In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Among the troops who marched across the Santa Fe Trail and assisted in the conquest of New Mexico was an outfit of greenhorn volunteers from the State of Missouri. Mustered into active service on June , , this body of troops came to be known as the st Regiment of Missouri Volunteers. They marched behind their widely respected young commanding officer, Col. Alexander W. Doniphan, upon whom would soon fall great fame for his leading role in the yearlong ordeal that followed. Following the initial occupation of Santa Fe by the U.S. troops, numerous incidents of historical significance took place, many of which have warranted their own historical accounts. Kearny enacted a new form of government in the territory, the stipulations of which became known as the Kearny Code. New governmental officials were placed in charge by Kearny, most of the previous Mexican officials having fled on the approach of the U.S. troops, and the laws of the United States thus extended across the land. Their primary objective being accomplished, the commanding officers of Kearny’s outfit could turn to other pursuits. One of these commanding officers was Col. Alexander Doniphan. Born in Kentucky on July , , he moved to Missouri where he studied law, a profession in which he continued until being placed at the helm of his prized volunteer regiment in . Of Doniphan, much has been written; by most accounts he was well liked and respected by his men. Several diaries and memoirs, written by members of his regiment, perceive Doniphan favorably and nostalgically. The majority of these accounts agree that the enlisted men were not well disciplined, insinuating that Doniphan generally presided over his men with remarkable coolness and a reserved sense of authority, highly uncommon for an army officer of his time. One of the Missouri volunteers recalled that many of the men referred to their colonel simply as “Bill” or “Doniphan,” it apparently being unnecessary in Doniphan ’s case to adhere to the proper military protocol for addressing a superior officer. Another soldier from the st Regiment, Frank S. Edwards, recalled of Doniphan that “his great charm lies in his easy and kind manner. On the march he could not be distinguished from the other soldiers, either by DoniphanatBrazito CHAPTER  12 CHAPTER 1 dress, or from his conversation. . . . The colonel is in the habit of interlarding his language with strong expressions which many eastern men would call something very like swearing.” Thus it is not hard to imagine why the average frontier soldier would have found Doniphan to be favorable as a commander. After a lengthy expedition in northern New Mexico against marauding Navajo Indians, a pursuit that occupied Doniphan’s troops for the entirety of the month of November, the colonel and his regiment of volunteers returned to Santa Fe. Almost immediately thereafter Doniphan proceeded southward toward Mexico, where the conflict between that country and the United States raged. Doniphan led his troops down the Camino Real, across the Jornada del Muerto, and toward Paso del Norte. On December , after emerging from the ninety-mile waterless wasteland that constituted the infamous Jornada, the Missourians encamped at the small Mexican village of Doña Ana. Here an advance force, led by Maj. William Gilpin, awaited their arrival. Even as Doniphan and his men arrived at Doña Ana, some  miles south of the capital city of Santa Fe, enemy Mexican spies were already in their midst. Several weeks before, word had reached the northern Mexican provinces of Chihuahua and Sonora that the invading American force would soon be marching down the Rio Grande. Chihuahua’s Governor Ángel Trías, learning of the approach of the Americans, called his men to arms and issued a statement of support to his troops, which would subsequently be published in U.S. newspapers. The New Orleans Daily Picayune, which printed the Trías statement in its entirety, mocked it as a “gasconading proclamation of the Governor of Chihuahua, the puissant Señor General Don Angel Trias.” In his proclamation the Chihuahuan governor warned his troops and fellow citizens that “the iniquitous invaders of Mexico are approaching the town of El Paso . . . it is necessary that you should go forward, defenders of the glories of Mexico, to give a lesson to these pirates.” He promised aid for the citizens of El Paso, telling them that “should the circumstances of the war demand it, be assured that you will be supported, at whatever cost, by great reinforcements. For the people of Chihuahua...

Share