Southern Honor and the Mexican War. Gregory Scott Oh Spodor Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2000 Honor Bound: *Southern Honor and the Mexican War. Gregory Scott oH spodor Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Hospodor, Gregory Scott, "Honor Bound: *Southern Honor and the Mexican War." (2000). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7269. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7269 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. 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Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. HONOR BOUND: SOUTHERN HONOR AND THE MEXICAN WAR A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Gregory Scott Hospodor B.A., College of William and Mary in Virginia, 1987 M. A., University of Mississippi, 1991 August, 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9984337 Copyright 2000 by Hospodor, Gregory Scott All rights reserved. _ ___ <£» UMI UMI Microform9934337 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ©Copyright 2000 Gregory Scott Hospodor All rights reserved ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments No one who completes a dissertation does it alone. With this said, I wish to acknowledge some o f those who walked with me along the long, hard path I have traveled. Above all, I owe a special debt of thanks to my wife, Shari. Her patience in enduring the trials of a graduate student's life go beyond the legitimate call of devotion. Without her love, support, and understanding, this project would never have been completed. My parents, David and Linda, also offered extraordinary encouragement and support throughout the years. Like Shari, they believed in me when I questioned myself and gave me the confidence to persevere. I also thank them for my stubborn streak that would not allow me to forsake my goal. I owe Doctor Benjamin Lewis Price, scholar, mentor, and gentleman, a debt of gratitude which I can never repay. He freely offered his time, insights, and encouragement. I am proud to call him my best friend. Doctor David Hayes helped me to see, among other things, that the dissertation mountain was not quite so tall as I believed. To him, I offer my sincere thanks. At crucial time in the writing process, Doctor Mary Hebert’s contentious editing prevented many grammatical errors from appearing in the final manuscript. Finally, I wish to thank the faculty of the History department at Louisiana State University, especially Charles Royster and Paul Paskoff, both for offering me the opportunity to become a professional historian and for supporting me in my efforts. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................... v Prologue............................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 21 Chapter I “Bound by all the ties of honor:” Honor, Southerners, and the Mexican War 27 II The South, the Mexican War, and the Politics of Honor ................................... 77 III Washington Redux: Zachary Taylor in the Southern Imagination ................ 135 Epilogue........................................................................................................................... 263 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 267 V ita................................................................................................................................... 317 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract This dissertation examines how concepts of honor, and its adjunct, republicanism, influenced both the perceptions and actions of southerners during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 and the period immediately thereafter. It is meant to illustrate the important, and heretofore overlooked, role that notions of honor played both for those southerners who participated in the war and those who stayed at home. The dissertation is thematic rather than chronologic in organization and consists of three chapters. The first chapter examines the attitudes of southerners of both genders towards the Mexican War. It contends that they united in defining the conflict through the lens of honor. Southern concepts of honor impelled the white men of the South to volunteer and the women of the section to support them. The second chapter addresses the manner in which the politics of honor directed southern political responses to the Mexican War. It argues that President James K. Polk’s war message of May 11, 1846, which presented the war as an honorable endeavor, played a crucial role in defining the direction that the political debate over the question of the war would take in the region. Following the lead of the President, southern Democrats’ explanation and defense of the war was shaped by the language of honor and shame. In turn, the powerful cultural symbolism of offended honor muted the dissent of southern Whigs and Calhounites. The final chapter examines southerners’ perceptions of General Zachary Taylor, the quintessential hero of the Mexican War. It contends that Taylor, because of his v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. military exploits and republican character, became, for a short time, the South’s most honored man. It argues that many southerners came to view Taylor as a perfect republican statesman, a man above party, a second George Washington. As such, they expected President Taylor to reconcile the interests of all parts o f the Union through disinterested, just, and wise leadership. It concludes that Taylor’s failure to achieve national harmony shook southerners’ faith in the model of “national” republican leadership that he represented. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Prologue On Tuesday, November 23, 1847, Zachary Taylor received word that his request for leave, submitted in early October, had been granted. Three days later, the General, his staff, servants, and Old Whitey, his famed war-horse, boarded the small side wheeler Monmouth at Brazos Island and sailed for New Orleans. Taylor looked forward to returning to the United States for he had not seen his family in more than two years and he knew that they were awaiting his arrival.1 Favorable seas blessed the Monmouth's voyage and she took only seventy-four hours to arrive at the South West Pass of the Mississippi River. There, with celebratory “discharges of cannon and display of flags,”