(Editor’s note: One in a series)
During 1846 and 1847, East Tennesseans remained focused on military maneuvers far from Chattanooga, Athens and Cleveland as Gens. Scott and Taylor, complimented by East Tennessee Militia volunteers, executed strategic plans that resulted in the fall of Mexico City in September 1847. President James K. Polk, a Tennessee Democrat, had contended with Whig opposition during the conflict that would only intensify as Nicholas Trist negotiated a peace treaty that would significantly increase the size of the United States but would have future impact as the United States agreed to police its boundaries with Mexico.
The Nashville Tennessean had on Jan. 27, 1847, defended Polk’s decision to protect the Texas boundary. “Mr. C. J. Ingersoll [U. S. congressman, Pa.] … said that Mr. Polk went very far, and in his opinion too far to avoid a war with Mexico. There would, however, have been no war had Congress acted …”
The war and subsequent treaty, initiated by President Polk and authorized by the U.S. Congress, led to the Mexican Cession and would expand the U.S. by adding present-day Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Utah, Nevada and Colorado, and guaranteed that Mexico no longer laid claim to Texas, while acknowledging the Rio Grande as the southern boundary. In return, the nation would pay Mexico $15 million “in consideration of the extension acquired by the boundaries of the United States” and protect the property and “civil rights” of Mexican nationals living within Texas as defined by the treaty.
While politicians debated the cost of the war and its implication for future actions, the East Tennessee volunteers completed their duties and headed for home.
Richard Mitchell Edwards, the most famous of the East Tennessee volunteer chroniclers, wrote about the excitement of returning home. “Along in May sometime, orders were issued from headquarters for all camp followers to get out of the country. This we interpreted as the preliminary step to evacuation. Soon thereafter troops began to pass in brigades towards Vera Cruz. About the 10th of June, an immense park of artillery came down and stopped over night with us. Most of them showed the scars of battle … I was told these were guns captured at the city of Mexico.”
Within days, the Tennesseans were packing and preparing to move out. “So times began to get lively. Troops were going home.” Edwards recounted the field inspection as Gen. Winfield Scott passed their encampment. “As the General’s carriage got to the top of the hill opposite our camp, he alighted … at which time some awkward fellow in the line let the cock of his old flintlock slip and fired. Then began a scattering fusillade so disgraceful …” But Gen. Scott, veteran of decades of combat and inspections, apparently was unprovoked, noting “Oh, well, your Tennesseans can fight.” Edwards believed that the general was recalling the First and Second Tennessee “climbing the heights of Cerro Gordo, where Lieutenant Yearwood and many other brave Tennesseans fell.”
As the Tennesseans loaded for the return home, Edwards reflected: “It was quite a different affair from our landing six months before. Then we were all stout and gay. Now most all were more or less enfeebled by fevers and that worse scourge, the dirrhoea [sp.]. Many had to be carried aboard. I myself, who on arrival at Vera Cruz weighed 185 pounds, now would not weigh over 130 pounds … I stood at the bulwark and took a long last look at the old city. The Marine band with their beautiful blue uniforms came out and played ‘Home, Sweet Home’ and many a poor, sick fellow did what I could not avoid – sat down and wept.”
While the veterans struggled with illness, compounded by sea travel, some of the East Tennesseans remained immune. “There were Tobe Duline and Jim Brown, mere boys, who had run away from Bat Creek College, near Madisonville, and joined Vaughn’s company, who endured that terrible march like veteran soldiers, but the reason for this, as given by their friends, was that they [were] too bad and devilish to get sick. … And, then there was John Hodge, Ike and Jim Southard, from Polk County … They kept the company in an uproar every night … and Jack Brown, always smiling “
The Tennesseans were coming home.
Linda Moss Mines, Chattanooga and Hamilton County historian, is regent, Chief John Ross Chapter, NSDAR, and secretary, Chattanooga Area Veterans Council.