James K. Polk

by Philip Gambone

During the "Roaring Forties"—the 1840s, that is—expansionist fever was sweeping through the United States. "Manifest Destiny" was the mantra of the day. This eagerness to see the country extend "from sea to shining sea" was no more notably, or scurrilously, pursued than during the one-term presidency of James K. Polk. In his inaugural speech in March, 1845, Polk pledged to "consummate the expressed will" of the American people and annex Texas, which, nine years earlier, had broken away from Mexico and declared itself a Republic.

Former president John Quincy Adams saw nothing but trouble in the idea of adding Texas to the Union. "I have opposed it for ten long years," he said, "firmly believing it tainted with two great crimes: one, the leprous contamination of slavery; and two, robbery of Mexico…. Fraud and rapine are at its foundation."

John Quincy Adams (1840)
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What Polk conveniently forgot to mention in his address was his greatest desire: to incorporate into the nation two of Mexico's other provinces as well: California and the vast reaches of New Mexico, which included all or part of the future states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. If Mexico would not agree to sell these lands, then Polk hoped to find a pretext to go to war to get them. That opportunity arose in June 1845, when the Texas Congress voted to accept U.S. annexation. Mexico declared the move a "grave injury" and began raising troops. Polk would now get his war, ostensibly to hold on to Texas, but in fact to grab the rest of what he wanted as well.

So begins Joseph Wheelan's riveting saga, Invading Mexico: America's Continental Dream and the Mexican War, 1846-1848 (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2007). Wheelan, formerly a reporter and editor at the Associated Press, is eminently qualified to tell the story of the sad, tragic confrontation between the United States and Mexico, and he tells it vividly. This is the book for anyone interested in a compelling and beautifully researched history of the Mexican-American War, its causes, its aftermath, and the times and personalities involved.

Daguerrotype of Polk and his cabinet
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While Invading Mexico is replete with portraits of all the leading players in the sorry drama, Wheelan, who has also written two books on Thomas Jefferson, concentrates on President James K. Polk. During his time as Speaker of the House, Polk upheld a state's right to regulate slavery and had championed the "Gag Rule," which cut off congressional debate on slavery. As President, he projected an air of "chilly intensity, stubbornness, and unbreachable reserve." The Times of London proclaimed that the election of Polk was "the triumph of everything that is worst over everything that is best in the United States of America." John Quincy Adams considered him to be "just qualified for an eminent County Court lawyer…. He has no wit, no literature, no point of argument, no gracefulness of delivery, no elegance of language, no philosophy, no pathos, no felicitous impromptus." (Does Polk sound like another, more recent, occupant of the White House?)

Under Polk's command, the U.S. Army began to assemble what would become "the largest concentration of U.S. troops in thirty years." When the Americans reached the Arroyo Colorado, a river considered the boundary line between Texas and Mexico, the Mexicans sent a message to the effect that if the United States crossed, Mexico would regard it as a declaration of war. The Americans crossed and pushed on to the Rio Grande.

Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga
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On April 23, 1846, the Mexican President, Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga, proclaimed the start of a defensive war: "Those parts of our territory which are invaded or attacked will be energetically defended." In Mexican history books, the war would come to be known as the "Guerra de la Defensa." Polk was sure the conflict would be short and without many casualties. He believed, Wheelan writes, "that Mexico's army would shatter at the first blow."

Polk composed his Second Annual Message to Congress with the purpose of justifying the war. With brazen effrontery (and not a little mendacity), he declared that the war had "not been waged with a view to conquest." Meanwhile, within the general populace, war fever reached "a state of delirium," wrote Herman Melville. "Nothing is talked of but the ‘Halls of the Montezumas.'" In New York, twenty thousand people attended a war rally. But not all Americans were so gung-ho. In the North, critics denounced the war as nothing but an attempt to extend slavery. The New York Tribune editorialized" "No true honor, no national benefit, can possibly accrue from an unjust war."

War News from Mexico by Richard Caton Woodville
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The major part of Wheelan's book focuses on the conduct of the war: Polk's covert operations; the many land battles; the daunting logistical problems; the sectionalism and rivalries within U.S. politics; Mexico's own fractious politics; the desertions among Irish Catholic soldiers; the entertainments at camp (the music of Stephen Foster was very popular); the stubborn determination of the Mexicans not to succumb to the American invasion; the California and New Mexico campaigns; and, eventually, the growing public criticism of the war.

Incompetence characterized both sides. Many American battalions were undisciplined, rowdy and mutinous, "more like organized mobs than military forces," one lieutenant noted. The war saw the highest ratio of deaths to participants of any U.S. war: 125 per thousand. As for the Mexicans, Wheelan calls Santa Anna's leadership "slipshod."

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
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Wheelan's research is extensive and meticulous. The book, almost 500 pages long, includes a 12-page bibliography and hundreds of endnotes. He seems to have read every memoir, diary, battle report, contemporary newspaper account, and Congressional record. Moreover, he always keeps in mind the human side of his story with all its foibles, pettiness, intrigue and surprising instances of courtesy.

Wheelan loves detail, and most of it is riveting. He conveys the gritty horror of war, the appalling conditions in the field hospitals, the troubles with pack mules, even the tortillas Mexican women sold to hungry U.S. soldiers. Several of his chapters constitute superb essays on a variety of subjects, though I will admit that after a while, even Wheelan's talent for describing a military campaign—Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Puebla, Chapultepec—wore me out.

With the capture of Mexico City, some in the United States warmed to the idea of annexing all the rest of Mexico. Because Mexico was incapable of governing herself, they claimed, it was the duty of the U.S. to take charge. The New York Herald declared, "Like the Sabine virgins, [Mexico] will soon learn to love her ravisher." Not everyone felt this way. The anti-Polk faction in the House of Representatives condemned the war as "unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States." And a young Congressman named Abraham Lincoln observed: "Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion … and you allow him to make war at pleasure."

U.S. Troops in Saltillo, Mexico (1847).
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848, ending the war and transferring to the United States nearly half of Mexico's territory. In his formal announcement of the end of the hostilities, Polk—again with righteous bravado—said the war had "given the United States a national character which our country never before enjoyed."

When he left office in March, 1849, Polk was exhausted. During a farewell tour of the South, he took sick and died. Much beloved in the South, Polk was reviled by many others. Referring to the former president's death, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison wrote, "Neither humanity, nor justice, nor liberty has any cause to deplore the event…. His administration has been a curse to the country."

Read this book and weep: over the sorry and shameless behavior that the United States exhibited at a certain period in its history and for the chilling reminder it presents of what kind of iniquitous skullduggery an unscrupulous administration, heedless of the Constitution and the law, can cause to happen.

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Philip Gambone, a retired high school English teacher, also taught creative and expository writing at Harvard for twenty-eight years. For over a decade, his book reviews appeared regularly in The New York Times. Phil is the author of seven books. His memoir, As Far As I Can Tell: Finding My Father in World War II, was named one of the Best Books of 2020 by the Boston Globe. His new collection of short stories, Zigzag, was published last year by Rattling Good Yarns Press. His books are available through Amazon and at "Tesoros," the bookshop at the Biblioteca.

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