 482; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War,
483-484; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 60.
90
thunderous barrage against the building. By September 16, 1847, the last vestige of
resistance was snuffed out.191
While other regiments toiled throughout the night of September 14 and 15 to
restore order to the city, the Second Pennsylvania Regiment remained relatively safe
within the walls of the Ciudadela. Many of the Pennsylvanians used the short time
that they were garrisoned there to reflect upon the long journey that had brought them
to Mexico City.192 Contemplating the recent victory Private George W Hartman of
Company E poured his feelings into the pages of his journal.
The glorious stars and stripes are floating triumphantly over the Palace
Nacisnal [sic] and city of the Astecs [sic]. It is a proud and gratifying sight to
us poor used up boys, who have left home and country and every thing dear,
to witness this sight; but, alas! Many of our brave comrades, who fought hard
to behold this, are numbered with the dead.193
Sergeant Barclay penned very similar sentiments in his journal.
We should all be very thankful to a kind Providence who has preserved our
lives and when we sympathize and sorrow for our wounded comrades we are
consoled by the thoughts that their wounds are not dangerous and that they
soon will be restored to their wonted usefulness. The 2nd Penna. Regt. lost
some 9 men killed and near a hundred wounded.194
191
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 60; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 179-180; Smith, The War with
Mexico, 2: 167; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 484; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2:444-445;
Henry, The Story of the Mexican War, 367; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 239-240; Singletary, The
Mexican War, 99.
192
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 60; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 179; Wilcox, History of the
Mexican War, 482.
193
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 20.
194
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 179.
91
Of the performance his fellow Pennsylvanian displayed during the battle he wrote,
“They behaved well and all felt that if any dark spot has heretofore rested upon the
reputation of the Regt. it is now wiped away.”195
In his official report on the capture of Mexican City, General Scott refers to
the Second Pennsylvania Regiment as being among “the officers and corps most
distinguished in those brilliant operations.”196 The Battles of Chapultepec and
Mexico City truly were their vindication. Not only were they able to show General
Scott, but the entire world, that volunteer units, especially their unit, were cut from a
special cloth, and that they were able to stand toe to toe against a numerically superior
force of seasoned regulars.197
195
Ibid.
196
“Official Documents,” Stryker’s American Register and Magazine 1, no. 2 (September
1848): 595.
197
Ibid., 592-601; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 179; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2:424-438;
Jenkins, History of the War, 415-419; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 417-418.
Chapter 7: Siege of Puebla
When General Scott departed Puebla on August 8, 1847, he left behind a
demoralized First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers to garrison Perote and
Puebla. As Scott’s army headed off to Mexico City, the Pennsylvanians became
convinced that their last chances to gain glory in Mexico had disappeared over the
horizon with Scott. Of course, there was no way for them to know what fate had in
store for them. They had no idea that they would soon find themselves in a life or
death struggle for control of Puebla.198
Upon Scott’s departure Colonel Childs, Military Governor of Puebla, made
the decision to divide his force among three defensive positions. The strongest of the
three was Fort Loreto, a stone fort which was located on a high ridge in the northern
suburbs of the city. To command this position Childs selected Major Thomas P.
Gwynn of the Sixth U.S. Infantry. At his disposal were Captains Hill’s company (D)
of the First Pennsylvania, Captain Henry L. Kendrick’s company of regular artillery,
with two twelve-pounders and a ten-inch mortar, and a company of recuperating
soldiers from the hospital.199
At a slightly higher elevation and a half mile east of the fort upon the same
ridge was the second defensive position, the Church of Guadalupe. Captain Turner
198
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 65-75; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 492-498; Jenkins,
History of the War, 456-457; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 173-180.
199
William Hugh Robarts, Mexican War Veterans: A Complete Roster of the Regular and
Volunteer Troops in the War between the United States and Mexico, from 1846 to 1848 (Washington,
DC: Brentano's, 1887), 15; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 65-66; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 248;
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 493; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 174.
92
93
Morehead of the Jefferson Guards (G) commanded the church. In addition to
Company G, the church was also defended by a company of convalescents, and two
mountain howitzers manned by members of the Second Artillery under Lieutenant
George Edwards.200
For his Headquarters Childs had selected the Cuartel de San Jose, which was
located in the northeast part of the city, just northeast of the Plaza of San Jose. The
Cuartel de San Jose was a large rectangular stone structure with its own walled-in
plaza, which opened up upon a public promenade called the Tivoli. Besides being the
third main defensive position in Childs’ triad of defensive positions, it housed the
garrison’s supplies, ordnance stores, horses and some of its cattle and sheep. Many of
the buildings in the vicinity of the Cuartel had been taken over by the army to house
the sick and injured that were unfit to proceed towards Mexico City with Scott.
Lieutenant Colonel Black commanded the garrison assigned to the Cuartel, which
included companies A, C, I, and K of the First Pennsylvania, Captain John H.
Miller’s company of the Fourth Artillery serving as infantry, Captain Lemuel Ford’s
Company of the Third Dragoons, and a five-gun battery of mountain howitzers under
Lieutenant Theodore T. S. Laidley of the Ordnance Department. The total strength of
the entire garrison amounted to 2193 men yet of those only 393 were fit for service
when Scott departed the city, the rest were patients in the hospital.201
200
Robarts, Mexican War Veterans, 15; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 65-66; Johnson, A
Gallant Little Army, 248; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 493; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2:
174.
201
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 65-66; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 248; Wilcox,
History of the Mexican War, 493; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 174.
94
Soon after the last of General Scott’s forces had departed Puebla, guerrilleros
under the command of Brigadier General Joaquin Rea began to descend upon the city,
like a pack of scavengers, circling a wounded lion. On August 12, a party of
teamsters was attacked while loading meat into their wagons, and then on August 26,
the guerrilleros launched a surprise attack on the mule-yard. Finally, on the night of
September 13, 1847, General Rea and his force of a few thousand moved into the city
thus cutting off the garrison from its source of food in the city.202
On September 16, 1847, Rea demanded Childs immediate surrender. While
refusing to show any sign that Rea’s appearance in Puebla caused him concern he flat
out refused Rea’s request. Being that it was the thirty-eighth anniversary of Mexican
independence and emboldened by large quantities of alcohol, upon hearing of Childs’
refusal to surrender, thousands of drunken guerrilleros attempted to take the Cuartel
by force. All day they tried to force their way into the Cuartel, yet the brave
Pennsylvanians would not yield an inch. By nightfall Rea realized the futility of
attempting to take the Cuartel in such a manner and halted all further attempts to do
so.203
After the fall of Mexico City, Santa Anna gathered what forces he could -fifteen thousand cavalrymen and four pieces of light artillery -- and proceeded to
Puebla. Arriving there on 22 September the town greeted him with celebratory
202
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 490; Jenkins, History of the War, 456;
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 248; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 492; Clary, Eagles and Empire,
361; Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 329.
203
Bauer, The Mexican War 1846-1848, 329; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 494;
Kreitzer, Journal, Sept. 16, 1847.
95
cheering and the ringing of church bells.204 According to Mexican historians that
experienced the Mexican American War first hand, “General Santa Anna was
received as a savior of the people.”205 Two days later Santa Anna sent a messenger
forward to deliver his official demands for Childs’ surrender.206 Childs’ responded
immediately. In his response, he wrote:
As for the other portion of your Excellency's communication, demanding a
surrender, within a limited time, of the places held by the troops under my
command, I have but this reply to make to your Excellency: that having been
honoured [sic] with the custody and safe-keeping of these places, it is alike
my desire and my duty to maintain them to the last, feeling fully confident in
the means at my disposal to accomplish that purpose.207
During the evening of September 29, 1847, Santa Anna had a cannon battery
consisting of two six-pounder cannon erected at a church opposite the Cuartel. At
first light, the Mexicans proceeded to bombard the American position with grape,
canister and even some round shot. Quickly the Americans erected a simple,
rudimentary breastwork out of bales of tobacco and then proceeded to manhandle a
twelve-pound cannon, that had been brought down from Fort Loreto on the 28th, into
204
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 492; Jenkins, History of the War, 458;
Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 249; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 493; Smith, The War with
Mexico, 2: 174-175; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 494.
205
Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 393.
206
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 492-494; Jenkins, History of the War,
459-460; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 494; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 395; Henry, The Story
of the Mexican War, 371 Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 68.
207
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 493.
96
position behind the breastwork. By nightfall, the cannon fire from the twelvepounder forced the Mexicans to withdraw their battery.208
Having received information that a large reinforcement column under the
command of Major General Joseph Lane had landed at Vera Cruz and was making its
way towards Puebla, Santa Anna departed Puebla with 3,500 men, and six pieces of
artillery, on October 1, 1847 to intercept it. With Santa Anna’s departure command
of the siege reverted back to General Rea.209
As early as September 30, 1847 Rea’s men had begun erecting a barricade
made of cotton bales about five hundred yards from the Cuartel across one of the
streets that opened upon the Plaza of San Jose. The Americans instantly realized that
once completed such a barricade would provide the Mexicans with a near complete
dominance of the Plaza of San Jose. This was something that the Americans could
not allow to happen. By October 2, the barricade was nearly complete. It stood three
bales high and from bottom to top, four, three and two bales deep. According to
Private John Kreitzer “a twelve pounder would not have had the least effect upon
208
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 495; Jenkins, History of the War, 460461; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 494; Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 396; Smith, The War with
Mexico, 2: 175-176; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 495; Kreitzer, Journal, Sept. 30, 1847.
209
Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 176; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 495, 498;
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 495-496; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 495;
Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 398; Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 1, 1847.
