John Stilwell Jenkins

“ One triumph, — one repulse, — but a single check given to the unbroken tide of victories sweeping in advance of General Scott, as he progressed towards the capital, — would be sufficient to place him on that proud pinnacle of power to which his aspirations were directed, and enable him, and those whom he served, to proffer, instead of accepting, terms of peace to the enemy, without humiliation, and without dishonor. ”

“ The American dragoons dismounted, and fought on foot, cutting and hewing the way with their sabres. The contest was severe and bloody, and the hill-side was strewn with the dead bodies of the Mexican guerilleros. The infantry, nearly exhausted, and panting for breath, having strained every nerve for the last six miles, soon arrived, and the enemy again retreated. The artillery took no part in the skirmishing, as the road was intersected by such deep gulleys that they could only advance at a walk. ”

“ The War with Mexico constitutes an episode, and by no means, an unimportant one, in the history of the American Union. Its brilliant scenes, and stirring incidents, have attracted unusual attention, and they must long continue to be remembered. The honor of the nation, and the triumph of her arms, are so closely allied, in the estimation of our citizens, that the permanent record of these events cannot be devoid of interest.—The military annals of the world present no higher, or more enduring evidences, of the skill and courage of any other soldiery. ”

“ But how soon were these errors dispelled when the day of trial came, and that little band on the Rio Grande were seen fighting their way, inch by inch, and step by step, overcoming every obstacle, as if moved by one mind, and animated by one impulse! — how soon did the American people learn to respect and admire the genius and skill of the brave men who were instructed on the banks of the Hudson, and imbued with the revolutionary spirit still lingering around the scenes where they were nurtured! ”

“ The glowing pages of Solís, the honest enthusiasm of Bernal Diaz, and the truthful eloquence of our own Prescott, may well be admired; but the career of Cortés is none the less unworthy of imitation, because it is adorned, on the pages of history, by the charms of composition, and the graces of intellect. Should a republic, founded as an asylum to which the wronged and the oppressed might flee for safety — a peaceful refuge from tyranny and wrong — forget its high mission, and seek for glory in foreign conquests, it would, indeed, provoke the scorn and derision of mankind. ”

“ Fighting their way through rivulets of blood, — through the intrenchments of Contreras, San Antonio, and Churubusco, — victors, too, at Casa de Mata and El Molino, — a sadly diminished band of less than 8,000 effective men, — their communications with the seacoast obstructed or cut off, — they now stood before a hostile city, every house, with its flat roofs and parapets, and every convent, church, and public edifice of which, could be converted into a fortification, containing 200,000 inhabitants, and defended by a frowning castle, by powerful batteries, and an army 25,000 strong. ”

“ The battle of Buena Vista does not require words of commendation. The facts are of themselves eloquent. The pass of Angostura, the plain upon which the bravery of those volunteers, many of whom had never before been in action, was tested, and the hills which flank it, will be a perpetual monument. Less than five thousand men, not five hundred of whom were regulars, with fourteen pieces of artillery, maintained their position, though the ravines around them streamed with their blood, from early dawn until set of sun. ”

“ On that field, among the dead and dying, are seen no proofs of military honor, for they are reduced to the sad fate of the soldier, — the same on every occasion, from Palo Alto to Cerro Gordo, — the dead to remain unburied, and the wounded abandoned to the charity and clemency of the conqueror. Soldiers who go to fight expecting such a recompense, deserve to be classed among the best in the World, since they are stimulated by no hope of ephemeral glory, of regret, of remembrance, or even of a grave. ”

“ The city of Mexico is something more than ninety miles from Puebla. The road ascends gradually through a fertile rolling country, checquered with beautiful gardens and hedges of cactus, with fields of maize and plantations of the aloe, until it reaches the tierra fria, or cold region, "the third and last of the great natural terraces into which the country is divided." ”

“ Fathers were stricken down upon their own thresholds, and mothers smitten at the fireside, as they leaned over the helpless offspring who clung to them, in vain, for protection. Stout manhood and decrepit age, the weak and the strong, fell dead together. Late on the night of the 24th the consuls of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Prussia, united in a memorial to General Scott, praying him to grant a truce to enable the neutrals, and the Mexican women and children, to escape from the scene of havoc around them. All this suffering had been foreseen by the American commander ”

“ Pretty gardens are scattered lavishly around them, and smiling villages and haciendas peep out in every direction from the groves in which they are imbosomed. But, conspicuous above all, is the city of Mexico, — containing a population of two hundred thousand souls — the most ancient, as it is the most splendid capital on the Western Continent! ”

“ Caution and prudence, united with promptness and determination, will go very far to secure their permanence. "Be just, but fear not!" — should ever be our national maxim — Firmness is the policy of war, as it is the policy of peace. Justice to our own citizens, in the legislation of the country, will prevent internal feuds and dissensions; and justice to other governments will save us from the manifold evils of war. ”

“ The republic of Mexico, for such she has claimed to be, amid all the phases and changes in her political condition, has never possessed a firm or stable government since 1821, when she ceased to be one of the dependencies of the Spanish crown, except during the first presidency under the federal constitution. Her prolonged struggle for independence was not viewed with indifference in the United States. The government of the latter was the first to recognize her separate existence, and her battle fields were crimsoned with the blood of many an American citizen. ”

“ There is something noble in the aspect presented by a people flying to their arms, unitedly and spontaneously, in defence of their altars and their hearthstones, to save themselves from wrong and injury, and their wives and daughters from outrage and violence. The movements of an excited populace are irresistible as the rush of the mountain torrent. Of what avail were an armed soldiery of 30,000 men, when the citizens of Paris had determined that the Bastile should be razed to the ground? ”

