Issue #1 5/24/00
Our purpose in publishing this newsletter is to
support the mission of
the U.S. Mormon Battalion, Inc. That is, to keep the original members of the
Battalion in "honorable remembrance."
In order to accomplish that mission, we will try to
provide a variety
of topics that we believe will stimulate and inform. Some will pertain
directly to the Battalion. Others will be of a more general interest.
Feedback is essential to make sure that we are meeting the interests of our
subscribers. Suggestions will be carefully considered. Submissions of
original materals are encouraged. We will also suggest what we consider to
be "interesting links." Please let us know of any you see as you
explore the
internet.
We would first like to refer you to our "site
news" section of
www.mormonbattalion.com ... A
new "calendar" section has been added that
will inform you of upcoming events of the Battalion. (especially notice
"Mormon Battalion Heritage Day.) This is mainly for the U.S. Mormon
Battalion, Inc. events. If you know of other events that would be of general
interest, please let us know. There have been other new items added to the
site lately, so please take a look if you haven't been back lately.
This next submission is taken from the site for
descendents of Mexican
War veterans: www.dmwv.org . I'd like to
thank David Tippits for this
suggestion. As you will see, there is some bias on the site. This is to be
expected. We admit to some of that on our own site. Of particular interest
though is the garments and pay scale of these soldiers.
Soldiers and Soldados
The majority of Americans who served in the War with Mexico were young, in
their late teens and early twenties. Many of them had never been away from
home before. They enlisted, in most cases, for glory and adventure. What
they got, more often than not, was a bitter dose of reality; heat, dust,
boredom, insects, disease and all too frequently, death - more often caused
by illness than by enemy bullets.
A small number (between 11,000 and 12,000) served in the Navy or Marines
(548). The majority were soldiers, either in volunteer regiments raised by
nearly every state, or the regular U.S. Army, including the new regiments
authorized by Congress in February 1847.
There is some difference of opinion over how many Americans served in the
Mexican War. What's at issue is whether or not some early volunteer
regiments, raised for three and six months - and who never saw action,
should be counted. These units, mustered into service immediately after the
war began, in response to an unauthorized call by Gen. Edmund P. Gaines,
were all mustered out by August 1846 after Congress declared no regiment
raised for less than twelve months could be kept in federal service. Some of
these soldiers, after being released from service, went back home, having
already had enough of the discomforts they'd put up with while encamped on
the Rio Grande. Others re-enlisted, either in the regulars or in one of the
twelve-month volunteer regiments.
One thing historians agree on is that being a soldier in the U.S.-Mexican
War was an uncomfortable, unhealthy, and dangerous business.
Disease killed more men than bullets. This was due mainly to unsanitary camp
conditions, the result of the ignorance of men who had no idea how disease
was spread. At the U.S. army encampment at Camargo, in northern Mexico,
conditions were especially bad. Camped in a dry, dusty valley along the
banks of the San Juan River - the same source of water the men used for
drinking, cooking, and bathing, illness ran rampant with dysentery, measles
and other assorted ailments taking hundreds of young men to early graves in
the chaparral, buried in shallow graves, shrouded in their blankets.
Primitive medical techniques along with delays in treatment also accounted
for the deaths of many battle wounded who might otherwise have recovered had
they received prompt and proper care and attention.
Although no formal study on the subject has been made, it appears that the
mortality rate among Mexican War veterans after the war was especially high.
Many men who did not actually die during the war may have later succumbed to
the effects of some illness or wound they originally suffered during the
war, dying at an early age.
The weapons used by soldiers in the Mexican War were generally
muzzle-loading rifles or muskets, with the latter predominating since they
were quicker and easier to load, although their range and accuracy left
something to be desired. Dragoons and Texas Rangers usually carried five or
six-shot Colt revolvers - introduced into warfare for the first time during
the Mexican War. The Texas volunteers were especially notorious for arming
themselves to the teeth with an assortment of pistols, knives and revolvers
tucked into boots, belts and shirts.
The average Mexican infantryman carried an old flintlock musket, most of
which were manufactured in Great Britain and sold as surplus to Mexico.