97
it.”210 Fortunately, the Americans intended to launch a surprise attack against the
barricade that evening.211
In preparation for the attack, a special detail under the command of Captain
William Small of Company C was formed. This detail consisted of fifty handpicked
volunteers, ten from each of the five infantry companies assigned to the Cuartel; as a
result eighty percent of Small’s force was from his own regiment. The entire plan
rested on the success of Small’s detail. Under the cover of darkness, they were to dig
through the walls of a row of adjoining house that ran along the Plaza of San Jose
until they reached a position from where they could seize the barricade. To improve
Small’s odds of success Lieutenant George W. Morgan was to launch a simultaneous
attack against a nearby Mexican battery. It was hoped that Morgan’s attack would
mask Small’s advance and keep the Mexicans occupied long enough for Small’s force
to destroy the barricade.212
Upon hearing the report of a single twelve-pounder, the prearranged single,
both Morgan and Small’s forces advanced. To cover both advances, infantry upon
the walls of the Cuartel and the mountain howitzers assigned to the Cuartel open fire
on Mexican held positions. As Morgan’s force closed in on the battery, they began
210
Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 3, 1847.
211
Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 495; Jenkins, History of the War, 466; Kreitzer, Journal,
Sept. 30, Oct. 3, 1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 69.
212
Robarts, Mexican War Veterans, 30; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 495; Jenkins,
History of the War, 466; Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 2, 1847; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 495;
Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 496; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 69.
98
taking heavier fire then they had expected and were forced to fall back to the Cuartel.
Fortunately, Small and his detail were able to reach the row of houses unseen.213
All night Small’s men toiled with crowbars and picks, cutting their way
through building after building. Finally, around 8:00 am, they reached a large, tall,
red building adjacent to the barricade. From this position, Small was able to drive the
Mexicans from the barricade. After setting fire to the barricade, Small received
orders that before falling back to the Cuartel he and his detail were to assist
Lieutenant Theodore Laidley of the Ordnance Department in blowing up the red
building. The red building was destroyed because the Mexicans had been using its
height to take shots at the battery of mountain howitzers in the Cuartel. Once the
charges were lit the American still within the surrounding area of the red building
made a hasty withdraw back to the Cuartel.214
While the number of Mexicans besieging Puebla had drastically decreased and
the threat posed by the cotton bale barricade had been neutralized, it did not mean
things got easier for those besieged. If anything, things got worse. Supplies of all
types were drastically dwindling. On October 7, Puebla ran out of firewood. As a
result, the Pennsylvanians were obligated to go to work pulling down gates, doors,
and windows, and even pulling up floors. In five hours time they had gathered the
213
Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 495; Jenkins, History of the War, 466; Kreitzer, Journal,
Oct. 2, 1847; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 495; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican
War, 496; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 69.
214
Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 495; Jenkins, History of the War, 466; Kreitzer, Journal,
Oct. 2-3, 1847; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 495; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican
War, 496; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 69.
99
equivalent of ten cords of wood. On October 9, those at Puebla were issued the last
of the beef. From that point forward, everyone was placed on half rations.215 Private
Kreitzer was becoming concerned, like many of the other men, over what would
happen if reinforcements did not arrive soon. According to him the Mexicans had
pledged, “To make this a second Alamo.”216
Soon after arriving at Perote, General Lane was made aware of the situation in
Puebla. Because of the direness of the situation, Lane had attached to his command
the one thousand new recruits of Major Follott T. Lally’s command and the four
companies of the First Pennsylvania Regiment, before departing Perote on the 6th.
The total strength of his command now exceeded three thousand men.217
Santa Anna planned to ambush Lane’s column, as it proceeded through the
narrow pass at El Pinal, with a force of one thousand lancers. To support his lancers
he stationed his larger infantry force and his artillery eight miles beyond the pass in
the town of Huanantla. Unfortunately, for Santa Anna during the 8th of October
locals sympathetic to the American army had revealed Santa Anna’s plans to Lane.
On October 9, instead of leading his men into the pass as Santa Anna expected him to
do, Lane left a sizable force with his wagon train east of the pass and proceeded
cross-country straight for Huanantla. The four companies of Pennsylvania volunteers
were among the units he selected to join him in his attack on Huanantla. Completely
215
Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 9, 7, 1847; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 71-72.
216
Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 9, 1847.
217
Jenkins, History of the War, 463; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 499;
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 72; Nagle, Diary, Sept. 9, 24, 27; Brooks, A Complete History of the
Mexican War, 453-456; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 497.
100
caught off guard the Mexicans had little time to organize much of a resistance and
what resistance they did manage to organize was done solely to buy time for the
artillery to escape. Soon the entire Mexican force was in full retreat including the
lancers occupying the pass. With the pass free of Mexicans, Lane returned to his
wagon train. The next day Lane was once more on the move.218
Once the news of Santa Anna’s defeat reached Puebla, General Rea and his
guerrilleros began withdrawing from the city as fast they could. By the morning of
October 12, 1847, only a handful of guerrilleros remained behind in Puebla. At a
approximately 10:00 am the Americans upon the heights of Guadalupe spotted
General Lane’s advance guard and proceeded to alert those within the city by ringing
the bells of the Church of Guadalupe.219 Private Kreitzer used his journal to capture
the scene that followed.
Then for the first time we placed the star spangle banner on the ramparts. The
bells on the churches in the vicinity or in our hands were rung and Loretta
from her flowing ramparts made the city and hills around echo with the peals
of her artillery the mountain howitzers strained themselves in responding to
the twelve pounders the noble six hundred Yankees was filled with and over
flowing with enthusiasm they sent up huzza after huzza until the advance had
nearly reached the city.220
As Lane drew closer to the city, a body of lancers entered the plaza and began
taking up positions to challenge Lane’s advance. Seeing this, Colonel Child ordered
218
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 72-73; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2: 505-507; Jenkins,
History of the War, 463-465; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 497-498; Brooks, A Complete
History of the Mexican War, 499-507; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 249; Nagle, Diary, Oct. 9, 1847.
219
Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 12, 1847; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2:17; Jenkins, History of the
War, 467-468; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 512; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican
War, 497; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 73;
220
Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 12, 1847.
101
the Duquesne Grays (K) led by Captain John Herron to drive them back. The City
Guards (D) and the Jefferson Guards (G) were ordered forward as well, to provide
support for company K. As Company K advanced on the small group of about fifty
lancers, they proceeded to take flight. In hopes of cutting off their escape, Captain
Herron led his men down a side street. Upon exiting the side street, instead of finding
the small group of lancers, that they had been chasing, they found themselves
surrounded by a force of lancers ten times as large. Captain Herron desperately
formed his company up to receive them. His company was quickly overpowered and
forced to retreat, leaving thirteen of their comrades lying dead in the road. With the
lancers bearing down upon them it appeared likely that the entire company was about
to be obliterated. Yet at that critical moment, Company D appeared as if out of
nowhere and drove the Mexicans off.221
Soon after the lancers were driven off, the lead elements of Lane’s column
entered the plaza, thus after twenty-eight days the siege was lifted. By evening the
last of the guerrilleros were driven out of the city by Lane’s forces. With the
guerrilleros gone, “the boys went to work plundering and some of them made out
221
Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 498; Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 12, 1847; Jenkins,
History of the War, 467-468; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 498-500, 512; Brooks, A Complete
History of the Mexican War, 496- 497; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 73; Hiney, Diary, Oct. 12,
1847.
102
guff [sic].”222 According to Private Kreitzer, one of the Monroe Guards pillaged
upwards of $1,000.00 worth of silk shawls.223
Having learned that General Rea had relocated his base of operations to the
small town of Atlixco, about thirty-four miles from Puebla, General Lane led a raid
against him on October 19 1847. Lane departed Puebla at 11:00 am with a mixed
force of artillery, dragoons, and infantry. Among the infantry component was a
battalion of the First Pennsylvania Regiment. At around 4:00 pm they encountered
Rea’s advance guard, about ten miles from Atlixco, at Santa Isabella and a running
battle from hill to hill soon ensued. Within a mile and a half of Atlixco the
Americans discovered the main body of the enemy and it too was driven back. By
the time Lane’s party reached the outskirts of the town his men were completely
exhausted and the sun was setting. At this point Lane was faced with a tough
decision; advance his tired men into an unfamiliar town after dark and risk losing
them or fall back and possible allow Rea and his guerrilleros to escape. Hating both
ideas, Lane decided on a third option. He unlimbered his two artillery batteries and
proceeded to bombard the town for three-fourths of an hour. He then ordered Major
Lally and Colonel Willis A. Gorman to advance their battalions cautiously towards
the town. As they neared the outskirts of the town, the local Ayuntamiento
222
223
Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 12, 1847.
Kreitzer, Journal, Oct. 12, 1847; Jenkins, History of the War, 467-468; Wilcox, History of
the Mexican War, 512; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 497; Hackenburg, War with
Mexico, 73; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 250; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War, 372.
103
approached them. 224 They begged the Major and the Colonel to spare their town.
From the Ayuntamiento Lane learned that Rea and his guerrilleros had already
departed the town. Lane listened to their request and suspended the operation for the
evening. The next morning after thoroughly searching every inch of the town, they
broke camp and proceeded on their return march to Puebla.225
On October 25, 1847, the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers departed
Puebla. They were tasked with escorting a large detail of discharged veterans to the
coast. Upon reaching Plan del Rio, the two groups parted ways, the discharged
veterans continued onto Vera Cruz, while the Pennsylvania Regiment made a beeline
for Jalapa. Not long after reaching Jalapa, Wynkoop was appointed its military
governor. His tenure as governor, however, was a short one, lasting less than two
weeks. On November 18, 1847, Colonel George W. Hughes of the Maryland and
District of Columbia Regiment replaced him as governor. Six days later the
Pennsylvania Regiment was once more on the march. Their destination this time was
the capital itself, Mexico City.226
224
Ayuntamiento, a general term for town or city council.
