ington the first telegraphic line in the world. Perhaps no other invention has exercised a more beneficent influence on the welfare and happiness of the human race.

When Congress convened in December of 1844, the proposition to admit Texas into the Union was formally brought forward. During the winter the question was frequently debated; and on the 1st of March-only three days before Tyler's retirement from the presidency-the bill of annexation was adopted. The President immediately gave his assent; and the LONE STAR took its place in the constellation of the States. On the day before the inauguration of Mr. Polk bills for the admission of Florida and Iowa were also signed; but the latter State-the twenty-ninth member of the American Union-was not formally admitted until the following year.

CHAPTER LVII.

POLK'S ADMINISTRATION, AND THE MEXICAN WAR, 1845-1849.

PRESIDENT POLK was a native of North Carolina. In boyhood

he removed with his father to Tennessee; entered the legislature of the State; and was then elected to Congress, where he served as member or speaker for fourteen years. In 1839 he was chosen governor of Tennessee, and from that position was called, at the early age of forty-nine, to the presidential chair. At the head of the new cabinet was placed James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. It was an office requiring high abilities; for the threatening question with Mexico came at once to a crisis. As soon as the resolution to annex Texas was adopted by Congress, Almonte, the Mexican minister at Washington, demanded his passports and left the country.

On the 4th of July, 1845, the Texan legislature ratified the act of annexation; and the union was completed. Knowing the warlike determination of Mexico, the authorities of Texas sent an immediate and urgent request to the President to despatch an army for their protection. Accordingly, General Zachary Taylor was ordered to march from Camp Jessup, in Western Louisiana, and occupy Texas. The real question at issue between that State and Mexico was concerning boundaries. The foundation of the difficulty had been laid as early as

the Mexican revolution of 1821. By that event Mexico had achieved her independence of Spain, and in reärranging her civil administration had united Coahuila and Texas-the two frontier States east of the Rio Grande-under one provincial government. Such was the condition of affairs at the time of the Texan rebellion of 1836. Texas, being successful in her struggle with Mexico, naturally claimed that her own independence carried with it the independence of Coahuila, and that, therefore, the territory of the latter province became an integral part of the new Texan republic. This theory the joint legislature of Texas and Coahuila made haste to put into statutory form by a resolution of December 19th, 1836. Mexico, however, insisted that Texas only, and not Coahuila, had revolted against her authority, and that, therefore, the latter province, was still rightfully a part of the Mexican dominions, Thus it came to pass that Texas-now a State in the American Union-claimed the Rio Grande as her western limit, while Mexico was determined to have the Nueces as the separating line. The territory between the two rivers was in dispute. The government of the United States made a proposal to settle the controversy by negotiation, but the authorities of Mexico scornfully refused. This refusal was construed by the Americans as a virtual acknowledgment that the Mexicans were in the wrong, and that the Rio Grande might justly be claimed as the boundary. Instructions were accordingly sent to General Taylor to advance his army as near to that river as circumstances would warrant.

Under these orders he moved forward to Corpus Christi, at the mouth of the Nueces, established a camp, and by the beginning of November, 1845, had concentrated a force of between four and five thousand men.

In the following January General Taylor was ordered to advance to the Rio Grande. It was known that the Mexican government had resolved not to receive the American ambassador sent thither to ne

gotiate a settlement. It had also transpired that an army of Mexicans was gathering in the northern part of the country for the invasion of Texas, or, at any rate, for the occupation of the disputed territory. On the 8th of March the American army began the advance from Corpus Christi to Point Isabel, on the gulf. At that place General Taylor established a dépôt of supplies, and then pressed forward to the Rio Grande. Arriving at the river a few miles above the mouth, he took his station opposite Matamoras and hastily erected a fortress, afterward named Fort Brown.

On the 26th of April, General Arista, who had arrived at Matamoras on the previous day and assumed command of the Mexican forces on the frontier, notified General Taylor that hostilities had begun. On the same day a company of American dragoons, commanded by Captain Thornton, was attacked by a body of Mexicans, east of the Rio Grande, and after losing sixteen men in killed and wounded, was obliged to surrender. This was the first bloodshed of the war. At the same time large bodies of Mexi cans—marauders, infantry, and cavalry-crossed the Rio Grande be-low Fort Brown and threatened the American lines of communication. General Taylor, alarmed lest the Mexicans should make a circuit and capture the stores at Point Isabel, hastened to that place and strengthened the defences. The fort opposite Matamoras was left under the command of Major Brown with a garrison of three hundred men. The withdrawal of the American general with the greater part of his forces was witnessed by the Mexicans in Matamoras, who, mistaking the movement for a retreat inspired by fear, were in great jubilation. The Republican Monitor, a Mexican newspaper of Matamoras, published on the following day a flaming editorial, declaring that the cowardly invaders of Mexico had fled like a gang of poltroons to the sea-coast and were using every exertion to get out of the country before the thunderbolt of Mexican vengeance should smite them. ista himself was confident that the Americans, becoming alarmed at their exposed position, had shrunk from the conflict and that it was only necessary for him to bombard Fort Brown in order to end the war.

