Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-07-01
In MEXICO 70 YEARS AGO

[UolInsued irom Editorial Pagel
Texan Rangers as daring and impetu-
Gus as any recorded in history. But
t.ie Texans paid dearly for their sue
cess for here fell their leader, Cap
tain Walker, around whose name clus-
ters as much of daring feats and bor-
der romance as encircles the fame OF
any frontier man of American history.
Soon Santa Annals troops. tired of
always being on the vanquished side.
deserted him almost enmasse, attrt-
buting the unfortunate events OF the
war to his incapacity, and denouncing
him as a traitor to his country.
And thus the great Santa Anna,
erstwhile supreme dictator of Mex
leo, became once more q fugitive on
the face of the earth.
When General Winfield Scott enter
ed the city of Mexico and became its
virtual ruler, he had but 5000 men
under arms. OF this numper 1000
were sick in hospitals at ChapuItepec
and adjacent points. Deducting small
garrisons here and other places in the
suburbs, Scott had less than 5000
troops with which to enforce order
and preserve the peace in q populus
anG turbulent city.
1 have traced briefly for the read
ers of the Telegraph the two great
campaigns of Taylor and Scott, those
two features of the Mexican war with
which every student of history is
fSirly familiar. But, meantime, inn
portant military operations had been
carried on In other portions of Mex
leo which had a most important bear
ing on the future of our nation. l re-
gret that the scope of these papers
will not permit a full detail of the
operation by which almost 100000
square miles of territory were con-
quered and brought under the domina-
of "a 70 Sfrfr bNy faxy
small bands of hardy Americans not
aegregating 5000 men in all. The
wonderful achievements of fremont,
Sloat, Stockton. Kearney. Doniphen
and Price is one of the romantic
chapters of the worlds history and
we'll worthy of an extended historical
account.
There was, in 1S45. in the topo-
graphical corps of the United States
army an officer around whose whole
career clusters a world of romance.
That man was John Charles Fremont,
the first standard-bearer of the Re-
| publican party in a presidential con-
test. In that year he was ordered, by
the United States government, to make
a third exploration of the then almost
unknown Rocky Mountain. He al
ready knew more about these noun
tains and all the adjacent regions
than any man living, and had won the
proud title of Pathfinder of the
Rockies" crossing what is now Ne
! braska and Utah, he reached Monterey
in California. The Mexican author
ities already keenly suspicious of all
Americans, ordered him to leave the
country Immediately. Fremont was
not ready to go, and he did not.
In June 1S46. rumors of a possible
war between Mexico and the United
States permeated into California, and
the American settlers, fearing they
would be attacked and slaughtered,
took time by the forelock and pro-
claimed California an independent re-
public. The flag they flung to the
breeze showed a grizzly bear colored in
red paint. With the aid of Fremont
and his little band and a portion of
the United States navy under Com
modore Sloat and his successor, Com
modore Stockton they held California
til! General Kearney reached them
with a United States force.
~ June 80, 1S46, an army Of 2,7oO,
named by the government the Army
OF the West" left Fort Leavenworth
under the command of GenerH e.
sixteen years later on the field
, Chantilly of the Civil War. The OBJ
jective point of this army was Santa
Fe in New Mexico, 1000 miles away.
Under Kearney were the magnificent
volunteer regiments of Colonels Price
and Doniphan and Summers dragons
OF the regular army. Much of the dis
tsnce of the route lay over vast plains
which for ages had afforded pasturage
to countless herds of buffalo or had
been the hunting ground of the In
dians.
August IS. 1916, the army entered
Santa Fe almost without opposition
> and Kearney Immediately proclaimed
the annexation of all New Mexico to
the United States. Subsequently the
commands of both Doniphan and
Price fought mum mber of battles, the
details of which cannot be given here
all of which terminated in complete
American victories. L will give but
one romantic specimen of the MANY
things accomplished by these daring
leaders.
Early in December, 1876, Doniphan
lett Santa Fe, with 500 men, for a
march OF hundreds of miles through
Northern Mexico. After fighting
battles, fording rivers climbing noun
talns, and passing through multitude
OF wonderful adventures, on the 2Sth
= Of February. 1S4I, he encountered
, General Hendea strongly entrenched
? in mountain pass overhanging the
Sacramento river, and having under
his command an army of 4,100 men
with 16 pieces of artillery. From 3
clock in the afternoon until eVenine
p
, charge with GOODNESS and precision
drove the MeXicans from every posi-
ton with loss of but two killed and
seven wounded, while the flying Mex.
leans left 600 on the field, half oil
whom were killed. The little Amer.
, lean force also captured 400 prison.
ers, all the artillery of the enemy and
large stores of ammunition and pro
visions.
; II was in consequence of daring
. deeds, such as the one just narrated
that. by the time Winfield Scott's army
unfurled the Stars and Stripes ovei
the heads of the Montezumas, the
same colors also fioated IN undisputed
triumph over vast provinces of North.
orn Mexico as great in area as the
] original thirteen colonies which in
/. 1776 proclaimed their independence ol
Great Britain.
ITO Be ContinuedD