225
Robarts, Mexican War Veterans, 12, 15, 16, 18, 49, 68; Ripley, The War with Mexico, 2:
507-509; Jenkins, History of the War, 468-470; Brooks, A Complete History of the Mexican War, 508510; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 178-179; Henry, The Story of the Mexican War, 372-373;
Newell, "Schuylkill County in the Mexican War, ”332; Nagle, Diary, Oct. 18-21, 1847; Hackenburg,
War with Mexico, 74.
226
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 74-75; Kreitzer, Journal, Nov. 9, 23-25, Dec. 15, 1847;
Nagle, Diary, Oct. 25-Nov. 2, Nov 17, 1847.
Chapter 8: Occupation
While their brothers in arms in the First Regiment were dealing with General
Rea and his guerrilleros, those in the Second Regiment were enjoying all that Mexico
City had to offer. After a week or so, nearly all the shops and business in the city
reopened and soon after new businesses began to open with names like “New York
Restaurant,” “Eagle Hotel,” and “Old Kentucky House.” Such businesses were
tailored to the palate and style of the American soldier.227
The most popular establishments were those that served alcohol. On
September 17, 1847 feeling slightly under the weather Sergeant Barclay, joined by
Private Coulter and Lieutenant James Armstrong, indulged in a round of brandy to
raise his spirits.228 In his journal, he wrote of how he felt, not only about that round
of brandy, but about all brandy and alcohol.
How often have we experienced the pleasures and benefits of brandy since we
left home. When worn down with fatigue, hungry, wet or cold, how often has
a draught from the Bottle infused energy and comfort. Let reformers slander
thee as will. Let the moral teachers both from the pulpit and lecture room
denounce thee. Still, O King Alcohol, we must always hold thee in grateful
remembrance. Too great intimacy with thee injures, but a slight and
occasional acquaintance both improves and delights.229
That same day the Second Pennsylvania took up residence in the porticos
around the courtyard of the National University. Being quartered at the University
afforded many of the men the opportunity to explore its museum. Of the museum’s
227
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 20; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 220-232; Peskin,
ed. Volunteers, 189;
228
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 189; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 20; Smith, The War with
Mexico, 2: 220-232.
229
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 189.
104
105
many artifacts, one artifact in particular repeatedly caught the attention and
imaginations of the boys from Pennsylvania; a large richly carved Aztec sacrificial
altar. The altar was four or five feet thick and thirty feet in circumference. After
spending three nights at the University they were once more, relocated, this time to an
old tobacco warehouse.230
On October 2, 1847, at around 8 or 9 am while the Pennsylvanians where
having breakfast the earth beneath their feet began shake. For a second Barclay
thought it may have been his imagination, yet on looking around and seeing
expressions of his comrades, he realized that they were all experiencing the same
thing. Quickly, he and his comrades jumped to their feet and made a rush to the
warehouse’s open yard. There they were greeted by what Barclay referred to as an
“impressive sight.”231 According to Private Coulter, “As soon as it was felt, all the
Mexicans in the street fell upon their knees and continued praying until it was over.
The Grand Plaza was completely crowded with priests and populace all on their
knees.”232 The earthquake did a fair amount of damage, rupturing water pipelines and
causing a few building to fall into the streets.233
230
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 20; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 187-192; Joseph,
McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico, 1847-1848: The Journal of William Joseph
McWilliams," edited by John William Larner Jr. Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 52, no. 4
(Oct. 1969): 388; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 244.
231
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 199.
232
Ibid.
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 139; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in
Mexico, 18; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 20; McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico,
(Oct. 1969): 389; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 180, 199.
233
106
Lieutenant Colonel John Geary announced on November 2, 1847 that First
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers were to hold an election to fill the position of
colonel. A position, which had been vacant since October 3, 1847, the day Colonel
Roberts lost his long drawn out battle with typhus. Geary had also announced that if
the election resulted in another position within the regimental staff becoming vacant
additional elections would be held. Geary had orchestrated and manipulated the
elections from the very beginning to help his political ambitions. To begin with,
Geary had tricked General Scott into allowing elections to be held by over-reporting
the size of the regiment. Then once he got permission to hold elections he did
everything he could to get his supporters and himself elected; he promised
promotions, spread false rumors, and even bought individual votes. According to
Sergeant Barclay “it resembles a constable’s election more than a Colonel’s.”234
Because of his hard work and underhanded tactics, he was able to have himself
elected colonel on November 3, 1847. Major William Brindle was elected lieutenant
colonel on November 4. Following the announcement that an election was to be held
to fill Brindle’s former position, many within the regiment made up their minds they
were not going to allow Geary to dictate who the new major was going to be as he did
for the position of lieutenant colonel. To do this they formed an anti-Geary party and
put forth their own candidate, Lieutenant Richard McMichael of the Reading
Artillerists (A). On November 5, he won the election yet he never became the
regiments major. Soon after the election, Geary met with General Scott and informed
234
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 209.
107
him that he felt that the regiment was so small that it did not need both a lieutenant
colonel and a major. Conned once more by Geary, Scott had the election for the
position of major annulled.235
On December 8, 1847, the heroes of the siege of Puebla, the First Regiment of
Pennsylvania Volunteers, triumphantly arrived in Mexico City. After five months of
hard fighting, the two Pennsylvania regiments were once more reunited. A new
brigade consisting of both Pennsylvania regiments, along with the New York, South
Carolina, and Massachusetts regiments was soon formed. General Scott appointed
Brigadier General Caleb Cushing to be its commanding officer.236
By December 22, the entire brigade had been relocated to San Angel, nine
miles outside of Mexico City. The First Regiment was quartered about half a mile
from the village in an old building where the Second Regiment had been quartered
before the storming of Chapultepec. The buildings in which the Second Regiment
took up residence were called El Convento Del Carmel. It served as the summer
quarters for the local order of Carmelite Monks. By the time the regiment arrived, the
order had already moved into their winter quarters in the city, leaving behind a
handful of monks to tend to the grounds and act as caretakers. This meant that the
regiment was able to take up residence in the monastery proper. The order’s San
Angel monastery was very large, containing several hundred cells for monks and an
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 139; Hartman, A Private's Own
Journal, 20-21; McWilliams, "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico, (Oct. 1969): 390-391; Peskin, ed.
Volunteers, 200-201, 207-213.
235
236
Mexico, 77.
Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 20, 1847; Nagle, Diary, Dec. 3-8, 1847; Hackenburg, War with
108
attached chapel. Water there was plentiful and easily accessible. A small aqueduct
ran along the side of the monastery proper, just below the ledge of the cell windows.
One only had to stick his hands out a window to obtain water. Also on the monastery
grounds, were a bathhouse and an oratory.237 Sergeant Barclay felt, “all things
considered, these are the best quarters we have had in Mexico.”238
In June 1847, Lieutenant Benjamin F. Dutton had departed Mexico for
Pennsylvania to recruit new member for the Second Pennsylvania Regiment. On
December 21, 1847, he and one hundred new recruits finally reached Mexico City.
While nearly all the companies were undermanned, few really wanted any of the new
recruits. As recruits and not volunteers, they were seen as the “refuse of society… A
lot of lousy Dutch and still more worthless natives.”239 Even so, the entire lot was
accepted and divided among the five smallest companies, Companies A, C, D, H, and
I.240
In the early hours of March 6, 1848, Companies A, D, E, F, H, and K of the
First Regiment departed San Angel to escort a train to Vera Cruz. Under normal
circumstance, Colonel Wynkoop would have jumped at the opportunity to command
the detachment. Unfortunately for him, when Cushing departed on February 16, 1848
for Puebla he appointed Wynkoop acting brigade commander. As a result, he was
237
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 222-225; Kreitzer, Journal, Dec. 20, 1847; Nagle, Diary, Dec. 1821, 1847; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 139; Hartman, A Private's Own
Journal, 21.
238
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 223.
239
Ibid., 226.
240
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 226-227, 230; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 83.
109
forced to ask Black to go in his stead. So familiar were the men of the First
Pennsylvania with the National Highway they were back in San Angel by the
morning of April 16, 1848. They had made the trip from Mexico City to Vera Cruz
and back in thirteen and a half days.241 This according to Private Coulter it was “the
shortest trip which had been made with such a train.”242
During the night of April 5, 1848, Mexico City was suddenly awoken by the
sound of gunfire. Under the cover of darkness thirteen American officers, including
lieutenants Isaac P. Hare and Benjamin F. Dutton of the Second Pennsylvanian and
three privates attempted to rob a large merchant house with was said to house over
three hundred thousand dollars. Soon after breaking in, they were discovered by one
of the clerks, Manuel Zorriza. Zorriza was able to kill one of the privates and wound
Hare before he himself was gunned down. The gunfire did not go unnoticed; the
alarm was raised and armed sentries swarmed into the streets. In their haste to flee,
the robbers left Hare behind to be captured. Dutton, on the other hand, was able to
make it all the way back to San Angel and his quarters without being seen. At some
point during the early morning hours of April 6 he became aware that Hare had
fingered him and that the authorities were on their way. Scared and most likely
unsure how to proceed he fled into the chaparral. A number of parties, including
241
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 82; Kreitzer, Journal, March 4, 6, April 16, 1848; Nagle,
Diary, March 5-6, April 15-16, 1848; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 22; Peskin, ed. Volunteers,
286.
242
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 286.
110
many from the Pennsylvania regiments, were sent out to find him, yet little trace of
him could be found.243
He might have been able to escaped if not for a pair of South Carolina
officers had decided to practice their pistol marksmanship. All of a sudden, as the
pair was taking turns shooting at a large tree, out steped Dutton from a nearby patch
of chaparral and gave himself up. Dutton was convinced that the pair was firing at
him. Yet, until he stepped out and gave himself up, the pair had no idea that a
robbery and murder had even taken place in Mexico City.244 According to Coulter,
His conduct shows both his guilt and his cowardice. There is some sympathy
for Hare, but the regiment are regardless as to his [Dutton's] fate. It has raisen
[sic] a terrible excitement among the men and, had he been taken by any of
the parties which went in quest of him he would certainly have been shot, all
wishing for the honor of our State that he might have been killed and not
brought before a court of commission so that the matter might be made as
little public as possible.245
On April 9, 1848, Both Hare and Dutton stood trial for their crimes. Both
men were found guilty on May 17, 1848 and were sentenced to be “hanged by the
neck until they are dead, dead, dead.”246 Neither man saw the hangman’s noose.
