Battle of Buena Vista: “Double-Shot Your Guns and Give Them Hell…”

Today in Military History – February 22-23, 1847 If any victory in American military history could be said to have been grabbed out of the jaws of defeat, this battle deserves the designation. The Mexican-American War was in its tenth month, and the American military had performed brilliantly to date. A succession of victories found the Army of Occupation camped in the north Mexican town of Saltillo, commanded by Major General Zachary Taylor. Taylor, a native Virginian, was related to 4th U.S. President James Madison, as well as Robert E. Lee. He had a 39-year military career, serving in the War of 1812, the Blackhawk War, and the 2nd Seminole War. Taylor was nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready” by his affectionate soldiers; he was a most unconventional soldier. He preferred to lounge about camp in civilian clothes and house slippers. Taylor was once mistaken for an officer’s servant by a newly-arriving lieutenant who offered him a dollar to polish his sword. Without a word, Taylor polished the young officer’s sword and pocketed the dollar. In September of 1846, President James K. Polk and General Winfield Scott formulated a plan to strike at Mexico City by making an amphibious assault on the city of Veracruz. This plan would necessitate the transfer of the majority of Taylor’s force to Scott. Taylor was incensed at the preparations, which would effectively give his men nothing to do. His army now consisted of some 4500 men, only about 500 of which were regular army, the balance volunteer infantry who had never heard a shot fired in anger. Consequently, he moved his army out of Saltillo southward, stopping at the Hacienda San Juan de la Buena Vista to establish a supply depot. At the same time, Taylor began receiving reports that the Mexican Army was moving northward to attack his much reduced command. He at first discounted these rumors. However, in January a U.S. courier had been caught and killed by Mexican guerrillas; his dispatch outlined the entire American plan for transferring Taylor’s men and the proposed attack on Mexico City. This dispatch found its way to General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Santa Anna, who 11 years earlier had managed to lose Texas, was newly returned from political exile in Cuba. He had gathered a force of 22,000-25,000 men at San Luis Potosi. On January 28, he began marching his men north to attack and annihilate Taylor’s reduced army. By February 20, Santa Anna brought his men into a position to threaten the depot at Hacienda Buena Vista. On that day, he held a review of his troops. Fortunately for Taylor, a company of Texas Rangers was reconnoitering the Mexican camp, and began counting the enemy forces. Even though Santa Anna lost thousands of men from exhaustion and desertion during the three weeks of forced marches, the American scouts still counted over 15,000 Mexicans preparing to attack their camp. They included seven infantry regiments of the line, 11 cavalry regiments – including cuirassiers and hussars – as well as 21 artillery pieces. The Mexicans outnumbered the Americans by over three to one. General Taylor assigned Brigadier General John W. Wool to find a suitable site for the coming battle. Just to the south of Buena Vista he found a perfect place. The main road approaching the U.S. depot traveled through a bottleneck of hills. To the west a tangle of dry creek beds (called arroyos) offered impassable terrain to large bodies of troops; to the east, a series of plateaus rose sharply to meet the Sierra Madre Mountains. These plateaus could allow a small force to hold off a much larger one (at least that was Taylor’s hope). In the center of his line, Taylor placed the 8-gun battery of Captain John W. Washington to block the road, supported by the 1st Illinois and 3rd Indiana Infantry regiments. To the right of Captain Washington, Taylor placed a battery under the command of Captain Braxton Bragg supported by the 2nd Kentucky Infantry. To the left of the 1st Illinois, Taylor placed his company of Texas Ranger and the 1st U.S. Dragoons. Next in line were the 2nd Illinois and 2nd Indiana regiments. On the far left – the most vulnerable part of the American line – he dismounted the Arkansas Mounted and the 2nd Kentucky Mounted regiments. Taylor held the rest of his forces in reserve, including one of his regiments of dragoons and the Mississippi Rifles regiment, commanded by his former son-in-law, Colonel Jefferson Davis [Does the name sound familiar?] At 9 a.m., the Americans saw black clouds of dust to the south, as Santa Anna again force-marched his army to confront and destroy the Americans. His plan was elegantly simple: he would use his numerical superiority to outflank the American left, then send his cavalry