ment and
corresponds to the Military Academy at West Point.

Everybody knew that the admission of Texas meant war with Mexico, for
that country would never yield, until compelled to do so, the province
that had rebelled against her rule and whose independence she had
persistently refused to recognize. Texas was unable to withstand the
Mexican army, and her authorities urged the United States to send a
force for her protection. General Zachary Taylor, who was in camp in
western Louisiana, was ordered to advance into and occupy Texan
territory.

Mexico had always insisted that the Nueces River was her western
boundary, while Texas maintained that the Rio Grande was the dividing
line. The dispute, therefore, was really over the tract of land between
the two rivers. Our country proposed to settle the question by
arbitration, but Mexico would not consent, claiming that the section
(known as Coahuila) had never been in revolt against her authority,
while Texas declared that it was a part of itself, and its Legislature
so decided December 19, 1836.

General Taylor established a camp at Corpus Christi in the latter part
of 1845, at the mouth of the Nueces. With nearly 5,000 troops, he
marched, in January, to the Rio Grande to meet the Mexicans who were
preparing to invade the disputed territory. Taylor established a depot
of provisions at Point Isabel on the Gulf, and, upon reaching the Rio
Grande, hastily built Fort Brown, opposite the Mexican town of
Matamoras.

Some time later the Mexican forces reached Matamoras, and General Arista
on the 26th of April notified Taylor that hostilities had begun. To
emphasize his declaration, Captain Thornton with a company of dragoons
was attacked the same day, and, after the loss of sixteen men in killed
and wounded, was compelled to surrender to a much superior force. This
was the first engagement of the war and was fought on ground claimed by
both countries.

BATTLE OF PALO ALTO.

The Mexicans acted vigorously and soon placed Taylor's lines of
communication in such danger that he hurried to Point Isabel to prevent
its falling into the hands of the enemy. He left Major Brown with 300
men in charge of Fort Brown. The Mexicans were exultant, believing
Taylor had been frightened out of the country. But that valiant officer
paused at Point Isabel only long enough to make its position secure,
when he marched rapidly toward Fort Brown. Reaching Palo Alto, on the
road, he found the wa