Doniphan’s Thousand takes El Paso
The rag-tag army of volunteers known as Doniphans Thousand led by Colonel Alexander W.Doniphan wins a major victory in the war with Mexico with the occupation of El Paso.Born in Kentucky in 1808 Doniphan moved to Missouri in 1830 to practice law.But the tall redheaded man was not satisfied with fighting only courtroom battles and he volunteered as a brigadier general in the Missouri militia.
When war between Mexico and the U.S.erupted in 1846 the men of the 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteers elected Doniphan their colonel and marched south to join General Stephen Kearnys army in New Mexico.Since they were not professional military men Doniphans troops cared little for the traditional spit-and-polish of the regular troops and reportedly looked more like tramps than soldiers.Likewise Doniphan was a casual officer who led more by example than by strict discipline.
Nonetheless Doniphans Thousand proved to be a surprisingly effective force in the war with Mexico.In December Doniphan led 500 of his men and a large wagon train of supplies south to join General John E.Wool in his planned invasion of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.Before he had a chance to meet up with Wools larger force near the city of Chihuahua Doniphan encountered an army of 1200 Mexican soldiers about 30 miles north of El Paso Texas.
Although his opponents had twice the number of soldiers Doniphan led his men to victory and with the path to El Paso now largely undefended was able to occupy the city two days later.When nearing the Mexican border Doniphan learned that General Wools forces had broken off their invasion of Chihuahua because the armys wheeled vehicles had proved unworkable in the desert landscape.But rather than turn back Doniphan reassembled his army to its full force of about 1000 men and was allowed to proceed with the invasion unassisted.Once again grossly outnumbered-the Mexican army was four times the size of Doniphans-the Missouri troops were still able to quickly break through the defensive lines and occupy Chihuahua City.
By mid-summer 1847 Doniphans victorious army reached the Gulf Coast where they were picked up by ships and taken to New Orleans for discharge.By then the focus of the battle had shifted to General Winfield Scotts campaign to take Mexico City.In September of that year Scotts troops ended the war by successfully occupying Mexico City and for the first time in U.S.
history an American flag flew over a foreign capital.The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed early in 1848 gave the U.S.the vast western territory stretching from Texas to the Pacific and north to Oregon.
