Mexican-American War 1846-1848

U.S. Veterans of the War with Mexico, 1846-1848
A GUIDE TO GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
by Steven R. Butler, former editor, MEXICAN WAR Journal.

MISSOURI
1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers for 12 months.(8 companies)
June 1846 to June 1847. Returned to Missouri by way of New Orleans .

One volunteer unit, the First Regiment Missouri Mounted Volunteers, achieved considerable acclaim. Composed of eight companies from different Missouri counties, the regiment totaled 856 men. They were farmers, businessmen, teachers, lawyers, and other elements of Missouri society.

The volunteers marched with the Army of the West, leaving Fort Leavenworth on 26 June 1846. Marching in detachments to ensure that enough forage and water would be found, they maintained a pace of 35 miles per day. In August they captured Santa Fe without a fight. They then turned southward, as the main Army marched west and engaged the Navajo. In November a treaty was signed with the Navajo, and the Missourians headed for El Paso.

On Christmas Day, as 450 Missourians rested just north of El Paso, a 1,200-man Mexican force charged the camp. The Missourians held fast and the Mexican forces retreated a short distance. Sixty Missourians gained their mounts and charged wildly, forcing the Mexican Army before them. Two days later the Missourians entered El Paso, where they spent the next two months.

The Missourians next headed for Chihuahua. Nearing the city they were met by a force four times their own. The Mexican soldiers waited in a narrow pass near the Sacramento River. The Missourians opened with a burst of artillery, and when the Mexican force fell back, the Missourians charged. By, sunset the battle concluded with one Missourian dead and enemy losses totaling 300 dead, 500 wounded, and 40 prisoners.

After several more months and many miles of marching, the Missourians reached Matamoros; here they boarded ships and returned home via the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. They had covered 3,000 miles without ever being paid and seldom supplied. They had defeated two Mexican armies and the Navajo. They were farmers, teachers, and businessmen who served to expand their nation westward. ("The Volunteer 1846," L.R. Arms, NCO Museum.)