During Jackson's second term the American settlers in Texas succeeded, after a conflict attended by signal heroism and ferocity, in securing their independence of Mexico. The massacre of the Alamo by the Mexicans under Santa Anna, will always be remembered in American history. The Mission of the Alamo, which the Texans defended to the death against overwhelming numbers, was entirely isolated from the town of San Antonio. It consisted of several buildings, and a convent yard, surrounded by high and thick walls, having partly, like all the old missions, the character of a fortress. Fourteen pieces of artillery were mounted for the defence, and the garrison, when it entered the Alamo, consisted of one hundred and forty-five men, untrained in arms, except in the use of the rifle. Their leader was Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis, a native of North Carolina, and second in command was Colonel James Bowie, inventor of the terrible bowie-knife. Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, was in personal command of the attacking forces, numbering between 6000 and 7000 men. He declared that he would grant no quarter. The troops ordered to the assault numbered 2500, or about twenty-five Mexicans to one American. The deadly fire from the Alamo twice repelled the enemy, but they were driven on by the blows and shouts of their officers, and at the third attempt they scaled the wall, and carried the defences. While life lasted the Texans fought. They had agreed to blow up the buildings in the last extremity, but Major T. C. Evans, when about to fire the magazine, was struck down by a bullet. Not a defender who could be found was spared. Five Texans who had hidden themselves were taken before Santa Anna. At a word from that monster of cruelty they were at once dispatched with bayonets.
The Alamo was not long unavenged. The massacre took place on March 6, 1836. On April 21, the Texans, led by General Sam Houston, met the Mexicans at San Jacinto. The Texans numbered 743; the Mexicans about 1400, with Santa Anna in command. Houston, by strategy worthy of greater fame, had managed to come upon the Mexican President when the latter was separated from the larger part of his forces. Determined to win or die, Houston destroyed a bridge which afforded the only retreat for his men or escape for the enemy. The Texans delivered one volley at close range, and then clubbed their rifles or drew their bowie-knives, with the cry—"Remember the Alamo!" In fifteen minutes the Mexicans were in flight, pursued by the yelling Texans. "Me no Alamo! Me no Alamo!" cried the terrified fugitives. The Texans did not stay their hands until they had killed six hundred and thirty and wounded two hundred and eight of their cowardly foes. The remainder of the Mexicans were allowed to surrender, and were not maltreated as prisoners. Santa Anna was captured while hiding in the grass at some distance from the battlefield, and brought, a pallid and trembling captive, before Houston. The latter spared the tyrant's life, and placed a guard to protect him. The battle of San Jacinto virtually put an end to the war, and Texas remained the Lone Star Republic, until admitted to the American Union in 1845.
This period witnessed also the successful assertion of American title to that extensive and productive region now divided into the States of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. President Jefferson had seen almost with the vision of prophecy the future of that distant portion of the Louisiana Purchase. "I looked forward with gratification," he said in his later years, "to the time when the descendants of the settlers of Oregon would spread themselves through the whole length of the coast, covering it with free, independent Americans, unconnected with us but by the ties of blood and interest, and enjoying, like us, the rights of self-government." And yet, for forty years after the treaty which transferred to the United States the possessions of France in America, the leading statesmen of our republic, Jefferson excepted, remained blind to the value of America's domain on the Pacific. In 1810, John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company undertook to establish a post upon what they regarded as American soil, at a place which the founders called Astoria. The Hudson Bay Company then claimed Oregon as part of their territory, and when the War of 1812 broke out the British attacked Astoria, took the Americans prisoners, and changed the name of the post to Fort George. The Astor attempt to found a settlement in Oregon was not without favorable bearing on American claims to that territory, especially as the enterprise had the sanction of the United States Government, and a United States naval officer commanded the leading vessel in the expedition. Under the treaty of Ghent, Astoria was to be restored to its original owners, but it was not until 1846 that this act of justice was consummated. In 1818 it was mutually agreed that each nation should equally enjoy the privileges of all the bays and harbors on that coast for ten years, and this agreement was renewed in 1827 for an indefinite time. Practically this meant the occupation of the country by the Hudson Bay Company, which found its forests and waters a mine of fur-bearing wealth. The most eminent of America's statesmen, so far as the Pacific Northwest was concerned, seemed to be under the spell of their own ignorance and of the Hudson Bay Company's misrepresentations. The great Senator Benton said that, "The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be named as a convenient, natural and everlasting boundary." Winthrop, of Massachusetts, quoted and commended this statement of Benton, and McDuffie of South Carolina declared that the wealth of the Indies would be insufficient to pay the cost of a railroad to the mouth of the Columbia. While the nation was stirred up over a boundary dispute involving a comparatively small district in the Northeast—settled by the Ashburton Treaty in 1842—Oregon, with its extensive territory and magnificent natural wealth was treated as unworthy of controversy. But for the patriot missionary, Marcus Whitman, who in the winter of 1842-43 made a perilous journey from his mission post in Oregon to Washington, to stir up the American Government to a sense of its duty, and of the imminent danger of the seizure of Oregon by the British, that valuable region would in all probability have passed under British dominion. "All I ask," said Doctor Whitman to President Tyler, "is that you won't barter away Oregon or allow English interference until I can lead a band of stalwart American settlers across the plains; for this I will try to do." The President promised; the settlers went, and Oregon was saved.[1] ] For a time it seemed that war might result, but the two nations at length compromised on a boundary line at forty-nine north latitude.