As soon as his supplies at Point Isabel were deemed secure, General Taylor set out with a provision-train and an army of more than two thousand men to return to Fort Brown. Meanwhile, the Mexicans to the number of six thousand had crossed the Rio Grande

At

and taken a strong position at Palo Alto, directly in Taylor's route. noon on the 8th of May the Americans came in sight and immediately joined battle. After a severe engagement of five hours' duration the Mexicans were driven from the field, with the loss of a hundred men. The American artillery was served with signal effect; while the fighting of the enemy was clumsy and ineffectual. Only four Americans were killed and forty wounded; but among the former was the gallant and much-lamented Major Ringgold of the artillery.

On the following day General Taylor resumed his march in the direction of Fort Brown. When within three miles of that place, he again came upon the Mexicans, who had rallied in full force to dispute his advance. They had selected for their second battle-field a place called Resaca de la Palma. Here an old river-bed, dry and overgrown with cactus, crossed the road leading to the fort. The enemy's artillery was well posted and better served than on the previous day. The American lines were severely galled until the brave Captain May with his regiment of dragoons charged through a storm of grape-shot, rode over the Mexican batteries, sabred the gunners, and captured La Vega, the commanding general. The Mexicans, abandoning their guns and flinging away their accoutrements, fled in a general rout. Before nightfall they had put the Rio Grande between themselves and the invincible Americans. On reaching Fort Brown, General Taylor found that during his absence the place had been constantly bombarded by the guns of Matamoras. But a brave defence had been made, which cost, with other losses and suffering, the life of Major Brown, the commandant. Such was the beginning of a war in which Mexico experienced a long list of humiliating defeats.

When the news of the battles on the Rio Grande was borne through the Union, the war spirit was everywhere aroused. Party dissensions were hushed into silence. The President, in a message to Congress, notified that body that the lawless soldiery of Mexico had shed the blood of American citizens on American soil. On the 11th of May, 1846, Congress promptly responded with a declaration that war already existed by the act of the Mexican government. The President was authorized to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers, and ten million dollars were placed at his disposal. War meetings were held in all parts of the country, and within a few weeks nearly three hundred thousand men rushed forward to enter the ranks. A grand invasion of Mexico was planned by General Scott. The American forces were organized in three divisions: THE ARMY OF THE WEST, under General Kearney, to cross the Rocky Mountains and conquer the northern Mexican provinces;

THE ARMY OF THE CENTRE, under General Scott as commander-inchief, to march from the gulf coast into the heart of the enemy's country; THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION, commanded by General Taylor, to subdue and hold the districts on the Rio Grande.

The work of mustering the American troops was entrusted to General Wool. By the middle of summer he succeeded in despatching to General Taylor a force of nine thousand men. He then established his camp at San Antonio, Texas, and from that point prepared the gathering recruits for the field. Meanwhile, Taylor had resumed active operations on the Rio Grande. Ten days after the battle of Resaca de la Palma he crossed from Fort Brown and captured Matamoras. Soon afterward he began his march up the right bank of the river and into the interior. The Mexicans, grown wary of their antagonist, fell back and took post at the fortified town of Monterey. To capture that place was the next object of the campaign; but the American army was feeble in numbers, and General Taylor was obliged to tarry near the Rio Grande until the latter part of August. By that time reinforcements had arrived, increasing his numbers to six thousand six hundred. With this force the march against Monterey was begun; and on the 19th of September the town, defended by fully ten thousand troops, under command of Ampudia, was reached and invested.

The siege was pressed with great vigor. On the 21st of the month several assaults were made, in which the Americans, led by General Worth, carried the fortified heights in the rear of the town. In that part of the defences only the bishop's palace-a strong building of stone-remained; and this was taken by storm on the following day. On the morning of the 23d the city was successfully assaulted in front by Generals Quitman and Butler. In the face of a tremendous cannonade and an incessant tempest of musket-balls discharged from the house-tops and alleys, the American storming-parties charged resistlessly into the town. They reached the Grand Plaza, or public square. They hoisted the victorious flag of the Union. They turned upon the buildings where the Mexicans were concealed; broke open the doors; charged up dark stairways to the flat roofs of the houses; and drove the terrified enemy to an ignominious surrender. The honors of war were granted to Ampudia, who evacuated the city and retired toward the capital. The storming of Monterey was a signal victory, gained against great superiority of numbers and advantage of position.

After the capitulation General Taylor received notice that overtures of peace were about to be made by the Mexican government. He therefore agreed to an armistice of eight weeks, during which time neither party