GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE WAR UPON MEXICO US Army Mortality Statistics War on Mexico 110 per 1,000 Civil War 65 per 1,000 “I do not think there was ever waged a more wicked war than that waged by the United States on Mexico. I thought so at the time, when I was a youngster, only I had not moral courage enough to resign.” — Ulysses S. Grant, PERSONAL MEMOIRS, 1885 “Fiddle-dee-dee, war, war, war, I get so bored I could scream!” —Scarlet O’Hara Over the years, people I’ve met have often asked me what I’m working on, and I’ve usually replied that the main thing was a book about Dresden. I said that to Harrison Starr, the movie-maker, one time, and he raised his eyebrows and inquired, “Is it an anti-war book?” “Yes,” I said. “I guess.” “You know what I say to people when I hear they’re writing anti-war books?” “No. What do you say, Harrison Starr?” “I say, ‘Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’” What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers. I believe that, too. — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE OR THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE A DUTY-DANCE WITH DEATH. NY: Dell, 1971, page 3. HDT WHAT? INDEX MEXICO MEJICO GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1632 Bernal Diaz del Castillo’s THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. 1810 October 19, day: Mexican revolutionary leader Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla proclaimed the end of slavery in the nation. 1813 Mexico declared its independence. 1815 José María Morelos, a priest who had for several years been sponsoring an insurrection against the Spanish dominion in Mexico, was executed. 2 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX MEXICO MEJICO GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1819 June 23, Wednesday: Under the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, Washington Irving put out the 1st American 1 installment of his THE SKETCH BOOK, including “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” In this text this racist author (the same racist author who announced that a Negro was “an abomination”) regurgitated our “Philip of Pokanoket” legend dating to “King Phillip’s War”, titillating us yet again with our very precious memory of a dead Indian chief. READ THE FULL TEXT At Concord, John D. Folsom of Concord got married with Betsy W. Dakin of Concord. Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 4th day 23rd of 6th M 1819 / Our Meeting this Afternoon was a very triumphant one. Truth rose into dominion in a very remarkable manner. The meeting was as large as it ever is on first day at Yearly Meeting time, & more quiet than usual at that time. The Govoner of this state with both Houses of the Legislature attended & sat in a body. — Elizabeth first appeared in humble prayer, chiefly on behalf of those placed in Authority over us. Then in a very pertinent address to the members of the Legislature on the subject of intemperance & War. Then the current of testimony run chiefly to the female part of the Audience & lastly to an hardened, rebelious state which she felt to be present. & the latter part of her testimony in particular came with such living power & gospel Authority that it seemed to me, that had she preached before the Apostle Paul he would at least have qualified his charge, forbidding Women to “preach or to teach” &c. — The Audience was all attentive & many deeply impressed with the Power of her ministry, as was evident in many who took her by the hand at the close of the Meeting with tears in their eyes. — The Govoner observed that he never heard Such preaching before. — RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 1. There is in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s THE SCARLET LETTER a literary reference to Irving’s headless horseman figure: THE SCARLET LETTER: Meanwhile, the press had taken up my affair, and kept me for a week or two careering through the public prints, in my decapitated state, like Irving’s Headless Horseman, ghastly and grim, and longing to be buried, as a political dead man ought. So much for my figurative self. The real human being all this time, with his head safely on his shoulders, had brought himself to the comfortable conclusion that everything was for the best; and making an investment in ink, paper, and steel pens, had opened his long-disused writing desk, and was again a literary man. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 3 HDT WHAT? INDEX MEXICO MEJICO GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE The Supreme Council of the Province of Texas declared the independence of Texas from Mexico: As all Governments were originally established by the will of the people for the benefit of society, whenever the existing Government, in any community, fails to effect the purposes for which it was instituted, it is competent to the community at large to rescind its express or tacit allegiance to the ruling power, and to organize a new constitution and form of government, more consistent with its interests, and more consonant with its feelings. In exercising this unquestionable right, an independent people have only to consult their own discretion. But, though amenable to no tribunal for its municipal acts, a free state, in claiming admission to the immunity of nations, owes of itself an exposition of the motives which have prompted it to the assertion of its rights, as well as of the principles which it assumes to vindicate. The citizens of Texas have long indulged the hope, that in the adjustment of the boundaries of the Spanish possessions in America, and of the territories of the United States, that they should be included within the limits of the latter. The claims of the United States, long and strenuously urged, encouraged the hope. An expectation so flattering prevented any effectual effort to throw off the yoke of Spanish authority, though it could not restrain some ineffectual rebellions against an odious tyranny. The recent treaty between Spain and the United States of America has dissipated an illusion too long fondly cherished, and has roused the citizens of Texas from [the] torpor to which a fancied security had lulled them. They have seen themselves, by a convention to which they were no party, literally abandoned to the dominion of the crown of Spain and left a prey not only to impositions already intolerable, but to all those exactions which Spanish rapacity is fertile in devising. The citizens of Texas would have proved themselves unworthy of the age in which they live, unworthy of their ancestry, of the kindred of the republics of the American continent, could they have hesitated in this emergency what course to pursue. Spurning the fetters of colonial vassalage, disdaining to submit to the most atrocious despotism that ever disgraced the annals of Europe, they have resolved under the blessing of God to be free. By this magnanimous resolution, the maintenance of which their lives and fortunes are pledged, they secure to themselves an elective and representative government, equal laws and the faithful administration of justice, the rights of conscience, and religious liberty, the freedom of the press, the advantage of liberal education, and unrestricted commercial intercourse with all the world. Animated by a just confidence in the goodness of their cause, and stimulated by the high object to be obtained by the contest, they have prepared themselves unshrinkingly to meet and firmly to sustain any conflict in which this declaration may involve them. Done at Nacogdoches, the 23rd day of June, in the year of our Lord 1819. James Long, President of the Supreme Council 4 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX MEXICO MEJICO GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE Bis[en]te [sic] Tarin, Secretary September 16, Thursday: Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s Grito de Dolores ignited an insurrection led by Ignacio Allende, that would produce both their deaths promptly and, after eleven years, the independence of Mexico. Frederic Tudor wrote to Samuel Parkman, who had made his nut in real estate, that he also was beginning to consider himself a rich man. Owning four icehouses worth $40,000 (not counting the value of their extensive real estate) can do that to you! This year he had already sold $30,000 worth of ice and expected to sell $6,000 or $8,000 more. Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 5th day 16th of 9th M 1819 / Our meeting was rather small J Dennis & father Rodman appeared in short testimonies, & to me it was a season of but little life, tho’ I thought in the forepart of it there was a little life & perhaps closed with a little. — RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 5 HDT WHAT? INDEX MEXICO MEJICO GO TO MASTER INDEX OF WARFARE 1821 As Mexico became independent from Spain, Mexican troops replaced Spanish troops at the Alamo. REMEMBERING THE ALAMO Mexico began to use its California province as a dumping-ground for criminals. Upon condition of their pledging that all children born in Mexico would be free –even the children of their slaves– Mexico allowed a group of United States citizens led by Stephen A. Austin to bring slaves into the “Texas” region of Mexico. The white American families emigrating with Austin were awarded large tracts of land on which to settle, and the Spanish government of Texas promised to refrain from offering freedom to the slaves of these families, so long as they were slaves of the initial generation.2 2.