The Act was ratified by the Congress of that Republic on July 4th, 1845, and Texas with its two hundred and sixty five thousand square miles of territory, an area greater than that of the German Empire or of Austria, thus became an integral part of the American Union.
Texas had already maintained her independence for ten years against Mexico, the parent country.
Those who have questioned the political morality of the act of annexation may be fully answered by reference to the fact that England, France and Spain had all formally recognized the independence of the Republic of Texas three years before her admission into our Union. Mexico resolved to nullify that act by force of arms.
In view of her aggressive attitude, Major General Zachary Taylor, U. S. Army, was ordered to the Rio Grande, the Western boundary of Texas, with a force of about four thousand men, chiefly regulars, where he arrived July 20th, 1845, establishing his headquarters at Corpus Christi, within four miles of the Mexican Army, then encamped ten thousand strong, under the command of General Ampudia, on the South side of that river. In January, 1846, General Taylor moved his command to a point opposite Matamoras, Mexico, and erected an earthwork which he termed Fort Brown.
On the 24th of April, 1846, Captain Thornton, U. S. Army, while marching at the head of seventy men of the 2nd Dragoons in Texas, fell into an ambuscade of Mexican regular troops, numbering between three and four hundred, and after a gallant resistance, during which he had sixteen of his command killed, and thirty-eight wounded, was obliged to surrender. Six days later the Mexican forces attacked Fort Brown, and were handsomely repulsed. On May 8th General Taylor with 2,300 men met and defeated the Mexican Army 6,000 strong, under the command of Generals Ampudia and Arista, at Palo Alto. On the following day, the Mexican Army having received a reinforcement of 1,000 men, made a stand at Resaca de la Palma (Ravine of Palms) and was there again defeated by General Taylor, the Mexican loss being 975 and ours but 110 killed and wounded.
It is a noteworthy fact that those battles were fought without a declaration of war on either side. Indeed no declaration of war was ever made by either of the two contending Republics.
On May 13th, 1846, the Congress of the United States passed a resolution declaring that war existed between the United Stales and Mexico, and further resolved, that the war should be prosecuted, until we obtained “indemnity for the past, and security for the future.”
In response to the call of the President (Jas. K. Polk) for thirty thousand volunteers, sixty-five thousand volunteered promptly. The quotas furnished by the respective States were as follows:
Alabama 2,981, Maryland and district of Columbia 1,372, Arkansas 1,274, Florida 289, Missouri 6,441, Georgia 1,987, North Carolina 895, Illinois 5,791, South Carolina 1,120, Indiana 4,329, Ohio 5,334, Iowa 229, New Jersey 420, Kentucky 4,094, New York 1,890, Louisiana 7,341, Pennsylvania 2,117, Michigan 1,072, Tennessee 5,392, Massachusetts 930, Texas 7,394, Mississippi 2,235, Wisconsin 146.
To these must be added about seven thousand regulars of the United States Army, and one thousand marines, making an aggregate force of about seventy-three thousand rank and file, constituting that gallant army, charged with the duty in connection with our grand old historic navy of enforcing from Mexico “indemnity for the past and security for the future.”