on a wide sweep to the east and north to capture the U.S. depot at Buena Vista and cut off Taylor’s line of retreat. At 11 o'clock that morning, Pedro Vanderlinden, the surgeon general of Mexico, presented Santa Anna's formal demand for surrender to General Taylor. It was a long, boring document that began, “You are surrounded by twenty thousand men and cannot in any human probability avoid suffering a rout and being cut to pieces with your troops; but as you deserve consideration and particular esteem, I wish to save you from catastrophe….” At this point, General Taylor exploded in anger. Turning to his adjutant, Major William Bliss, he allegedly roared: “Tell Santa Anna to go to hell! Major Bliss, put that in Spanish for this damned Dutchman to deliver!” Taylor’s reply was couched a bit more tranquilly, but was an equally formal refusal. Three hours later, a single Mexican howitzer fired, signaling the start of the Battle of Buena Vista. The Mexican attack opened on the left, as several battalions of light infantry sought to outflank the Arkansans and Kentuckians. This phase of the fight was punctuated by blasts of Mexican musket volleys, answered more slowly by the American rifles. Sunset brought an end to the first day’s fight (about 6:45 p.m. local time). At this time, General Taylor left the battlefield, accompanied by the Mississippi Rifles and a squadron of dragoons, to inspect the defenses of Saltillo, concerned that Mexican cavalry might try to cut his communications line. He left General Wool in charge. Throughout the night, Santa Anna began re-positioning more of his soldiers to his right flank, hoping to strike a telling blow at the hinge were the U.S. center met the left flank. He personally visited every one of his units, giving them speeches to bolster their morale far into the night. Many Americans bivouacked on the left fell asleep to Mexican shouts of “Viva Santa Anna! Libertad o muerte!” At 2 a.m., Mexican soldiers were awakened to get into position for the final push. At dawn on the morning of February 23, a newly-placed battery of Mexican 8-pounders began to bombard the volunteer regiments of the American left. A battery of American cannon under the command of Lieutenant John Paul Jones O’Brien dueled the Mexican briefly, with one of his guns – a 12-pounder – keeping the first Mexican probes at bay. At 8 o’clock, a massive attack by 7000 Mexican infantry struck O’Brien’s position and the 2nd Indiana with the force of a lightning stroke. O’Brien’s men were firing as fast as humanly possible, at times firing double canister topped by handfuls of stones. However, the weight of the Mexican attack forced them to pull pack. Seeing the artillerymen rolling their guns back, the commander of the 2nd Indiana panicked and ordered a retreat. This caused the volunteers to simply run like scared rabbits, opening a large hole in the American line. Santa Anna’s plan was about to come to fruition… Fortunately, the 2nd Illinois Infantry seemingly ignored the flight of the Hoosiers, executed a fighting retreat, pouring volley after volley into the advancing Mexicans, holding them up. Particularly effective were the “buck and ball” volleys the Illinois infantry were firing – three buckshot atop a .69 slug. Rushing to their aid were Bragg’s “flying” battery, the 1st Illinois and 2nd Kentucky Infantry regiments. At this crisis in the battle, Gen. Taylor reappeared with the Mississippi Rifles and the 2nd Dragoons. Gen. Wool rode up to Taylor, saying that the “army was whipped.” Taylor coolly replied, “I know it, but the volunteers don’t know. Let them be; we’ll see what they do.” Col. Davis and the Mississippi Rifles and the 3rd Indiana formed an inverted “V” with the open end facing approaching Mexican lancers. Charging right into the gap, the Mexicans expected the Americans to fire some uncoordinated musket volleys. However, the Mississippians were armed with the latest rifle, Model 1841, and were crack shots up to 500 yards. At 80 yards the entire Mexican body paused, as if surprised by the lack of firing. Then, the Hoosiers and Mississippians opened up; one witness said that the entire head of the enemy column disappeared. The Mexican cavalry retreated in complete disorder. Reforming the line at about a 45 degree angle to its original position, the Americans had fallen back over a mile and a quarter from their initial dispositions. O’Brien’s battery was now being serviced by infantrymen, as most of his gunners were dead or wounded. Despite the hotness of the Mexican attack, O’Brien lost only two of his guns. A new defensive line was forming, but would it be in time? Ordered to hold his position at all costs, Capt. Bragg’s battery prepared to fire on the advancing enemy, a large force of infantry. At that moment, Gen. Taylor rode up astride his horse “Old Whitey”, one