Why Winfield Scott Succeeded in Mexico

When Winfield Scott landed near Veracruz on March 8, 1847, with the intention of winning the war with Mexico by seizing Mexico City, nearly 250 miles away over rugged mountains, many predicted he would soon suffer the fate of Napoleon’s armies in Spain, in the face of widespread guerrilla resistance. In this book, Prof Swenson (Hoseo University, Korea) explains why this did not happen.

After an introduction discussing the early nineteenth century understanding of the then radical idea of the “guerrilla – little war” waged irregularly, the book comprises two parts.

In the first part (c. 45 pages), Swenson offers an overview of the Spanish guerrilla against Napoleon. His key points are that the fierce popular resistance was fueled by the French effort to overthrow the Spanish state, not merely to grab some territory, their denigration of Spanish religious sensibilities, and their brutal response to resistance. This resistance supported and sustained the efforts of conventional forces, Wellington’s Britons and Portuguese and the Spanish regulars, to oust them.

The second part (c.125 pages), deals with the war in Mexico and the Mexican failure to develop effective guerrilla. He attributes this not to a lack of effort by the Mexicans to initiate extensive irregular resistance, but to the efforts of the U.S. Army’s General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, who, with Captain Henry Halleck, had extensively studied the Napoleonic disaster in Spain. Scott realized the best way to cope with widespread popular resistance was to avoid encouraging it by repeating the French errors. He took pains to stress respect for Mexico, its people and their religion (even appointing the Army’s first Catholic chaplains and participating in Catholic services), while punishing looters, rapists, and those who abused Mexican civilians. Rather than inflict brutal reprisals on the local people, Scott even recruited bandit chiefs to serve as scouts and spies to help suppress guerrilla attacks. So while the Mexican government try to spark irregular resistance, Scott’s policies limited its scope and effectiveness, despite atrocity-prone Texan volunteers.

The Dawn of Guerrilla Warfare is a good read for anyone interested in the Mexican-American War or the history of the guerrilla.

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Note: The Dawn of Guerrilla Warfare is also available in e-editions.

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