Introduction

The Mexican American War
The U.S.-Mexican War began on April 25, 1846. It ended nearly two years later with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on February 2, 1848. Although the war was one of the most momentous conflicts of the nineteenth century, most Americans seem to know little about it today. Frequently, they confuse it with the Texas Revolution (1835-1836), the Spanish-American War (1898), or the border skirmishes with Mexican Revolutionaries that took place between 1913 and 1916. This situation is probably due in part to the overshadowing of the U.S.-Mexican War by the American Civil War, a much larger and more protracted conflict.