Chapter 547 Famous American Generals
The Austrian naval fleet set sail again. This time the destination was naturally not the Port of Veracruz controlled by the Americans, but the Port of Altamira in central Mexico.
Although the Port of Altamira is far inferior to the Port of Veracruz in terms of throughput and infrastructure construction.
But this was the last major East Coast port still in Mexican hands at this time.
In the White House at this time, John Tyler looked much older than before the war started, and he did not look like the old man who was ambitious before the war.
The Austrians in California were too strong, Zachary Taylor in the Rio Grande was so incompetent that he was hobbled by a little yellow fever, and Winfield and those damn Mexicans were just a bunch of idiots. pig.
The bomb planted by Franz also began to show its power. John Taylor wanted to remedy it, but after taking dozens of methods, he found that it was impossible to suppress the bomb unless he established a dictatorship.
Either trample on the Constitution or sell America to the bankers.
However, doing so will not only betray one's own ideals, but also make the entire United States an enemy.
So he decided to go all out.
In fact, Stonewall Jackson and "God of War" Robert E. Lee, who later became famous in the American Civil War, were doing work-study studies to build fences for widows, and the other was working as an engineer to replace drainage pipes for the fort.
Thomas Jonathan Jackson lost his father when he was two years old and his mother when he was seven years old. He relied on working on his uncle's farm and only attended elementary school for four years.
However, due to his outstanding performance in the police force at Fort Clark, he was recommended by the local congressman at the age of 20 and was able to enter the West Point Military Academy for further study.
(I rescued a certain congressman twice, solved a kidnapping case against the congressman’s family, and destroyed a gang.)
Jackson's background and experience gave him a completely different temperament from the dudes of the same period, which left a deep impression on the then U.S. Secretary of War.
He was immediately sent to the artillery major, which was the most difficult to enter, with high hopes. However, Jackson was a peace officer from the countryside after all, and his classmates looked down on this savage and vulgar country bumpkin.
Jackson's country accent, big beard and spelling mistakes always made these dandies laugh.
However, Jackson still went his own way, even rejecting funding from congressmen and the Secretary of War, and earning living expenses by building walls for nearby farms.
At the beginning of the war, Jackson also wanted to fight for the United States.
However, at the beginning of the war, everyone felt that the U.S.-Mexican War was just a game for military merit, so it was impossible for him to join it without any power.
The school rejected Jackson's request to join the war because he had not completed his studies.
Jackson himself thought it was nothing. The teachers had all gone to fight the Mexican-American War, so he could only continue to help people build walls to earn living expenses.
However, because the war was not going well at this time, John Tyler issued a presidential order to force these military academy students to enlist in the army. When his classmates were retiring from the army, Jackson brought his own dry food and horses to the Rio Grande Army Camp to take up the post of second lieutenant in the artillery.
“Never neglect the future.”
——The motto on the Li family crest.
Robert E. Lee was completely different from Jackson. His family had a glorious history. His ancestors had participated in the American Revolutionary War and had been generals and congressmen.
Thanks to the blessing of his ancestors, Robert E. Lee successfully entered West Point Military Academy after graduating from high school, and then successfully graduated with the second highest score in the school.
However, his cheating life came to an abrupt end. Starting from 1829, Robert E. Lee's life could only be described as abject.
Because his father was very anti-war, he quarreled with Madison (the fourth president of the United States) in Congress, and then openly opposed James Monroe (the fifth president of the United States), and even almost had a fight with Andrew Jackson, who was known for his toughness. (Seventh President of the United States) Duel.
Finally, an anti-war uprising was launched in Baltimore, and then he and eleven other anti-war leaders were imprisoned in Baltimore Prison.
In the final moments of his life, Henry Lee (Robert E. Lee's father) was lynched.
One of the twelve people who were tortured had his head cut off and was thrown at the door of the prison. The remaining eleven people were all brutally tortured.
According to other people’s descriptions:
The thugs used scythes to cut off Henry Lee's nose and vital parts. During the torture, he remained silent and just glared at those people, showing amazing strength and courage.
The thugs then blinded his eyes with scalding hot oil and broke his hands and one of his legs.
In the end, all the thugs thought Henry Lee was dead and dumped his body in the street.
However, Henry Lee did not die, but lived for another three years before leaving this "land he loved deeply".
The death of Henry Lee was not the end. Robert Lee, as his son, was naturally burdened with huge debts.
The transformation from the chosen one to the damned one once made Robert Lee depressed.
No matter what he does, he will not be appreciated by others, no matter how well he does it, he will be criticized, and his efforts and conscientiousness will be regarded as a sign of incompetence.
This caused Robert E. Lee to fall into self-doubt for a time, but he finally came out of the shadows with the persuasion of his old servant at home.
(Turner, the old servant, was a black slave. His knowledge of literature and military affairs belonged to Robert E. Lee’s first teacher and butler.)
In addition, let me say here that Robert E. Lee was not a die-hard supporter of slavery. Both her mother-in-law and mother had freed slaves, taught them to read and write, and even held religious gatherings for them.
These behaviors were illegal in the United States at the time, but Robert E. Lee actually acquiesced to this fact.
In 1844, Robert E. Lee was still doing some hard work at Fort Lafayette and his camp. Every day he repaired the cracks in the stone walls, painted the walls, and laid new drainage pipes.
As a man at 35 he has accomplished nothing and has six children to support. Finally, he got an opportunity to serve as an examiner at West Point Military Academy, but the Mexican-American War broke out again.
Robert E. Lee also wanted to join the war, but was ridiculed mercilessly.
"We went to fight a war, not to repair drainage ditches."
The U.S. War Department rejected Robert E. Lee's application, not knowing that the captain would become one of the greatest generals in American history.
Also due to the intensity of the war, Robert E. Lee and his engineering battalion received the task of supporting the Rio Grande front line.
Rio Grande Barracks Provisional Headquarters.
William Tecumseh Sherman, the future master of terror in the Civil War, slammed his military cap to the ground. He had long discovered that the main Mexican force across the river had fled.
"Damn it! There is only a group of black people left in Albuquerque Fortress. Why not attack! Those black people are not sick. They must have a cure. Instead of letting the soldiers die of illness in the military camp, it is better to fight them!"
The soldiers on the side knew that no one dared to dissuade the lieutenant. They even thought that it was good now, since they were getting paid anyway, and the number of Mexican cavalry was getting smaller and smaller and was almost invisible.
In fact, Sherman came to report to the headquarters again today that the main force of the Mexicans had been transferred, but his rank was too low and he was not even qualified to meet with the staff.
In the recent attack, Sherman found that the number of cavalry sent by the Mexicans to harass was not only getting smaller and smaller, but there were even black soldiers among them.
The black men were clearly novices at first sight, which proved that the garrison of Albuquerque Fort had no more troops to send.