The year is 1846, U.S. President James Polk just sent General Zachary Taylor and a number of horse soldiers to Texas to force the claim that the southern border of America is the Rio Grande River.
The only problem is, the Nueces River 100 miles north and above the Rio Grande is the legally accepted southern border. If the cavalry crosses the Nueces they will be in Mexico and it would be an invasion. They went anyway.
On a cold January morning in Texas, a freezing wind whipped at the faces of the line of calvary staring across the Nueces River into Mexico.
The young captain on his horse turned nervously to General Taylor saying, “Excuse me sir, we cross that river into Mexico we’ll stir up a war for sure.” The general on his horse let out a grin, “Gettin’ scared, captain? Suck in your gut, soldier, we’re goin’ south to our border.” The cavalry followed him into the cold Nueces river, the freezing water up to their saddles.
Once across, the soldiers looked nervously around the scruffy desert. They were provoking the Mexicans, and they might show up any minute to cut them down.
Sure enough, after the soldiers had ridden around causing trouble, a company of Mexican lancers attacked them. After the skirmish, 16 U.S. soldiers were dead, the rest hightailed it back to America. Their dirty work was done.
The word went out that Americans had been killed by Mexicans. On May 13, 1846, war with Mexico was declared, The Mexican War. It was a 2-year bloody fight and the U.S. won. Today it is seen as a land grab, and a shame on our country.
Sending soldiers to the Rio Grande River was a trick to goad Mexico into a war.
It was such an obvious sham by President Polk that the Washington House of Representatives, led by a young congressman named Abraham Lincoln, voted to censure Polk for sending soldiers south of the border.
When the smoke cleared, Northern Mexico was now the states of Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. The ripoff was complete. President Polk and his cronies had stolen more than half of Mexico.
Another president now plans similar tricks to steal more land for America.
Most people don’t know about the dirty trick that president pulled. Now you know. America has a dark side. But there’s more.
After the Mexican War there was a peace treaty drawn up called the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty. It states that Mexicans living in California and the other territories, and all their heirs to come, are United States citizens. This amazing fact is in Article V and IX of the treaty. It should change everything.
When you see those people in baseball caps, Levis and T-shirts, with their children wearing little backpacks, trying to cross the border, they’re not the mad criminals Trump says they are. They are people like you and me, trying to return to their home that was stolen from them. They have every right to be here.
If someone steals your home, it’s still your home.
Dennis Gregory writes a bi-monthly column for West Hawaii Today and welcomes your comments at makewavess@yahoo.com.
