Mexico also revolted, but they were
crushed at Taos early in 1847.Invading Mexico
While the struggle for California went on,
General Taylor moved deeper into
Mexico. His victories were aided by the
superiority of American weapons over
outdated Mexican ones and by the gener-
ally poor leadership and training of
Mexican soldiers—despite the fact that
they often fought tenaciously and coura-
geously, more so than Americans had
expected. On September 24, 1846, Taylor
captured Monterrey, which guarded an
important mountain pass leading into
Mexico’s interior. On February 22–23,
1847, at Buena Vista, Taylor faced an old
fighter against Americans: General Santa
Anna of Alamo fame. In exile in Cuba at
the start of the war during one of his peri-
ods out of power, Santa Anna had con-
vinced President Polk to allow him to pass
through the naval blockade so he could
regain control of Mexico and negotiate
peace. As soon as the general got back
home, however, he reneged on the deal
and gathered an army of 20,000 to faceTaylor’s 5,000 at Buena Vista. Both sides
suffered heavy losses, but Taylor held fast,
and Santa Anna was forced to withdraw,
leaving northern Mexico in U.S. control.
In March 1847 Alexander Doniphan,
a lieutenant of Kearny’s who had led an
expedition from Santa Fe, captured
Chihuahua in northern Mexico. But by
then the focus of battle had turned to
central Mexico. Polk realized that Mexico
would not surrender unless its capital was
captured, so he determined to seize it.
The plan was to land troops at Veracruz,
then follow the ancient invasion route to
Mexico City that Hernán Cortés had
used in overthrowing the Aztec Empire.
The man appointed to head the campaign
was General Winfield Scott (1786–1866).
On March 9, 1847, near Veracruz,
Scott launched the largest amphibious
assault yet undertaken by American
troops, with 10,000 soldiers wading onto
the beach under the cover of naval
artillery. After a siege and bombardment,
the walled city of Veracruz fell on March- Scott marched west to Mexico City as
Cortés had, capturing town after town
and defeating the Mexicans at Cerro
Gordo (April 18), Contreras (August 19),
and Churubusco (August 20). Scott was
94 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY
The Battle of Churubusco, August 20, 1847 (Library of Congress)