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Document 13012

JAMES KNOX POLK and WILLIAM L. MARCY
Promotion for "gallant and meritorious conduct" in the Mexican War Battle of Buena Vista.
Partly Printed DS: "James K. Polk" as 11th U.S. President and "W.L. Marcy" as Secretary of War, 1p, 15½x19¼. Washington, 1848 June 24. On vellum. In part: "Know Ye, That I do hereby confer on Captain James H. Carleton, of the Army of the United States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate the rank of Major, by Brevet, in said army, to rank as such from the Twenty third day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty seven For 'gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Buena Vista'...." In February 1847, during the Mexican War, General Zachary Taylor moved south from Monterey with 4,650 troops. Unknown to Taylor until February 21st, Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna had marched north from San Luis Potosi with 15,000 men. On February 22nd, Taylor, positioned with his army at Buena Vista, refused a surrender demand. After a skirmish, the main battle took place on February 23rd; it was the most bitterly fought in the war. Santa Anna's army retreated with a loss of nearly 2,000 men, and the war in the northern theater was over. JAMES HENRY CARLETON (1814-1873), who had served on General John E. Wool's staff, received this promotion to Major for his actions at Buena Vista. At the war's end, Carleton published The Battle of Buena Vista, with the Operations of the Army of Occupation for one Month (New York: 1848). During the Civil War, Carleton was commissioned Major of the 6th Cavalry and ordered to southern California, where he raised a body of troops known as the "California Column". He marched with them across the Yuma and Gila deserts to Mesilla on the Rio Grande. Commissioned Brigadier General, he relieved General Edward Canby as Commander of the Department of New Mexico. WILLIAM LEARNED MARCY served as Polk's Secretary of War from March 1845 until March 1849. He was later Pierce's Secretary of State, negotiating several important international treaties during his tenure. Mexican War commissions of noted officers are very desirable and rarely appear on the market. Mostly yellowed. 2¼-inch diameter paper seal affixed with red wax and a straight pin at upper left. Lightly creased. Vertical fold touches the "M" in Marcy.

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