Remembering: The US Storming Chapultepec

In April 1846 Mexico and the US went to war over Texas becoming a state in the Union. Whilst battles and skirmishes happened along the disputed Texan border, General Zachary Taylor conquered parts of California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

In March of 1847, General Winfield Scott landed around twelve thousand men on the coast near Vera Cruz and began a march on the Mexican capital. As he went he continuously offered peace, but was constantly rejected.

September 13, 1847 Scott sent US troops to storm the Mexican fortress of Chapultepec, outside of Mexico City, ending the last resistance. On the next day the US forces marched into the city and place the US flag over the Mexican National Palace, also known as the Halls of Montezuma. It was the first time that the US flag would fly over a foreign capital.

Mexico's Supreme Court responded by offering Scott dictatorship of Mexico, but he rejected the offer, and instead offered them a simple peace treaty. Instead of taking all of Mexico for the US, the peace treaty designated a border between the two countries. That same border exists til this day.

The events of September 14 would lead to the Halls of Montezuma becoming part of the Marine Hymn. Historical records there differ on how many Marines were present. Some say as many as one hundred and twenty, others as few as just one single observer.