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048: The Mexican-American War: An Overview · California Frontier

• 0:00
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Today we're going to talk about something that has had a very big impact on California and on the entire U.
• 0:09
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 0:10
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Southwest, and in fact, on Mexico as well, which is the Mexican American War.
• 0:17
  Damian Bacich's video recording: talked about the bear flag revolt in another episode, but the bear flag revolt is one episode within a larger context of the war between the U S and Mexico that took place in the mid 1840s in the middle of the 19th century, and that really reshaped.
• 0:42
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The U.
• 0:42
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 0:43
  Damian Bacich's video recording: West and Southwest and reshaped much of Mexico today.
• 0:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So let's, let's begin.
• 0:49
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Let's talk about it.
• 1:13
  Damian Bacich's video recording: As you likely know, the Spanish had been present in North America since the 16th century.
• 1:20
  Damian Bacich's video recording: St.
• 1:20
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Augustine is the oldest city in the U.
• 1:23
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 1:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: that goes back to the 16th century itself.
• 1:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, many of the Spanish held territories eventually became part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which encompassed listen to that, which encompassed what is today Mexico.
• 1:42
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And in the northeastern parts of the North American continent, it was France and England that sort of vied for control over those territories.
• 1:51
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, let's go back to the independence of the Thirteen Colonies.
• 1:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: When they broke from Great Britain, Spain suddenly found itself with territories alongside the newly formed United States.
• 2:06
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And remember, Spain had supported the colonies in the war for independence from Great Britain.
• 2:15
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So in 1795, Spain signed a treaty.
• 2:18
  Damian Bacich's video recording: with the U.
• 2:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 2:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: called the Treaty of San Lorenzo, and it helped define the border between Spanish territories and U.
• 2:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 2:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: territories.
• 2:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, these borders would shift over the next several years, but that was the starting point.
• 2:33
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, in 1803, the U.
• 2:36
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 2:36
  Damian Bacich's video recording: gained control of a major territorial asset by acquiring the Louisiana Territory from France for 15 million dollars.
• 2:46
  Damian Bacich's video recording: This deal is well known, the Louisiana Purchase.
• 2:49
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And it gave the U.
• 2:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 2:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: access to lands that included what is today a whole long list of states.
• 2:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota, Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana.
• 3:12
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Parts of these places.
• 3:13
  Damian Bacich's video recording: For a total of 828, 000 square miles.
• 3:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So with the Louisiana purchase.
• 3:21
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The US greatly increased the size of its territories and it multiplied the size of its border with the Spanish held territories, as you can imagine.
• 3:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So, almost two decades later, in 1819, the US signs a new treaty with Spain called the Adams Onis Treaty.
• 3:44
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, this agreement confirmed that Spain's claim to the territory of Texas was legitimate, but it allowed the U.
• 3:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 3:55
  Damian Bacich's video recording: to purchase what is today Florida.
• 3:58
  Damian Bacich's video recording: But Texas is going to be a thorny issue, as you'll see.
• 4:03
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Shortly before Mexico gained its independence from Spain.
• 4:09
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Spain granted a petition for the first group of Americans to actually settle in Texas.
• 4:17
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Until then, Americans were forbidden from occupying the Texas territory.
• 4:24
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, Mexico's war of independence from Spain put that petition on hold.
• 4:31
  Damian Bacich's video recording: But after Mexico achieved independence, A man named Stephen Austin, who was the son of the original American petitioner for the colony in Texas, presented a new request and he asked to bring 300 American settlers to the Texas territory.
• 4:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, the Mexican government had had difficulty in attracting settlers to the territory, partially due to its difficulties with the Comanche, right?
• 5:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And so it approved the petition.
• 5:07
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Mexico allowed Stephen Austin and his settlers to enter Texas on certain conditions that they set out.
• 5:16
  Damian Bacich's video recording: One, they had to be of good moral character.
• 5:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: They had to practice Catholicism, which was part of the new, Mexican Republic and follow the laws of Mexico.
• 5:29
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, although Austin's permission was unique at the time, Mexico eventually passed a colonization law in 1825 that allowed thousands of foreigners to settle in Texas.
• 5:43
  Damian Bacich's video recording: By 1835, there were 20, 000 Americans, including Cherokee Indians, in Texas.
• 5:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And that was four times the size of the native born Mexican population, which is about 5, 000.
