Historically Speaking Alexander William Doniphan And Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo at 200

uly 7 marks the 200th anniversary of By Brig. Gen. John S. Brown West, commanded by Brig. Gen. Stephen Jthe birth of the prominent Hispanic- U.S. Army retired W. Kearny, at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. American soldier and statesman Mariano With Kearny he marched to secure Santa Guadalupe Vallejo. July 9 marks the 200th anniversary of Fe, N.M., a mission accomplished on August 18. Kearny the birth of the prominent Anglo-American soldier and continued on to California in September, leaving Doniphan statesman Alexander William Doniphan. It seems fitting in command of the newly designated New Mexico Territory. that we commemorate the lives of these two great men at Doniphan negotiated a treaty with the Navaho Indians and points so proximate in time. They represent two very differ- settled affairs in New Mexico, then left it under the supervi- ent, yet complementary, threads in the history of the United sion of Col. Sterling Price as he mounted an expedition of States of America as a transcontinental nation. his own into northern Mexico. Alexander William Doniphan is probably more familiar to On December 25, Doniphan won a lopsided victory ARMY readers. He was born near Maysville, Ky., in 1808, against a larger force at El Brazito, then took possession of graduated from Augusta College in 1826, moved to Mis- El Paso two days later. Pausing briefly, he set off to seize souri in 1830 and achieved prominence in both law and pol- Chihuahua in February 1847. En route, he again encoun- itics. Political success parlayed into positions of increasing tered and overcame a numerically superior enemy force. responsibility in the state militia, and he advanced to the Maj. Gen. Zachary Taylor, the American commander in rank of brigadier general. In 1838, he participated in the northern Mexico, ordered Doniphan to Saltillo, which he brief military campaign against Mormons settled in Mis- reached as hostilities in the north were winding down. souri. Having captured a number of Mormon leaders, he re- Doniphan eventually continued on to the mouth of the Rio fused orders to execute them and protected them from exe- Grande River and debarked for New Orleans, where he cution by others as well. The Mormons departed Missouri mustered out his men. The entire expedition from Fort on a westward trek that eventually ended in Utah. Leavenworth to the Gulf of Mexico was a remarkable When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, volunteers march of 3,600 miles, punctuated by challenging battles flocked to the colors in support of America’s Manifest Des- and heavy fighting. Doniphan himself epitomized the rest- tiny to span the continent from sea to sea. Doniphan orga- less—albeit ethnocentric—idealism and daring adventur- nized the 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers and ism that animated the United States and its volunteer sol- was elected colonel of them. He joined the Army of the diers in their approach to this war. ess chives Ar National Library of Congr An 1847 map depicts the U.S.-Mexico 2,000-mile border and the territory that changed hands at the end of the Mexican War. Alexander William Doniphan organized the 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers in 1846 and was elected its colonel.

86 ARMY I July 2008 ariano Guadalupe Vallejo was born into a prominent In 1842, the central government dispatched Brig. Gen. MCalifornio family in Monterey. The Californios, of Manuel Micheltorena, with an army consisting largely of whom there were about 7,000 in 1840, were descendants of pardoned criminals, to reassert its authority in California. Spanish and Mexican pioneers who moved north begin- Soon enough, Micheltorena’s army began perpetrating out- ning in the 18th century. Vallejo enrolled as a cadet in the rages on the population—Hispanic and Anglo alike—suffi- Presidio of Monterey in 1824 and led a successful expedi- cient to inspire a spirit of revolt. In 1846, California fell to— tion against the Miwok Indians in 1829. Thousands of Indi- or was liberated by—tiny contingents led by Kearny, Capt. ans in various tribes lived throughout California, and a John C. Frèmont, Commodore John D. Sloat and Com- Russian settlement at Fort Ross (south of Mendocino) sug- modore Robert F. Stockton. Vallejo was unfortunately incar- gested another potential security concern. In 1835, Vallejo cerated by “Bear Flag Revolt” insurgents, but when released was appointed comandante of the Fourth Military District took up the American cause, persuading other Californios and Director of Colonization of the Northern Frontier. This that U.S. citizenship was the best of the feasible options. He position put both the Russians and most of California’s In- played a prominent role in the California Constitutional dians within his purview. Convention and was elected to the state senate in 1850. Vallejo established a military base at Sonoma to contain The breathtaking transcontinental expeditions of such the Russians and negotiated an alliance with Chief Sem- daring leaders as Doniphan or Kearny would not have been Yeto of the Suisunes Indians. This native alliance expanded possible without the support—or at least the noninterfer- Vallejo’s own forces by a thousand ence—of populations en route. Leaders men and enabled him to successfully like Vallejo of the Californios and Juan secure the California frontier. An art- Nepomuceno Seguín of the Tejanos in ful mix of force and diplomacy ren- Texas proved instrumental in securing dered Vallejo the preeminent military the support of their countrymen at del- figure among the Californios. icate times. Then-Maj. Gen. Winfield As a young man, Vallejo read broad- Scott’s difficulties in central Mexico ly and was impressed by Enlighten- underscore the hazards of operating ment ideals and the American experi- without popular support in a hostile ment with constitutional democracy. In land. Ties of kinship on the frontier the aftermath of independence from were complex and often inclusive. In- Spain in 1821, the Mexican Constitution deed, some of Vallejo’s daughters mar- of 1824 created a representative federal ried Anglo-Americans, as was the case republic with three branches of govern- with many Californios and Tejanos. ment not unlike that of the United America was a melting pot well before States. Unfortunately, liberals advocat- the metaphor became popular, and the

ing states’ rights, religious toleration University of California, Berkeley Library, The Bancroft . Taber/ American people bring together nu- and the expansion of voting rights were I.W merous threads into a common whole. outmaneuvered and bullied by conser- Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, descen- In the short run, Californios, Tejanos vatives advocating strong central gov- dant of Spanish and Mexican pio- and other Hispanic-Americans were neers in Monterey, first served as a ernment, Roman Catholic orthodoxy shabbily treated by an overwhelming Mexican officer and later helped and tightly restricted voting rights. The shape the state of California. tide of Anglo-American settlement. In most notorious of these conservatives the long run, they indelibly marked was Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna, who advanced his and enriched the nation of which they became part. standing through a few armed engagements and styled him- Doniphan and Vallejo remain revered in multicultural self the “Napoleon of the West.” Vallejo, philosophically in- America. One can find a Doniphan County in Kansas and a clined towards the liberals, was dismayed by the autocratic city and highway named after him in Missouri. Vallejo, turn taken by the central government. When ordered to kill twice the capital of California, is a vibrant waterfront com- or deport Anglo-American settlers, he instead provided munity where the glorious Napa Valley meets the sea. ( them aid and assistance. Outlying states such as California, Texas, Chihuahua and Yucatan struggled to regain their au- Recommended Reading: tonomy from Mexico City, at times through armed revolt. Bauer, K. Jack, The Mexican War, 1846–1848 (New York: Macmillan, 1974) BRIG. GEN. JOHN S. BROWN, USA Ret., was chief of mili- tary history at the U.S. Army Center of Military History from Carney, Stephen A., The Occupation of Mexico, May December 1998 to October 2005. He commanded the 2nd Bat- 1846–July 1848 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military talion, 66th Armor, in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War History, 2005) and returned to Kuwait as commander of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Rosenus, Alan, General Vallejo and the Advent of the Cavalry Division, in 1995. He has a doctorate in history from Americans (Berkeley, California: Heyday Books, 1999) Indiana University.

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