Instead, when the treaty of peace with Mexico was signed they were given a reprieve.
243
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 282-283; Kreitzer, Journal, April 5, 19, 1848; Hackenburg, War
with Mexico, 83; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 23; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 21.
Nagle, Diary, April 5, 1848.
244
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 282-283; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 83; Kreitzer, Journal,
April 5, 19, 1848; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 23; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 21;
Nagle, Diary, April 5-6, 1848.
245
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 283.
246
Ibid.
111
This reprieve lasted until the moment they were mustered out of service in the States,
at which point the military no longer had the authority to punish them.247
While the Mexican Congress had ratified the Treaty of Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo on May 19, 1848, the war did not end for those in American military
uniforms until May 29, 1848. On that day, Major General William Orlando Butler
announced in Order No. 112, that the war was officially over.248 Of particular
importance to the men was section 1.
1. Under a deep sense of gratitude to the almighty, Major-General
Butler announces to the army under his command that the Mexican war is
ended.
The great object of the campaign has been accomplished. A treaty of
peace, just and honorable to both nations, has been duly ratified.
It has now become the pleasing duty of the Commanding General to
restore to a grateful country the gallant army which has so nobly sustained her
rights and added to her renown.
The homeward march will be at once commenced, and it is expected
that the most perfect order and discipline will be observed. Ample supplies of
all kinds will be furnished at convenient posts. and there will be no excuse of
the depredations, which would be totally at war with the existing relations
between the two countries.249
That night the Pennsylvania regiments received orders to proceed toward Vera
Cruz the next day. During the afternoon of June 9, 1848, both regiments reached El
Encero. A temporary camp had been established there to house the men until enough
ships had arrived at Vera Cruz. On the 15th, the First Regiment of Pennsylvania
Volunteers received orders to proceed to the coast. The next day the Second
“Official Documents,” 513-512; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 282-383, 301; Kreitzer, Journal,
May 19, 1848.
247
248
“Official Documents,” 552-553; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 550.
249
“Official Documents,” 552.
112
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers received theirs orders. By the 18th, both
regiments were encamped on the outskirts of Vera Cruz, the First Pennsylvania at
Sante Fe and the Second Pennsylvania at San Juan. The next day the First Regiment
entered the city and proceeded to board their transports. Six companies embarked
aboard the steamer Eudora, while the remaining four boarded the schooner Sarah
Churchman. On the 20th, the Second regiment embarked aboard their assigned
transports; Companies B, D, E, F, H, I, K, and L were assigned to the steamer Mary
Kingsland, and Companies A, C, G, and M, were assigned to a barque called the
Florida.250
The first ship to arrive in New Orleans was the Sarah Churchman on June 25,
1848. The Eudora joined them the next day. On the 26th, the Mary Kingsland
steamed into New Orleans and three days later the Florida arrived with the rest of the
Second Regiment. As each ship pulled into harbor those aboard were informed that
they would not be mustered out in New Orleans, as they had previously been told.
Instead, the government had arranged transportation for them so that they could be
mustered out in Pennsylvania. This meant that they would not be receiving a travel
allotment of $59.00, which was a great deal more then would have been necessary to
cover the cost of getting home. This news greatly upset all of the companies,
particularly after taking a look at the travel accommodations, which the Army had
arranged for them. Yet, only the Westmoreland Guards actually did anything about
250
John Reese Kenly, Memoirs of a Maryland Volunteer: War with Mexico, in the Years
1846-7-8. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1873), 470; Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 23-25;
“Official Documents,” 552-553; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 300, 308, 312; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist
in the Mexican War,” 139; Nagle, Diary, May 29-30, June 10-18, 1848.
113
the situation that they had just been thrown into, all the other companies merely
accepted that the situation was beyond their control and boarded their assigned
transports.251
After taking a good look at the travel accommodations which army had
arranged for their men, the officers of Westmoreland Guards immediately went to see
General Butler. After a great deal of persuasion, they were able to convince him to
allow the company to obtain alterative transport at their own expense. After some
difficulty, cabin passage was obtained for forty-five officers and men onboard the
steamboat Charles Hammond for $675.00. The boat departed New Orleans at 3 pm
on June 27, 1848 and proceeded up to Camp Carrelton, where the companies of the
First Pennsylvania were to board. When Colonel Wynkoop found out, that the
Westmoreland Guards had booked the cabins, he became enraged and prevented his
men from boarding. He was not about to travel and therefore his men were not going
to travel, on a vessel where junior officers and enlisted men had better or equal
quarters as to his own. Out of respect for the ship’s captain, who would have lost
over $2000.00 worth of business had the First Regiment boarded a different boat, the
Westmoreland Guards reluctantly agreed to give up their cabins and move below
deck. Yet, Wynkoop was not satisfied with that arrangement or the idea that he
would have to take meals with enlisted men. As a result, the Westmoreland Guards
251
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 25-26; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 315-316; Nagle, Diary,
July 1, 1848.
114
were forced to campout on the steamer’s top deck.252 Of this humiliation, Private
George W. Hartman wrote:
The colonel as an evidence of the estimation in which he held, free, American
volunteer soldiers, swore that he would not sit down to the table with them;
though let me say there were but few of the soldiers who would have been
below par, had the Colonel been the standard; at least for a feeling of
kindness…So, much for being a private soldier, and having volunteered in
defense of my country’s rights.253
According to the Westmoreland Guards, the men of the First Regiment were
not much better. They interfered with and harassed the Westmorland Guards at every
opportunity. They even prevented them from cooking their own meals.254 On this
subject Private Coulter wrote,
Our cooks have had considerable trouble with the men of the First
Pennsylvania Regiment below, who will not allow them to cook, saying that
we have no right on the boat. The kettle had been set off repeatedly, so that
they have been compelled to quit and we are now compelled to trust to what
we can buy at the stopping places.255
Then on July 4, 1848, a number of the men of the First Pennsylvania “made
blackguards of themselves.”256 They chose to celebrate Independence Day by getting
drunk, trashing the boat, and at one point even seizing the ship’s swivel gun.257
252
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 26; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 315-316.
253
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 26.
254
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 315-316; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 87.
255
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 317.
256
257
Ibid., 318.
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 318; Sargent, Gathering Laurels in Mexico, 24.
115
According to Coulter after making a quantity of cartridges, “quite a firing was kept up
in passing boats and towns.”258
By the time the Charles Hammond reached Louisville on July 6, 1848, the
Westmoreland Guards could no longer stand being on the same boat as Colonel
Wynkoop or his regiment. As a result, they said their goodbyes to the Charles
Hammond and found passage on the packet Germantown for $6.00 a man.259
The vessels began arriving at Pittsburgh on July 11, 1848, and continued to do
so until the 18th. Companies A, I, and K of the First Pennsylvania Regiment and all
of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment were mustered out at Pittsburgh between July
12, 1848 and July 25, 1848. The remaining companies of the First Pennsylvania
Regiment decided that they would rather be mustered out closer to home. After
making the journey to Philadelphia, they were mustered out between July 27 and
August 5.260
The Pennsylvania volunteers were welcomed home as heroes. Throughout the
state banquets, parties, parades, speeches, and toasts were thrown or given in their
honor. Westmoreland Country honored their victorious sons, the Westmoreland
Guards, with a magnificent reception in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. During the
258
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 318.
259
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 27-28; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 318-319; Hackenburg,
War with Mexico, 87.
260
Hartman, A Private's Own Journal, 28; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 322; Nagle, Diary, July 2526, 1848; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 88; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,”
139-140; Montgomery, History of Berks County In Pennsylvania, 183-184; Kenly, Memoirs of a
Maryland Volunteer, 472-473; Brenckman, History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, 99-100; History
of Luzerne, 63.
116
festivities, they were encouraged to eat and drink to their hearts content. When the
Reading Artillerist reached home on July 29, 1848, they were greeted with a grand
military reception. The streets and builds were decorated with flags and wreaths.
They were escorted thorough the principle streets by a battalion size force consisting
of two volunteer cavalry companies, eight volunteer infantry companies, and the
cadets of the local military institute, all the way to Independent Island. There they
were treated to speeches and praise. Bursting with so much pride and happiness,
many of the towns and cities could not limit themselves to one or two days of
celebrations and festivities; as result banquets, parties, and dinners were still being
thrown in honor of the returning heroes, weeks after they had returned home.261
Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War,” 140; Historical and Biographical
Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties Pennsylvania, 1: 78; History of Luzerne, 63; Montgomery,
History of Berks County In Pennsylvania, 184; Brenckman, History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania,
99-100; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 88; Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 6-7.
261
Chapter 9: Conclusion
Victory and glory in Mexico came at a high price not only for the nation but
for the State of Pennsylvania as well. Two thousand four hundred fifteen of her sons
fought under her blue banner as volunteers in her two regiments of infantry. By the
time both regiments returned home to be mustered out, after only a year and a half of
service, their numbers had dwindled to mere 1,341 men. Death had claimed 477
Pennsylvanian souls, of which only fifty-two died as the direct result of combat. An
additional 406 had to be discharged early, mainly due to sickness and a further 191
deserted. While such numbers may pale in comparison to those of other states, no
one can say that Pennsylvania skirted her responsibilities or did not contribute to the
nation’s victory.262
The First and Second Regiments of Pennsylvania Volunteers contributed a
great deal to America’s victory in Mexico. Through their actions and deeds they
brought great honor and laurels to their home state of Pennsylvania. Their sacrifices,
patriotism, bravery, courage, and honor have inspired countless Pennsylvanian, and
hopefully will continue to inspire Pennsylvanians for generations to come, to stand up
for what they believe in even if it may cost them their lives.
