A Mexican War Diary 1846 (1958)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] glory. Woo! [Music] At the age of 16, I, Samuel Chamberlain, set out from Boston to seek adventure in the West, the train passed through the town of Harper's Ferry and continued halfway across the continent. I was in Alton, Illinois, when war with Mexico broke out. General Zachary Taylor, known to his men as Old, Rough, and Ready, commanded the United States forces. I joined a unit of young volunteers from the Rivertown. Here we were given a little training, placed on a Mississippi steamboat on route to New Orleans and then marched across Texas encamping at Castroville. [Music] When on the widespread battle plane, the horseman's hand can scarce restrain. His pampered steed that spurns the rain. Remember the from Prescidio del Rio Grande. Our route of march took us to Monlava, Montter, Sultio, Paris, and Buena Vista. We reached the Rio Grande. No enemy appeared to dispute our crossing. Our officers, all graduates of West Point, at the worst were gentlemen of intelligence and education, often harsh and tyrannical. Yet they took pride in having their men well-lod and fed in making them contented and reconciled to their lot. When sounds the thrilling bugle blast and charge from rank to rank is past. Then as your savior strokes fall fast, remember the heed not the Spanish battle yell. Let every stroke we give them tell and let them fall as crocket fell. remember the Alamo. I seated myself in the shade and commenced to outline a sketch of the beautiful view before me. All seemed peaceful. Yet my experience in the manner in which the gorillas of the country would dispose of a Yankee for the clothes he wore made me have my revolver lying under my sketchbook. And while I rapidly sketched the scene, I watched every covert that would hide a Mexican. The men in the rancho were an ill-looking set of cutthroats and gave us glances of hatred. But the women, the young ones especially, were kind and offered us excellent cooked beans, polies. [Music] [Music] [Music] The women of Mexico possess more than their share of beauty. Some have skins as fair as our own New England girls. On one occasion I passed several hours frolicking in a garden with some charming friends, when suddenly Sergeant Gorman rushed in and demanded my pass. On my not being able to show the article, he drew his saber and advanced on me, swearing. The girls placed themselves on each side of me. This infuriated Gorman, and he took a vicious cut at Franita. For this savage act, he received the point of my saber through his right forearm. Half a dozen men of company A were ordered to take me in charge and return me to camp, where I had to report to my superior officer. On one occasion, for refusing to flog a poor little Irishman engaged in selling liquor to the troops, Major Sherman had me bucked to a tent pole along with six others who also declined to do his bidding. [Music] [Music] On sentry duty one evening, I spied a Mexican horseman who preceded the main body of the enemy. Night closed in. An alarm was sounded. The camp roused. Run, boys. Run. The Mexicans are on us. And great confusion ensued. In another moment, the bugler blew boots and saddles, while from the infantry camp sounded the long roll of the drums. This was taken up by the cavalry and artillery. In 5 minutes, Dorse blue, and a hasty retreat by moonlight was ordered. Next morning, in the skirmish which followed, cannon were used to route the enemy. Oh, rough and ready. He's a Trump. Yo ho yo ho. He'll wipe Santa out and put the bandits all throughout. Way down in Mexico. We'll hang Santa Anna soon. Yo, yo. And all the Mexican soldiers too to the tune of Yankee Doodle Doo. [Music] Savage street fighting broke out in Mterrey between our forces and the enemy. After a 4-day battle, a truce was arranged specifying the withdrawal of the Mexican troops and giving our army complete possession of the city. The men of our command had formed so many acquaintances with the darkeyed, passionate daughters of Mexico that the Bravo's guard were obliged to drive them back as they followed us by the hundreds. One evening there was to be a fandango in the town. The arrival at the ballroom of our party surprised the Mexicans. I will long remember that night of wild fun and unlicensed debauchery. The women fine shaped. [Music] [Music] I became acquainted with a family named Velasco containing two sisters both so foughtless. ly lovely that I could not make up my mind which to admire the most and ended by swearing love to both. One morning I stopped to make an early call on the Velascal sisters, entering with the freedom of an old friend of the house, when suddenly a Mexican rascal sprang up at me like a wild beast. He was as active as a cat, and I found I had all I could attend to in keeping his ugly knife from getting between my ribs, while all my cuts and points were received on his conffounded blanket. But finally I succeeded in wounding the villain, leaving him bleeding profusely. I made a hasty exit and returned to camp thoroughly disgusted with the thickness of womenankind, Mexican