The Mexican-American War of 1846-48 was the last in a series of conflicts that had raged in Mexico in the first half of the nineteenth century. After a protracted war (1810-21) to secure independence from Spain, Mexico emerged as a territory of nearly 1.7 million square miles, including what is now Texas, California and the U.S. Southwest. These northern lands, however, were sparsely inhabited, and in 1836 American settlers who had been invited to Texas by the Mexican government succeeded in fighting for and securing Texan secession. Ten years later, after a convoluted battle between factions on the U.S. political scene, Texas was incorporated into the United States.

Texan independence, however, had never been recognized by Mexico, and the border between the two states was anyway uncertain. These tensions combined with the ascendancy in American politics of men in favor of further national territorial expansion to result in war breaking out between the United States and Mexico in April 1846.

Antonio López de Santa Anna, the writer of this report, had risen to prominence during the war of independence, fighting first with the Spanish and then with the Mexican rebels; becoming a perennial fixture on a political scene of equally perennial turbulence, he served on and off as president throughout the 1830s. At the outbreak of war with the U.S. Santa Anna was in exile in Cuba. Convincing the Mexican government of his indispensability, in August 1846 he was appointed to an army command, at the same time making a secret bargain with the Americans that he would convince the government to sell them Mexico’s north. Once home, he declared himself president, reneged on the American agreement and engaged U.S. forces in battle.

The war had not been going well for Mexico before Santa Anna’s return, and his presence did not change this. To a land invasion from the north were added two seaborne armies; one of these, having captured Santa Anna’s home town of Veracruz, marched on Mexico City, and was met by Santa Anna’s forces at the hamlet of Cerro Gordo in April 1847. The battle was a rout, with the Americans capturing high ground from the Mexicans and turning their abandoned guns on their retreat. Santa Anna escaped but lost his artificial leg, still on display at a military museum in Springfield, Illinois. This report blames the defeat on his subordinates. Santa Anna’s land deal with the Americans was, however, carried through in its essentials, and by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexico lost, at a stroke, just under half its national territory.

 

View more documents relating to the Mexican War

 

View more documents relating to Latin and South America

 

View more documents relating to global history and civics

 

View more documents relating to foreign affairs

 

View more documents relating to military history

 

View more documents relating to Indigenous North American history

 

View more documents relating to the Navy

 

View more documents relating to Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876)