Facts about the Mexican American War

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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.

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One Response

  1. Forrest B Hopping

    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???

    Reply

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