The Pennsylvania regiments were comprised of individuals who believed it
was their duty as citizens to take up arms in defense of their hearths when called upon
to do so by their state and or country. In 1844 when Philadelphia was engulfed in
262
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 88; Louis C. Duncan, "Medical History of General Scott's
Campaign to the City of Mexico in 1847," The Military Surgeon 47, no. 5 (Nov 1920): 603.
117
118
nativist riots, they took up arms. When in 1846 their president told them that Mexico
invaded sovereign United States soil and launched an unprovoked attack on American
military forces they took up arms. Many of these same individuals in 1861 would
answer President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers and once more take up arms
to defend the nation they held so dear. The great Thomas Jefferson would have no
trouble recognizing them as living embodiment of his concept of citizen-soldiers.263
When Scott and his fellow officers of the Regular Army set sail for Vera
Cruz, most if not all of them held volunteers in the lowest regard. They saw them as
unreliable, undisciplined, and completely useless in combat. Because of these beliefs,
during the early stages of his campaign in Central Mexico, Scott made it a point never
to entrust the success or failure of a battle or operation to the performance of his
volunteer units. During the amphibious assault on Vera Cruz Scott relegated the
volunteers to the least important role he could give them, that of being the second
wave. Then at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, Scott used his volunteer units as a
diversionary force, while the main attack came from his regular army units. Most
likely Scott would have continued relying almost entirely on his regular units had all
the reinforcements he had been promised arrived before he made up his mind to sever
his ties with the coast and proceed inland with a “naked blade.” With such limited
numbers, Scott was forced to rely more heavily on volunteer units, like the two
263
Feldberg, The Philadelphia Riots of 1844, ix, 153-157; Evans, “The Reading Artillerist in
the Mexican War,” 131, 140; Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 2-8; Bates, History of Pennsylvania
Volunteers, 484-485; Battle, History of Columbia and Montour Counties, 51; History of Luzerne, 63;
Paul Beers, "A Profile: John W. Geary," Civil War Times Illustrated 9, no. 3 (June 1970): 13; Higgins,
“Mexican War Memoirs by Jacob C. Higgins,” 60; Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 66-67.
119
Pennsylvania regiments. As a result, the Pennsylvania regiments and other volunteer
units were able to demonstrate their effectiveness as soldiers. The way volunteers,
especially the Pennsylvanians, handled themselves during the battles of Chapultepec
and Mexico City and the Siege of Puebla cemented in many minds the notion that
volunteer units could fight just as well as regular units. By the time the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed a fair number of officers of the Regular Army began
to change their views towards volunteer units. This was due in great part to volunteer
units like the two Pennsylvania regiments.264
Both Pennsylvania regiments far exceeded the expectations of the United
Sates Army. In their nearly one and a half years of federal service not once did either
regiment fail to accomplish a task assigned to them. Through hardship and pain, they
pushed forward, ever conscious that they had been entrusted with upholding the
honor of the State of Pennsylvania.
Repeatedly, the First and Second Pennsylvania Regiments of Volunteers
proved themselves capable soldiers, equal to those of the Regular Army. At the battle
of Chapultepec, upon being made aware that Pillow’s advance was floundering half
way up Chapultepec, the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, in complete disregarded for
their own safety charged straight up Chapultepec. By adding their numbers and
264
Millett and Maslowski, For the Common Defense, 36, 42-46,57-60; James M. McMaffrey,
Army of Manifest Destiny: The American Soldier in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (New York: New
York University Press, 199), 121-123, 168; Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 11-14, 65-67, 73-74;
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 23, 34-40, 55, 59-60, 67-73; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 113-114;
Alcaraz, et al. The Other Side, 211-212; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 234- 237.
120
strength to Pillow’s force, the advance regained its momentum and was able to seize
the castle.265
During the Siege of Puebla, the six companies of the First Pennsylvania, the
city garrison’s largest contingent, helped to hold off a Mexican force more than ten
times the size of the American garrison stationed there for twenty-eight days.
Throughout this entire endeavor, the Pennsylvanians kept their composure and carried
on. Forty of them even had the courage and fortitude, at the height of the siege, when
the situation was its bleakest and the food was at its scarcest, to volunteer to carve
their way through a row of building in order to destroy a Mexican barricade.266
Yet, no less should have been expected from the best and brightest of
Pennsylvania. Their exceptionalism becomes apparent when one looks at the types of
occupations the men held before volunteering to fight in Mexico. While historians
have only been able to determine the pre-war occupations for about thirty to forty
percent of those that served, the number of highly educated professionals is quite
interesting. There are twenty-seven instances in which “lawyer,” “attorney,” or “law
student” is given as an occupation, eight of “physician” or “doctor,” eight of
“teacher,” and one of “medical student.”267
265
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 55; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 213-115, 222-225;
Peskin, ed. Volunteers, 165-186; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 156-158.
266
Hackenburg, War with Mexico,
The War with Mexico, 2: 173-180.
267
67-74; Johnson, A Gallant Little Army, 248-250; Smith,
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 94-312.
121
Whether the war was right or wrong, just or unjust, the Mexican America
War drastically changed the United States of America. Before the war, the United
States covered an area of 2,413,211 square miles and only had limited access to the
Pacific via the remote and sparsely populated Oregon Territory. Yet, with the signing
of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States gained an additional 522,955
square miles, a twenty-two percent increase in territory, as well as the best Pacific
harbor in North America. In addition, the war brought the issue of slavery to the
forefront of political debate, which in turn contributed to the south’s decision to
secede from the Union a little more than a decade later.268
While the Mexican American War played an important part in creating the
America we are familiar with today, scholarship on the subject has traditionally been
rather thin in relation to its importance. In recent years, though a number of scholarly
works have attempted to rectify this, such as David A. Clary’s Eagles and Empire,
Timothy D. Johnson’s A Gallant Little Army and Timothy J. Henderson’s A Glorious
Defeat. Yet there still exists a number of aspects of the conflict still in need of further
study.269
268
David S. Heidler, and Jeanne T. Heidler, The Mexican War, Greenwood Guides to Historic
Events, 1500-1900 (Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 2006), 21-22; Bauer, The Mexican War 18461848, 397-398; Smith, The War with Mexico, 2: 244.
269
Henry Ernest Haferkorn, The War with Mexico, 1846-1848; a Select Bibliography on the
Causes, Conduct, and the Political Aspect of the War, Together with a Select List of Books and Other
Printed Material on the Resources, Economic Conditions, Politics, and Government of the Republic of
Mexico and the Characteristics of the Mexican People, with Annotations and an index. Published for,
and Dedicated to, the Officers of the United States Army and Navy (1914; repr., New York: Burt
Franklin, 1970); Norman E. Tutorow, The Mexican-American War: An Annotated Bibliography
(Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1981); Henderson, A Glorious Defeat; A Johnson, A
Gallant Little Army; Clary, Eagles and Empire.
122
Just like the Pennsylvania regiments, the role other volunteer units, especially
those from the upper Mid-Atlantic and New England States, played in the war have
been seriously over looked. New York contributed two regiments of volunteers,
Massachusetts, one regiment, and New Jersey a single battalion.270
A similar group to the volunteer units, and just as under-researched are the
regiments formed under the Ten-Regiment Bill. The Ten-Regiment Bill of 1847
allowed President Polk to form up to ten new federal regiments, whose term of
services would be limited to one year. Like those of the volunteer units, the men of
these new regiments had little or no prior combat experience, nor were they
accustomed to the hardship of military life. These regiments differed from volunteer
units in two principle ways, how they were formed and the type of men that filled
their ranks.271
Volunteer units were formed by individual states and as such, the actions of
their volunteers would directly reflect how others viewed their state. With such a
vested interest, many states were particularly picky about whom they selected to
uphold their honor. As a result, many states choose respected, well-established
militia companies, in which most of their members had known each other for years.272
On the other hand, the men that made up the ten new federal regiments were
mostly recruited individually at various recruitment depots. As a result, the men were
270
Robarts, Mexican War Veterans, 57-58, 64-65; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 672673, 679-678.
271
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 2-8; Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 73; Millett and Maslowski,
For the Common Defense, 36, 42-46, 57-60.
272
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, 2-8; Winders, Mr. Polk's Army, 73;
123
less likely to have preexisting relationships with each other. In addition because these
units were to be part of the Regular Army and thus not have the distinction of being
called volunteers, these regiments were more likely to attract the same kind of men
that made up other Regular Army regiments, the poor, the uneducated and the
recently immigrated.273
It would be interesting to see how their experiences in uniform compared with
those in volunteer units, especially if they came from the same general area. One
could compare for example the Eleventh Infantry Regiment, which was comprised
mainly of men recruited from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Delaware, with the two
Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiments.274
The men of the First and Second Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiments were an
extraordinary group of individuals. They endured and sacrificed a great deal in
Mexico defending a nation they held so dear. Such individuals should not be allowed
to be forgotten. They deserve to be remembered and studied so that future
generations may know what duty and self-sacrifice really is.
273
Hackenburg, War with Mexico, vi-vii, 3-8; Robarts, Mexican War Veterans, 24-34; Millett
and Maslowski, For the Common Defense, 36, 42-46, 57-60.
274
Robarts, Mexican War Veterans, 26-27; Wilcox, History of the Mexican War, 643-644.
124
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
Manuscript Documents
Brown University Library
Diary of Capt. James Nagle
Cambria County Historical Society.
John A. Blair Diary.
