Army Bob: Don’t buy guilt trip over Mexican-American War

by Robert M. Traxler

The presidential election and the role of illegal immigrants, undocumented aliens, uninvited guests, felons — exactly how we refer to them makes little real difference except to the politically correct.

The influx of Mexican citizens into the United States has reawakened the interest in the Mexican War, or the Mexican-American War, as the rewriting of history is calling it. Do an Internet search and you will get an understanding of the way history is being rewritten to support the Mexican view and vilify the American role in the conduct of that war. The current politically correct history places the poor downtrodden Mexicans as being attacked by a vastly superior American force bent on expansionism and subjugation.

A few facts that are not mentioned (or are clouded in politically correct history) are that in almost every battle the American army was outnumbered and outgunned. At the onset of war, the Mexican army was four times the size of the American army. The Mexican army’s cavalry was among the best in the world; they rode Spanish horses and were trained and in some cases led by French Lancers. Mexican horsemanship is still celebrated worldwide; even the American Cowboy is molded after the Mexican Vaquero.

Mexican politicians openly announced that they would invade the United States and take the port cities of New Orleans and Mobile, along with Texas. Only after defeats in the first two major battles of the war did the Mexican Government switch to a defensive posture. The good folks in the independent nation of Texas voted overwhelmingly to join the United States, and Mexico promptly declared war on the United States. Our politically correct friends cloud this fact in technicalities and semantics to bolster their specious argument that the United States started the war.

The Mexican Cavalry ambushed an American army unit, firing the first shot of the war and drawing the first blood. A side note in history is that among the first 12 dead was Major Samuel B. Ringgold, an artillery officer who developed the concept of flying artillery (artillery moved by a team of galloping horses), a tactic that was, in my opinion, the most important factor in an American victory in the war. Mexican artillery moved with the infantry at a speed of three miles per hour; American artillery drawn by teams of horses could move across the battlefield at the blistering speed of 8 to 12 miles per hour and could meet every Mexican flanking attack with devastating massed canister shot. The Mexican army had more and better artillery, and of much larger calibers.

Read the history of the Mexican War and it will paint the Mexican army as being made up of peasants, and that is a fact; however, the American army was also made up mostly of farm boy volunteers. The term peasant means simply farmer/laborer. The Mexican army under General/Politician Santa Anna spent as much time fighting Mexican revolutionaries as it did the American army. In fact, in battle after battle Mexican Generals/Politicians knowingly allowed their troops to be defeated to gain domestic political advantage.

The Mexican army was soundly defeated in the battle of logistics, rations and even ammunition, which was diverted to line the pockets of Mexican generals/politicians, who often sent their troops into battle starving and with little ammunition. The valor and devotion of the Mexican soldiers is undeniable, as is the ineptness and corruption of the Mexican government. A delegation of Mexican opposition elected officials even contacted American General Zachary Taylor early in the war, offering him funding and logistical support to overthrow the Mexican government of President Mariano Parades y Arrillaga. The American government attempted to prevent war by sending a delegation to purchase the disputed territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers. The Mexican government refused to even discuss the offer.

Our friends in the “hate America first” movement are using the rewriting of history to shame Americans into supporting the political aims of the liberal party. The liberals want to shame all Americans into supporting amnesty for illegals because of our alleged bullying and crimes against Mexico during a war some 168 years ago. The tactic is in line with making us all guilty of the crime of slavery, a crime that ended some 151 years ago. Only American liberals can blame the great, great, great grandchildren for what their ancestors did.

We should not buy into the irrational liberal guilt trip. Time for a change to a non-politician: time for a President Trump.