This is a timeline of the Mexican American War, with the background events that led to it and the developments that followed it.
The Mexican–American War (April 25, 1846 – February 2, 1848), known in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, was an invasion of Mexico by the United States. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still claimed as its territory, and a dispute over the border: Texas and the U.S. asserted the Rio Grande, Mexico the more northerly Nueces River. President James K. Polk, elected in 1844 on a platform of territorial expansion, offered $25million for the disputed land and California; Mexico refused. He then sent troops into the disputed territory, where Mexican forces repelled them on April 25, 1846, giving Polk grounds to obtain a declaration of war from Congress.
U.S. forces occupied Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California, the Pacific Squadron blockaded Mexico's Pacific coast, and Major General Winfield Scott landed at Veracruz and captured Mexico City in September 1847. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, negotiated by Nicholas Trist after Polk had recalled him, ended the war: Mexico ceded the territory of present-day California, Nevada, and Utah and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, gave up its claims on Texas, and accepted the Rio Grande as its northern border with the United States, while the U.S. paid $15million and assumed $3.25million of Mexican debt to U.S. citizens. The acquisitions intensified the American debate over slavery and are seen by some scholars as a step toward the American Civil War, in which many officers who had gained experience in Mexico later held prominent commands. Mexico was left with heavy casualties, ruined finances, political turmoil, lost prestige, and the loss of more than half its territory.
Background Manifest destiny Nueces Strip 1830s–1840s – Comanche–Mexico Wars 1818–1846 – Oregon boundary dispute 1835–1846 – Centralist Republic of Mexico 1835–1836 – Siete Leyes 1835–1836 – Texas Revolution 1836 – Battle of the Alamo 21 April 1836 – Battle of San Jacinto 14 May 1836 – Treaties of Velasco – agreements ending the Texas Revolution. 1836–1846 – Republic of Texas 1838–1839 – Pastry War 1840 – Republic of the Rio Grande 1841 – Texan Santa Fe Expedition 1842 – Capture of Monterey 1842–1843 – Mier expedition 1843 – Texas raids on New Mexico (1843) 1844 – 1844 United States presidential election 1845 – Battle of Providencia 29 December 1845 – Texas annexation 1845–1846 – John Slidell
Events of the war
1846 5 April – Sacramento River massacre 25 April – 9 May – Texas Campaign 25 April – Thornton Affair 3–9 May – Siege of Fort Texas 8 May – Battle of Palo Alto 9 May – Battle of Resaca de la Palma 12 May – Klamath Lake massacre 13 May – United States declaration of war on Mexico June – Sutter Buttes Massacre 14 June – 9 July – Bear Flag Revolt 1846 – California Republic 15 June 1846 – 13 January 1847 – Conquest of California 24 June – Battle of Olómpali 7 July – Battle of Monterey 9 July – Capture of Yerba Buena 15 August – Capture of Santa Fe 21–24 September – Battle of Monterrey 22–30 September – Siege of Los Angeles 26–27 September – Battle of Chino 8–9 October – Battle of Dominguez Rancho 24–26 October – First Battle of Tabasco 16 November – Battle of Natividad 6–7 December – Battle of San Pasqual 16 December – Capture of Tucson (1846) 25 December – Battle of El Brazito December – Pauma massacre December – Temecula massacre 1846–1848 – Blockade of Veracruz 1846–1850 – Interim government of California
1847 2 January – Battle of Santa Clara (1847) 8 January – Battle of Río San Gabriel 9 January – Battle of La Mesa 13 January – Treaty of Cahuenga – ended fighting in California. 19 January – 9 July – Taos Revolt – Hispano and Puebloan uprising against American rule. 24 January – Battle of Cañada 24 January – First Battle of Mora 29 January – Battle of Embudo Pass 1 February – Second Battle of Mora 3–5 February – Siege of Pueblo de Taos 22–23 February – Battle of Buena Vista 26 February – 23 March – Revolt of the Polkos – coup d'état in Mexico. 28 February – Battle of Sacramento (Mexico) 9–29 March – Siege of Veracruz 18 April – Battle of Cerro Gordo 18 April – First Battle of Tuxpan 26 May – Red River Canyon affair June – Second Battle of Tuxpan 15–16 June – Second Battle of Tabasco 30 June – Third Battle of Tuxpan July – Cienega affair 19–20 August – Battle of Contreras 20 August – Battle of Churubusco 8–15 September – Battle for Mexico City 8 September – Battle of Molino del Rey 12–13 September – Battle of Chapultepec 14 September – 12 October – Siege of Puebla (1847) 2 October – Battle of Mulegé 9 October – Battle of Huamantla 19 October – Action of Atlixco 20 October – Bombardment of Guaymas 31 October – Bombardment of Punta Sombrero 16–17 November – Battle of La Paz 20–21 November – Battle of San José del Cabo 23 November – Skirmish at Matamoros 24 November – Affair at Galaxara Pass 27 November – 8 December – Siege of La Paz 22 December – Spot Resolutions – Abraham Lincoln's challenge to the war's justification.
