DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks who roll through El Paso are thinking about the mountains, the river, the borderland feeling of the place — but this marker wants you to stop and reckon with one of the longest, strangest military marches in American history. We're talking about the Doniphan Expedition, and friend, this story covers some ground.
Literally. About five thousand miles of it. Pull up a chair around this fire and let me lay it out for you.
During the U.S.-Mexico War — that's 1846 to 1848 — a U.S. Army colonel named Alexander William Doniphan led a military expedition into the west that still echoes in El Paso today. Now who is this man?
Born in Kentucky in 1808. By the time this story starts, he's made himself into a lawyer, a legislator, and a militia commander out in Missouri. Not a career soldier — a citizen-soldier, through and through.
That matters. In May of 1846, Doniphan recruited volunteer troops. They organized at Fort Leavenworth, up in Kansas, and came together as the 1st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers.
Doniphan took the rank of colonel. The regiment then folded into a larger force — the Army of the West — commanded by Colonel Stephen W. Kearney.
And then they started walking. They departed Kansas. Marched 850 miles.
And when they arrived at Santa Fe, the provincial capital, they entered and occupied it — without a single shot fired in resistance. Just walked right in. Now here's where it gets consequential.
At Santa Fe, Kearney and Doniphan became the first men to establish U.S. governance over a conquered territory. Doniphan and his citizen-soldiers — and I want you to sit with that phrase, citizen-soldiers — drafted a territorial constitution right there. A lawyer from Missouri, writing law at the edge of a continent.
But Doniphan wasn't done. Not close. On December 1st, the regiment left Santa Fe and marched south.
Their objective: El Paso del Norte, which you know today as Ciudad Juárez. Standing between them and that town was a Mexican force — a larger Mexican force — at a place called Brazito. Doniphan's men defeated them.
And then, rather than fighting their way into El Paso del Norte, they negotiated a peaceful surrender of the town. One battle, one negotiation, one city secured. February 1847, they're moving again — this time toward the city of Chihuahua.
They fought Mexican forces at the Battle of the Sacramento, and on March 1st, took formal possession of the capital city. Then they marched to Saltillo. Then to Matamoros.
Then they got on boats, crossed the Gulf of Mexico, came up the Mississippi River, and finally came home. One year. Five thousand miles.
Think about that — one year, five thousand miles, on foot and on horseback, through desert and river and mountain and open plain, fighting when they had to and governing when they could. The marker says this expedition was crucial in securing victory over Mexico, and that it led to the annexation of more than one million square miles of what is now much of the western United States. A million square miles.
One regiment of Missouri volunteers helped draw the map we all live on. Alexander William Doniphan died in 1887. But the marker says it plainly: the legacy of his expedition continues to impact El Paso, Texas, and the United States.
You're sitting in one of those impacts right now. Every road you drove to get here, every mile marker, every city on the horizon — some part of that story runs through a march that started in Kansas and found its way, five thousand miles later, to this ground.
What the marker says
During the U.S.-Mexico War (1846-48), U.S. Army Colonel Alexander William Doniphan led a military expedition into the west. Doniphan, born in Kentucky in 1808, served as a lawyer, legislator and militia commander in Missouri. In May 1846, he recruited volunteer troops, which organized at Ft. Leavenworth (Kansas) to become the 1st regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers. Doniphan served as colonel of the regiment, which formed part of the army of the west commanded by Col. Stephen W. Kearney. The army departed Kansas. And after an 850-mile march, entered and occupied the provincial capital of Santa Fe without resistance. While there, Kearney and Doniphan became the first men to establish U.S. governance over a conquered territory, with Doniphan and citizen-soldiers drafting a territorial constitution. On December 1, the regiment left Santa Fe, marching south to capture El Paso del Norte (current day Ciudad Juarez). They defeated a larger Mexican force at Brazito before negotiating the peaceful surrender of the town. In February 1847, the troops left for the city of Chihuahua. They fought Mexican forces at the battle of the Sacramento and took formal possession of the capital city on March 1. The regiment later marched to Saltillo and returned home by way Matamoros and by boat across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi River. The one year, 5,000-mile expedition was crucial in securing victory over Mexico and led to the annexation of more than 1,000,000 square miles of what is now much of the western United States. Alexander Doniphan died in 1887, but the legacy of his expedition continues to impact El Paso, Texas and the United States. (2008)