John S.D. Eisenhower - So Far from God: The U.S. War With Mexico, 1846-1848

Copyright 1989 by John S. D. Eisenhower All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Thanks to Life Magazine for permission to reprint excerpts from My Confessions: The Recollections of a Rogue, by Samuel Chamberlain. Samuel Chamberlain, Life Magazine Time Inc. Reprinted with permission. Courtesy Life Picture Service.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eisenhower, John S.D., 1922
So far from God.
Bibliography: p.
1. United StatesHistoryWar with Mexico,
18451848Campaigns. I. Title.
E405.E37 1989 973.62 88-42675
eISBN: 978-0-307-82768-5

Maps by Arnold C. Holeywell

v3.1

J OHN S. D. E ISENHOWER is the author of The Bitter Woods, a best-selling account of the Battle of the Bulge. He lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The Bitter Woods
Strictly Personal
Letters to Mamie (ed.)
Allies

To a better understanding between
Mexico and the United States

Poor Mexico! So far from God and
so close to the United States.

attributed to General Porfirio Daz,
president of Mexico, 18771911

From that day nothing was heard but
the cry of war. Thus succeeded
the scenes of blood and extermination until
the horses of the north arrived to
trample the smiling level fields of the
beautiful valley of Mexico, and the
degenerate descendents of William Penn
came to insult the sepulchres of our
fathers.

Alcaraz

The grievous wrongs perpetrated by
Mexico upon our citizens for a long
period of years remains unredressed;
and solemn treaties have been
disregarded. In the meantime we have
tried every effort at reconciliation.
The cup of forebearance had been
exhausted, even before Mexico passed
the boundary of the United States,
invaded our territory, and shed
American blood upon American soil.

President James K. Polk, message to
Congress, May 11, 1846