THE LIFE AND TIMES OF RIP FORD
Part 8: The Prelude To War
by Bob Heinonen
The flag of the Republic
of Texas was lowered by its last
President, Anson Jones, on February
19, 1846. The Republic
of Texas was no more…for another 15
years she would be within the union of states called the United
States of America. However, that didn’t end her problems with Mexico.
“The settlement of Americans in Texas
was the cause of a collision. The
annexation of Texas to the
Federal Union brought on a war. Mexico
claimed that the northern boundary of the State of Tamaulipas was the Nueces
River which was also formerly the
southern boundary of the State [province] of Texas---Mexico
had forgotten the broad distinction between the Republic
of Texas and Texas
as an integral part of Mexico. Texas
claimed that, by the treaty with Santa Anna in 1836, the southern boundary was
the Rio Grande.”[i]
In anticipation of a problem with Mexico over the definition
of border between the U.S. and Mexico, U.S. President James K. Polk “ordered General Zachary Taylor into Texas
only to protect the border…Taylor reached the Nueces in July 1845 with about
1,500 men and crossed into the disputed territory, but he stopped on the
southern bank at the town of Corpus Christi, not wishing to provoke the
Mexicans by marching to the Rio Grande.”[ii] Notice that the date is 6 months before Texas
became a state. “This move was a part of
the negotiations, to protect Texas
during the discussions, as agreed.”[iii] “While on Corpus
Christi Bay, Taylor
mustered several companies of Hays’s Texas Rangers
into the national service, leaving them in their respective locations to guard
the frontier. He accepted them
reluctantly, to keep the Texans’ hearts in the game.”[iv]
“In November Polk sent an envoy, John
Slidell, on a secret mission to Mexico
to try to obtain the disputed territory by negotiation. Mexico
was in default on some $2 million owed American citizens for losses suffered
during past political upheavals in the country.
Polk authorized Slidell to
cancel this debt in return for recognition of the annexation of Texas
and acceptance of the Rio Grande
boundary. The President also empowered
him to offer as much as $30 million if Mexico
would sell the United States
all or part of New Mexico and California.
It would have been to Mexico’s
long-range advantage to have made a deal with Slidell. The country could well have used the money,
and the area Polk wanted, lying in the path of American expansion, was likely
to be engulfed as Texas had been,
without regard for the actions of the American or Mexican governments. Unfortunately, the Mexicans were in no mood
to dicker. No one enjoys negotiating
with a gun pointed at his head…..
….In March 1846 Slidell
gave up and returned to Washington,
convinced that war was inevitable.”[v]
“Two entirely different cultures were about to meet, with
neither side completely able or willing to understand the other’s ways and
methods.”[vi] By the end of March, General Taylor had moved
his troops to the north bank of the Rio Grande
River across from Matamoros. Taylor
now had almost 4,000 soldiers.
The stage is set—the challenge issued. The war for dominance of the American
continent is about to begin.
Next Month - Part 9:
The Mexican-American War Starts
Bob Heinonen the
founder of Texas Heroes and has been portraying Rip Ford
since 1993.
[i] Rip Ford’s Texas by John Salmon Ford
edited by Stephen B. Oates, University
of Texas Press, Austin,
TX 1963, pp 60
[ii] The American Nation - A History of the
United States by John A. Garraty, American
Heritage Publishing Co., New York, NY 1966, pp 318
[iii] Lone Star - A History of Texas and the Texans by T. R. Fehrenbach, American Legacy Press, New
York, NY 1983, pp 270
[iv] The Texas Rangers - A Century of Frontier Defense
by Walter Prescott Webb, University of Texas
Press, Austin, TX,
1935, pp 91
[v] The American Nation - A History of the
United States by John A. Garraty, American
Heritage Publishing Co., New York, NY 1966, pp 318
[vi] Wild Horse Desert - The Heritage of South
Texas by Brian Robertson, Hidalgo County Historical Museum by New Santander Press, Edinburg, TX 1985