Remembering A Conflict That Faded Into History

Remembering A Conflict That Faded Into History
UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1754: Map of the United States of Mexico, 1847 published by J Disturnall. This was appended to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo which ended the Mexican American War (1846-1848), and shows Upper California and New Mexico as Mexican although they had been ceded in the Treaty. It also gives the boundaries and Mexican spellings. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1754: Map of the United States of Mexico, 1847 published by J Disturnall. This was appended to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo which ended the Mexican American War (1846-1848), and shows Upper California and New Mexico as Mexican although they had been ceded in the Treaty. It also gives the boundaries and Mexican spellings. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

LA ANGOSTURA, Mexico — On the grassy, windswept hill where soldiers from north and south fought one of the most important battles of the Mexican-American War, the crunch and grind of a sand and gravel mine deafens any attempt at contemplation.

Some wars get no respect. And this one, which Ulysses S. Grant called the most “wicked war” ever waged, has never been held in particularly high esteem. How many Arizonans condemning illegal border crossers want to recall that their homes sit on former Mexican territory? How many Mexicans want to remember the lost battle here, which they should have won?

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