Mexican War Documents
Columbia County Historical Society
Mexican War Papers
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
James Buchanan Papers
George Cadwalader Papers
John White Geary Papers
George Gordon Meade Papers
Horatio Hubbel Papers
John Kreitzer Papers
John Hill Martin Papers
McCall Family Papers
Meredith Family Papers
Nauman Family Papers
Franklin B. Nimocks Papers
Persifor Frazer Smith Papers
Washington Townsend Papers
Montour History Society
Columbia Guards Documents
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Columbia Guards Diary
Letter from Henry Petrikin to John S. Wilson, Nov. 30, 1846
Pennsylvania State Archives
Mexican War Service Index
Mexican War Accounts and Related Papers
General Correspondence of the Adjutant General
125
Private Collection of Susanne Behling
Mexican American War Diary of Elias F. Hiney
Senator John Heinz History Center
Diary of Private Israel Uncapher
Albert H. Young Papers
Baum Family Papers
J. P. Work Papers
Letter of John McCollum to His Wife Mary from Mexico, 1847
Frazier Marsh Winans Papers
Letter to Isaac R. Diller to Pittsburgh from Jalapa, May 10, 1847
Pittsburgh—Wars—Mexican War Papers
William Napton Papers
U.S. Army Military History Institute.
Columbia County Historical Society Collection.
Mexican War Documents Collection
Randy Hackenburg Collection.
Yale University Library
John Darragh Wilkins Papers
Mexican War Diary of H. Judge Moore, 1846-1847
John White Geary Mexican War Papers
Newspapers
Altoona Tribune
Bedford Gazette
Cambria Herald
Daily Morning Post (Pittsburgh)
Danville Intelligencer
Democratic Press (Reading)
Democratic Union (Harrisburg)
Miners’ Journal (Pottsville)
Mountain Sentinel (Ebensburg)
Pennsylvania Argus (Greensburg)
Pennsylvania Telegraph (Harrisburg)
Pennsylvanian (Philadelphia)
Pittsburgh Daily Gazette
Reading Gazette
126
Published Works
Books
Chamberlain, Samuel E. My Confession. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956.
Ballentine, George. Autobiography of an English Soldier in the United States Army:
Comprising Observations and Adventures in the States and Mexico. New
York: Stringer & Townsend, 1853.
Barbour, Philip Norbourne. Journals of the Late Brevet Major Philip Norbourne
Barbour ... and his Wife, Martha Isabella Hopkins Barbour, Written during
the War with Mexico—1846. Edited by Rhoda van Bibber Tanner Doubleday.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1936.
Beauregard, P. G. T. With Beauregard in Mexico: The Mexican War Reminiscences
of P. G. T. Beauregard. Edited by T. Harry Williams. New York: DaCapo
Press, 1969.
Davis, George Turnbull Moore. Autobiography of the Late Col. Geo T. M. Davis,
Captain and Aid-de-Camp Scott’s Army of Invasion. New York: Jenkins and
McCowan, 1891.
Giddings, Luther. Sketches of the Campaign in Northern Mexico. New York: George
P. Putnam, 1853.
Graf, Leroy P. and Ralph W. Haskins, ed. The Papers of Andrew Johnson. Vol. 1.
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1967.
Hartman, George W. A Private's Own Journal: Giving an Account of the Battles in
Mexico, Under Gen'l Scott, with Descriptive Scenes and a Roll of Company E,
2nd Pa. Regiment, with the Age, Height, Occupation and Residence of
Officers and Men, Also, a Table of Heights and Distances from Vera Cruz to
the City of Mexico. Greencastle, PA: E. Robinson, 1849.
Higgins, Jacob C. “Mexican War Memoirs by Jacob C. Higgins.” In Minute Men of
Pennsylvania, with a Brief Biography of Their Leaders in Blair, Bedford, and
Cambria Counties, Col. Jacob C. Higgins. Including a Copy of Col. Higgins’
Diary of the Mexican War. Edited by Milton V. Burgess, 66-89. Martinburg,
PA: Morrisons Cove Herald, 1962.
127
Hill, Daniel Harvey. A Fighter from Way Back: The Mexican War Diary of Lt.
Daniel Harvey Hill, 4th Artillery, USA. Edited by Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes
Jr. and Timothy D. Johnson. Kent: Kent State University Press, 2002.
Hitchcock, Ethan Allen. Fifty Years in Camp and Field: Diary of Major-General
Ethan Allen Hitchcock, U.S.A. Edited by A. A. Croffut. New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, 1909.
Kendall, George Wilkins. Dispatches from the Mexican War. Edited by Lawrence
Delbert Cress. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Kenly, John Reese. Memoirs of a Maryland Volunteer: War with Mexico, in the
Years 1846-7-8. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1873.
McClellan, George Brinton. The Mexican War Diary and Correspondence of George
B. McClellan. Edited by Thomas W. Cutrer. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press, 2009.
_____. The Mexican War Diary of George B. McClellan. Edited by William Starr
Myers. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1917.
McSherry, Richard. El Puchero; or, a Mixed Dish from Mexico, Embracing General
Scott's Campaign, with Sketches of Military Life, in Field and Camp, of the
Character of the Country, Manners and Ways of the People, Etc. Philadelphia:
Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., 1850.
Laidley Theodore. Surrounded by Dangers of All Kinds: The Mexican War Letters of
Lieutenant Theodore Laidley. Edited by James M. McCaffrey. Denton:
University of North Texas, 1997.
Oswandel, Jacob J. Notes of the Mexican War, 1846-47-48: Comprising Incidents,
Adventures, and Every-day Proceedings and Letters While with the United
States Army in the Mexican War; Also Extracts from Ancient Histories of
Mexico, ect.; Also the Names and Numbers of the Different Rulers of Mexico;
Also Influence of the Church. Rev. ed. Philadelphia: n. p. 1885.
Peskin, Allan, ed. Volunteers: The Mexican War Journals of Private Richard Coulter
and Sergeant Thomas Barclay, Company E, Second Pennsylvania Infantry.
Kent: Kent State University Press, 1991.
The Philadelphia Grays' Collection of Official Reports of Brigadier-General George
Cadwalader's Services during the Campaign of 1847, in Mexico.
Philadelphia: T. K. and P. G. Collins, 1848.
128
Pickett, Alexander Corbin. A .C. Pickett’s Private Journal of the U.S.-Mexican War.
Transcribed and edited by Jo Blatti. Little Rock, AR: Butler Center Books,
2011.
Richard, James D., ed. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the President,
1789-1902. Vol. 4. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Literature and Art,
1903.
Sargent, Chauncy Forward. Gathering Laurels in Mexico: The Diary of an American
Soldier in the Mexican American War. Edited by Ann Brown Janes. Lincoln,
MA: Cottage Press, 1990.
Scott, John Morin. Address to the Pennsylvania Volunteers Returned from Mexio.
Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1848.
Scott, Winfield. Letters of Gen. Scott and Secretary Marcy Relating to the Mexican
War. Washington, DC: Congressional Globe Office, 1848.
Smith, Ephraim Kirby. To Mexico with Scott: Letters of Captain E. Kirby Smith to
His Wife. Edited by Emma Jerome Blackwood. Cambridge, Harvard
University Press, 1917.
Articles
Campbell, William Bowen. "Mexican War Letters of Col. William Bowen Campbell,
of Tennessee." Edited by St. George L. Sioussat. Tennessee Historical
Magazine 1, no. 2 (1915): 129–167.
Coulter, Richard. "The Westmoreland Guards in the War with Mexico, 1846-1848."
Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 24, no. 2 (June 1941): 101-126.
Graf, Leroy P. and Ralph W. Haskins, eds. “Blackston McDannell to Andrew
Johnson: An East Tennessean in the Mexican War.” East Tennessee
Historical Society Publications, no. 32 (1960): 106-116.
Heyer, Charles H. “Letters to Ann, January 11, 1848.” Magazine of History 17, no. 6
(1913): 238-241.
McWilliams, Joseph. "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico, 1847-1848: The Journal of
William Joseph McWilliams." Edited by John William Larner Jr. Western
Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 52, no. 3, (July 1969): 213-240.
129
______. "A Westmoreland Guard in Mexico, 1847-1848: The Journal of William
Joseph McWilliams." Edited by John William Larner Jr. Western
Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 52, no. 4 (October 1969): 387-413.
Nauman, George. “A Lancastrian in the Mexican War.” Edited by Mary Nauman
Robinson. Papers Read Before the Lancaster County Historical Society 12,
no. 3 (March 1908): 109-129.
______. “In Command at Vera Cruz, 1847-1848.” Edited by Mary Nauman
Robinson. Papers Read Before the Lancaster County Historical Society 18
(1914): 157-160.
“Official Documents.” Stryker’s American Register and Magazine 1, no. 2
(September 1848): 531-601.
Roberts, William Barton. “Colonel William Barton Roberts in the Mexican City
Campaign―1847.” Edited by Bert Anson. Western Pennsylvania History
Magazine 39 (Winter 1956):243-263.
“Statistics.-Army of the United States.” Stryker’s American Register and Magazine
1, no. 2 (September 1848): 410-413.
Skelly, James. “Diary of a Pennsylvania Volunteer in the Mexican American War.”
Western Pennsylvania History Magazine 12 (1929): 147-154.
Secondary Sources
Books
Alcaraz, Ramón et al. The Other Side or, Notes for the History of the War between
Mexico and the United States. Translated and edited by Albert C. Ramsey.
New York: J. Wiley, 1850.
Albright, Raymond W. Two Centuries of Reading, Pa., 1748-1948: A History of the
County Seat of Berks County. Reading, PA: Historical Society of Berks
County, 1948.
Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers. 5 vols. Harrisburg: B.
Singerly, 1869.
______. Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: T. H. Davis, 1876.
130
Battle, J. H. History of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania. Chicago: A.
Warner, 1887.
Bauer, K. Jack. Surfboats and Horse Marines: U.S. Naval Operations in the Mexican
War, 1846-48. Annapolis: Naval Institute, 1969.
