MEX-AMER War

Military operations throughout history range in their severity and length.
Current United
States Military doctrine describes this as the conflict continuum. The continuum describes how
military operations can range from perfect peace to all out total war. This assists in relating the
operations in scope and purpose to policy makers. This relation assists the policy makers in
making informed decisions regarding the strategic environment. Specifically, how decisions will
affect alliances and strategic objectives or interests of the United States. The Mexican American
War and World War One differ greatly on the level of hostilities along the conflict continuum.
However, each conflict shares the common goal of achieving a greater peace.
The Mexican-American war began as a border dispute with the Republic of Texas in
1836, when Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845 The United States inherited the dispute.
Mexico claimed that the border was along the Nueces River not the Rio Grande, a difference of
150 miles.1 During the 1840s the population of America was expanding, and a desire for
continued expansion of the country was extremely popular. President Polk shared these
ambitions with the American public. Not only for territorial expansion but also for economic
growth. American explorers had found deep water ports in the Mexican territory of California.
This was valuable to the growing American industry for potential trade with countries in Asia.
Several times between 1842 and 1845 the United States offered to purchase both the disputed
land around Texas and the territory of California. However, the Mexican government refused the
request each time.2
The war officially began on 8 May 1846, after a patrol of American Soldiers and Mexican
Soldiers skirmished in the disputed territory in Texas. President Polk then ordered Secretary of
War William L Marcy to use the Army to pursue the guilty party. Secretary of War Marcy
1
Stephen A. Carney, The U.S. Army Campaigns of the Mexican War, (Center for Military History, 2005), 8.
2
Ibid, 9.
ordered Generals William Taylor and Stephen Kearny to attack Mexico with the following
objectives: 1. General Taylor was to secure as much territory as possible, 2. General Kearny was
to march to California cut it off from Mexico City and secure it.3 These objectives were not
military in nature, they were politically motivated with the goal of expanding the territory of the
United States as quickly as possible. Once the desired territory had been occupied the strategic
thought was that negotiations could then be made with Mexico in order to bring the war to an
end. Mexico’s objectives for the war were simply to protect their territory already in their
possession.
The political motivation of the United States is a complicated matter. The Whig party
vehemently opposed the war from the beginning. Illinois senator Abraham Lincoln was one of
the most outspoken critics of President Polk. Senator Lincoln demanded that the President prove
that American blood was spilled on American soil.4 The Whig party found it questionable that the
war was a just war, specifically that the area in question where the first skirmish occurred was
indeed American territory. Whigs questioned why a prolonged military campaign was needed if
the sole objective of the campaign was to achieve a greater peace. President Polk miscalculated
that the limited war objectives would force the Mexican government into negotiations. Instead,
the government of Mexico refused to meet with any negotiators of the United State in order to
end the war. This caused great concern for President Polk as he was faced with the possibility of
a prolonged and expensive war with no clear end in sight.
Militarily Mexico greatly outmatched the United States military. The United States Army
at the outbreak of fighting was roughly 7,000 Soldiers with a mix of infantry, cavalry, artillery,
and engineers. Mexico had 19,000 Soldiers in the regular army and several thousand more in
3
Ibid.,
4
Norman A Graebner, “Lessons of the Mexican War,” Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 47, no. 3 (August 1978): 327.
reserve forces. In California and what is now New Mexico, General Kearny met little armed
resistance, his forces were primarily used for occupation duties. These were relatively peaceful
as several thousand American settlers had migrated to these new lands prior to the war. This
made the local civilian population very sympathetic to the American Forces. These new lands
were quickly absorbed by the United States.5 South of the Rio Grande River, General Taylor was
making swift progress in accomplishing his objectives. Little organized resistance was
encountered, Taylor’s forces took several cities unopposed, however, a new enemy soon
emerged.
Guerilla warfare is a tradition in the Mexican military. It was very effective in their war
for independence against Spain. The long Spanish supply lines were attacked regularly by
Guerilla fighters. Therefore, it would be no surprise that one of the key tactics in the war against
the United States was guerilla warfare.6 On 28 April 1847 the official organization of the Light
Corps was authorized by Mexico’s President. The Light Corps were small bands of irregular
forces used to attack American supply lines, small units, and stragglers. This was very effective
at slowing down the American advance on the capital city and disrupting the communications
with the War Department and Washington. In addition this tactic reduced the number of troops
that could be used to fight in offensive operations as they had to be utilized to secure vitally
needed supplies. General Winfield Scott was ordered in October 1846 to attack and seize the
capital of Mexico City as the previous occupation of Northern Mexico by General Taylor and
California by General Kearny had failed to force the Mexican Government to accept the terms of
the United States.7
5
Stephen A. Carney, The U.S. Army Campaigns of the Mexican War, (Center for Military History, 2005), 16.
6
Ibid.,
7
Ibid, 26.

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Military operations throughout history range in their severity and length.

request each time.2

a prolonged and expensive war with no clear end in sight.

the United States.7

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