U.S.-Mexican War

by Mills, Bronwyn; Bowman, John S.

• ISBN13: 9780816049325
• ISBN10: 0816049327
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: Facts on File

Summary

Chronicles the causes and events of the Mexican War, from Mexico's struggle for recognition as an independent country to the war's end in 1848.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	ix
1 CROSSING THE BOUNDARY	1	(7)
2 "BLOOD ON AMERICAN SOIL!"	8	(17)
UNITED STATES AND SURROUNDING TERRITORIES, 1803-1819	9	(2)
Deeper in Debt: The United States and Mexico at Outset of Wars	11	(5)
Monarchists, Federalistas, and Liberals: Mexico's Tangled Politics	16	(9)
3 WAR ALONG THE RIO GRANDE	25	(18)
WESTERN TERRITORIES AND SPANISH POSSESSIONS,1820-1845	26	(1)
BATTLE OF PALO ALTO, MAY 8, 1846	27	(6)
Samuel Colt and His Six-Shooter	33	(5)
Military Medicine During Taylor's Campaign	38	(5)
4 CALIFORNIA AND THE SOUTHWEST	43	(13)
The Extraordinary Career of Robert Stockton	47	(1)
The Santa Fe Trail	48	(1)
OLD SANTA FE TRAIL, 1821-1872	49	(7)
5 "MR. POLK'S WAR"	56	(15)
Mexican versus North American Military Strategy	60	(5)
BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA, FEBRUARY 22-23, 1847	65	(4)
Training Ground for the Civil War	69	(2)
6 TAMPICO AND VERACRUZ	71	(12)
MAJOR BATTLES OF THE U.S.-MEXICAN WAR, 1846-1848	72	(4)
Church and State in Mexico	76	(5)
Scott's Dilemma: Creating a Professional Army	81	(2)
7 "BIRDS OF PEACE AND BIRDS OF PREY"	83	(11)
Slavery and Manifest Destiny	87	(1)
"Show Me the Spot!": Lincoln Opposes the War	88	(6)
8 TO THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA	94	(16)
BATTLE OF CERRO GORDO, APRIL 18, 1847	95	(1)
Did Lee and Grant Meet During the War in Mexico?	96	(11)
BATTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC AND THE TAKING OF MEXICO CITY, SEPTEMBER 12-14, 1847	107	(3)
9 "WE TAKE NOTHING BY CONQUEST, BY GOD!"	110	(17)
U. S. EXPANSION, 1783-1898	111	(7)
The Gadsden Purchase and the Rail Route	118	(4)
Spanish Land Grants and the Trist Document	122	(5)
GLOSSARY	127	(4)
FURTHER READING	131	(3)
INDEX	134

Excerpts

Praise for the previous edition:
Well selected black-and-white maps and reproductions of old photographs add to the readers' understandings. - Journal of Reading
Controversial and unpopular, the U.S.-Mexican War divided the country's loyalties more than any event at the time since the Revolution. Abraham Lincoln argued against it in Congress; Henry David Thoreau went to jail rather than pay taxes that would help to finance it. The only public issue that rivaled the U.S.-Mexican War for bitterness of debate was slavery—and slavery played an important role in starting the conflict. But the realities of the time were powerfully shaped by the belief in the myth of "Manifest Destiny"—that the United States was predestined to occupy the North American continent "from sea to shining sea"—and so a war of conquest was launched. When it was over, the United States had doubled its size at the expense of Mexico, which had shrunk by half. A fast-moving narrative filled with evocative and historically accurate detail, U.S.-Mexican War, Updated Edition tells the full story of a long ignored but critical passage in American military history that was soon overshadowed by the Civil War. New box features cover topics such as early 19th-century Mexican politics; the roles slavery and "Manifest Destiny" played in bringing about the war; and Winfield Scott's struggle to create a professional U.S. Army.