Tending to use too much powder, many Mexican soldiers fired from the hip,
rather than raising the rifle up to their shoulder where the kick could be
especially painful. The result was that their shots would often go over the
heads of the Americans.
The uniforms of the regular U.S. Army were made of wool and were sky-blue
for privates and a darker, Navy-blue for non-coms and officers. Both
enlisted and officers wore dark-blue forage caps, although generals often
sported a fancy chapeau replete with feathers. Various insignia indicated
whether a soldier was an infantryman, artilleryman or dragoon.
Volunteers wore a variety of uniforms, often modeled after the regular army.
Some regiments, who went off to war wearing tall shakos soon abandoned them
in favor of the lighter forage cap. The Mississippi Rifles, led by Colonel
Jefferson Davis, sported the most distinctive volunteer uniforms. Clad in
white duck trousers, bright red shirts, and broad-brimmed straw hats the
Mississippi men made a name for themselves, not because of their uniforms
but for their bravery, at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847. The
Texas volunteers were usually described as the least military in appearance,
wearing a variety of buckskins, homespun pants and shirts and everything
from forage caps to straw hats.
General Zachary Taylor, called "Old Rough and Ready" by his men and
easily
one of the most popular officers of the war, was also one of the least
military in appearance, preferring to wear a straw hat and linen duster with
his uniform. More than one soldier commented he looked more like an old
farmer than a general. By contrast, Winfield Scott was nicknamed "Old Fuss
and Feathers" for his impeccable military appearance and by-the-book
approach.
Niles' National Register for July 11, 1846 listed the garments volunteers
required for service in the army:
1 Dress Cap 2 Flannel Shirts
1 Forage Cap(glazed silk) 2 Pair drawers
1 Uniform Coat 4 Pairs Bootees
1 Woolen Jacket 4 Pairs socks
3 Pr. Woolen Overalls 1 Leather or Silk stock.
1 Cotton Jacket 1 Fatigue Frock (Lin.)
1 Pr. Cotton Overalls 1 Blanket
The same issue also printed the current army pay scale:
Rank $ per month
Colonel 75
Lt. Colonel 60
Major 50
Adj.(pay of Lt. and $10 in addition)
Captain 40
1st. Lt. 30
2nd Lt. 25
Sgt. Mjr. 17
QM Sgt. 17
Princ. Musc. 17
1st Sgt. 16
Sgt. 13
Corp. 9
Musicians 8
Pvts. 8
In addition to the fact that their pay was so low (in relation to the
hardships they had to endure to earn it), many soldiers did not get paid on
a regular basis. This was definitely a sore point with most soldiers and a
major source of dissatisfaction and low morale.
One group of Missouri volunteers, under command of Colonel Alexander
Doniphan, did not get paid at all until they were mustered out after twelve
months service.
If anything, the life of the average Mexican soldier was probably worse. In
Mexico's rigid class system, many of the officers were wealthy, landed
Creoles (Mexicans of Spanish ancestry) while the regular troops were
landless peasants, either Mestizos (a mix of Spanish and Indian ancestry) or
Indians. This situation made for poor morale and a dislike and distrust of
their officers by many Mexican soldiers.
Although Mexican soldiers fought bravely (and endured hardships as difficult
as any suffered by American troops) their officers sometimes treated them
badly. Some Mexican officers were known to slash at their own men with their
sabers, to force them forward or to make them stand their ground. By
contrast, many volunteer officers in the U.S. army were elected to their
positions and would never force their men to drill, much less attack
(although they rarely needed encouragement for the latter).
Some historians (primarily those with an anti-U.S. bias), have engaged in
wholesale denunciations of the American volunteers, suggesting that to a man
they were little better than criminals. Certainly, some atrocities were
committed by a certain renegade element on both the Mexican and American
sides, but these, as General Zachary Taylor declared, were "unfortunate
exceptions" to the way the war was waged. As for the volunteers, General
Winfield Scott estimated that ninety-seven out of every hundred were
"honorable men," a view that was shared by several other contemporary
observers.
END OF "SOLDIERS & SOLDADOS"
An intersting site for those who would like a wider view of the
Mexican/American war.
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The U.S. Mormon Battalion, Inc.
http://www.mormonbattalion.com