• 6:00
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So they overwhelmed the population of people already living there.
• 6:05
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Although Mexico initially saw American immigrants as a way to shore up its control of this difficult territory, It eventually began to have second thoughts and to doubt their allegiance.
• 6:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: They began to view the new immigrants with suspicion.
• 6:24
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Texans in turn became resentful at their own small amount of representation in Mexican politics.
• 6:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And these tensions reached a tipping point eventually.
• 6:37
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And that was when General Antonio Lopez de Santana took office as president of Mexico in 1834.
• 6:47
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Santana was a centralizer and he soon revoked the constitution.
• 6:53
  Damian Bacich's video recording: He set about decentralizing governmental authority in Mexico, excuse me, centralizing it, in fact, concentrating it in Mexico City and thereby reducing the autonomy of the individual states, which up until that time had sort of steered their own vote.
• 7:12
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, as you can imagine, this caused a great amount of unrest in some of the territories, particularly Texas.
• 7:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And in September of 1835, Texans begin a war of secession, that is to break away from Mexico.
• 7:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In November of that year, a group met in San Felipe de Austin and established a provisional state government.
• 7:37
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, they fought for several months with Santana's army, and on March 2nd of 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico.
• 7:47
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The Mexican army fought the insurgents for several weeks, including at the famous Battle of the Alamo, which we all know about.
• 7:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And that's where Santana's troops actually defeated a group of Texas fighters who were holed up in the old mission.
• 8:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And we all know the phrase, remember the Alamo because it was a famous defeat, but that loss was eventually turned into a victory.
• 8:16
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Sam Houston's Texas ultimately won the day.
• 8:20
  Damian Bacich's video recording: They lost the battle, but they won the war.
• 8:22
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And on April 21st, General Santana, who had been captured, signed the Treaty of Belasco, which recognized Texas's independence.
• 8:34
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Nevertheless, Santana's capitulation was not the final word.
• 8:40
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The Mexican Congress refused to ratify the treaty since they considered that the general was a prisoner of war.
• 8:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And so it was an illegal or coerced signing, right?
• 8:55
  Damian Bacich's video recording: But the U S had a different view on it.
• 8:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The U S recognized Texas as an independent Republic.
• 9:02
  Damian Bacich's video recording: on March 3rd of 1837.
• 9:06
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Mexico would not recognize Texas as independent and it couldn't, however, do anything about it.
• 9:16
  Damian Bacich's video recording: There were struggles going on in Mexico and the government lacked money and so there was not much that they could do at that moment to try and retake Texas.
• 9:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In the meantime, the U.
• 9:29
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 9:29
  Damian Bacich's video recording: had an aspiration to control the North American continent and it also wanted to keep out its great rivals who it saw as France and Great Britain.
• 9:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Of course, this put it on a collision course.
• 9:44
  Damian Bacich's video recording: For sure with Mexico.
• 9:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And the first inklings of that came a few years later with an interesting episode in 1842.
• 9:55
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So at that time, the commander of the U S Pacific squadron, the Naval squadron, a man named Thomas App Catesby Jones received news that the French had sailed from the coast of South America and were on their way, possibly to California's French Naval vessels.
• 10:16
  Damian Bacich's video recording: He also learned that British ships might be en route to California.
• 10:23
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So armed with this news and a message from the U.
• 10:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 10:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Consul at Mazatlan, Mexico, who implied that war with Mexico over Texas was actually imminent, Commodore Jones set sail for Alta California.
• 10:40
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now keep in mind he had received no orders or official confirmation about a war.
• 10:46
  Damian Bacich's video recording: But he believed with the news he had, it would be cowardly not to strike.
• 10:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And so on October 18th of 1842, Commodore Jones sailed his squadron into Monterey Bay and anchored his ships right there.
• 11:07
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Keeping in mind that Monterey was the capital of Mexican California.
• 11:13
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The following day, he sent officers ashore to demand the surrender of the governor Juan B.
• 11:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Alvarado and the military detachment at the Monterey Presidio.
• 11:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, the Presidio was defended by approximately 50 soldiers and many of them really had no military instruction at all.
• 11:37
  Damian Bacich's video recording: It was not a, it was not a crack unit.
• 11:42
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Jones, on the other hand, had 800 men and 80 cannons aboard, a total of 80 cannons aboard his warships.