______. The Mexican War 1846-1848. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1974.
Bazelon, Bruce S. Defending the Commonwealth. Providence: Mowbray Company Publishers, 1980.
Berton, Pierre. The Invasion of Canada, 1812–1813. Toronto: McClelland &
Stewart, 1980.
Bill, Alfred Hoyt. Rehearsal for Conflict: The War with Mexico, 1846-1848. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947.
Blackburn, E. Howard and Welfley, William H. History of Bedford and Somerset
Counties, Pennsylvania. 3 vols. New York: Lewis Publishing Company,
1906.
Boucher, John N. A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People. 4 vols. New
York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1908.
______. History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. 2 vols. New York: Lewis
Publishing Company, 1906.
______. Old and New Westmoreland. 4 vols. New York: American Historical
Society, 1918.
Brenckman, Fred. History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: James J.
Nungesser, 1913.
Brooks, Nathan Covington. A Complete History of the Mexican War: Its Causes,
Conduct, and Consequences; Comprising an Account of the Various Military
and Naval Operations, from Its Commencement to the Treaty of Peace.
Philadelphia: Grigg, Elliot, & Co., 1865.
Brower, D. H. B. Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania: A Collection of
Historical and Biographical Sketches. Harrisburg: Lanes S. Hart, 1881.
Chidsey, Donald Barr. The War with Mexico. New York: Crown Publishers, 1968.
131
Carney, Stephen A. The Occupation of Mexico, May 1846-July 1848. Washington,
DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2006.
Clark, William P. Official History of the Militia and National Guard of the State of
Pennsylvania from the Earliest Period of Record to the Present Time. 2 Vols.
Philadelphia: Capt. Charles J. Hendler, 1912.
Clary, David A. Eagles and Empire: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle for
a Continent. New York: Bantam, 2009.
Collins, Herman LeRoy and Wilfred Jordan. Philadelphia, A Story of Progress. 4
vols. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1941.
Connor, Seymour V. and Odie B. Faulk. North America Divided: The Mexican War,
1846-1848. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.
DeVoto, Bernard. The Year of Decision 1846.1945. Reprint, New York: St. Martin,
2000.
Dillon, Lester R., Jr. American Artillery in the Mexican War, 1846-1847. Austin:
Presidial Press, 1975.
Dufour, Charles L. The Mexican War: A Compact History, 1846-1848. New York:
Hawthorn Books, 1968.
Dunkelberger, George Franklin. The Story of Snyder County. Selinsgrove, PA:
Snyder County Historical Society, 1948.
Egle, William H. An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Civil,
Political, and Military, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. 2nd
ed. 1876. Reprint, Harrisburg: DeWitt C. Goodrich, 1880.
Elliott, Ella Zerbey. Blue Book of Schuylkill County: Who Was Who and Why, in
Interior Eastern Pennsylvania, in Colonial Days, the Huguenots and
Palatines, Their Service in Queen Anne's French and Indian, and
Revolutionary Wars: History of the Zerbey, Schwalm, Miller, Merkle,
Minnich, Staudt, and Many Other Representative Families. Pottsville, PA:
Joseph Zerbey, 1916.
______. Old Schuylkill Tales: A History of Interesting Events, Traditions and
Anecdotes of the Early Settlers of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Pottsville,
PA: Ella Zerbey Elliott, 1906.
132
Ellis, Franklin, ed. History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania: With Biographical
Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia: L. H.
Everts, 1882.
Feldberg, Michael. The Philadelphia Riots of 1844: A Study of Ethnic Conflict.
Westport: Greenwood Press, 1975.
Freeze, John G. A History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Bloomsburg, PA:
Elwell & Bittenbender, 1883.
Fuller, John Douglas Pitts. The Movement for the Acquisition of All Mexico, 18461848. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1936.
Geary, Paul McClellan. Colonel John W. Geary in the Mexican War and California
in '49. Pacifica, CA: Shade Tree Press, 2000.
Geary, Mary DeForest. A Giant in Those Days: A Story about the Life of John White
Geary. Brunswick, GA: Coastal Books, 1980.
McCall, George A. Letters from the Frontiers: Written during a Period of Thirty
Years' Service in the Army of the United States. Philadelphia: Lippincott &
Co, 1868.
Godcharles, Frederick A. Chronicles of Central Pennsylvania. 4 vols. New York:
Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1944.
______. Pennsylvania Political, Governmental, Military and Civil. 5 vols. New
York: American Historical Society, 1933.
Grigg, Elliot. The Mexican War and Its Heroes: Being a Complete History of the
Mexican War, Embracing All the Operations under Generals Taylor and
Scott, with a Biography of the Officers. Also, an Account of the Conquests of
California and New Mexico. Philadelphia: Grigg, Elliot, & Co. 1849.
Hackenburg, Randy W. Pennsylvania in the War with Mexico. Shippensburg, PA:
White Mane, 1992.
Hadden, James. A History of Uniontown, the County Seat of Fayette County,
Pennsylvania. 1913. Reprint, Evansville, IN: Unigraphic, 1978.
Haferkorn, Henry Ernest. The War with Mexico, 1846-1848; a Select Bibliography
on the Causes, Conduct, and the Political Aspect of the War, Together with a
Select List of Books and Other Printed Material on the Resources, Economic
Conditions, Politics, and Government of the Republic of Mexico and the
133
Characteristics of the Mexican People, with Annotations and an Index.
Published for, and Dedicated to, the Officers of the United States Army and
Navy. 1914. Reprint, New York: Burt Franklin, 1970.
Harvey, Oscar J. and Ernest G. Smith. A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County,
Pennsylvania. 4 vols. Wilkes-Barre, PA: 1929.
Herbert, Walker H. Fighting Joe Hooker. New York: Bobbs-Merill, 1944.
Heidler, David S. and Jeanne T. Heidler. The Mexican War. Greenwood Guides to
Historic Events, 1500-1900. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 2006.
Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army,
from Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. 2 vols.
Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903.
Henderson, Timothy J. A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United
States. New York: Hill and Wang, 2008.
Henry, Robert Selph. The Story of the Mexican War. 1950. Reprint, New York:
Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1962
Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties
Pennsylvania; Containing a Concise History of the Counties and a
Genealogical and Biographical Records of Representative Families. 2 vols.
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1915.
History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties, Pa. New York: W. W.
Munsell, 1880.
History of That Part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys Embraced in the
Counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union And Snyder, In the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886.
Hoenstine, Floyd G. Military Service and Genealogical Records of Soldiers of Blair
County Pennsylvania. Hollidaysburg, PA: n. p., 1940.
Hoptak, John David. First in Defense of the Union: The Civil War History of the
First Defenders. Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2004.
Hunsicker, Clifton S. Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — A History. 3 vols. New
York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1923.
134
Jay, William. A Review of the Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War.
Boston: B. B. Mussey, 1849.
Jenkins, John S. History of the War between the United States and Mexico, from the
Commencement of Hostilities to the Ratification of the Treaty of Peace. New
York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855.
Johannsen, Robert Walter. To the Halls of the Montezumas: The Mexican War in the
American Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Johnson, Timothy D. A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign. Lawrence:
University Press of Kansas, 2007.
Johnson, William Page, II. Off to War: The Virginia Volunteers in the War with
Mexico. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2009.
Jones, Howard. To the Webster- Ashburton Treaty: A Study in Anglo- American
Relations, 1783- 1843. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1977.
Kitchen, D. C. Record of the Wyoming Artillerists. Tunkhannock, PA: Alvin Day,
Printer, 1874.
Lanard, Thomas S. One Hundred Years with the State Fencibles, 1813-1913.
Philadelphia: Nields Company, 1913.
LeBaron, J. Hugh. Perry Volunteers in the Mexican War: Perry County, Alabama
First Regiment of Alabama Volunteers 1846-1847 and the Mexican War Diary
of Captain William G. Coleman. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2002.
Levinson, Irving W. Wars within War: Mexican Guerrillas, Domestic Elites, and the
United States of America, 1846-1848. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University
Press, 2005.
Linn, John Blair. Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855. Harrisburg:
Lane S. Hart, 1877.
Mahan, Dennis Hart. A Treatise on Field Fortification: Containing Instructions on
the Methods of Laying Out, Constructing, Defending, and Attacking
Intrenchments, with the General Outlines Also of the Arrangement, the Attack
and Defence of Permanent Fortifications. 3rd rev. ed. New York: John
Wiley, 1861.
Mansfield, Edward Deering. The Mexican War: A History of Its Origin, and a
Detailed Account of the Victories Which Terminated in the Surrender of the
135
Capital; with the Official Dispatches of the Generals. New York: A. S.
Barnes, 1848.
Mathews, Alfred and Austin N. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and
Carbon in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Everts &
Richards, 1884.
May, Robert R. John A. Quitman, Old South Crusader. Baton Rouge: Louisiana
State University Press, 1985.
McMaffrey, James M. Army of Manifest Destiny: The American Soldier in the
Mexican War, 1846-1848. New York: New York University Press, 1992.
McClenathan, J. C. et al. Centennial History of the Borough of Connellsville,
Pennsylvania, 1806-1906. Columbus, OH: Champlin Press, 1906.
Merry, Robert W. A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and
the Conquest of the American Continent. New York: Simon & Schuster,
2009.
The Mexican War and Its Heroes: Being a Complete History of the Mexican War,
Embracing All the Operations under Generals Taylor and Scott, with a
Biography of the Officers. Also an Account of the Conquest of California and
New Mexico, under Gen. Kearney, Cols. Doniphan and Fremont. Together
with Numerous Anecdotes of the War, and Personal Adventures of Officers.
Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, 1850.
Millett, Allan R. and Peter Maslowski. For the Common Defense: A Military History
of the United States of America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Millikan, Paul. The Manual of Arms. Mattawan, MI: Paul Millikan, 1986.
Montgomery, Morton L. History of Berks County in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia:
Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886.
