But
the United States Government supported the cause of Texas. General
Zachary Taylor, who had served in the War of 1812, and afterward in
several Indian wars, took command of the army in Texas in 1845. In
January, 1846, he was ordered to occupy positions on or near the left
bank of the Rio Grande del Norte. This order and its execution have been
held by some writers to constitute an act of war, but war was not
formally declared by the United States till May 11th. Taylor, with a
small force, had several slight encounters with Mexican troops, after
which he won the battle of Palo Alto (May 8, 1846), near the southern
extremity of Texas; and that of Resaca de la Palma (May 9th), also in
Texas, four miles north of Matamoros, Mexico. He took possession of
Matamoros May 18th. With six thousand men, against about ten thousand
Mexicans under Ampudia, Taylor captured Monterey, Mexico (September
24th), and at Buena Vista, February 22-23, 1847, with five thousand
troops, he defeated fifteen thousand Mexicans under Santa Anna, then
President of Mexico and commander of her army.
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