South Carolina
in the Mexican War
South Carolina played a
significant role in the Mexican War, both in America's professional army and its volunteer
army. Milledge Luke Bonham, Benjamin
Huger and Barnard Bee, each a member of the Aztec Club,
were in the United States Army in Mexico. In December, 1846, South Carolina's Palmetto
Regiment was organized. It served valiantly during the campaign in the Valley of Mexico
all the way to Mexico City. In his recent book titled South
Carolina in the Mexican War (South Carolina Department of Archives and
History. Columbia, South Carolina USA. 1996.), Jack A. Meyer, Ph. D. states that by the
War's end over 40 percent of the Palmetto Regiment had died of wounds or disease.
The following is the text of a
speech given after the Mexican War by General Samuel McGowan at a meeting of the Palmetto
Regiment.
Gen.
Samuel McGowan
Life and
Correspondence of John A. Quitman. Major-General, U.S.A. and Governor of the State
of Mississippi. John Francis Hamtrach
Claiborne. In Two Volumes. Harper and Brothers, New York. 1860.