Morgan, George H. Annals, Comprising Memoirs, Incidents and Statics of
Harrisburg from the Period of Its First Settlement. Harrisburg: George A.
Brooks, 1858.
Niebaum, John H. History of the Pittsburgh Washington Infantry 102nd (Old 13th)
Regiment Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers and Its Forebears. Pittsburgh:
Burgum Printing, 1931.
Now and Then. Muncy, PA, Muncy Historical Society, 1957.
136
Pearce, Stewart. Annals of Luzerne County: A Record of Interesting Events,
Traditions, and Anecdotes. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1860.
______. Annals of Luzerne County: A Record of Interesting Events, Traditions, and
Anecdotes. 2nd ed. 1860. Reprint, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1866.
Peskin, Allan. Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms. Kent: Kent State
University Press, 2003.
Price, Eli Kirk. The History of the Consolidation of the City of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1873.
Price, Glenn W. Origins of the War with Mexico: The Polk-Stockton Intrigue.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967.
Rappaport, Armin, ed. The War with Mexico: Why Did it Happen? Chicago: Rand
McNally, 1964.
Reeder, Red. The Story of the Mexican War. New York: Meredith Press, 1967.
Reilly, Tom. War with Mexico!: America’s Reporters Cover the Battlefront. Edited
by Manley Witten. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2010.
Rice, Earle. Causes of the Mexican-American War. Stockton, NJ: OTTN Pub., 2009.
Ripley, R. S. The War with Mexico. 2 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers
Publishers, 1849.
Robarts, William Hugh. Mexican War Veterans: A Complete Roster of the Regular
and Volunteer Troops in the War Between the United States and Mexico, from
1846 to 1848. Washington, DC: Brentano's, 1887.
Robertson, John Blount. Reminiscences of a Campaign in Mexico by a Member of
the “Bloody First,” Preceded by a Short Sketch of the History and Conditions
of Mexico from Her Revolution Down to the War with the United States.
Nashville: J. York and Company, 1849.
Robertson, James I. Jr. Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend. New
York: MacMillan, 1997.
Ruiz, Ramón Eduardo. The Mexican War; Was It Manifest Destiny? New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963.
137
Scharf, J. Thomas and Westcott, Thompson. History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884. 3
vols. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1884.
Schroeder, John H. Mr. Polk’s War: American Opposition and Dissent, 1846-1848.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973.
Singletary, Otis A. The Mexican War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
A Sketch of the Early Life and of the Civil and Military Services of Maj. Gen. John W.
Geary, Candidate of the Union Party for Governor of Pennsylvania, 1866.
Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1865.
Smith, Arthur D. Howden. Old Fuss and Feathers: The Life and Exploits of Lt.General Winfield Scott; The Only American Commander Who Never Lost a
Battle; the Only Victorious General to Lose a Presidential Election; Patron of
Lee; Protector of Lincoln; Most Inept of Politicians; Strategist Statesman;
Humanitarian. New York: Greystone Press, 1937.
Smith, George Winston and Charles Judah, eds. Chronicles of the Gringos: The U.S.
Army in the Mexican War, 1846-1848; Accounts of Eyewitnesses &
Combatants. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1968.
Smith, Justin H. The War with Mexico. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan Company,
1919.
Snyder, Charles M. The Jacksonian Heritage: Pennsylvania Politic, 1833-1848.
Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1948.
Sparks, Jared. The Life of George Washington. Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, 1853
Storey, Henry W. History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. 3 vols. New York:
Lewis Publishing Company, 1907.
Traas, Adrian George. From the Golden Gate to Mexico City: The U.S. Army
Topographical Engineers in the Mexican War. Washington, DC: Office of
History, Corps of Engineers and Center of Military History, U. S. Army,
1993.
Tinkcom, Harry M. John White Geary, Soldier-Statesman, 1819-1873. Philadelphia,
PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1940.
Tutorow, Norman E. The Mexican-American War: An Annotated Bibliography.
Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1981.
138
Weems, John Edward. To Conquer a Peace: The War between the United States and
Mexico. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1974.
Wilcox, Cadmus Marcellus. History of the Mexican War. Edited by Mary Rachel
Wilcox. Washington, DC: Church New, 1892.
Wilson, Erasmus, ed. Standard History of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chicago: H. R.
Cornell & Company, 1898.
Wilson, Helen. A Bibliography of Sources for Civil War, Mexican War, and SpanishAmerican War Research in Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh: Western
Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, 1978.
Winders, Richard Bruce. Mr. Polk's Army: The American Military Experience in the
Mexican War. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1997.
Zerbey, Joseph Henry. History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County Pennsylvania. 6
vols. Pottsville, PA: Republican & Morning Paper, 1934-1935.
Zierdt, Williams Henry. Narrative History of the 109th Field Artillery, Pennsylvania
National Guard, 1775-1930. Wilkes-Barre, PA: Wyoming Historical and
Geological Society, 1932.
Articles
Beers, Paul. "A Profile: John W. Geary." Civil War Times Illustrated 9, no. 3 (June
1970): 10-17.
Bonner, John. "Scott's Battles in Mexico." Harper's New Monthly Magazine 11, no.
63 (August 1855): 311-324.
Duncan, Louis C. "Medical History of General Scott's Campaign to the City of
Mexico in 1847." The Military Surgeon 47, no. 4 (October 1920): 436-470.
______. "Medical History of General Scott's Campaign to the City of Mexico in
1847." The Military Surgeon 47, no. 5 (November 1920): 596-609.
Evans, John R. “The Reading Artillerist in the Mexican War.” Historical Review of
Berks County 15 (October 1949): 130-141.
Fakes Jr., Turner J. “Memphis and the Mexican War.” West Tennessee Historical
Society Papers 2 (1948): 119-144.
139
"Famous Pennsylvania Regiments, 176th F. A. Pittsburgh." National Guard and
Community 4, no. 6 (December 1933-January 1934).
"Flags Given to the State Museum." Pennsylvania Heritage 11, no. 1 (Winter 1985):
40.
Gordon, George H. “The Battle of Contreras and Churubusco.” In Military
Historical Society of Massachusetts. Civil and Mexican Wars, 1861, 1846.
Vol. 13 of Papers of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts.
Boston: Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, 1913, 543-557.
______. “The Battle of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec.” In Military Historical
Society of Massachusetts. Civil and Mexican Wars, 1861, 1846. Vol. 13 of
Papers of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts. Boston: Military
Historical Society of Massachusetts, 1913, 599-598.
Hackenburg, Randy W. "Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War with Mexico."
Pennsylvania Heritage 4, no. 2 (March 1978): 27-30.
Heiman, Adolphus. “Concise Description of the Services of the First Regiment of
Tennessee Volunteers Commanded by Colonel W. B. Campbell in the War
with Mexico in 1846 and 1847.” American History Magazine 2, no. 4 (1897):
324-335.
Hill, Daniel, H. “Battle of Cerro Gordo.” Southern Quarterly Review 21, no. 41
(1852): 121-153.
______. “Chapultepec and the Garitas of Mexico.” Southern Quarterly Review 23,
no. 45 (January 1853): 1-52.
______. “Siege of Vera Cruz.” Southern Quarterly Review 20, no. 39 (July 1851): 140.
Herrold, Dewey S. "Brigadier-General Edward Charles William.” Snyder County
Historical Society Bulletin 2, no. 4: 21-45.
Lott, W. C. “The Landing of the Expedition against Vera Cruz in 1847.” Military
Service Institution of the United States 24 (1899): 422-428.
Mc Elroy, Robert M. “The Mexican War, Cerro Gordo and the March through the
Heart of Mexico.” Metropolitan Magazine 26, no. 6 (1907): 742-750.
“Mexican War Battle Flags Presented to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.”
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 17, no. 2 (1893): 185-189.
140
Newell, W. H. "Schuylkill County in the Mexican War." Publications of the
Historical Society of Schuylkill County 1, no. 5 (1906):324-333.
"Official History of the Militia and National Guard of the State of Pennsylvania."
Our State Army and Navy Journal 27 (March-April 1924).
Rutland, Robert. “Captain William B. Walton, Mexican War Volunteer.” Tennessee
Historical Quarterly 11, no. 2 (1952): 171-179.
Simmons, Edward H. "Who Was First at Chapultepec?" Fortitudine 11-12, No. 4-1
(Spring-Summer, 1982): 3-6.
Stearns, Morton E. “Pittsburgh in the Mexican War.” Western Pennsylvania
Historical Magazine 7, no. 4 (October 1924): 235-244.
Streeby, Shelley. “American Sensations: Empire, Amnesia, and the US-Mexican
War.” American Literary History 13, no. 1 (Spring 2001):1-40.
Whitehorne, J. W. A. “The Survival of the Duquesne Grays, 1917.” Military Affairs
50, no. 4 (October 1986):179-184.
Dissertations and Theses
Arndt, Jochen Steffen. “The Battle Tactics of General Winfield Scott's Army of
Invasion of Mexico: An Analysis of Their Origins, Application, and Success.”
Master’s Thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 2007.
Bodson, Robert L. "A Description of the United States Occupation of Mexico as
Reported by American Newspapers Published in Vera Cruz, Puebla, and
Mexico City September 14, 1847 to July 31, 1848." D. Ed. Dissertation, Ball
State University, 1970.
Hackenburg, Randy W. “The Columbia Guards: Danville’s Volunteer Infantry, 18171861.” Master’s Thesis, Bloomsburg State College, 1975.
Miller, Roger Gene. “Winfield Scott and the Sinews of War: The Logistics of the
Mexico City Campaign, October 1846-September 1847.” Master’s Thesis,
North Texas State University, 1976.
Pérez, Adriana. “Banditry and Politics in Puebla, 1846-1848: The Contra-Guerrilla of
Manuel Domínguez and The Mexican-American War.” Doctorial Distention,
City University of New York, 2012.