The Greater Republic Part 29

It is not our province to treat of the administration of Andrew Jackson, for that belongs to history, but the hold which that remarkable man maintained upon the affections of the people was emphasized when, in 1832, he was re-elected by an electoral vote of 219 to 49 for Clay, 11 for Floyd, and 7 for Wirt. Despite the popular prejudice against a third term, there is little doubt that Jackson would have been successful had he chosen again to be a candidate. He proved his strength by selecting his successor, Martin Van Buren.

THE "LOG-CABIN AND HARD-CIDER" CAMPAIGN OF 1840.

The next notable presidential battle was the "log-cabin and hard-cider"

campaign of 1840, the like of which was never before seen in this country. General William Henry Harrison had been defeated by Van Buren in 1836, but on the 4th of December, 1839, the National Whig Convention, which met at Harrisburg to decide the claims of rival candidates, placed Harrison in nomination, while the Democrats again nominated Van Buren.

General Harrison lived at North Bend, Ohio, in a house which consisted of a log-cabin, built many years before by a pioneer, and was afterward covered with clapboards. The visitors to the house praised the republican simplicity of the old soldier, the hero of Tippecanoe, and the princ.i.p.al campaign biography said that his table, instead of being supplied with costly wines, was furnished with an abundance of the best cider.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MARIGNY HOUSE, NEW ORLEANS.

(Where Louis Philippe stopped in 1798.)]

The canva.s.s had hardly opened, when the _Baltimore Republican_ slurred General Harrison by remarking that, if some one would pension him with a few hundred dollars and give him a barrel of hard cider, he would sit down in his log-cabin and be content for the rest of his life. That sneer furnished the keynote of the campaign. Hard cider became almost the sole beverage of the Whigs throughout the country. In every city, town and village, and at the cross-roads, were erected log-cabins, while the amount of hard cider drank would have floated the American navy. The nights were rent with the shouts of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and scores of campaign songs were sung by tens of thousands of exultant, even if not always musical, voices. We recall that one of the most popular songs began:

"Oh, where, tell me where, was the log-cabin made?

'Twas made by the boys that wield the plough and the spade."

There was no end to the songs, which were set to the most popular airs and sung over and over again. You would hear them in the middle of the night on some distant mountain-top, where the twinkling camp-fire showed that a party of Whigs were drinking hard cider and whooping it up for Harrison; some singer with a strong, pleasing voice would start one of the songs from the platform, at the close of the orator's appeal, and hardly had his lips parted, when the thousands of Whigs, old and young, and including wives and daughters, would join in the words, while the enthusiasm quickly grew to a white heat. The hors.e.m.e.n riding home late at night awoke the echoes among the woods and hills with their musical praises of "Old Tippecanoe." The story is told that in one of the backwoods districts of Ohio, after the preacher had announced the hymn, the leader of the singing, a staid old deacon, struck in with a Harrison campaign song, in which the whole congregation, after the first moment's shock, heartily joined, while the aghast preacher had all he could do to restrain himself from "coming in on the chorus." There was some truth in the declaration of a disgusted Democrat that, from the opening of the canva.s.s, the whole Whig population of the United States went upon a colossal spree on hard cider, which continued without intermission until Harrison was installed in the White House.

And what did November tell? The electoral vote cast for Martin Van Buren, 60; for General Harrison, 234. No wonder that the supply of hard cider was almost exhausted within the next three days.

PECULIAR FEATURE OF THE HARRISON CAMPAIGN.

As we have noted, the method of nominating presidential candidates by means of popular conventions was fully established in 1840, and has continued uninterruptedly ever since. One peculiar feature marked the Harrison campaign of 1840. The convention which nominated Martin Van Buren met in Baltimore in May of that year. On the same day, the young Whigs of the country held a ma.s.s-meeting in Baltimore, at which fully twenty thousand persons were present. They came from every part of the Union, Ma.s.sachusetts sending fully a thousand. When the adjournment took place, it was to meet again in Was.h.i.+ngton at the inauguration of Harrison. The railway was then coming into general use, and this greatly favored the a.s.sembling of ma.s.s-conventions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FREMONT, THE GREAT PATHFINDER, ADDRESSING THE INDIANS AT FORT LARAMIE.]

