Mexican-American War, the Battle of Brazito
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One of the battles of the Mexican-American war took place in the river valley of the Rio Grande North of El Paso, Texas. South of Las Cruces, North of Mesquite. Almost exactly due west of the red lava cliffs of Pena Blanca which are just south of the beautiful Organ Mountains.
Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Texas broke away from Mexico in 1836 despite the disaster at the Battle of The Alamo.
In December 1845 the United States formally annexed the Republic of Texas. In doing so the USA inherited an ongoing dispute between Texas and Mexico over the border. President Alexander Polk tried negotiations, offering to buy California and New Mexico, but he was unsuccessful at diplomacy. So instead of continued negotiations he sent in the Army. The Mexicans considered this to be an invasion of their territory, so they began attacking the American military forces. These attacks resulted in the President formally declaring that a state of war existed between Mexico and the USA on May 13, 1846.
Does this kind of sound like LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin resolution? And in a way does it sort of remind one of President Bush Jr. in Iraq and his inability to successfully employ diplomacy?
So in 1846 first the American military showed up at what is now Santa Fe, New Mexico. Governor Manual Armijo realized that the sensible thing to do was to surrender without any blood shed. And so on August 18, 1846 part of the American army continued on with their campaign by marching South along the route of the Rio Grande river towards Chihuahua Mexico and what is now El Paso, Texas.
On December 25, 1846 Colonel Doniphan and his group of approximately 800 men met the Mexican army of 1,100 men near Brazito, New Mexico. A band of Apache Indians just sat and watched the two armies from high ground to the East (towards the Organ mountains). Colonel Doniphan defeated the Mexican army in this battle. The retreating Mexicans were harassed by the Apaches.
On February 2, 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed with Mexico. This made the Rio Grande River the border between Mexico and USA, and also officially meant that Mexico gave up the territories of California and New Mexico.
I walked into Sam’s Wholesale in El Paso, Texas a few weeks ago. I wanted to get directions to a specific product from the “Greeter.” This is the person who is supposed to be courteous to customers and help them find things. Honest Injun, this gentleman could not speak English. I wouldn’t kid about something this serious. Since I speak Spanish I dealt with the situation, but I do have to admit that it made me feel more than a little uncomfortable. In some little shop in South El Paso it is more understandable and far easier to accept than in Sam Walton’s store.
Approximately 150 years after the Mexican-American war the Mexicans appear to be finally succeeding in their attempt to take over much of Texas, New Mexico and California. At least this time the conquest is largely peaceful (unless you are one of those terribly unfortunate people who die of gang violence or of thirst out in the desert).
Here is a web site dedicated to the Mexican war: http://tinyurl.com/2tzkv2
This is what Wikipedia has to say about the battle of Brazito: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_El_Brazito
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The El Paso Community College website has a good summary of the battle of Brazito: http://www.epcc.edu/nwlibrary/borderlands/18_doniphan.htm
