"How Mexico became America" by Ace Preston

Before Jose Clemente Orozco, Jose Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo became Mexico's greatest artists there was James K. Polk.

"Mr. Polk's War" 1846-1848 (not to be confused with "Charlie Wilson's War") also known as the Mexican-American War began the careers of future generals of the Civil War such as Grant, McClellan, and Robert E. Lee known as the West Pointers. James K. Polk was the US President at the time.

Castillo de Chapulticec April 25, 1946

Captain Seth Gorden Nueces River 150 miles to the north of the Rio Gran was the border to the Mexicans..11 soldiers killed.

Polk demands congress to declare war..Polk elected two years after to fulfill American Manifest Destiny. Are americans god's new chosen people? God's Plan..the problem was the territories were controlled by Mexico..annex Texas..

Mexico did not have an army, money, divided among it's people.

US Army of observation under 60 year old General Zachery Taylor..tattered coat and pants was the general dressed.

30 million dollar offer to get half of Mexico's land and new border at Rio Grande.. Polk despised Mexicans..Polk envoy goes home when offer is refused.

Polk orders Taylor to move to the disputed territory..Southern Texas. Mexican territory.. build Fort Texas. Artillery canons turned on square of Matamoros.. Grant was there..sell California and New Mexico.. the provocation worked one month later..  thirteen scouting party men killed.. hostilities have commenced.. re-write history.. Mexicans cross border and shed american blood by Polk. "My country first".

Intimidation..  the reverse factor.. Grant gets bombarded in his first war.. Taylor returns with 2300 troops.. field of Palo Alto.. what a fearful responsibility must Taylor feel..  outnumbered by 900 men.. flying artillery by Samuel Ringgold.. horse drawn canons by carriage moved quickly.. developed in West Point.. limbers into the face of those guns..the sounds of the wounded  leave them abandoned..the battle is over.. Ringgold is dead.  200 mexicans killed.. fight one more day Pesaca de Palma..hand to hand..the war north of the Rio Grande is over..

Polk offers again to buy territories.. according to Polk, Mexicans are different if they don't, then they are unreasonable and difficult..Polk believed mission was accomplished but Mexico stands firm..

May 13, 1846 war is declared against Mexico.  Who is the best general to lead this war.. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana.. two years earlier exiled to Cuba. US naval blockade but sails to Veracruz like Cortez before him. Former 1833 President of Mexico. 5 years lost to Houston.. now returns.. 50,000 volunteer, 7,000 regular army, Tennessee 3,000 men were called but 30,000 applied..

March for glory and get a sickbed and dismal death..drink the water..Taylor must watch his front in Mexico and back in Washington..enter Winfield Scott when you become a candidate for president..that is the way Polk works..
Taylor was ignorant and bigoted but knew the orders for change in common comes directly from the Whitehouse..Polk runs the war from Washington DC. 
Monterrey, Santa Ana awaits..
Saddle Back Mountain Sante Fe Hill, the bishops palace still remain today..these distances of battle. Taylor's men take their hill. Strong points to be taken by the Mexicans but Taylor is saved by the fighting spirt of the men and Samuel Chamberlain another Chamberlain before Little Round Top, "I have a storming desire to kill like our fathers and grandfathers who fought the British we can beat anybody including the mexicans.." Victory of Monterrey? Complying with his duties Taylor's humane approach signs 8 week armistice. Polk orders to change commanders. 
Enters Winfield Scott landing by sea at Vera Cruz..another Cortez. Taylor ignores president and moves to fight one more battle with Santa Ana himself.

Americas population was growing and expanding west.. not Mexico.. very populated in the south unlike the north because of the conditions of agriculture are different..

Kearny and Polk tell Mexican settlers we will protect you against the indians.. Navajos.. Mexico does nothing for you. Tell indians they can't fight Mexico.  Doesn't make sense. Mexican settlers and indians tribes remain quiet.

General Armijo decides in the 11th hour this isn't gonna work.. leaves Sante Fe..the occupation is in effect.. liberty to the people. Kearny encounters Kit Carson informs him Fremont secures California ...Kearny encounters total resistance from the Lancers.. guerilla fighters.. no support from artillery. Kearny severely wounded. Reinenforcements arrive a month later..3 months after of Declaration of War. Northern territories captured.

January 1847.. Taylor time is up..Scott takes over..takes two thousand of Taylor's soldiers to attack Mexico.  Santa Ana feels the treacherous factor.. Santa Ana a traitor to Mexico?

Agua Nueva adobe ruins remain today. 109 volunteer ruffians kill 30 Mexicans in presence of women and children in a cave.

400 kilometers in the desert Santa Ana poorly equipped with his soldeirs sends message to Taylor to surrender. Taylor tells him to go to hell.

Satillo the traitor captured when he deserted battle of Buena Vista.. Taylor got driven back. Taylor finds himself for the first time in the war to be fighting a losing battle.. Light troops compelled to withdraw from the left flank. Battle was going their way. Special message from government stated there was a revolution in the capital..civil war. Santa Ana changed to grief and despair. Taylor watches a mexican army on verge of victory turn and retreat. Santa Ana returns to capital in order to save the nation.

