The Mexican War has been a somewhat neglected chapter of American history for reasons which are not hard to discover. In fact, however, it deserves more attention than it has received, for its consequences were far more than military. The war ended a long-drawn-out boundary dispute, incorporated new territories and people into the national domain, focused our attention on the Pacific, sharpened our interest in the Far East, made possible the gold rush of ’49, and made necessary the compromise of 1850. It was, in short, an event of considerable magnitude in our history.
Part of this story is told by David Lavender in this latest addition to the Great Battles of History series, edited by Hanson Baldwin. The author describes the American military campaign in northern Mexico that began in the spring of 1846 and culminated in the Battle of Buena Vista, fought on Washington’s Birthday, 1847. In this ten-month campaign, American soldiers were almost incredibly successful. They defeated a Mexican army three times their size at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. They occupied Matamoros, Reynosa, Camargo, and other strategic points. They wrested the fortified city of Monterrey from its defenders, occupied Saltillo, and moved on to Buena Vista, where they fought a superior Mexican army under the command of General Santa Anna to a standstill.
There is a good deal of “battlefield history” in this volume, but that is, after all, exactly what Lavender set out to tell about. And it is wholly to his credit that the author does not claim too much for his subject. In truth, the campaign in northern Mexico was not decisive in the sense that it brought the Mexican nation to its knees. It was fought on the periphery, far away from the Mexican “heartland,” and did not strike directly at the enemy’s vital center. Even so, it was a highly significant campaign, for it provided a badly needed morale boost to the American army and to the general public. It also settled with finality the question of the willingness and ability of the United States government to maintain the Rio Grande boundary by force if necessary. And it produced the next president of the United States in the person of gruff, taciturn old Zachary Taylor. These points Lavender makes in an easy and readable style that will in all likelihood prove to be of more interest to the general reader than to the historian.