Remains of 11 American soldiers coming home after 170 years

Tennessee congressmen work to return 'fallen veterans' of Mexican-American War

Storming of Palace Hill at the Battle of Monterey by Tompkins Harrison Matteson (1813 - 1884), Lith & pub. by J. Baillie, New York at beinecke.library.yale.edu (public domain).
Storming of Palace Hill at the Battle of Monterey by Tompkins Harrison Matteson (1813 - 1884), Lith & pub. by J. Baillie, New York at beinecke.library.yale.edu (public domain).

NASHVILLE - One hundred and seventy years after their deaths in the Mexican-American War, the remains of 11 American soldiers, some of whom may have been Tennesseans, are finally returning today to American soil, according to two congressmen.

U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., said a several-year effort that involved the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. consulate in Monterrey, Mexico, culminates today as Mexican officials repatriate the remains of American soldiers who died during the Sept. 21-24, 1846, Battle of Monterrey.

"I applaud the diligent work and dedication of our State Department and military personnel who have worked tirelessly over the years to secure the return of these remains," said DesJarlais, a South Pittsburg congressman who last year introduced a resolution urging Mexican officials to move quickly on the repatriation effort.

DesJarlais also said that "this joint effort embodies the longstanding commitment to our men and women in uniform that the United States does not leave our fallen soldiers behind."

photo Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn.
photo U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., speaks to the crowd at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville in 2010.

He said the United States Army's Armed Forces medical examiner has announced the soldiers' remains will leave Mexico today for Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., meanwhile, said in his own news release on Tuesday that his office had been working on the issue in consultation with the Mexican government and researchers at Middle Tennessee State University to "bring home the remains of Tennessee veterans who fought in the Battle of Monterrey."

"Whether it's a recent war or a war fought more than a century ago, Tennesseans never forget their bravest citizens," Cooper said. "Our fallen veterans always need to come home."

Tennessee had a strong connection with the 1846-1848 U.S. war with Mexico, said to be the first U.S. conflict fought mostly on foreign soil. America's president at the time was James K. Polk of Tennessee, a Democrat and territorial expansionist.

Polk believed the U.S. had a "manifest destiny" to extend its control of the continent west across mountains and deserts to the Pacific Ocean. Not all Americans agreed.

Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor, who ultimately fell out with Polk and later was elected president himself, led a 6,000-man military force, which DesJarlais said was comprised largely of Tennesseans and Texans. The soldiers set out to capture the town of Monterrey.

During the battle, DesJarlais' office said in a news release, American forces suffered 120 casualties, while 368 soldiers were wounded and another 43 were reported missing.

According to a 2011 Associated Press article, archaeologists with Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History later found the remains of the soldiers in an area they were examining because of planned construction.

The remains were identified as American soldiers who died in combat after an examination of the buttons sewn into their uniforms, as well as two U.S. half-dollar coins excavated in the area. Mexican experts at the time said length-of-bone measurements suggested the skeletons belonged to Americans who were killed in the battle.

DesJarlais' resolution commended the archaeologists, the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History, the United States Consulate General in Monterrey "and all those individuals whose diligent work led to the identification and recovery of these remains."

It also called upon the government of Mexico and the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs "to expeditiously release and repatriate the identified remains of these United States soldiers."

DesJarlais said in an email exchange that he got involved after Felecia Hix with the Tennessee Society of Daughters of the American Revolution "first brought it to our attention in 2012 and my staff has been working with the State Department and the Mexican Embassy in D.C. on this since then."

The congressman said that in June 2014, the U.S. Department of the Army's Armed Forces medical examiner arrived in Monterrey to take part in examination of the then-suspected American soldier remains with the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropologia y Historia.

In May of 2015, DesJarlais said, the medical examiner "confirmed that the remains were those of American soldiers who fought in the battle of Monterrey in 1846 and we were able to move forward with the next steps to repatriate the remains back to the United States, which involved getting final approval from the Mexican government and the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs."

Suzanne Youngblood, DesJarlais' spokeswoman, said the congressman "has sent a letter to the Secretary of Army, urging him to bring these soldiers home to Tennessee for final burial. At this time we are waiting on DNA evidence to receive final confirmation of their resting place."

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow via Twitter @AndySher1.

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