While the US has usually been blamed for the Mexican War, and while Americans generally accept the blame, the Mexican role in causing the war is significant and perhaps paramount. The inevitability of the war came about when Gen. Santa Anna agreed to allow Texas to become independent as a result of the Texas' war of rebellion. Santa Anna was the head of state, and under the generally accepted rules of the time, his acknowledgment of Texas' independence had the force of law, even though it was conveyed in captivity, and even though he later disavowed it. Be that as it may, no ruler of Mexico could acknowledge it thereafter and expect to remain in power. Be that as it may, Texas was independent de jure and in fact, which Mexico could not reverse without an invasion. Had Texas remained an independent state it is difficult to see how a renewed war between Texas and Mexico could have been avoided. I frankly doubt it could have.
Upon becoming independent, union with the United States was inevitable. Upon incorporation into the US, no American government could not recognize Mexico's claim to territory that had been incorporated into the US.
Compounding the problem, there was no universal agreement on where the border between Texas and Mexico was. The US, under James Polk, took the position that it was the Rio Grande. Mexico believed it was to the north of there, although there was little traditional support for the boundary being there.. At the time, there was very little in the way of settlement north of the Rio Grande in any event, and the river was a convenient natural boundary, making the US position more sensible, if not more legal. Nonetheless, the American claim to that section of territory rose the conflict from almost inevitable, if not inevitable, to immediately inevitable, which many historians have claimed Polk desired.
In the end, it was actually Mexico, not the US, that crossed the river with troops, sparking the war. Apologist have regarded it as a US invasion ever since, and even at the time, but it is difficult to see how the war could have been avoided by either party.
1847 Colt secures a contract to supply 1,000 revolvers to the US military. These early Colt Dragoon revolvers were very substantial in size and revolutionized the arms of mounted soldiers.
This variant of .44 Colt revolver is generally known as the Walker Colt. It was a monster sized revolver, weighing in at 4.5 lbs. It's size was in part a safety measure by Colt, which was not certain at the time how much steel was really needed in a large caliber revolver. There were not very many of them actually made (approximately 1,000), but the revolver did set the pattern for what would be a very successful series of "Dragoon" revolvers.
1896 Utah was admitted to the Union.
1897 Big Horn County organized.
1897 Wyoming General Hospital, a hospital owned at that time by the state and founded to treat miners, burned in a fire.
1910 Orchard Opera house destroyed by fire in Lander. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
1915 John B. Kendrick takes office as Governor.
1917 The Casper Daily Press for January 4, 1916: Wilson takes charge when mediators fail
The view from Casper, which was similar to the view expressed by Cheyenne's Leader.
The United States, having failed to acquire Carranza's signature to the protocol, was reacting by giving Carranza what he wanted most, an American withdrawal.
From a century later, it's hard to see how this wasn't just implementing the protocol plus giving Carranza what he wanted.
The Inter Ocean disaster figured large in the press as well, as well as good fortunes for wildlife.
1918 The Wyoming Tribune for January 4, 1918. Bad day for Casper Electricity
As if there wasn't enough bad news around those days, a local power plant went up in flames.
I'm not sure which early Casper power plant that was, but I suspect it
was the one that used diesel engines, believe it or not, which had been
in operation at that time. It had a limited number of customers, as the
article makes plane, as a lot of Casperites in the then booming Casper
likely weren't utility subscribers at the time, as odd as that may seem
to us know. When
electricity became nearly universal in homes is something I've
addressed before, and I don't know when it would have become universal
in a place like Casper.
Does anyone who stops in here know when it became universal in smaller western and mid western towns and cities?
Electricty was introduced for customers in Casper in 1900, so it had
been around that long, but the means and methods of generating it were
still in a state of flux. This article reports that the entire business
district was out of power.
In other news, the Wyo Trib was accusing Nebraska of being frigid, which
is odd. The Tribune was predicting permanent nationalization of the
railroads, which is something we know the unions would later ask for but would not receive.
And there seemed to be a boom in marrying young going on. I haven't
tracked the entire article all the way through, but I suspect that was
one of the interesting marriage related events tied to World War One.
Chances are that couples were rushing to marry before the grooms
deployed to France. Fifteen is quite young indeed, and the author of
the article seemed to take that view as well, but of course less than
50% of all Americans graduated from high school at that time. This trend, however, can't be taken to mean too much, as we also earlier explored.
1925 The bank, hotel and Odd Fellows Hall were destroyed by fire in Hulet. Attribution: On This Day .com
1943 Lester Hunt takes office as Governor.
1965 President Johnson outlined the goals of his ''Great Society'' in his State of the Union address.
1974 South Vietnam officially announces that, in light of ongoing communist attacks, the war in South Vietnam has restarted.
1980 President Carter announces US boycott of Moscow Olympics.
Elsewhere: 1999 The Euro introduced.
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