Taylor explained the operations in the area: “With a
view to compel the emigration of the Appalache Indians
who had engaged to leave the country on 20th Octr
[1837], and who had made some objections to a re-
moval, I left Tampa on or about the 2th Octr for their
towns on the Appalachicola River which I reached on the
morning of the 12th with two companies [of ] mounted
men (one Dragoons and one Infantry) the whole under
command of Captain E. Barkus, and found on my ar-
rival a portion of the 6th Infantry under Major Noel.”
On 25 December 1837, Taylor fought the Seminole at
Okeechobee and won a decisive victory. Brevetted as a
brigadier general, he remained in Florida, acting against
the Seminole until 1841. When he left Florida, he was
given the command of the First Department of the U.S.
Army in the South, with his headquarters at Fort Jessup,
Louisiana.
The move by Texans for independence from Mex-
ico, culminating in the acceptance of Texas as a U.S.
state in 1845, set off a conflict with Mexico that had
been long in coming. When Mexico disputed the border
between the new state and their country, President James
K. Polk ordered Taylor and his forces to the area on 30
July 1845 to, as Polk explained, “to occupy, protect and
defend Texas.” Taylor was also ordered to fight any Mexi-
can units crossing the disputed Rio Grande River border
region. Following a period of consolidating his units in
southern Texas, Taylor marched to the Rio Grande from
the city of Corpus Christi on 11 March 1846. When
his forces arrived there on 28 March, Taylor ordered the
construction of a garrison, which he dubbed Fort Texas.
Angered by this, the Mexicans demanded that Taylor
withdraw. When he refused, a group of Mexican fight-
ers ambushed an American dragoon force on 24 April.
Taylor sent word to Polk, and the president asked Con-
gress for a declaration of war against Mexico, stating that
“Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States,
has invaded our territory and shed American blood
upon American soil.” Polk ordered Taylor to attack the
Mexicans at the Rio Grande, and Taylor met them at
Palo Alto (8 May), where his force of some 2,200 troops
defeated a numerically superior force of some 4,500 men
under Mariano Arista. The Mexicans lost about 1,700
men, while American casualties were less than 200. This
first battle of the Mexican War made Taylor a national
hero in the United States, and, five days after it was
fought, the U.S. Congress declared war on Mexico. Tay-
lor followed it up with a victory at Resaca de la Palma (9
May), but he could not continue the fight into Mexico.
Despite the declaration of war, Polk did not like
Taylor personally, and the president waited three full
months before sending reinforcements to aid his force.
In August, Taylor was able to cross the Rio Grande and
establish a base at Camargo. Starting in late September,
the American force initiated a series of small clashes to
capture the city of Monterey. When the Mexicans, after
considerable losses, asked to withdraw and keep their
guns, Taylor acceded to their request, a move criticized
by the Polk administration. Taylor felt he was being
attacked by Polk’s cabinet, especially Secretary of War
William Learned Marcy. He wrote a letter to General
Edmund Gaines criticizing Polk and Marcy that was
leaked to the press and became a headline in many of
the nation’s newspapers. In the meantime, he gathered
up his forces and moved onto the town of Saltillo, taking
it on 16 November 1846.
Taylor received a note from General Winfield
scott, a War of 1812 veteran whom Polk had named
as commander in chief of American forces in Mexico.
Scott reported that he would be coming to Mexico andZachary Taylor tAyloR, zAchARy