Table Of ContentPanting for Glory
Number 151
Williams- Ford
Texas A&M University
Military History Series
Richard Bruce Winders
Panting for Glory
The Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War
Texas A&M University Press
College Station
Copyright © 2016
by Richard Bruce Winders
All rights reserved
First edition
This paper meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Binding materials have been chosen
for durability.
Manufactured in the
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Library of Congress
Cataloging- in-Publication Data
Name: Winders, Richard Bruce, 1953– author.
Title: Panting for glory : the Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War / Richard Bruce Winders
Other titles: Williams-Ford Texas A&M University military history series ; no. 151
Description: First edition. | College Station : Texas A&M University Press, [2016] | Series: Williams-Ford
Texas A&M University military history series ; number 151 | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: lccN 2016004930 | ISbN 9781623494162 (book/cloth : alk. paper) |
ISbN 9781623494179 (e-book)
Subjects lcSh: United States. Army. Mississippi Infantry Regiment, 1st (1846–1848)—History. | United
States. Army. Mississippi Infantry Regiment, 2nd (1846–1848)—History. | Mexican War, 1846–1848—
Regimental histories—Mississippi. | Mexican War, 1846–1848—Campaigns, Mexico.
Classification: lcc e409.5.m56 w56 2016 | ddc 973.6/2—dc23 lc record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004930
Contents
Acknowledgments · vii
Preface: Glory · ix
Introduction: Mississippi on the Eve of War · 1
1 Mobilizing Mississippi for War · 6
2 Off to War · 15
3 The March to Monterrey · 23
4 The 1st Mississippi Regiment at Monterrey · 31
5 Life under the Armistice · 44
6 The Victoria Expedition · 53
7 Glory Bound · 61
8 The 1st Mississippi Rifles at Buena Vista · 66
9 Homeward Bound · 74
10 The 2nd Mississippi Rifles Go To Mexico · 84
11 Discontented Poor Fellows · 97
12 Life in the Backwaters of the War · 109
13 Evaluating the Role of the Mississippi Volunteers · 120(cid:1)
appendix 1: The Model 1841 Rifle · 131
appendix 2: County of Origin by Regiment · 135(cid:1)
appendix 3: County of Origin by Regiment Population · 136(cid:1)
appendix 4: The 1st and 2nd Regiments of Mississippi Rifles:
Comparison of Statistics · 138
Notes · 141
Bibliography · 173
Index · 181
AckNOwledgmeNtS
Panting for Glory: The Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War is a book that
was 25 years in the making. Like most students of American military
history, I was familiar with the red- shirted heroes of Buena Vista and
their commander, Col. Jefferson Davis. Thus, as someone working on his
master’s thesis in the mid- 1980s at the University of Texas at Arlington,
I was delighted to find a collection of letters from Lt. Andrew Jackson
Trussell. As I read his letters, I found that although a member of the Mis-
sissippi Rifles, he belonged to the regiment commanded by Rueben Davis,
not Jefferson Davis. The experience of the two regiments—the 1st Mis-
sissippi Rifles and the 2nd Mississippi Rifles—could not have been more
different: fame and glory for one and disappointment and heartbreak for
the other. The study of these two regiments became my 1990 MA thesis,
The Role of the Mississippi Volunteers in Northern Mexico.
I had intended to publish my manuscript, but fate intervened. I went
on to work on my doctorate at Texas Christian University under the
direction of Dr. Grady McWhiney. My work on Mexican War soldiers ex-
panded to cover all troops, both volunteers and regulars. My dissertation
formed the basis of my first book, Mr. Polk’s Army: The American Mili-
tary Experience in the Mexican War. Shortly after graduating from TCU,
an incredible opportunity came my way. Offered the position of Historian
and Curator at the Alamo, I moved to San Antonio and shifted my focus
to the Texas Revolution and its earlier conflicts with Mexico. Two other
books followed: Crisis in the Southwest: The United States, Mexico and the
Struggle over Texas and Sacrificed at the Alamo: Tragedy and Triumph in the
Texas Revolution. Nevertheless, my work on the Mississippi Rifles was
always at the back of my mind.
Unknown to me at the time I produced my thesis, others were also
writing on the topic of the Mississippi Rifles. I ascribe my ignorance to
the arrogance often inherent in the youthful scholar. One person who
would publish two books on the Mississippi Rifles was Dr. Joseph E.
