Historically Speaking
Alexander William Doniphan
And Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo at 200
J
National Archives
Library of Congress
West, commanded by Brig. Gen. Stephen
uly 7 marks the 200th anniversary of
By Brig. Gen. John S. Brown
W. Kearny, at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
the birth of the prominent HispanicU.S. Army retired
With Kearny he marched to secure Santa
American soldier and statesman Mariano
Guadalupe Vallejo. July 9 marks the 200th anniversary of Fe, N.M., a mission accomplished on August 18. Kearny
the birth of the prominent Anglo-American soldier and continued on to California in September, leaving Doniphan
statesman Alexander William Doniphan. It seems fitting in command of the newly designated New Mexico Territory.
that we commemorate the lives of these two great men at Doniphan negotiated a treaty with the Navaho Indians and
points so proximate in time. They represent two very differ- settled affairs in New Mexico, then left it under the supervient, yet complementary, threads in the history of the United sion of Col. Sterling Price as he mounted an expedition of
his own into northern Mexico.
States of America as a transcontinental nation.
On December 25, Doniphan won a lopsided victory
Alexander William Doniphan is probably more familiar to
ARMY readers. He was born near Maysville, Ky., in 1808, against a larger force at El Brazito, then took possession of
graduated from Augusta College in 1826, moved to Mis- El Paso two days later. Pausing briefly, he set off to seize
souri in 1830 and achieved prominence in both law and pol- Chihuahua in February 1847. En route, he again encounitics. Political success parlayed into positions of increasing tered and overcame a numerically superior enemy force.
responsibility in the state militia, and he advanced to the Maj. Gen. Zachary Taylor, the American commander in
rank of brigadier general. In 1838, he participated in the northern Mexico, ordered Doniphan to Saltillo, which he
brief military campaign against Mormons settled in Mis- reached as hostilities in the north were winding down.
souri. Having captured a number of Mormon leaders, he re- Doniphan eventually continued on to the mouth of the Rio
fused orders to execute them and protected them from exe- Grande River and debarked for New Orleans, where he
cution by others as well. The Mormons departed Missouri mustered out his men. The entire expedition from Fort
Leavenworth to the Gulf of Mexico was a remarkable
on a westward trek that eventually ended in Utah.
When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, volunteers march of 3,600 miles, punctuated by challenging battles
flocked to the colors in support of America’s Manifest Des- and heavy fighting. Doniphan himself epitomized the resttiny to span the continent from sea to sea. Doniphan orga- less—albeit ethnocentric—idealism and daring adventurnized the 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers and ism that animated the United States and its volunteer solwas elected colonel of them. He joined the Army of the diers in their approach to this war.
An 1847 map depicts the U.S.-Mexico 2,000-mile border and the territory that changed hands at the end of the Mexican War.
Alexander William Doniphan organized the 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers in 1846 and was elected its colonel.
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I.W. Taber/ The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
In 1842, the central government dispatched Brig. Gen.
ariano Guadalupe Vallejo was born into a prominent
Californio family in Monterey. The Californios, of Manuel Micheltorena, with an army consisting largely of
whom there were about 7,000 in 1840, were descendants of pardoned criminals, to reassert its authority in California.
Spanish and Mexican pioneers who moved north begin- Soon enough, Micheltorena’s army began perpetrating outning in the 18th century. Vallejo enrolled as a cadet in the rages on the population—Hispanic and Anglo alike—suffiPresidio of Monterey in 1824 and led a successful expedi- cient to inspire a spirit of revolt. In 1846, California fell to—
tion against the Miwok Indians in 1829. Thousands of Indi- or was liberated by—tiny contingents led by Kearny, Capt.
ans in various tribes lived throughout California, and a John C. Frèmont, Commodore John D. Sloat and ComRussian settlement at Fort Ross (south of Mendocino) sug- modore Robert F. Stockton. Vallejo was unfortunately incargested another potential security concern. In 1835, Vallejo cerated by “Bear Flag Revolt” insurgents, but when released
was appointed comandante of the Fourth Military District took up the American cause, persuading other Californios
and Director of Colonization of the Northern Frontier. This that U.S. citizenship was the best of the feasible options. He
position put both the Russians and most of California’s In- played a prominent role in the California Constitutional
dians within his purview.
Convention and was elected to the state senate in 1850.
Vallejo established a military base at Sonoma to contain
The breathtaking transcontinental expeditions of such
the Russians and negotiated an alliance with Chief Sem- daring leaders as Doniphan or Kearny would not have been
Yeto of the Suisunes Indians. This native alliance expanded possible without the support—or at least the noninterferVallejo’s own forces by a thousand
ence—of populations en route. Leaders
men and enabled him to successfully
like Vallejo of the Californios and Juan
secure the California frontier. An artNepomuceno Seguín of the Tejanos in
ful mix of force and diplomacy renTexas proved instrumental in securing
dered Vallejo the preeminent military
the support of their countrymen at delfigure among the Californios.
icate times. Then-Maj. Gen. Winfield
As a young man, Vallejo read broadScott’s difficulties in central Mexico
ly and was impressed by Enlightenunderscore the hazards of operating
without popular support in a hostile
ment ideals and the American experiland. Ties of kinship on the frontier
ment with constitutional democracy. In
were complex and often inclusive. Inthe aftermath of independence from
deed, some of Vallejo’s daughters marSpain in 1821, the Mexican Constitution
ried Anglo-Americans, as was the case
of 1824 created a representative federal
with many Californios and Tejanos.
republic with three branches of governAmerica was a melting pot well before
ment not unlike that of the United
the metaphor became popular, and the
States. Unfortunately, liberals advocatAmerican people bring together nuing states’ rights, religious toleration
merous threads into a common whole.
and the expansion of voting rights were
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, descenIn the short run, Californios, Tejanos
outmaneuvered and bullied by conserdant of Spanish and Mexican pioand other Hispanic-Americans were
vatives advocating strong central govneers in Monterey, first served as a
shabbily treated by an overwhelming
ernment, Roman Catholic orthodoxy
Mexican officer and later helped
and tightly restricted voting rights. The
tide of Anglo-American settlement. In
shape the state of California.
most notorious of these conservatives
the long run, they indelibly marked
was Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna, who advanced his and enriched the nation of which they became part.
standing through a few armed engagements and styled him- Doniphan and Vallejo remain revered in multicultural
self the “Napoleon of the West.” Vallejo, philosophically in- America. One can find a Doniphan County in Kansas and a
clined towards the liberals, was dismayed by the autocratic city and highway named after him in Missouri. Vallejo,
turn taken by the central government. When ordered to kill twice the capital of California, is a vibrant waterfront comor deport Anglo-American settlers, he instead provided munity where the glorious Napa Valley meets the sea. ✭
them aid and assistance. Outlying states such as California,
Texas, Chihuahua and Yucatan struggled to regain their auRecommended Reading:
tonomy from Mexico City, at times through armed revolt.
Bauer, K. Jack, The Mexican War, 1846–1848 (New
BRIG. GEN. JOHN S. BROWN, USA Ret., was chief of military history at the U.S. Army Center of Military History from
December 1998 to October 2005. He commanded the 2nd Battalion, 66th Armor, in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War
and returned to Kuwait as commander of the 2nd Brigade, 1st
Cavalry Division, in 1995. He has a doctorate in history from
Indiana University.
York: Macmillan, 1974)
Carney, Stephen A., The Occupation of Mexico, May
1846–July 1848 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military
History, 2005)
Rosenus, Alan, General Vallejo and the Advent of the
Americans (Berkeley, California: Heyday Books, 1999)
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