Battle of Palo Alto

“ The dead and wounded on those battlefields received no marks of military distinction, sharing alike the sad fate which has been the same from Palo Alto to Cerro Gordo; the dead remained unburied and the wounded abandoned to the clemency and charity of the victor. Soldiers who go to battle knowing they have such reward to look for deserve to be classed with the most heroic, for they are stimulated by no hope of glory, nor remembrance, nor a sigh, nor even a grave! Again, contemplate, honorable Mexicans, the lot of peaceful and industrious citizens in all classes of your country. ”

“ The Mexican generals declared that the advance of Taylor into the disputed territory was an act of war, and active hostilities had commenced. While the general was hastening to reinforce one of the forts attacked, he came upon the Mexicans drawn up in order of battle at Palo Alto. An action, mostly with (p. 345) artillery, followed, and the enemy were defeated and driven from the field. It was the first battle fought in thirty-one years with any foe other than Indians, by American soldiers. Grant was in that first conflict of half a century, as he was in the last ones. ”

“ The Battle of Resaca de la Palma—Defence of Fort Brown—The Great Western.
When the sun rose on the morning of the 9th a mist of mingled smoke and vapor hung over the battle field of Palo Alto, but, as the haze lifted from the levels, the Mexicans were perceived retreating by their left flank, in order, perhaps, to gain a more advantageous position on the road in which they might resist our progress towards Matamoros. ”

“ Taylor's marching force on the 9th aggregated 2,222 men. The actual number engaged with the enemy did not exceed 1,700. Ib. ↑ Taylor said 1,000 in killed, wounded, and missing in the two actions, but this is not to be relied upon. More than 200 of their dead, he says, were buried by him on the two battle-fields. Arista in his official report to the minister of war, dated May 14th, gives the following figures: At Palo Alto, 102 killed, including 4 officers, and 127 wounded, of whom 11 were officers; at Resaca de la Palma, 6 officers and 154 men killed, 23 officers and 205 men wounded. ”

“ Palmetto Regiment, in Vera Cruz expedition, 1. 368; call, 537; in march to Puebla, 2. 69; in Scott’s army, 78, 343; at Churubusco, 117, 384; at Chapultepec, 157; at Belén garita, 160, 412; in Alvarado expedition, 344. Palo Alto, battle of, American force, 1. 163; American line, 164; map, 164; Mexican advance and position, 164–5; Mexican force, 165; artillery, 165, 465; Torrejón’s attack and repulse, 166–7; American movement on right, 167–8; defeat of Mexican right, 168–9; losses, 169, 466; Mexican retreat, 169. See also Rio Grande campaign. Palo Alto, Camp, 1. 480. Pánuco expedition, 1. ”

“ The result of the action at Palo Alto was due to the superiority of the American artillery over that of the Mexicans, [29] and Arista's obstinacy in contending so long with that arm against the advice of his generals, his troops being exposed in line to a fire which decimated portions of them. It would seem that his jealousy of Ampudia caused him to listen to no suggestion, however sound. Moreover, he directed his guns entirely against the American batteries, while those of the enemy were trained against his men, which explains the great disparity in mortality. ”

“ In all one man was killed; nine officers and men wounded (Ho. 24; 31, 1) . An attempt was made to burn Matamoros, but the balls could not be heated sufficiently (Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 293) . Perhaps a general more farseeing than Taylor would have provided a furnace. Ampudia had about 830 men at first and later drew others from the city. When Arista called him to Palo Alto on May 8, a small force remained behind to continue the siege. Ripley (War with Mexico, i, 140) says that Arista should have reduced the fort. ”

“ On May 8, 1846, Taylor defeated him at Palo Alto with 2,300 men, and a few days later drove him from a new position at Resaca de la Palma across the Rio Grande. War was at once declared by Congress; 50,000 volunteers were called for; and Taylor was made a major-general, re-enforced, and ordered to invade Mexico. ”