senoritas in particular. The ominous undertones of war in hostile territory seemed everywhere. Skirmishes were often fought without the benefit of rule books by either side. Mexican gorillas whlaid our wagon trains. Woe to the unfortunate soldier who straggled behind. He was lassoed and dragged through clumps of cactus until his body was full of needle-like thorns. Then he was left to die in the desert wastess or to be eaten alive by vultures and coyotes. Such were the daily acts of the gorillas. Enraged by these brutalities, a battalion of Arkansas volunteers began to massacre a group of Mexican civilians who had sought refuge in a cave. Soon shouts and curses, cries of women and children reached our ears. Climbing over rocks, we reached the entrance where a horrid sight was before us. The cave was full of our volunteers yelling like fiends. While on the rocky floor lay over 20 Mexicans, shrieking for mercy. Many were killed before our regular troops arrived and arrested the Arkansas boys. Oh boys, we're going far tonight. Yo, yo ho, we'll take the bandits now in hand and drive them in the Rio Grand in Mexico. Way down in Mexico. One day while riding among the orange trees, I came upon an old hut. My astonished eyes beheld a young and lovely female being threatened by a cutthroat brandishing a strip of rawhide. I gleaned she was the wife of the old monster. Suddenly he turned and found the barrel of my revolver. He gave a yell of a fright, disappeared. With a wild cry of joy, Carmelita, for that was her name, threw her arms around my neck and sobbed like a child. Then we rode to Mterrey, our happiness growing more perfect every moment. You [Music] spend ro [Music] Weeks later, while I was out on duty, the Pro Marshall made Carmealito, despite her many intreaties, return to her cruel husband. For days and nights thereafter, I searched vainly for her. until informed she had been fouly murdered by her wicked husband and a gang of outlaws. A chance came at last for revenge. I joined a detachment of draons in a manhunt for the guerilla gang. We rode for days. Finally, we spied a ranch guarded by Mexican horsemen. We charged. We forced the gate and poured in a deadly gunfire. There were shouts, cries of anguish, a fierce melee for 5 minutes, and the ranch was ours. Orders were given to set the place a fire. Then mounting, we withdrew, formed a line facing the ranch, and withdrawn sabers awaited developments. The fire lit up the country for miles. Soon, a long column of Mexican cavalry swept around the ranch. We galloped back to camp with the enemy close at our heels, but we outrode them. It now appeared that an important struggle was about to shape up. Santa Anna, the Mexican commander, sent an emissary under a flag of truce to General Zachary Taylor to demand our surrender. Old, rough, and ready promptly declined. I Wayne of Isa's mountain plane. Hurrah hurah hurah. Brave Taylor met his foes again. Hurrah hurah. Go thousands to our tens appear. Our boys have hearts that know no fear. Hurah hurah hurah hurah hurah hurah hurah. Our troops came onto the ground with drums beating and colors fly. A line of battle formed with our right resting on the path, the left extending to the foot of the mountain. The Mexicans were firing point blank. We retreated, reformed, and returned their fire. If we yielded, all would be lost, and destruction seemed certain if we remained. The conflict was briefed and terrible. Their cavalry advanced on us. For a moment, it looked as if they would ride down our thin line of riflemen. In the ensuing confusion, Colonel Jefferson Davis's men threw down their rifles and catching the Mexican horses by their bits, backed them on their hunches, and knifed the stupified riders. Those Mexicans who could turned and fled, crying, "Devils! Red shirts! Night closed down on the field of blood. All around arose the groans of wounded wretches, while from the gulches came the dismal cry of coyotes feasting on human flesh. At daylight all that was to be seen of the enemy was their rear guard moving over a distant ridge. To us it was a sight more lovely than the fairest woman in the world. No page in history can show Hurah hurah so bright a victory or a foe hurah hurah as we this day did proudly gain on buista's bloody plain hurah hurah hurah hurah hurra hurra Oh, the final phases of the war witnessed the hanging of 30 American traitors known as the Legion of St. Patricio. Just as the stars and stripes were being hoisted over the fortress of [Music] Chapultipek, it was not until June that official word was received that a treaty of peace had been signed between the United States and Mexico. In our camp, a wedding was performed while volunteers and regulars joined in shouting, "Harrah for peace. Harrah for home. At Saltilo, the Mexicans got up a grand celebration. There, all those females who had consorted with our men were dragged from their beds in their night clothes and fishly murdered in the Grand Plaza amid a blaze of fireworks. [Music] [Applause] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no. [Music] [Music] Woo! Woo! [Music] [Applause] [Music]