Chance, a former professor of mathematics who happens to be an ex-
cellent Mexican War historian. One volume was on Jefferson Davis and
the 1st Mississippi Rifles, and the other was an edited diary of Mississippi
Acknowledgments
Lt. Franklin Smith. Another scholar, William C. Davis, was completing
his biography on Jefferson Davis. During this same time Grady Howell Jr.,
a tireless researcher, was collecting information for his reference works
on Mississippi Volunteers. Howell was soon to edit and publish the war-
time diary of Thomas N. Love, the surgeon of the 2nd Mississippi Rifles.
Access to their work, combined with an opportunity to mature as a his-
torian, has allowed me to produce a more meaningful study than my
original thesis. Life has shown me that things happen for a reason.
The field of Mexican War studies has undergone a maturation period
as well. Several authors have produced insightful and valuable stud-
ies since the publication of Mr. Polk’s Army. These authors include
Timothy D. Johnson, Amy S. Greenberg, Paul Foos, David Clary, Steven E.
Woodworth, Joseph Wheelen, John Pinheiro, Irving Levinson, Brian
Delay, Robert W. Merry, Tom Reilly, Manley Witten, Chris Dishman, and
Doug Murphy. Not only have these authors produced new overviews
of the war, but several have explored specific campaigns and battles,
the Mexican War press, Polk and his contemporaries, and even Native
Americans. These later works are important because they demonstrate
that scholars—no longer satisfied with the well- worn memes of “stolen
territory” and “Civil War rehearsal”—are beginning to look deeper into
the conflict, its causes, conflicts, and ramifications.
I would like to acknowledge those who have helped in in my work. Dr.
Douglas W. Richmond, Dr. Gerald Saxon, and Dr. Stephen Maizlish were
the members of my thesis committee at UTA. Dr. Grady McWhiney, who
passed away several years ago, was my mentor at TCU. He was a true
scholar who set an example for all his students to follow. Joe Chance, who
I now count as a friend, still amazes me with his high volume of output.
Like “Doc” McWhiney, independent scholar Jack Davis has set the stan-
dard high for academic yet readable history. Special thanks go to David
Jackson, The Sommerfield Roberts Foundation, West Point Museum,
and the San Jacito Museum of History for making available artwork that
appears in the book. Thanks, too, to those who read the manuscript and
offered their advice. Dr. Donald S. Frazier generously provided the maps
that appear in this volume. Special thanks to my wife, Sharon, without
whose support none of this would have been possible.
viii
Preface
Glory
“The hero pants for glory in the field.”
Splendor; magnificence; Praise ascribed in adoration; honor; Honor;
praise; fame; renown; celebrity; Distinguished honor or ornament; that
which honors or makes renowned; that of which one may boast; To
boast; to be proud of.—Definitions of “glory” from Webster’s Dictionary
(1828 edition)
The Song of Death
Thou strik’st the dull peasant—he sinks in the dark,
Nor saves e’en the wreck of a name;
Thou strik’st the young hero—a glorious mark;
He falls in the blaze of his fame!
In the field of proud honour—our swords in our hands,
Our King and our country to save;
While victory shines on Life’s last ebbing sands,
O! who would not die with the brave!
—Robert Burns
The quest for personal, state, and national glory was a powerful
motive in the Mexican War. The possibility of achieving it was thought
worth the risk of one’s life. Those who found it returned home heroes,
lauded by their families, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. Those
who failed in their quest quietly returned home with their sacrifices and
hardships unrecognized. Attaining glory made for reputation, honor,
and a bright future. The lack of it left a soldier with his hope for fame un-
filled—a peasant among heroes.
What follows is a tale of two regiments. The 1st Mississippi Rifles
returned home arguably the most famous volunteer regiment of the
Mexican War. To their fellow Mississippians, Col. Jefferson Davis and
his men represented the best their state had to offer. They were tested in
battle and excelled. Their fame and glory spread to the national stage,
making them America’s heroes too. As the Woodville Republican ex-
plained, in the future it would be “sufficient to mark a man for distinction
and honor for him to say, ‘I was one of the 1st Mississippi Regiment.’ ”
The 2nd Mississippi Rifles returned home unheralded. The parades