• 11:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So, with Thomas Larkin, who was the U.
• 11:55
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 11:55
  Damian Bacich's video recording: consul, acting as an interpreter, he had the Mexican officials sign surrender documents, because they were sort of over a barrel.
• 12:06
  Damian Bacich's video recording: But despite the surrender, Larkin, the U.
• 12:10
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 12:10
  Damian Bacich's video recording: consul, kept insisting with Commodore Jones that there were No news of any sort of war having broken out.
• 12:18
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And in fact, the Mexican documents that he sees during the occupation also showed no evidence of war.
• 12:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Eventually the Commodore himself became convinced that perhaps this was all a big mistake.
• 12:35
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So, on October 21st, he actually ordered the U.
• 12:39
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 12:39
  Damian Bacich's video recording: flag lowered, the Mexican flag raised again, and he apologized for his actions.
• 12:46
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In fact, everybody had a big dinner afterwards and seemed to got along well.
• 12:51
  Damian Bacich's video recording: He also sent word to the new Mexican governor, who had been appointed in the meantime, Manuel Michelle Torena, about what had happened, and Michelle Torena had ordered a All the military commanders in Sonoma, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles to organize a resistance against the Americans.
• 13:11
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And of course this put that whole thing on ice.
• 13:15
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, although the incident at Monterey ended peacefully, they were sort of a portent of things to come.
• 13:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And over the next few years, the two countries wound up being pushed closer and closer to war.
• 13:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And Texas.
• 13:33
  Damian Bacich's video recording: would be the spark.
• 13:35
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In 1843, after years of continuing disputes in Texas between, you know, Mexico and the Texas colonists, Great Britain and France actually helped arrange a truce between Texas and Mexico.
• 13:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now this sort of alarmed U.
• 13:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 13:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: lawmakers who worried about Britain and France meddling in North America and what their interests might be in Mexico and in Mexico's Northwest Territories.
• 14:06
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So, in February of 1845, the U.
• 14:09
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 14:09
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Congress passed a joint resolution calling for the annexation of Texas.
• 14:16
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In June of that year, the Texas Convention of Representatives also approved Texas annexation to the U.
• 14:24
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 14:26
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And President James K.
• 14:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Polk of the United States therefore ordered U.
• 14:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 14:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: troops into Texas.
• 14:36
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, he also sent warships to the Gulf of Mexico and strengthened naval forces in the Pacific.
• 14:43
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In doing so, Polk, what he was doing was supporting the Texans claims in its boundary, in their boundary dispute with Mexico.
• 14:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So Texas claimed that the southern border of Texas should be at the Rio Grande River, which in Mexico is known as the Rio Bravo.
• 15:06
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And Mexico claimed that it should be further north at the Nueces River.
• 15:11
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, in a parallel move, Polk actually sent a representative to Mexico to try and, by, to try and avert a war by negotiating a purchase.
• 15:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: of California and New Mexico.
• 15:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Well, it didn't really avert a war, but he tried to buy California, New Mexico.
• 15:34
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, the Mexican government at the time was full of debts, but it refused the offer, as you can imagine.
• 15:43
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In October of 1845, the people of Texas ratified the U.
• 15:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 15:49
  Damian Bacich's video recording: annexation.
• 15:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And by the end of December, Texas was officially part of the US President.
• 15:56
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Polk then ordered US troops to cross the Noesis River and deploy south between the NOIs and the Rio Grande.
• 16:07
  Damian Bacich's video recording: With Texas now considered part of the US and with this move into the no man's land, tensions could only rise.
• 16:17
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In April of 1846, the US Navy blockaded the Rio Grande River and Mexican General.
• 16:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Their Mexican general Pedro Ampia therefore ordered the US Commander to withdraw his forces north of the nos.
• 16:34
  Damian Bacich's video recording: When the commander refused Mexico, declared a defensive war on the United States and its forces attacked US troops.
• 16:45
  Damian Bacich's video recording: between the Nueces and the Rio Grande.
• 16:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: This was really the beginning of the war.
• 16:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In response, on May 13th, the U.
• 16:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 16:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Congress declared officially war on Mexico.
• 17:02
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, with the U.
• 17:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 17:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: at war with Mexico over Texas, Polk wanted to sort of tidy up some other difficulties that he had been dealing with and be able to focus on winning that war.
