“From the Halls of Montezuma…” (cont.)
13 SEPTEMBER 1847
“FROM THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA…” (cont.)
Meanwhile, a diversion created by Quitman’s troops allowed a second Army division under MGEN Gideon J. Pillow to carry the lower walls of Chapultepec from the west. And, to the south, Quitman’s follow-up forces overtook the Marine’s position, struggling through small breaches in the castle walls. Watson’s Marines joined the rush to the castle, from whence the overwhelmed defenders now ran.
Noting the incipient rout, a Marine company commanded by CPT George H. Terret, who had no intention of stopping at the castle, broke from their position to charge after the fleeing Mexicans. Joined in the confusion by a small Army unit under LT Ulysses S. Grant, Terret’s men rushed up the causeway leading to the San Cosme Gate. Here Terret’s unit fell into a heated action with the defenders of a Mexican barricade just outside that gate. Additional Army units converged on the site, and after further fierce fighting, the gate was taken.
As the fighting at San Cosme progressed, Watson’s remaining Marines regrouped at the castle. They captured the cannon of one of the last functioning Mexican batteries then rejoined Quitman’s main force in the rush for the Belen Gate. The defenders here fell back more easily, allowing Quitman’s men to enter the city. Watson’s Marines secured the buildings around the gate and successfully fended-off several sharp counter attacks.
In total seven Marines were killed and 24 wounded in the fighting this day. The following morning Quitman’s fatigued division marched into the center of Mexico City where Marine 2nd LT A.S. Nicholson was given the honor of raising the American flag. Quitman next detailed the Marines to secure snipers and looters from the Palacio Nacional, a building the Marines mistakenly thought had originally been the site of Aztec emperor Montezuma’s throne. Here, the high shakos and crossed white chest belts of the Marine uniform caught the eye of occupied and occupier alike.
The Marines remained in Mexico City until January 1848, and upon their return home, Marine Corps Commandant LCOL Archibald Henderson was presented with a set of colors by the citizens of Washington, DC. Upon these were emblazoned, “From Tripoli to the Halls of Montezumas.” Returning Marines applied this phrase to a bar tune they had sung in Mexico, giving birth to The Marine’s Hymn. LCOL Henderson, ever willing to bolster Marine Corps honor, canvassed those returning for examples of heroism. He was thus able to convince himself that Terret’s men at the San Cosme Gate had been the first Americans to enter Mexico City, undoubtedly fostered in part by reports of his son, 2nd LT Charles A. Henderson, an officer in Terret’s unit. The myth persists today.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 21 SEP 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Bauer, K. Jack. The Mexican War 1846-1848. Lincoln, NB: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1974, pp. 308-23.
Heinl, Robert Debs, Jr. Soldiers of the Sea: The United States Marine Corps, 1775-1962. Baltimore, MD: Nautical & Aviation Pub., 1991, pp. 50-52.
Millett, Allan R. Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps. New York, NY: Macmillan Pub Co., 1980, pp. 77-81.
Simmons, Edwin H. The United States Marines, 1775-1975. New York, NY: Viking Press, 1976, pp. 38-40.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: Prior to 1848 the Marine Corps colors bore their official motto:
“To the shores of Tripoli.”
The inscription on the new colors presented to LCOL Henderson above expanded that older motto. (The current motto of the Marine Corps is, “Semper Fidelis”–Ever Faithful).
Thirteen of 23 Marine officers received brevet (frocked) promotions as a result of actions around Mexico City this month.
Gideon J. Pillow went on to serve as a General Officer in the Confederate Army of the Civil War, fighting in Tennessee and Kentucky. John Quitman did not live to see the Civil War. He died of “National Hotel Disease” in 1858–an outbreak of severe dysentery that claimed the lives of 400 guests of the National Hotel in Washington, DC–guests who were attending President James Buchanan’s inauguration.
The capture of Mexico City ended the fighting in the Mexican War. The Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo on 2 February 1848 ceded the land that would eventually become the States of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, and portions of Utah and Colorado to the United States. Baja California, in US hands at the end of the war, was vacated by US Navy occupation forces and remains today part of Mexico. (Texas had previously won her independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836). Curiously, years later, Germany would tempt Mexico into entering World War I on the side of the Central Powers by promising the return of these ceded lands.
