Condensed History of the Mexican War and Its Glorious Results

by Daniel E. Hungerford; William McKay; Charles J. Murphy

Responded to in a happy manner by Mr. Marshal of the N. Y. Paris Herald, followed by reminiscences of the Mexican War.

I will now call on our comrade, Colonel Daniel E. Hungerford, who commanded the 36th Regiment New York Volunteers, and served with great distinction all through the war of the Rebellion. He was the youngest captain in his regiment, the 2nd New York Volunteers, in the Mexican War, and was the officer who first hoisted the American flag over the Castle of Chapultepec. Time will not permit me to mention the many heroic deeds of valour performed by Colonel Hungerford in the Mexican, as well as in the Civil War. Colonel Hungerford, of Rome, Italy, will now address you, which he did in the following words:—

Comrades and gentlemen.—To-day, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, where a few of our comrades may be found they are gathered like ourselves, enjoying the brief moments in the recollections of our campaign of 1847 and 1848 in Mexico, a campaign fraught with so much importance to the progressive age of the nineteenth century. Neither the war of the Rebellion, (let its sad memories be for ever buried in the depths of oblivion, is my wish), nor any other war of ancient or modern times has accomplished so much to promote the present and future prosperity of the civilized world, as did the brief conflict between the Republics of Mexico and the United States of the North in 1846 and 1848. There is no part of the globe where civilization prevails, or where Christianity is taught and respected, but has experienced the beneficial effects, moral, physical, and financial, resulting from the magnificent and surprising campaigns of that eventful period, in which our countrymen will ever feel a pardonable pride. The impetus given to the gigantic spirit of enterprise, by the acquisition of nearly a million square miles of territory, and the almost simultaneous discovery of vast fields of gold and silver, completely revolutionized all the channels of human industry, and quickened into life the dormant energies and the inventive genius of the world. With colossal strides, our beloved country overtook the governments of the old world in the race for excellence, and to-day she proudly holds her place in the front rank, the youngest and the strongest, and the most hopeful of reaching the goal, and distancing the field, because of her illimitable resources as yet untouched.

I am a old New Yorker, as you know, having no feeling of animosity with citizens of any other part, portion, or section of our common country. When the Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina marched side by side with the New Yorkers, in front of the enemy in Mexico, there was a rivalry, to be sure, but it was a proper spirit of emulation—ésprit de corps each trying to out-do the other, but both having the general interests of their common country at heart. There was no North or no South, in the offensive sense, that entered into the general spirit of “go-ahead!” That contest on a foreign soil showed what the American people are capable of doing, when united under the old flag of their fathers—whether they hailed from the North or the South, East or West.

In the war of the Rebellion I commanded a New York regiment on the side of the Union, but I never for a moment forgot that I was a soldier, or that the foe with whom we were contending was entitled to my respect as fellow-countrymen.

Colonel Murphy was asked to give his recollections of the war.

COLONEL CHAS. J. MURPHY

The Chairman, on introducing the Colonel said it would not be out of place here to give a brief sketch of his career. He is the youngest man now living who served in the Mexican War. In the War of the Rebellion he was one of the only two commissioned officers who were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in the first general battle of the war, Bull Run, where 50,000 men were engaged on each side. The other officer was Major-General Adalbert Ames, of the 5th U. S. Artillery, now living at Lowell, Mass. He was one of the only two regimental staff officers of the same rank who won this distinction during the war. The other officer was first Lieutenant John W. Clark, R.Q.M., 6th Regiment Vermont Infantry.

Our medal of Honor ranks with that of the cross of the Legion of Honor of France, and the Victoria Cross of England, and only 1,400 were awarded a distinction greater than can be conferred by any potentate in Europe, because granted to so few of the two million seven hundred and fifty thousand men who were mustered into the armies of the United States between 1861-65.