• 17:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: He therefore moved to settle what had been a long simmering dispute with Great Britain over the Oregon Territory, the area, you know, along the Canadian border, along the Pacific side and the Northwestern coast, right?
• 17:37
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And so In June of that year of 1846, the U.
• 17:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 17:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: and Great Britain signed an agreement which actually granted the U.
• 17:46
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 17:47
  Damian Bacich's video recording: control of everything below the 49th parallel.
• 17:53
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So now, the Oregon issue was settled, right, and the U.
• 17:58
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 17:58
  Damian Bacich's video recording: was free to focus on the war with Mexico.
• 18:03
  Damian Bacich's video recording: U.
• 18:03
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 18:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: forces now started focusing on Mexico's far northern territories, right, which is today the U.
• 18:14
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 18:15
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Southwest.
• 18:17
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In August, U.
• 18:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 18:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: military forces led by Colonel Stephen Watts Kearney captured Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico.
• 18:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: U.
• 18:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: After the governor of the territory, Manuel Armijo, dissolved his army and left for Chihuahua.
• 18:36
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So there wasn't, even though there were battles, there was hostile, there was combat in New Mexico, let's say, it wasn't a huge theater.
• 18:44
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The next major objective for the army, therefore, was to capture the capital of northeastern Mexico in the Rio Grande area.
• 18:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: which was the fortified city of Monterrey, right?
• 18:59
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So on September 25th, after fierce fighting and major artillery bombardments, the U.
• 19:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 19:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: actually captured the city.
• 19:11
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And by the end of 1846, the U.
• 19:14
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 19:14
  Damian Bacich's video recording: had control of all of the northeastern territories of Mexico.
• 19:20
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, in January of 1846, let's talk about California, U.
• 19:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 19:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Army Captain John C.
• 19:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Fremont arrived in the Salinas Valley of California on what he described as a scientific expedition.
• 19:36
  Damian Bacich's video recording: While there, he met in Monterey with U.
• 19:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 19:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Consul and now confidential agent Thomas Larkin, the same Larkin who had been in on the whole situation in Monterey in 1842.
• 19:51
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, they talked about the hostilities over Texas and plans for also Alta California.
• 20:01
  Damian Bacich's video recording: As you can imagine, Fremont's presence in the capital of Mexican California started to raise eyebrows.
• 20:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And Mexican military commander of the area, Jose Castro, who was a Californio, born in the territory, was, understandably suspicious of a U.
• 20:20
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 20:20
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Army officer wandering about California with an armed escort.
• 20:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So he soon ordered Fremont to leave.
• 20:28
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, rather than follow Castro's orders and leave, excuse me, Fremont and his men set up an encampment on Gabilan Peak above the Salinas Valley, which is now known as Fremont Peak.
• 20:45
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And raise the American flag for all to see.
• 20:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now this armed encampment remained in the area until March of 1846, and then moved north to the Oregon Territory.
• 20:59
  Damian Bacich's video recording: On May 8th and 9th of that year, He met with a man named Archibald Gillespie, a U.
• 21:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 21:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Marine Corps Lieutenant, who had also interviewed California clandestinely and who was trying to catch up with Fremont to talk to him about the hostilities that were brewing.
• 21:20
  Damian Bacich's video recording: By the end of May, Fremont returned to Alta California, accompanied by his men and a detachment of Delaware Indians who were allied with the U.
• 21:31
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 21:33
  Damian Bacich's video recording: He then lent his support to the group of American immigrants who were around, in and around the Pueblo of Sonoma, who also had their own plot to break from Mexico, just as Texas had.
• 21:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And the uprising, the Bear Flag Revolt, which we talked about earlier, took place on June 14th.
• 21:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And briefly, With Fremont support, the Bear Flaggers, or the Olsos, as they were known in Spanish, raised the homemade grizzly bear flag over the town of Sonoma, took General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, prisoner, and brought him to John Sutter's fort.
• 22:22
  Damian Bacich's video recording: and along the Sacramento River.
• 22:24
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The flag that they made would eventually become the basis for the California state flag, which was officially adopted in 1911.
• 22:34
  Damian Bacich's video recording: On July 7th now, and this is where things get really interesting, U.
• 22:39
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 22:39
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Naval Commodore John Drake Sloat arrived off the coast of Monterey.
