October 2023
of the political maneuvering is beyond the scope of this brief column, but it is an interesting story that readers may want to learn more about. We turn instead to Scott’s landing at Veracruz and to Grant’s activities there and on the march to Mexico City.
Everyone knows the outcome of the Mexican War, and in retrospect it seems inevitable. Grant’s memoirs, however, remind us that the victory was far from certain. Landing at Veracruz with a force of 10,000 to 12,000 men, Scott undertook “to invade a country with a population of seven or eight millions, a mountainous country affording the greatest possible natural advantages for defence.” Scott was far from help if he got into trouble. The Duke of Wellington, when he heard of the landing and march inland, declared that “Scott is lost…. He cannot fall back upon his base.”
The landing was unopposed; the fortified city was besieged; American artillery was put into place; Veracruz surrendered after a brief bombardment; and Scott headed west.
The next obstacle was at Cerro Gordo, where the forces of Manuel López de Santa Anna held mountain passes with infantry and artillery. Grant wrote that a direct assault was “an impossibility.” Moreover, on the enemy’s flanks were “deep chasms or mountainous walls.” A route around the Mexican left was found, and a road cut, by Robert E. Lee and others in the corps of engineers. These engineers, Grant wrote, were “all officers who attained rank and fame, on
one side or the other, in the great conflict for the preservation of the unity of the nation.” In his memoirs Grant was reticent about his own actions in Mexico, devoting space instead to the larger picture. He wrote nothing about what he did at Veracruz. Of his own actions at Cerro Gordo, he again was silent.
On a much higher level, he pointed out how Taylor, far to the north, contributed to Scott’s success in the south. Taylor’s advance on Buena Vista forced Santa Anna to personally lead troops to face the threat. After the battle he marched his defeated army back over the thousandmile route to face Scott in the mountains at Cerro Gordo. “Had the battle of Buena Vista not been fought Santa Anna would have had time to move leisurely to meet the invader further south and with an army not demoralized or depleted by defeat.”
After Cerro Gordo, Scott’s army moved toward the capital and faced more obstacles created by nature and the Mexican forces. The only approaches to the city were causeways along narrow passages running between several lakes. The brigade of Col. John Garland, to which Grant was attached, moved along one of these causeways, “every inch of which was commanded by the enemy’s artillery and infantry.” The brigade held in place while the bulk of the army moved around the Mexican right flank. This movement followed a road cut through the Pedegral lava field, allowing the army to move closer to the city on roads less well defended.
This flanking maneuver succeeded. In a series of three quick battles, the American attackers forced the Mexican defenders to retreat. Garland’s brigade moved forward as the Mexicans in their front pulled back. The opposing generals agreed to a truce following these engagements, during which time an American envoy discussed a treaty with Gen. Santa Anna, who, according to Grant, was “practically The Government.” Violations of the agreement led Scott to declare an end to the truce and commence the final advance to the Mexican capital.
Scott’s Sept. 8 attack at Molina del Rey was a success, but a costly one that achieved little. Here Grant’s memoirs offer one of the rare accounts of his own involvement. He was with the troops which first entered the mill who led a small detachment up a makeshift ladder to a rooftop occupied by a few Mexican soldiers. Upon reaching the roof, Grant found a single private “guarding the prisoners he had surrounded, all by himself.”
On Sept. 12, artillery opened on Chapultepec Castle, which fell to American infantry the next day. The fall of Chapultepec opened the way for the assault on the city’s fortified gates. Grant participated in this advance, leading the effort to flank a troublesome artillery piece blocking the way to the San Cosme gate. He then oversaw the dismantling of a howitzer so that it could be hauled into a church’s belfry. Grant knew enough Spanish to explain to the priest that he, the padre, had no say so in the matter. The piece was reassembled and placed into firing position. “The shots from our little gun dropped in upon the enemy,” Grant wrote, “and created great confusion.”
That night, as the American forces prepared to renew the
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attack, Santa Anna evacuated the city. A delegation of citizens informed Scott of Santa Anna’s departure and told him there would be no further resistance. The capital of Mexico was Scott’s to possess and, indeed, to govern.
The army occupied Mexico City and environs while the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was negotiated. As their duties were not onerous, Grant, by then a brevet captain, and other officers had time for various extra-curricular activities. Grant’s excursions took him to a bullfight, a gigantic volcano, and a vast cavern.
When the treaty was ratified Grant returned home to his newly enlarged country and soon married Julia Dent. He stayed with the army for several years, attaining the rank of captain. He resigned from the army in 1854. His time in civilian life was marked with little success. His fortunes changed in 1861, when (in Chernow’s words) war rescued him “from a dismal record of antebellum business failures.” In June 1861, Grant, commissioned as a colonel, took command of the 21st Illinois Infantry.
His subsequent career is well known.