Taylor runs for president not for personal ambition but for revenge against Scott and Polk for removing his command..

Polk and Winfield Scott in Mexico City..sell northern land or we take your whole country..

1847 Veracruz is surrounded by stone walls..12,000 troops perform an amphibious landing..Scott.. Castillo de San Juan 18th century French pirates then Americans.. 80 American warships. Santa Ana never arrived because of problems in Mexico City needed to be resolved..civil militias..taking care of political dissents.. Mexicans are thier own worst enemy. Scott did not land within range of the castle guns but 3 miles south. 70 to 80 men per row boat.  Pull artillery pieces on the beach in the sand takes 3 weeks to set up a base.  Construct siege lines behind city behind fort. Send a message to the city which gets rejected anyway. 

McClellan, 21 year old works the canons on the beach..  He succeeds Scott in the Civil War.. that is his reward.
Ramon Alcarez "God save the Republic" March 25, 1857 surrenders on the 27th.. Veracruz good-bye. The civilian population was trapped.. half of the 200 killed were civilians to include English, French international incident.. foreign nationals fired upon by Americans..
Path is opened to the nation's capital..  a desperate Santa Ana and the passion of the mexican people stand in the way..the war has gone on for a year. Polk thought it would have been short.. Senator Henry Clay lost a son in the Battle of Buena Vista..

Santa Ana remains optimistic. His troops exhausted from Battle of Buena Vista and streets of Mexico City now focus on Scott but overlooks one hill against the advice of his general...Cerro Gordo.  Scouting party sends 40 year old engineer Robert E. Lee.  Lee finds the top of this one hill..Santa Ana escapes on horseback leaves behind his artificial leg. Mexico has no army. Wrong, Santa Ana wants to prove him wrong with a battered army. Scott rests and waits for reinforcement.  Nicholas Trist, a diplomat sent by Polk.. Why challenge the character of the United States by attacking a sister republic.. We want.. We take..

Defend Mexico City without American army taking over the capital.  Use the same strategy to delay the advance of Scott.

Rio Frio, the view of Mexico when Scott crossed was different than today..that splendid city will soon be ours. Rest for 3 months there are 3 routes to choose. The fork in the road.. Santa Ana determines the shortest route would be the best road to take but Scott takes things the hard way.. jagged rocks surround the area.. Scott wonders.. sends Lee again.. Santa Ana excuses himself from this defeat.. the infighting..Winfield Scott moves closer.. Churubusco manned by Irish San Patricios..offended by anti-Catholicism by Americans and became deserters..the Irish fight again..deserters don't want to be captured..death penalty...run out of ammunition gives onto surrender.. Did you desert before or after the hostilities that depends on who gets hanged..never surrender..you're gonna die anyway..

Santa Ana ready to talk but doesn't have total control.  Win one battle. The last resource. Polk and Scott realized the american and mexican army prepare for final battle..it doesn't come from Santa Ana but from a group of boys from the Castillo de Chutapuc, a fortress and military academy. The last barricade stands today exactly as it did in 1847...General Nicholas Bravo commands the climatic battle. In the course of the night set up artillery batteries within easy range. Ramon Alcarez again witness battle from the start this mexican journalist.

On the 13th of dawn Santa Ana sends no reinforcements. Scott the slow planner makes a bold move.. infantry men climb the hill. sharpshooters scramble up the northern western slopes.
The defenses' canons misfire, landmines don't explode.. nothing seems to work..those cliffs that seemed like couldn't be climbed were climbed.  This was the end of the Mexican army.. stabbed with bayonets.. thrown on the rocks or taken prisoner at the highest part of the edipise. They were the final defenders of the Mexican flag... Six Mexican military cadets remain, "Los Ninos Heroes"..there are statues for these boys ..

Zocola is a part of the federal government not a state. Santa Ana is gone. The only Mexicans that remained were civilians who saw the American flag fly at downtown Mexico City. Should the country be annexed to the USA. There was no government..no political figure wanted to take the blame for giving up half the country. Manuel de la Pena becomes presidents to negotiate but Trish is called back to capital by Polk. Trish makes a bold decision against official order to remain in Mexico and without official permission signs Treaty of Gualadupe Hidalgo.. 15 million dollars.. Nevada, Utah, parts of Colorado, and Wyoming etc.. Manifest Destiny from sea to shining sea and all this was after the 1836 Texas Revolution which annexed Texas from Mexico in 1945. What about New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California?

Gold was found at Sutters Mill in California when Trish worked out a deal. Santa Ana goes to Jamaica. Returns to Mexico and becomes president for a total of 11 times. Polk dies from cholera in 1889. 1848 Taylor becomes president. 1852 Scott runs but loses. 1965 Lee is defeated by Grant in the American Civil War. Grant becomes president from 1869-1877. He dies penniless in NYC. 1947 Harry S. Truman came to Mexico to see the statue of Los Ninos Heroes after he ordered two atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

Today Frida, Diego, Orozco, and Siqueiros are considered some of the world's greatest artists but that was after Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, and Victoriano Huerta. All Great Americans.