CHAPTER XIII.

ADMINISTRATION OF POLK, 1845-1849.

James K. Polk--_The War with Mexico_--The First Conflict--Battle of Resaca de la Palma--Vigorous Action of the United States Government--General Scott's Plan of Campaign--Capture of Monterey--An Armistice--Capture of Saltillo--Of Victoria--Of Tampico--General Kearny's Capture of Santa Fe--Conquest of California--Wonderful March of Colonel Doniphan--Battle of Buena Vista--General Scott's March Toward the City of Mexico--Capture of Vera Cruz--American Victory at Cerro Gordo--Five American Victories in One Day--Santa Anna--Conquest of Mexico Completed--Terms of the Treaty of Peace--The New Territory Gained--The Slavery Dispute--The Wilmot Proviso--"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight"--Adjustment of the Oregon Boundary--Admission of Iowa and Wisconsin--The Smithsonian Inst.i.tute--Discovery of Gold in California--The Mormons--The Presidential Election of 1848.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAMES K. POLK.

(1795-1849.) One term, 1845-1849.]

James K. Polk, eleventh President, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, November 2, 1795, and died June 15, 1849. His father removed to Tennessee when the son was quite young, and he therefore became identified with that State. He studied law, was a leading politician, and was elected to Congress in 1825, serving in that body for fourteen years. He was elected governor of Tennessee in 1839, his next advancement being to the presidency of the United States.

The President made George Bancroft, the distinguished historian, his secretary of the navy. It was he who laid the foundation of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, which was opened October 10, 1845. It is under the immediate care and supervision of the navy department and corresponds to the Military Academy at West Point.

Everybody knew that the admission of Texas meant war with Mexico, for that country would never yield, until compelled to do so, the province that had rebelled against her rule and whose independence she had persistently refused to recognize. Texas was unable to withstand the Mexican army, and her authorities urged the United States to send a force for her protection. General Zachary Taylor, who was in camp in western Louisiana, was ordered to advance into and occupy Texan territory.

Mexico had always insisted that the Nueces River was her western boundary, while Texas maintained that the Rio Grande was the dividing line. The dispute, therefore, was really over the tract of land between the two rivers. Our country proposed to settle the question by arbitration, but Mexico would not consent, claiming that the section (known as Coahuila) had never been in revolt against her authority, while Texas declared that it was a part of itself, and its Legislature so decided December 19, 1836.

General Taylor established a camp at Corpus Christi in the latter part of 1845, at the mouth of the Nueces. With nearly 5,000 troops, he marched, in January, to the Rio Grande to meet the Mexicans who were preparing to invade the disputed territory. Taylor established a depot of provisions at Point Isabel on the Gulf, and, upon reaching the Rio Grande, hastily built Fort Brown, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoras.

Some time later the Mexican forces reached Matamoras, and General Arista on the 26th of April notified Taylor that hostilities had begun. To emphasize his declaration, Captain Thornton with a company of dragoons was attacked the same day, and, after the loss of sixteen men in killed and wounded, was compelled to surrender to a much superior force. This was the first engagement of the war and was fought on ground claimed by both countries.

BATTLE OF PALO ALTO.

The Mexicans acted vigorously and soon placed Taylor's lines of communication in such danger that he hurried to Point Isabel to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. He left Major Brown with 300 men in charge of Fort Brown. The Mexicans were exultant, believing Taylor had been frightened out of the country. But that valiant officer paused at Point Isabel only long enough to make its position secure, when he marched rapidly toward Fort Brown. Reaching Palo Alto, on the road, he found the way disputed by fully 6,000 Mexicans, who were three times as numerous as his own army. Attacking the enemy with great spirit, he routed them with the loss of a hundred men, his own loss being four killed and forty wounded.

