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- James Madison McMullen - served in the Mexican War. It is believed hewas murdered on his way home.
"Our food is abominable; when you break a biscuit, you can see it move(if the critters are not dead from eating bad flour). The pork andbacon are of the same character. We would not mind this so much, ifthey would only serve us out enough...if not for the wild beef weshoot, we should starve."
- A U.S. soldier
writing from Camp Belknap, Texas, 1846
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4. Soldiers and Soldados
The majority of Americans who served in the War with Mexico wereyoung, in their late teens and early twenties. Many of them had neverbeen away from home before. They enlisted, in most cases, for gloryand adventure. What they got, more often than not, was a bitter doseof reality; heat, dust, boredom, insects, disease and all toofrequently, death - more often caused by illness than by enemybullets.
A small number (between 11,000 and 12,000) served in the Navy orMarines (548). The majority were soldiers, either in volunteerregiments raised by nearly every state, or the regular U.S. Army,including the new regiments authorized by Congress in February 1847.
There is some difference of opinion over how many Americans served inthe Mexican War. What's at issue is whether or not some earlyvolunteer regiments, raised for three and six months - and who neversaw action, should be counted. These units, mustered into serviceimmediately after the war began, in response to an unauthorized callby Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, were all mustered out by August 1846 afterCongress declared no regiment raised for less than twelve months couldbe kept in federal service. Some of these soldiers, after beingreleased from service, went back home, having already had enough ofthe discomforts they'd put up with while encamped on the Rio Grande.Others re-enlisted, either in the regulars or in one of thetwelve-month volunteer regiments.
One thing historians agree on is that being a soldier in theU.S.-Mexican War was an uncomfortable, unhealthy, and dangerousbusiness.
Disease killed more men than bullets. This was due mainly tounsanitary camp conditions, the result of the ignorance of men who hadno idea how disease was spread. At the U.S. army encampment atCamargo, in northern Mexico, conditions were especially bad. Camped ina dry, dusty valley along the banks of the San Juan River - the samesource of water the men used for drinking, cooking, and bathing,illness ran rampant with dysentery, measles and other assortedailments taking hundreds of young men to early graves in thechaparral, buried in shallow graves, shrouded in their blankets.
Primitive medical techniques along with delays in treatment alsoaccounted for the deaths of many battle wounded who might otherwisehave recovered had they received prompt and proper care and attention.
Although no formal study on the subject has been made, it appears thatthe mortality rate among Mexican War veterans after the war wasespecially high. Many men who did not actually die during the war mayhave later succumbed to the effects of some illness or wound theyoriginally suffered during the war, dying at an early age.
The weapons used by soldiers in the Mexican War were generallymuzzle-loading rifles or muskets, with the latter predominating sincethey were quicker and easier to load, although their range andaccuracy left something to be desired. Dragoons and Texas Rangersusually carried five or six-shot Colt revolvers - introduced intowarfare for the first time during the Mexican War. The Texasvolunteers were especially notorious for arming themselves to theteeth with an assortment of pistols, knives and revolvers tucked intoboots, belts and shirts.
The average Mexican infantryman carried an old flintlock musket, mostof which were manufactured in Great Britain and sold as surplus toMexico. Tending to use too much powder, many Mexican soldiers firedfrom the hip, rather than raising the rifle up to their shoulder wherethe kick could be especially painful. The result was that their shotswould often go over the heads of the Americans.
The uniforms of the regular U.S. Army were made of wool and weresky-blue for privates and a darker, Navy-blue for non-coms andofficers. Both enlisted and officers wore dark-blue forage caps,although generals often sported a fancy chapeau replete with feathers.Various insignia indicated whether a soldier was an infantryman,artilleryman or dragoon.
Volunteers wore a variety of uniforms, often modeled after the regulararmy. Some regiments, who went off to war wearing tall shakos soonabandoned them in favor of the lighter forage cap. The MississippiRifles, led by Colonel Jefferson Davis, sported the most distinctivevolunteer uniforms. Clad in white duck trousers, bright red shirts,and broad-brimmed straw hats the Mississippi men made a name forthemselves, not because of their uniforms but for their bravery, atthe Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847. The Texas volunteers wereusually described as the least military in appearance, wearing avariety of buckskins, homespun pants and shirts and everything fromforage caps to straw hats.
General Zachary Taylor, called "Old Rough and Ready" by his men andeasily one of the most popular officers of the war, was also one ofthe least military in appearance, preferring to wear a straw hat andlinen duster with his uniform. More than one soldier commented helooked more like an old farmer than a general. By contrast, WinfieldScott was nicknamed "Old Fuss and Feathers" for his impeccablemilitary appearance and by-the-book approach.
In addition to the fact that their pay was so low (in relation to thehardships they had to endure to earn it), many soldiers did not getpaid on a regular basis. This was definitely a sore point with mostsoldiers and a major source of dissatisfaction and low morale.
One group of Missouri volunteers, under command of Colonel AlexanderDoniphan, did not get paid at all until they were mustered out aftertwelve months service.
If anything, the life of the average Mexican soldier was probablyworse. In Mexico's rigid class system, many of the officers werewealthy, landed Creoles (Mexicans of Spanish ancestry) while theregular troops were landless peasants, either Mestizos (a mix ofSpanish and Indian ancestry) or Indians. This situation made for poormorale and a dislike and distrust of their officers by many Mexicansoldiers.
Although Mexican soldiers fought bravely (and endured hardships asdifficult as any suffered by American troops) their officers sometimestreated them badly. Some Mexican officers were known to slash at theirown men with their sabers, to force them forward or to make them standtheir ground. By contrast, many volunteer officers in the U.S. armywere elected to their positions and would never force their men todrill, much less attack (although they rarely needed encouragement forthe latter).
Some writers (primarily those with an anti-U.S. bias), have engaged inwholesale denunciations of the American volunteers, suggesting that toa man they were little better than criminals. Certainly, someatrocities were committed by a certain rogue element on both theMexican and U.S. sides, but these, as General Zachary Taylor declared,were "unfortunate exceptions" to the way the war was waged. As for thevolunteers, General Winfield Scott estimated that ninety-seven out ofevery hundred were "honorable men," a view that was shared by severalother contemporary observers.
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