“ Himself he broke camp and moved inland along the splendid roads which Tamarizia had built generations unnumbered before, when Mazhur was one of her states.
For Palos, the sight was odd as the well-drilled ranks moved ahead in steady cadence, with here and there a huge ungainly battle motor rumbling along, its monster body filled with men. Here and there in some minor town some slight resistance was met. The motors took care of that. Rolling irresistibly forward into a slithering flight of arrows and spears, they spat fire at the defenders until they fell or fled. ”

“ At Cerro Gordo, a difficult pass in the mountains, the American army encountered 12,000 Mexicans under command of Santa Anna, who had, by extraordinary efforts, collected this force after his defeat at Buena Vista. The battle was fought on April 18, every movement of the American troops being directed, according to a carefully prepared plan, by General Scott. Colonel Harvey led the storming party into the pass, with a deep river on one side, and batteries belching death from lofty rocks on the other side. The Americans rushed forward with irresistible courage. They knew their enemy. ”

“ At three o'clock in the afternoon, the American guns opened a lively and well-directed fire on the Mexican position, though but partially covered, by ledges of rocks, from the incessant shower of balls and howitzer shells which fell among them. A fierce cannonade was kept up for hours, during which the men at the batteries, and the brigades of Generals Pierce and Smith, occasionally engaged with the enemy's skirmishers, suffered severely. While the battle was raging at this point, General Pillow sent General Cadwalader to the support of Colonel Riley, with the second brigade of his division. ”

“ When he came into Death Valley, he was to know its effects upon men. For two or three miles the road was always under shell-fire. By day visible to the enemy's observers, by night his gunners could be sure that guns registered upon it, if they fired into the darkness, would find a target on its congested reaches. It was inadequate to the traffic of the divisions engaged. Troops marching into battle must run its deadly gamut before they could deploy. ”

“ The troops encamped near the field of battle; and on the following morning (January 10, 1847) , the enemy surrendered, when the city of Los Angeles was occupied by the Americans without further opposition.
"This was the last exertion made by the sons of California for the liberty and independence of their country," say the Mexican historians, "and its defence will always do them honor; since, without supplies, without means or instructions, they rushed into an unequal contest, in which they more than once taught the invaders what a people can do who fight in defence of their rights. ”

“ At the time of the invasion, the Japanese had only one division stationed on Leyte. Their vital supplies at Tacloban were lost to them on the 21st and they appeared to have no organized plan of defense, offering resistance only at widely scattered points.
[Pg 315]
PHILIPPINES
MEN CAUTIOUSLY MOVING IN on an enemy machine gun position, 24 October. The infantryman on the right is armed with a .30-caliber Browning automatic rifle M1918A2. The fight for Palo ended on 24 October when a suicidal enemy counterattack that penetrated the center of town was repulsed. ”

“ The Spaniards waited until the foremost column was within fire, and then, with a general discharge of artillery, swept the ranks of their assailants, mowing them down by hundreds. The Mexicans for a moment stood aghast, but soon rallying swept boldly forward over the prostrate bodies of their comrades: a second and third volley checked them and threw their ranks into disorder, but still they pressed on, letting off clouds of arrows, while those on the house-tops took deliberate aim at the soldiers in the courtyard. ”

“ Our troops could not retreat, as the trail for two miles behind them was wedged with men. They could not remain where they were, for they were being shot to pieces. There was only one thing they could do—go forward and take the San Juan hills by assault. It was as desperate as the situation itself. To charge earthworks held by men with modern rifles, and using modern artillery, until after the earthworks have been shaken by artillery, and to attack them in advance and not in the flanks, are both impossible military propositions. ”

“ The205 Mexican column was destroyed. Horses and men writhed on the plain. The rear rank stood for a moment, but a single discharge from the howitzer scattered them too, and they fell back. For the first time during the day fortune seemed to favor the Americans. Hemmed in on two sides, and driven to the base of the mountain, five thousand Mexicans, horse and foot, with Ampudia’s division, were being slaughtered by nine guns, which never slackened fire. Their fate was certain; when a flag of truce from Santa Anna induced Taylor to silence his batteries. ”

