Battle of Cerro Cordo
On April 18, 1847, United States forces under Winfield Scott moved toward Mexico City the capital of Mexico. After one of America’s first amphibious landings from the Gulf of Mexico into Mexico. Winfield Scott was almost to Mexico City and Mexicans in a heavily fortified position were some of the last men standing in his way. An offensive assault was needed and soon as delaying an assault longer would leave the Americans in the coastal lowlands as yellow fever season would start soon and take its toll on the Americans so an assault was needed and they could not risk failure at all. The Mexicans were positioned in a highly fortified position surrounded by rocks. With all this trouble he also had to consider the expiration of enlistment of many of his troops were quickly coming up. He also knew that less than 50% of his 10,000 soldiers were battle-hardened and most of his junior officers had just graduated West Point and were inexperienced. One of the first glances of hope was one of his junior officers, Captain Robert E. Lee, who was a reconnaissance officer. Lee managed to find a route around the left flank of the Mexicans. He found this route building off of reports from Lieutenants Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard. Both of whom would also become future Confederate generals in the Civil War. Santa Anna who was in charge of the 12,000 Mexicans thought his defenses were impenetrable. And the route around his position was impossible to pass. On the 17th of April Scott dispatched a unit to go with Brigadier General David Twiggs to attack the weakened flank using Lee’s route. Which was part 1 of 2 of Scott's plan. The second part was on the 18th they attacked Twiggs on the flank and Scott dead center and the battle officially began. They ultimately made the Mexicans flee the position and won the battle and by September had captured Mexico City. In total, the US had 431 casualties of which 63 died. Mexico lost 436 and had 764 wounded. The US captured roughly 3,000 and captured 40 guns. Due to so many prisoners, he let them go on parole due to a lack of resources to provide for them.
Battle of Chapultepec
The Battle of Chapultepec took place on the 13th of September in 1847. After Winfield Scott smashed his way through the battle of Cerro Gordo Scott is now outside Mexico City. Mexican General Santa Anna meets Scott again with 25,000 soldiers. Now Santa Anna took up a position in the Chapultepec castle. The castle rested upon the top of a 200-foot slope. Scott had roughly 7,000 troops at his disposal. Santa Anna had much more but much less trained and battle-hardened. Some of his troops were boys from Mexico’s military academy. Scott put 2,000 men forward at the roughly 1,000 Mexicans in the castle. So how is 25,000 also 1,000? Santa Anna had 25,000 men but they were defending numerous positions around the city. And only 1,000 were guarding Chapultepec Castle. Due to this Santa Anna could not immediately send troops to reinforce Chapultepec. Another issue was the 25,000 soldiers that were sent to tons of different positions because the Mexicans had little idea of where the Americans were going to attack. Amongst this, they only had 8 artillery pieces. Additionally, 200 cadets under the age of 13 were defending the position. Another mistake that turned the tide of the battle was that Santa Anna thought the attack would most likely come from the south. This needed to be corrected. He even believed this so much that even when a bombardment of the position from the opposite side started he still was dedicated to the south. And by the time the Mexicans realized the Americans were already at the base of the hill. Rather quickly the Mexicans collapsed and many abandoned their positions. The bombardment of the castle continued the rest of the day. Santa Anna considered sending troops to reinforce but realized if they tried to get into the castle they'd be lit up by cannon fire. So no troops were sent. The next day the bombardment ended and multiple waves of troops attacked including Marines. By 9 AM the American flag was flying on what was left of the castle. During the battle, the castle took much damage due to artillery. In the end, the Americans remained victorious over the battle of Chapultepec.
"The Mexican War was a training ground for generals, so that when the sad self-murders settled on us the leaders knew the techniques for making it properly horrible." — John Steinleck
Battle of Buena Vista
The Battle of Buena Vista began on the 22nd of February 1847. Mexican General Santa Anna successfully surrounded General Zachary Taylor on the Angostura Pass in Mexico. Santa Anna demands immediate surrender from Zachary Taylor. Zachary Taylor does not give in and gives a famous line in response. “Tell him to go to hell”. This line is not confirmed if he said it. In the early hours of the coming morning, Santa Anna sent 15,000 Mexican troops to finish the 5,000 Americans. These 15,000 Mexicans would come in 2 different waves. US artillery was able to stop one of the first 2 advancing divisions. The other continued to push forward. Jefferson Davis and his Mississippi rifleman could defend the left flank to stop the other wave of advancing Mexicans. After the war, Zachary Taylor would be nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready”. The other US General of the battle was Jefferson Davis who would be the president of the Confederate States of America.
"I do not think there was ever a more wicked war than that waged by the United States on Mexico. I thought so at the time, when I was a youngster, only I had not moral courage enough to resign." — Ulysses S. Grant (1879)""
Battle of Palo Alto
The Battle of Palo Alto was fought on May 8, 1846, shortly before the United States officially began the war with Mexico. General Zachary Taylor was in charge of the US forces. The battle would take place north of the Rio Grande River. The battle would be fought near present-day Brownsville, Texas. General Zachary Taylor and his men were originally dispatched to settle a border dispute but this would not last long. The Mexican commander, General Mariano Arista would take this as a threat to Mexico and decided to take up arms against the United States. General Arista would move across the Rio Grande River and go onto the offensive. Taylor won the initial skirmish and in the days following, despite not having an official war going on, went on the offensive and won 2 more battles, one near Palo Alto, and one at Resaca de la Palma. He would have a mere 2,000 men but would win each battle even though the Mexicans had more troops. Within the next 10 months, Taylor would win many more battles and the war no longer was his to fight and moved to other places and he was no longer needed. Due to his victories, he became a war hero and would win the election of 1848.