Monterey

T HE annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845 was regarded by Mexico as an act of war. That country immediately collected an army along the Rio Grande River, and General Zachary Taylor was sent into Texas with an army of occupation. Taylor found the Mexicans stationed at Matamoras. He threw up a line of entrenchments and built a fort opposite the Mexican batteries. While he was engaged elsewhere the Mexicans attacked this fort, and as soon as the news reached the American general he started back to relieve the small force at the fort. On his march he came upon the Mexican army, with six thousand men, drawn up before his army of twenty-one hundred soldiers, at Palo Alto. In spite of the difference in numbers Taylor attacked the enemy on May 8, 1846, and drove them back by the skilful firing of his artillery, and the repeated charges of his infantry.

The Mexican troops retreated to Resaca de la Palma. Taylor followed, attacked them again on the next day, routed them, and marched to the relief of the men in the fort.

The United States government now sent large reinforcements into Texas, and by the end of the summer General Taylor had a well-equipped army in the field. The Mexican General Arista had brought ten thousand troops into the city of Monterey, which was supposed to be impregnable. Zachary Taylor marched on the city, and reached it September 19th. He found Monterey situated in a valley of the Sierra Madre Mountains, protected by the San Juan River and by a citadel whose guns commanded all the roads leading to the city.

The American army was deployed on all sides of the city, and began its attack on September 21st. For three days desperate fighting followed. The troops were cut to pieces by the cannon on the citadel, outlying heights were captured, only to be lost again when the Americans found they had no shelter from the Mexicans in the city. But finally the Americans gained a footing within the walls of Monterey. They had to fight across the barricades in the streets and through the houses and gardens. Gradually the Mexicans were dislodged and driven back and back, until on the evening of September 23rd, Taylor's army succeeded in planting mortars in such a position that they could drop shells into any part of the city, and no shelter was left the defenders. Early in the morning of the 24th the Mexican general surrendered Monterey, having made terms of peace by which his army was allowed to evacuate the city with all the honors of war. The capture of Monterey cost the Americans five hundred men in killed and wounded, and the Mexicans fully twice as many.

The Mexican war finally ended in victory for the United States in February, 1848, after General Taylor had won the great victory of Buena Vista, and General Winfield Scott had carried the formidable fortress of Chapultepec and entered the City of Mexico, the capital of that country.

Monterey

by Charles Fenno Hoffman