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N0KFQ > TODAY 13.09.10 20:33l 51 Lines 2374 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Sep 13
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Sent: 100913/1918Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:16397 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:16397_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Sep 13, 1847:
General Winfield Scott storms the Chapultepec fortress
On this day in 1847, General Winfield Scott wins the last major
battle of the Mexican-American War, storming the ancient
Chapultepec fortress at the edge of Mexico City.
The war between the U.S. and its southern neighbor began the year
before when President James Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor
to advance to the disputed Rio Grande border between the
newly-minted American state of Texas and Mexico. The Mexican
government had once controlled Texas and refused to recognize the
American claim on the state or the validity of the Rio Grande as
an international border. Viewing Taylor's advance as an invasion
of Mexican soil, the Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande and
attacked the U.S. forces in Texas in April 1846. By mid-May the
two nations were formally at war.
The Mexican army was larger than the American army, but its
leadership, training, and supplies were all inferior to those of
the U.S. forces. Mexican gunpowder was notoriously weak, and
cannon balls from their guns often just bounced slowly across
battlefields where the American soldiers simply stepped out of
the way. As a result, by January 1847, General Taylor had
conquered California and the northern Mexican territories that
would later make up much of the American southwest. But Taylor
was reluctant to take the war into the heart of Mexico, and Polk
instead turned to General Winfield Scott to finish the job.
In March, Scott landed nearly 12,000 men on the beaches near Vera
Cruz, Mexico, captured the town, and began to march inland to
Mexico City. Flanking the Mexican defenses at Cerro Gordo Pass,
Scott stabbed southward below Mexico City, taking the towns of
Contreras and Churubusco. When a final attempt at peace
negotiations failed in August, Scott advanced north on the
Mexican capital. After Scott's forces stormed the fortress at
Chapultepec, the last significant Mexican resistance was
eliminated. The next day, September 14, Scott marched his army
into Mexico City and raised the American flag over the Mexican
National Palace-the "Halls of Montezuma" later celebrated in the
famous Marine's Hymn. For the first time in U.S. history, the
Stars and Stripes flew over a foreign capital.
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