“ In addition to the mortification of defeat, General Arista was fated to experience the bitterness of the truth, that the unsuccessful warrior rarely finds sympathy among those whom he has vainly endeavored to serve. Heroes are but too often the creatures of chance, and "a breath unmakes them, as a breath has made." The government of Paredes had not entertained the idea that the army under General Taylor would dare to cope with the well-appointed legions which had been sent into the field; they were ignorant of the spirit that animated the American soldiers ”

“ A mere handful of men, a volunteer force less than one thousand strong—commanded by a bold, fearless, and energetic officer, performed an arduous and fatiguing march of many thousand miles, through a hostile country, chastising or awing the savage tribes which infested their route into submission; encountering the enemy, in superior numbers, on two several occasions, and routing them with the utmost ease and facility. ”

“ General Taylor halted his columns, and deployed them into line, within seven hundred yards of the enemy, whose artillery began to pour forth its warlike music. Their guns were by no means skilfully served; the balls almost invariably bounced over the heads of the Americans, and ricocheted along the plain in the rear, or ploughed deep furrows in the prairie, and filled the air with clouds of dust. On both sides the battle was mainly confined to the artillery. The guns of Ringgold, Churchill, and Duncan, were finely managed. ”

“ Several hundred yards further on, the column came upon a strong adobé breastwork, two hundred and fifty yards in front of the garita. The approach to the two defences was in a right line, and the whole space was raked by grape, canister, and shells, from the heavy gun and howitzer in the battery at the gate; in addition to which, an incessant fire of musketry was poured from the tops of the houses and churches, flanking the road. ”

“ Recent travellers give no very flattering description of large portions of New Mexico and California; [14] but, it must be remembered, that mere tourists for pleasure are far from being reliable authorities. The dry sandy plains of New Mexico will never be redeemed, in all probability, from the curse of barrenness; through all time they must continue to appear as they now do — "blasted with antiquity." Yet the territory is not entirely a desert, nor is the Santa Fé trade, which has been of so much profit to some of our western cities, in past years, a mere fiction. ”

“ We shall want from you nothing but food for our army, and for this you shall always be paid in cash the full value. It is the settled policy of your tyrants to deceive you in regard to the character and policy of our government and people. Those tyrants fear the example of our free institutions, and constantly endeavor to misrepresent our purposes, and inspire you with hatred for your republican brethren of the American Union. ”

“ Go where we may, at home or abroad,—on the sea or on the land,—wherever we find one of our citizens, standing beneath the broad folds of our national flag, we shall see his eye kindle and his bosom throb, as he gazes on the proud emblem floating above him: and if, at such a moment, violence be offered, either rightfully or wrongfully, to him or to it, his arm is nerved for the defence with tenfold vigor and strength! ”

“ When the American people shall forget how freely the generous blood of Lawrence and Decatur was shed in maintaining their rights, and defending their flag,—when the valor and intrepidity of Porter and Hill, of Perry and Macdonouo:h, and the brave associates who shared their dangers, and contributed to their renown, are no longer remembered,—then, but not until then, will the navy upon which they have never yet relied in vain, cease to occupy the prominent place in their estimation and regard, which it has so long maintained. ”

“ Santa Anna charged the American army, in his reply to General Scott, with plundering the Mexican churches, and offering violence to their women. Nothing could have been more false or groundless. No disrespect was ever shown to the religion of the Mexican people, or to their places of worship, which went unpunished, if brought to the knowledge of the American officers; and at Vera Cruz, a soldier was hung for committing an outrage upon a Mexican woman, — General Scott firmly refusing to pardon the offence. ”

“ But little more than four thousand men, weather-beaten, jaded, and wayworn, with the dust of many a weary day's journey "on their sandal shoon," in the gray fatigue-dress of the service, and unaccompanied by the gay paraphernalia of war, marched through the midst of a hostile population of sixty thousand souls, stacked their arms in the public square, posted their guards, and, when the night-watches came, lay down to sleep without one emotion of fear or alarm. ”

“ Occasionally their path was crossed by a small stream murmuring softly along on its way to mingle its waters with those of the mighty river of the West; and the fresh green foliage of the timber skirting its banks would form a most agreeable contrast to the short dry grass of the intervening waste, broken only here and there by small tufts of bushes, or giving place to sandy barrens, still more cheerless and uninviting. The parties of Indians whom they discovered on the prairie avoided their track, and the buffalo fled at their approach. ”

“ As they sprang, like magic, through the firm walls of the apartments where pale-faced women had retired for shelter, shriek upon shriek rent the air, and only ceased when those who uttered them were assured, in friendly tones, that there were wives and daughters by the firesides of those dark warriors, who waited for their coming, and whose purity and innocence were not forgotten even in the wild excitement of that hour, by those who esteemed and loved them. ”

“ That the adventurous citizens of the American Union, knowing little or nothing; of civil strife and commotion in their own country, should be unable at all times to distinguish between the party in power and their opponents, and should sometimes disregard the regulations and enactments which appeared to them to have been unjustly and arbitrarily established, were the natural consequences of the unsettled character of the Mexican government. ”

“ Captain Weightman unlimbered his pieces within fifty yards of the redoubts, and the cavalry and infantry rushing boldly up to the breastworks, drove the enemy before them with their sabres and rifles.
As the Americans entered the line of intrenchments east of the road, a warmer and more effective fire was opened from the battery on the height of Cerro Sacramento, which had been constantly playing upon them, and where a large body of Mexicans had now rallied. ”