leg thrown carelessly over the pommel of his saddle, accompanied by his aide Major Bliss. Frantic at the situation, Capt. Bragg asked the general who would support his position. Taylor calmly replied, “Major Bliss and I will support you.” Taylor’s sangfroid calmed Bragg as his men loaded their 6-pounders to fire on a line of infantry approaching his position. Davis’ Mississippi Rifles were coming to his aid, as were Illinois and Kentucky volunteers. At this point occurred the incident that helped propel Zachary Taylor into the White House 21 months later. Observing Bragg’s men at work, Taylor asked the battery commander, “What are you using, Captain? Grape or canister?” The reply was canister. Taylor’s next question was, “Single or double?” “Single,” was Bragg’s answer. “Well,” said Taylor, “double shot your guns and give them hell, Bragg.” [An aside for those not completely up on their historical artillery loads: grape, or grapeshot, was a canvas bag loaded with dozens of smaller, loosely-packed metal slugs. When fired, the slugs dispersed similar to a shotgun. It was extremely effective at short ranges. Canister, on the other hand, was similar but the metal slugs were encased in a metal casing. When an artillery piece fired canister, the metal casing disintegrated, adding the casing’s metal to the blast hitting enemy combatants. Imagine what that would do to human bodies…] Following his commanding general’s orders, Capt. Bragg double-loaded his cannon, and at 50 yards delivered three thunderous volleys into the faces of the Mexican soldiers. The horrendous casualties demoralized the Mexicans. At the same time, Davis’ Mississippians and the 3rd Indiana attacked the Mexicans in their flank, pushing them back in rout and effectively ending any substantive fighting. Mexican cavalry had managed to reach the Buena Vista hacienda, as well as the original American base in Saltillo, but both attacks were driven off. Within the hour, a driving rainstorm ended the battle. That night, Santa Anna rallied his forces, declared victory and fell back to San Luis Potosi. Mexican casualties were staggering: about 600 dead, about 1000 wounded, 1800 missing and about 300 captured – nearly one-quarter of his entire force. American casualties amounted to 267 dead, 456 wounded, and 23 missing. This was the last major battle in northern Mexico, as the theatre of battle shifted to Mexico City. In two year’s time, Taylor was on his way to the White House, becoming the first President never to have held public office, and the last Southerner in the White House until Woodrow Wilson’s election in 1912. He was also the second President to die in office, dying of gastroenteritis (then called cholera morbus) in July, 1850 after only 16 months in office. Note #1: Captain Braxton Bragg was a strict disciplinarian, and a stickler for regulations. He was apparently the target of two attempted “fraggings” by his own men, but avoided injury in both instances. Bragg would later serve as a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He was hated by all the officers under him, to such an extent that a petition was sent to CSA President Jefferson Davis, asking that Bragg be removed. Bragg even was bodily threatened by famed cavalry officer Nathan Bedford Forest, who called him “a damned scoundrel…” further stating, “If you ever again try to interfere with me or cross my path it will be at the peril of your life.” Note #2: One of the units serving under the Mexican flag at Buena Vista was the San Patricio (Saint Patrick) battalion. Though only about one quarter were actually Irish, they were offered large grants of land if they would desert the American army. They comprised mainly recent Catholic immigrants to America, and came from all three branches of the army – infantry, cavalry, artillery. It was artillery of the San Patricios that dueled with Lt. O’Brien’s battery. Note #3: At the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, Braxton Bragg would be opposed by a former artilleryman who was also present at Buena Vista, George Henry Thomas. Thomas, by covering the retreat of the Union Army, would receive the nom de guerre “The Rock of Chickamauga.” Postscript: Jefferson Davis, as a young army lieutenant in 1835, had courted Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor, and married her after resigning his commission. Taylor intensely disapproved of the match. Three months after they were wed, both Jeff and Sarah Davis fell ill with malaria. He recovered, while Sarah died. Davis and Taylor were not reconciled to each other until after the Battle of Buena Vista. After being wounded during the battle, Davis continued to lead his men with great distinction. Approaching Davis after the battle, Taylor is reported to have said to Davis, “My daughter, sir, was a better judge of men than I was.”