“ To leave Puebla without a garrison, allowing that strong city, reoccupied by the enemy, to menace the rear and stand like a wall of stone across the path of reinforcements and supplies, was out of the question; and troops were also needed to protect helpers and overawe enemies among the civil population. If reduced by these deductions the army would not have constituted a striking force. Nothing could be done but stand at guard, and await new troops. ”

“ As the Americans surged over the intrenchments they paused just long enough to pour in a volley and then went in with the bayonet. At almost the same moment Captain Weightman brought his guns into action with a rattle and crash and began pouring a torrent of grape into the now thoroughly demoralized Mexicans. As the right wing stormed the breastworks an American sergeant who was well in advance of the line, having emptied his rifle and pistols and being too hard-pressed to reload them, threw away his weapons and defended himself by hurling rocks. ”

“ The United States Army officers knew that they must fight for time to get some new inventions ready to combat the enemy. On June 14th, Los Angeles was surrendered. White flags were run up all over the city as a signal for the enemy planes to stop attacking. The plan was to send no message to the enemy headquarters in Mexico but to wait and see what action they would take or what terms they would offer to make. ”

“ It was expected that the next engagement would be the bombardment of Morro Castle, at Havana. But it is the unexpected that often happens in war. In the Philippine Islands, on the other side of the world, the first real battle—one of the most remarkable in history—was next to occur.
On April 25th the following dispatch of eight potent words was cabled to Commodore Dewey on the coast of China: "Capture or destroy the Spanish squadron at Manila." "Never," says James Gordon Bennett, "were instructions more effectively carried out. ”

“ It demands of Washington if it realizes that the U.S.A. is being bombarded—the fun of fighting dies out in a moment.
San Antonio is a safer breeding ground for insurrection than is El Paso. For one thing it is out of careless rifle-shot, and for another—well at El Paso some Mexican troopers might come right across the silver Rio Grande in a dry season, never wetting their feet or dreaming that they were crossing the majestic river boundary, and pick up a few erring citizens without much effort. There is a risk at El Paso that is not present in San Antonio. ”

“ By this time the troops had fought their way into the town and the enemy, posted in the Plaza or Principal Square, commanded every approach to it. As long as the Americans kept in the side streets they were comparatively safe, but the moment they showed themselves in any of the avenues leading to the Plaza, they encountered a hail of bullets. This was serious enough; but at the end of two days the situation became critical, for the ammunition began to run low, and it was realized that, if the Mexicans discovered this, they would sweep down and cut their defenseless opponents to pieces. ”

“ Their general plan of operations was to seize and occupy the coveted territories as "indemnity for the expenses of war," while an army invading the heart of Mexico should force an agreement to terms of peace.
In pursuance of this plan, an American squadron appeared before the fort of Monterey, on the Pacific, in Alta California, on the 7th of July, two months after the first shots of warfare on the Rio Grande. This Monterey must not be confounded with the other Mexican town of the same name. The Mexicans evacuated the place with the few soldiers who constituted the garrison. ”

“ On the morning of August 13th the fleet bombarded the fortifications of Malaté, setting fire to the stores and ammunition, while the Utah battery played on the breastworks. Then the Colorado regiment and the California troops stormed the works, drove out the Spaniards, and fought them from house to house till they reached the esplanade, when a white flag was displayed and the Spanish commander surrendered and was accorded the honors of war. Bodies of insurgents were found entering the city, and were driven back by General Greene's troops. ”

“ The Tenth Pennsylvania bore the brunt of the attack, and checked the Spanish advance until the Utah battery, the First California Volunteers, and two companies of the Third Artillery, fighting as infantry, could get up to strengthen the right of the line.
The Spaniards had, by a rush, gone 150 yards through and beyond the American right flank, when the regulars of the Third Artillery, armed as infantrymen, pushed them back in confusion, the Pennsylvanians and Utah battery aiding gallantly in the work. ”