1848 22 January – 14 February – Siege of San José del Cabo 2 February – Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – peace treaty ending the war. 25 February – Action of Sequalteplan 16 March – Battle of Santa Cruz de Rosales 30 March – Skirmish of Todos Santos 1848 – Mexican Cession – territory ceded to the United States.
Aftermath 1847 – Aztec Club of 1847 – military society of American officers who served in Mexico. 1848 – Free Soil Party 1848–1855 – California gold rush 1848–1855 – United States and Mexican Boundary Survey – survey fixing the new border. 1850 – Compromise of 1850 1850 – California Statehood Act 1851 – California Land Act of 1851 1853–1854 – Gadsden Purchase 1854 – Kansas–Nebraska Act 1854 – Plan of Ayutla 1854–1859 – Bleeding Kansas 1857–1861 – Reform War 1859–1861 – Cortina Troubles 1861–1867 – Second French intervention in Mexico 1861–1865 – American Civil War
See also Bibliography of the Mexican American War Outline of the Mexican American War Mexico–United States border Mexico–United States relations Republic of Texas–United States relations Nueces Strip Texan raids on New Mexico (1843) Compromise of 1850 Reconquista (Mexico) List of United States invasions of Latin American countries
Further reading
Eisenhower, J. S. D. (1989). So far from God: The U.S. war with Mexico, 1846–1848. Random House. Greenberg, A. S. (2012). A wicked war: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. invasion of Mexico. Knopf. Guardino, P. (2017). The dead march: A history of the Mexican-American War. Harvard University Press. Henderson, T. J. (2007). A glorious defeat: Mexico and its war with the United States. Hill and Wang. Merry, R. W. (2009). A country of vast designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the conquest of the American continent. Simon & Schuster.
References Notes
Citations
External links Battlefields and historic sites Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park – National Park Service; site of the May 8, 1846 battle, and of Resaca de la Palma San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park – California State Parks; the December 6, 1846 battle Monterey State Historic Park – California State Parks; the Custom House, where the U.S. flag was first raised in California on July 7, 1846 Sonoma State Historic Park – California State Parks; Sonoma Plaza and the barracks, birthplace of the Bear Flag Mormon Battalion Historic Site at San Diego – visitor center on the battalion's 1846–47 march Mexico City National Cemetery – American Battle Monuments Commission
Museums in Mexico Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones – INAH; in the former convent at Churubusco, site of the August 1847 battle Museo Nacional de Historia, Castillo de Chapultepec – INAH; Chapultepec Castle, stormed in September 1847 Museo Regional de Nuevo León "El Obispado" – INAH, Monterrey; the Episcopal Palace fortified against the U.S. attack of 1846
Collections and archives A Continent Divided: The U.S.–Mexico War – University of Texas at Arlington Libraries; digitized letters, diaries, proclamations, maps and prints Mexican War digital collections – Library of Congress; includes the Polk, Taylor, Grant, McClellan and Lincoln papers, printed ephemera, and Chronicling America Mexican War records – National Archives; compiled service records, pension files, and returns of killed and wounded Mexican War – VMI Archives; Robert E. Lee's 1846–47 military maps and alumni service records