Resuming his march toward Fort Brown, Taylor had reached a point within three miles of it, when he was brought face to face with a much larger force at Resaca de la Palma. The battle was a severe one, and for a long time was in doubt; but the tide was turned by a das.h.i.+ng charge of Captain May with his dragoons. Despite a destructive fire of grapeshot, the hors.e.m.e.n galloped over the Mexican batteries, cut down the gunners, and captured the commanding officer. Taylor then pushed on to Fort Brown and found it safe, though it had been under an almost continuous bombardment, in which Major Brown, the commandant, was killed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERT E. LEE IN ONE OF THE BATTLES OF THE MEXICAN WAR.

"Always to be found where the fighting was the fiercest."]

WAR DECLARED BY CONGRESS.

News of these battles was carried north by carrier pigeons and telegraph, and the war spirit of the country was roused. Congress on the 11th of May declared that war existed by the act of the Mexican government, and $10,000,000 was placed at the disposal of the President, who was authorized to accept 50,000 volunteers. The call for them was answered by 300,000, who were eager to serve in the war.

GENERAL SCOTT'S PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.

General Scott, as head of the army, formed a careful plan of campaign for the conquest of Mexico. Of the three divisions, General Kearny, with the army of the west, was to cross the Rocky Mountains and conquer the northern Mexican provinces; General Scott himself, with the army of the centre, was to advance from the coast into the interior of the country, making the city of Mexico, the capital of the republic, his objective point; while General Taylor, with the army of occupation, was to seize and hold the Rio Grande country. The work of mustering in the troops was intrusted to General Wool, who, some time later, established himself at San Antonio, and sent many soldiers to the different commands.

CAPTURE OF MONTEREY.

Within less than two weeks after his victory at Resaca de la Palma, Taylor crossed over from Fort Brown and captured Matamoras. Then he turned up the right bank of the Rio Grande and marched into the interior. The Mexicans retreated to the fortified town of Monterey, where they were so powerful that Taylor waited for reinforcements before attacking them. His forces amounted to 6,600 by the latter part of August, and he then advanced against Monterey, which was defended by a garrison of 10,000 men.

The city was invested on the 19th of September. Two days sufficed for General Worth to capture the fortified works in the rear of the town, and on the next day the remaining defenses on that side were carried by storm. At daylight, on the 23d, the city in front was captured by a.s.sault. The Mexicans maintained a vicious defense from their adobe houses, but the Americans, charging through the streets, battered in the doors, chased the defenders from room to room and over the housetops until they flung down their arms and shouted for mercy. The commander was allowed to evacuate the city, and fell back toward the national capital.

OTHER VICTORIES.

Taylor was about to resume his advance when the enemy asked for an armistice, saying the authorities wished to negotiate for peace. Taylor agreed to an armistice of eight weeks, but the proposal was a trick of the enemy, who spent every hour of the respite in making preparations to resist the Americans' advance. Santa Anna, who was undergoing one of his periodical banishments, was called back and given the presidency.

When the armistice granted by Taylor expired, the Mexicans had an army of 20,000 in the field, and, under orders from Was.h.i.+ngton, the American commander moved forward. The first town captured was Saltillo, seventy miles southwest of Monterey. It was taken by General Worth, with the advance, on the 15th of November, 1846. In the following month Victoria, in the province of Tamaulipas, was captured by General Butler, who, advancing from Monterey, united with Patterson at this place. Their intention was to move upon Tampico, on the coast, but they learned that it had surrendered to Captain Conner, commander of an American squadron.

Meanwhile, General Wool, marching from San Antonio, arrived within supporting distance of Monterey. Such was the situation when General Scott reached the army and took command.

GENERAL KEARNY'S OPERATIONS.

General Kearny, in command of the army of the west, left Fort Leavenworth, in June, 1846, on the way to conquer New Mexico and California. He had a long and laborious march before him, but he reached Santa Fe on the 18th of August, and it was easily captured and garrisoned. New Mexico was powerless, and the whole province surrendered. Then Kearny, at the head of 400 dragoons, set out for the Pacific coast, but he had not gotten far on the road when he met a messenger who informed him that California had been conquered by Colonel John C. Fremont, acting in conjunction with Commodores Sloat and Stockton. Kearny sent most of his men back to Santa Fe and pushed for the Pacific coast, with a hundred dragoons. He arrived in November, and joined Fremont and Stockton.