The Mexican-American war was waged by the United States under the ‘œManifest Destiny’ which was a belief that the United States should hold all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Here are more interesting facts about this war.
Fact 1: The war lasted only two years, from 1846-1848.
Fact 2: The Americans did not lose any of the ten major battles that included thousands of soldiers at combat.
Fact 3: Mexico lost the war and nearly half of its territory from Texas to California. The people who lived in these areas had a choice; they could become United States citizens or move further South into Mexico.
Fact 4: 13,00 Americans and about 25,000 Mexicans were killed in the Mexican-American war.
Fact 5: Disease killed more soldiers than combat did. On both sides, soldiers suffered from yellow fever, malaria, dysentery, measles, diarrhea, cholera, and smallpox.
Fact 6: Many junior officers who served in the Mexican-American war went on to become Civil War Generals, including Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson, and George Pickett.
Fact 7: Mexico’s officers were bad at their jobs. The ineptitude of the Mexican army’s leaders can be summed up in two examples; Pedro de Ampudia hid in the cathedral when the Americans invaded Monterrey and Gabriel Valencia is said to have gotten drunk with his soldiers the night before a major battle.
Fact 8: Some Americans deserted the American Army and joined the enemy. Most of the deserters were Irish Immigrants who came to the United States for a better life. Instead, they were sent to fight in the Mexican-American war where conditions were terrible and where anti-Irish sentiment was widespread.
Fact 9: In Mexico, the Mexican-American war is often referred to as the ‘œUnited States Invasion of Mexico’ and even the ‘œWar of Northern Aggression’. (The later is typically used by Southerners to describe the American Civil War as well).
Fact 10: The last surviving American veteran of the Mexican-American war was Owen Thomas Edgar who died on September 3, 1929 at the age of 98.
May 3, 2020 2:48 pm
The War of US aggression– a country that invades another without justification, kills half the people takes half the territory and makes the former citizens illegal is not AGRESSION???