• 22:45
  Damian Bacich's video recording: There, he ordered the Marines ashore to raise the American flag over Monterey.
• 22:51
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Five days later, he did the same thing in San Francisco.
• 22:56
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In the meantime, Fremont incorporated the Bear Flaggers, the Alsos, into a newly formed California battalion of the U.
• 23:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 23:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Army, and he made his way to Monterey with them.
• 23:13
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Along the way, though, the violence of his troops and irregulars enraged both Californians and Americans who accused them of wanton murder.
• 23:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Fremont was accompanied by the famous mountain man and scout Kit Carson, and with him, the troops bordered ships bound for San Diego.
• 23:40
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And there, the idea was to reinforce the campaign that was actually taking place in Southern California at the same time.
• 23:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, by early August, U.
• 23:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 23:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: troops, so let's talk about Southern California.
• 23:53
  Damian Bacich's video recording: U.
• 23:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 23:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: troops were in control of the Pueblo of Los Angeles, and the governor at the time, Pio Pico, had fled to Baja California.
• 24:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: vowing to return.
• 24:07
  Damian Bacich's video recording: But the city's inhabitants who remained were chafing under the occupation by a U.
• 24:13
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 24:13
  Damian Bacich's video recording: military and they eventually rose up and forced Marine Captain Gillespie, who was now a cap, had been lieutenant, now a captain, and was now the U.
• 24:22
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 24:22
  Damian Bacich's video recording: commander there to flee the city.
• 24:27
  Damian Bacich's video recording: On December 6th, a force of Californians actually defeated U.
• 24:31
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 24:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: troops under Stephen Watts Kearney, who had been promoted to general, at the Battle of San Pascual, which is in today's San Diego County.
• 24:44
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And a side note, there's a San Pascual Battlefield State Historic Park, but it's been closed since COVID.
• 24:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: I hope they can reopen it at some point.
• 24:55
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In any case, in January, the U.
• 24:56
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 24:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: mounted a full blown invasion of the Pueblo of Los Angeles with soldiers, marines, sailors, and artillery.
• 25:07
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The invasion successfully overwhelmed the Californios, who were always a small force anyway.
• 25:14
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And on January 10th of 1847, LA, Los Angeles, fell to the U.
• 25:21
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 25:22
  Damian Bacich's video recording: at the Battle of La Mesa.
• 25:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The Californios surrendered officially three days later at a place called Campo de Cahuenga.
• 25:31
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Which is today's Universal City.
• 25:35
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The agreement that ended the fighting became known as the Treaty of Cahuenga, or to the Americans, the Capitulation of Cahuenga.
• 25:47
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So, with Mexico, now Mexico's northwestern territories are under U.
• 25:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 25:53
  Damian Bacich's video recording: control.
• 25:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So, President Polk decides to now aim for the capital of Mexico, Mexico City.
• 26:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And so, US troops landed at Veracruz and retraced the route traveled by Hernan Cortes in 1519.
• 26:14
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And this landing takes place on March 9th of 1847.
• 26:19
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Veracruz takes three weeks to fall.
• 26:23
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And on March 29th The city falls after days of bombardment.
• 26:30
  Damian Bacich's video recording: May 15th, 4, 000 U.
• 26:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 26:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: troops capture the city of Puebla after defeating Mexican forces at the Battle of Cerro Gordo on April 18th.
• 26:44
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And after the fall of Puebla, the U.
• 26:47
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 26:47
  Damian Bacich's video recording: begins its march toward Mexico City.
• 26:49
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Battling Santana's troops all along the way.
• 26:54
  Damian Bacich's video recording: After Santana rejects a truce offered by American Major General, American Major General Winfield Scott, US forces then take up positions outside of Mexico City to lay siege to it.
• 27:12
  Damian Bacich's video recording: They soon began bombarding the historic Chapultepec castle.
• 27:18
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Which is located on a hill overlooking the city.
• 27:23
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The castle, the Chapultepec castle, actually housed the military academy for the Mexican army.
• 27:31
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And filled, so it was filled with soldiers and young cadets.
• 27:35
  Damian Bacich's video recording: who refused to surrender.
• 27:39
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So the next morning, U.
• 27:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 27:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: soldiers stormed the castle, and they eventually take it.
