Samuel Walker's last charge at Huamantla with his new Colt six guns

[elhombreconnonombre]

I've not heard exactly why Walker accepted a captency in the USMR. He was famous during the beginning of the war, riding back and forth through the Mexican lines during the cannonade of Fort Texas, bringing news to Taylor in Port Isabel, and the battles of Palo Alto and Reseca de Palma. Taylor liked him. Both he and Hays became national heroes for the various battles for Monterrey, both outside and within the city. Perhaps he had greater ambitions for after the war and thought service in the US Army during the war would help. We will never know. He did use his new found fame following Monterrey to gain access to the power elite including President Polk, army brass, and various senators to get Colt's six shooter ordered by the govt.

 

[mec]

Critics called it " Mr. Polk's War". One of our local authors wrote a book about it too. His publishers titled it " To Conquer A Peace" which the Author, John Edward Weems, did not much like. Weems was light on the arms involved but mentioned Ulysses (SAM) Grant and Robert E. Lee, recent West Point Graduates as major players.
Jack Hays eventually left Texas and surveyed the city of San Diego. My fifth grade teacher mentioned that she was related to Zachary Taylor but was not proud of it. This kind of bothered me too because he was my fifth cousin of some remove or another.