During President Tyler's administration Rhode Island was the scene of a commotion known as the "Dorr War." While the property qualification for voters had been discarded in nearly every Northern State, Rhode Island still adhered to the system of government provided in the King Charles charter of 1663, which restricted the franchise to freeholders and their eldest sons. This restriction gave occasion for many abuses, mortgagees often exercising control over the votes of their debtors, and citizens who paid taxes on mortgaged property being sometimes denied the privilege of voting on the ground that they did not possess sufficient equity in their estates. The majority of the people desired a frame of government in accord with the spirit of American institutions, but were resisted by the minority in actual power. The party of reform, therefore, held an election in defiance of the charter, adopted a new constitution arid chose Thomas W. Dorr governor, along with other general officers and a General Assembly. The Dorr legislature met in a foundry and passed various laws, which they had no power to enforce. The charter government called out the militia, the Dorrites also took arms, and for some time there was danger of a collision. The Dorrites were ultimately dispersed without a battle, and the charter government remained in power. From a sanitary standpoint it was a healthy war, as more people were probably benefited by the outing than injured by bullets and bayonets.[2] ] Dorr was afterward sentenced to State Prison for life, but was pardoned after a few years, and his sentence expunged by vote of the legislature, from the records of the court. A constitution embodying most of the reforms for which the Dorrites had striven was legally adopted, and Rhode Island settled down to its customary calm and prosperity.
War with Mexico—General Zachary Taylor Defeats the Mexicans—Buena Vista—Mexicans Four to One—"A Little More Grape, Captain Bragg!"— Glorious American Victory—General Scott's Splendid Campaign—A Series of Victories—Cerro Gordo—Contreras—Churubusco—Molino del Rey—Chapultepec—Stars and Stripes Float in the City of Mexico— Generous Treatment of the Vanquished—Peace—Cession of Vast Territory to the United States—The Gadsden Purchase.
The annexation of Texas by the United States was accepted by Mexico as an act of war. The American Government and people were not unprepared for a challenge from Mexico, and rather welcomed it, as, apart from the Texas issue, Mexico had, from the time of her independence treated the United States in a manner far from neighborly, and inflicted many injuries on American citizens. In the West and South especially it was deemed necessary to give Mexico a lesson; in New England the war was not popular. Hostilities began, and two sharp battles were fought, before war was actually declared. General Zachary Taylor, with a force much inferior to that of the enemy, defeated the Mexicans at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and drove them out of Texas. At Resaca the American dragoons under Captain May charged straight upon a Mexican battery, killing the gunners and capturing the Mexican general La Vega just as he was about to apply a match to one of the pieces. The Mexican army was so completely scattered that their commander Arista fled unaccompanied across the Rio Grande. At Buena Vista Generals Taylor and Wool, with 5000 men, of whom only 500 were regular troops, confronted Santa Anna with 20,000, February 23, 1847. The Mexican chieftain expected an easy victory, and his army, inspired with his confidence, rushed from their mountains upon the small force of Americans drawn up in battle array on the plain of Angostura.
"Like the fierce Northern hurricane