• 27:47
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And in fact, you have the famous Niños Héroes, the child heroes of this engagement.
• 27:57
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now, U.
• 27:58
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 27:58
  Damian Bacich's video recording: forces then moved to the gates of the city, where fighting with Mexican regular troops broke out.
• 28:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The battle spread throughout the city and lasted until nightfall.
• 28:08
  Damian Bacich's video recording: After civilian officials in Mexico City convinced Santana to withdraw his troops to avoid more bloodshed, there was nothing to do, but to allow American forces to take control of the Capitol.
• 28:23
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The Mexican government, so then, relocates its headquarters to Querétaro.
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  Damian Bacich's video recording: Which is about 135 miles away from Mexico city.
• 28:34
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And on September 16th, 1847, which is actually the commemoration of Mexican independence, General Antonio Lopez de Santana announces he's stepping down.
• 28:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: He soon left the country for exile in Kingston, Jamaica.
• 28:55
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And the United States then goes, the United States Army, I should say, then goes from being an invasion force to an army of occupation.
• 29:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So troops remained in Mexico City from September 14th of 1847 to June 12th of 1848, almost a year.
• 29:17
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And with the effective surrender of Mexican forces, The two governments start negotiating a treaty.
• 29:25
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Okay.
• 29:26
  Damian Bacich's video recording: However, back in the U S legislators were divided about how to proceed.
• 29:35
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So in Congress, there even arose a movement to annex the whole country.
• 29:41
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Right.
• 29:43
  Damian Bacich's video recording: This movement came to be known as the all Mexico movement.
• 29:49
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Obviously that didn't happen.
• 29:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Right.
• 29:52
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Okay.
• 29:53
  Damian Bacich's video recording: But still, in less than a month, a treaty between the two nations was signed.
• 30:01
  Damian Bacich's video recording: On February 2nd, representatives of the two nations met at a place called Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, which is now a neighborhood in Mexico City.
• 30:15
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And the agreement, the treaty, came to be known as, take a guess, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
• 30:23
  Damian Bacich's video recording: And that is the treaty that governed, supposed to be governing people in the territories seized from Mexico.
• 30:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So in it, the U.
• 30:33
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 30:33
  Damian Bacich's video recording: committed to compensate Mexico 15 million and to pay off the claims of U.
• 30:40
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 30:40
  Damian Bacich's video recording: citizens against Mexico up to a total of 5 million.
• 30:45
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So the U.
• 30:46
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 30:48
  Damian Bacich's video recording: is in it for 20 million.
• 30:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The U.
• 30:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 30:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Senate then ratified the treaty on March 10th of 1848.
• 30:56
  Damian Bacich's video recording: So what did the treaty set out?
• 30:58
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Well, it set the Texas border at the Rio Grande River.
• 31:04
  Damian Bacich's video recording: It conceded Alta California to the United States, which, by the way, included much of today's Arizona, as well as Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and New Mexico.
• 31:18
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Now Mexican, now think about this, Mexican citizens had the right to remain where they were or to go to Mexico, to go to the newly, on the other side of the newly formed Mexican border.
• 31:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Those who chose to stay in the U.
• 31:34
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 31:35
  Damian Bacich's video recording: territory could continue on as Mexican citizens, or they could automatically receive American citizenship.
• 31:42
  Damian Bacich's video recording: They were also to retain all their rights and property.
• 31:50
  Damian Bacich's video recording: Nevertheless, although a peace treaty had been signed, over the next several years, tensions continued to simmer between the U.
• 31:59
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 31:59
  Damian Bacich's video recording: and Mexico because there was a dispute over territories in Mexico's Mesilla Valley, which later became parts of Arizona, the states of Arizona and New Mexico.
• 32:14
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The territories and later the states of Arizona and New Mexico.
• 32:18
  Damian Bacich's video recording: In December of 1853, the two countries signed a new deal which ceded the territory, this disputed territory, to the U.
• 32:29
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 32:29
  Damian Bacich's video recording: for 10 million dollars.
• 32:32
  Damian Bacich's video recording: The agreement was known as the Gadsden Purchase and it was ratified in 1854 and it granted the U.
• 32:42
  Damian Bacich's video recording: S.
• 32:43
  Damian Bacich's video recording: the land it needed.
• 32:44
  Damian Bacich's video recording: To finish building the Transcontinental Railroad.
• 32:57
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