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Volume CXXXIII, Number 5 |
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Fessenden & Hyde: Mr. Pierce goes to
Mexico
KID WONGSRICHANALAI
STAFF WRITER
Disgusted at the politics of Washington D.C., William Pitt Fessenden returned
home to Portland in 1843 to spend his days battling other lawyers in court
and raising his family. The Whig Party, of which Fessenden was a member,
was in trouble, for disunion and disorganization plagued its ranks. Its
own inner bickering was part of why Fessenden returned to Portland, seemingly
retiring from the politics of the nation's capital. The next few years
would see him close to home, promoting railroads, teaching his sons about
the ways of the academic world, becoming a member of the governing board
at Bowdoin College, and returning to the State Legislature in 1845. In
the State Legislature, Fessenden would lend his support to Neal Dow's
Temperance crusade and oppose the war with Mexico, which was stirring
up controversy all over the North.
Ties between Mexico and the United States were severed when
the Polk administration finally annexed Texas. The U.S. claimed that its
new borders extended to the Rio Grande River, which intensified the political
war. When President Polk's envoy to Mexico was refused an audience, the
president sent General Zachary Taylor's army into the area south of the
Nueces River. Armed conflict began here in April 1846, and President Polk
went to Congress with a war message.
And thus, the nation went to war with its neighbor. The
problem here, as was the case in the War of 1812, was that Northerners
were not too keen on riding into Mexico City with guns blazing. New Englanders
believed the war to be immoral and abolitionists saw this as an opportunity
for the slave states to extend their control into the newly acquired lands.
Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, another Bowdoin graduate by
the name of Franklin Pierce (Class of 1824) was getting excited to fight
Mexican ruler Antonio López de Santa Anna. Pierce had been offered
the post of attorney general in the Polk administration. He refused to
accept the position as there was a war on and he intended to be at the
very front of it. Thus, having resolved to gain military glory, Pierce
volunteered as a private in the United States army. His political connections
and background, however, soon elevated him to the rank of brigadier general.
Down in Mexico, Zachary Taylor had won a number of victories
in the northern part of the country. But despite these defeats, the Mexicans
were far from giving into U.S. demands. What was needed was the capture
of Mexico City and to this task President Polk turned towards another
general, Winfield Scott. It was the belief of the administration that
an amphibious landing on the coast of Mexico and a march inland towards
the capital would be the best course of action. Coincidently, the Spanish
conquistador Cortés had used this same rout to conquer Mexico in
the early 1500s.
On March 9, 1847, Winfield Scott, arguably one of the most
amazing soldiers in American history, landed his ten-thousand-man army
at the Mexican coastal town of Vera Cruz. Fearful that a direct assault
on that fortified Mexican bastion would lead to unnecessary casualties,
Scott sat down for a siege. It was less than a month after Scott's landing
and siege preparations before the Mexican garrison surrendered.
Franklin Pierce was in New England gathering supplies and
equipment when news of Vera Cruz's fall reached the press. Fearing that
the war would be over before he got over there, Pierce quickened his pace
and, by May 27 , had set sail for Mexico to join Scott's army.
Scott, in the meantime, was in desperate need for reinforcements.
After Vera Cruz had fallen, the general had set his army forward towards
Mexico City. He came face to face with Santa Anna's men at a place called
Cerro Gordo. With the help of his engineers, mostly West Point graduates
who would in a matter of years be leading armies against each other in
the Civil War, Scott was able to outflank and outfight the Mexican army
facing him. With this major victory under his belt Scott's command advanced
as far inland as the town of Puebla, a mere 75 miles from Mexico City,
before halting. His volunteers' enlistments had run out, thus, as a large
chunk of his command left him to return to the United States, Scott eagerly
awaited to arrival of new troops.
By the end of June 1847, Pierce's command arrived at Vera
Cruz. Before he began his march to reach Scott's army deep within enemy
territory, however, he learned that many of his transport animals had
stampeded, thus delaying his departure from the coast for two weeks. On
July 14, Pierce set out with his command towards the gates of Mexico City.
Progress was slow on the march as sandy roads impeded the progress of
the 2,500 man brigade, its artillery train, and supply wagons. Pierce
fought off a number of Mexican attacks and was even successful in forcing
his way across a defended bridge.
As the march continued, the environment changed. The higher
up the troops went the more plants they saw. Flowers, cacti, trees, streams,
paved roads, and small towns flanked the path of the invading army. Through
all this, there was time for reflection, and Pierce wrote in his diary:
"I hate war in all its aspects, I deem it unworthy
of the age in which I live & of the Govt. in which I have borne some
part…there can be no such thing as a profound sense of justice, the
sacredness of individual rights and the value of human life connected
with human butchery, and all men, who think and feel as I think and feel,
and yet are found on fields of slaughter are in a false position from
education and the force of circumstances."
Anyone who has studied the life of Franklin Pierce must
surely look twice at this passage that he wrote during the Mexican War.
Was this a clear moment of insight or was it some random rambling that
the life-long drunkard spewed into his notes? For while Pierce may have
believed this war "unworthy of the age in which" he lived, he
had still volunteered and persuaded hundreds of other New Englanders to
do so. Also, for a man so concerned about "the sacredness of individual
rights and the value of human life" it is strange that he would,
in the years of his presidency, not lift a single finger to free four
million people in bondage, nor would he support any act that would liberate
them from slavery and oppression.
Next Week: Pierce for President, Fessenden for Congress.
Some editing (by the Orient staff) may have occurred before this piece was published. To view a full version of the entire series (including source citations) please visit my website. (This site includes the Chamberlain and Howard Series and is updated weekly during the school year) at:
http://www.bowdoin.edu/~kwongsri
Also, please send comments and ideas to: kwongsri@bowdoin.edu