The History of the 4^th Regiment of Infantry-The War with Mexico

By

Lieut. James A. Leyden,

Adjutant 4^th U.S. Infantry 1894

In September 1842, the regiment was ordered to take station at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., where it remained until the proposed annexation of Texas, in 1844, led to rumblings of war with Mexico. As a part of the Army of Observation the regiment was moved to Grand Encore, La., where it re­mained until July, 1845, being moved thence to Corpus Christi, Texas, as a part of the Army of Occupation. The first act of war on the part of Mexico was the murder, on April 10th, of Colonel Cross, assistant quarter­master-general, a few miles from camp, by a roving party of banditti. Lieu­tenant Porter, Fourth Infantry, with a small party, was sent out to search for the body of Colonel Cross, and on the return of the party it was ambushed, Lieutenant Porter and one man being killed. Soon after the Gov­ernment recognized a state of war existing between the United States and Mexico, and preparations were made for an invasion of the territory of the latter. 

When General Taylors army reached the Rio Grande from Corpus Christi, General Mejia issued a pronunciamnento: The water of the Rio Grande is deep, and it shall be the sepulcher of these degenerate sons of Washington. Operations did not cease on account of this proclamation. The Army of Occupation, about noon of May 8th, met and engaged the Mexican army under General Ampudia at Palo Alto.

Early on the following morning the enemy retreated, and, about 3 oclock in the afternoon, took up a position at Resaca De La Palma. The Fourth In­fantry was deployed on the right of the road leading to his position, and at various points became briskly engaged, and finally, keeping as good orders the close chaparral would permit, charged and captured the camp where the headquarters of the Mexican general-in-chief were established. All his official correspondence was captured at this place, together with a large amount of ammunition, some 400 mules, saddles and every variety of army equipages.

At Monterey, the regiment consisted of but six reduced companies, four of which participated in the assault of the works in the lower part of the city the first day of the battle. The regiment charged through a cross fire from the Black Fort and the batteries. A mistake in orders led to the charge, some body had blundered, and about one-third of the men engaged in the charge were killed and wounded in the space of a few minutes. The regiment halted in a place of safety-what there was left of it. In a short time the advance began again and the troops reached the suburbs. A little battery covering the approaches to the lower end of the city was captured and turned up toward another work of the enemy. An entrance into the east end of the city was now secured. An advance was made to within a square of the _plaza not without heavy loss, when the ammunition began to give out. Lieutenant Grant made a dashing and perilous ride back to ask that ammunition be forwarded. Before it could be collected the remnants of the two regiments the Third and Fourth Infantry, returned. The following day the city capitulated.

Early in 1847 the regiment was ordered, as a part of the force sent from General Taylors army, to proceed to Vera Cruz and join the army under General Scott. It arrived at Vera Cruz in March and participated in the siege of that place. By April i6tb it had arrived at Plan Del Rio. Near Cerro Gordo, the battle of the latter place taking place on the 17th-18th. Previous to this battle General Santa Anna stated to his army: I am resolved to go out and encounter the enemy My duty is to sacrifice myself and I will know how to fulfill it! Perhaps the American hosts may proudly tread the imperial capital of Aztecs. I will never witness such an opprobrium for I am decided first to die fighting. The general encountered the Ameri­can army at Cerro Gordo, and lost a leg in the retreat from that battle Perhaps it may not be improper to state that it was the general's wooden leg that was lost in his hasty retreat.

Alter Cerro Gordo, the march into the interior was resumed and on May 14th the regiment arrived at Amasoque, 12 miles from Puebla. General North here ordered his command to clean up, to make a good appearance upon entering the city the next day. While the muskets were taken apart and while the pipe clay was drying upon the white belts.  The long roll beat to arms. An immense column of Mexican cavalry was seen to be approaching. Duncans battery was run out to meet it, and time to was hurried to support the battery. A few rounds of shell emptied many saddles les and caused the column am n to diverge from main road. After a time had passed, the Fourth Infantry was posted as a picket guard several miles beyond Amasoque, in the direction of Puebla. A terrific tropical storm came up during the night and in a short time the cornfield where t he regiment was lying became a sea of mud. The nice uniforms the white belts the men who wore them were covered with Mexican mud and probably became the shabbiest looking regiment ever seen in the regular army was the fourth Infantry when it entered Puebla on May 15. 1847. The azoteas, the windows and the streets were filled with men and women to look upon these degenerate sons of Washington.

After Churubusco, where the regiment pursued the fleeing Mexican troops to within a mile and a half of the City of Mexico came an armistice of two weeks, then operations were actively resumed Molino del Ray and Chapultepec followed in quick succession. At Molino a storming party was organized, the regiment furnishing two officers and 100 men. The mill was carried at the point of the bayonet, but not without the loss of 11 out of the 14 officers who were in the storming party. The remnant of the detachment belonging to the Fourth Infantry joined the regiment in the final assault made in support of the storming party. A fierce and bloody hand-to-hand fight took place before the enemy was finally driven from his chosen position. The regiment lost during the day 67 in killed and wounded, including three officers. At Chapultepec, as at Molino, a storming party began the assault, to which the regiment furnished 50 men and 2 officers.  Under a terrific storm of shot and shell the party reached the ditch an the main wall of the great fortress, scaling ladders were brought up and amid hand-to-hand fighting a lodgment was secured, then, long continued shouts and cheers carried dismay into the capital. Vigorous resistance was made by the enemy to the rapid pursuit after the fall of the castle along the line of the great aqueduct and at the several gratis of the city the greatest resistance was encountered. Nothing could withstand the impetuosity of the troops, and by nightfall or­ganized resistance ceased. A detachment of the Fourth Infantry had penetrated half a mile into the city and captured the adjutant-general of the Mexican army.

With the capture of the city active operations ceased. The remnant of the regiment remained for a time as part of the garrison of the City, remov­ing on the gradual withdrawal of the troops to points on the Camino Real until in June 1848; it was assembled at Jalapa for the return to the United States. Leaving Vera Crux, the voyage home was short, Camp Jeff Davis, Pascagoula, Miss., was reached July 23, 1848.

Thus ended the Mexican War for the Fourth Infantry, there having been but one important battle from the Rio Grande to the City of Mexico in which it did not participate.

It lost 8 officers and 59 men killed or mortally wounded; 10 officers and 140 men more or less severely wounded 4 officers in addition lost their lives by steamboat explosions. In the language of General Grant, the regiment lost more officers during the war than it ever had present in any one engagement, for during the greater part of the war the regiment had present but six reduced companies.

From Mississippi the regiment was ordered to proceed by sea to New York and there to take station at seven different points on the lakes, be­tween Mackinac and Plattsburg.