GRANT REFLECTS ON FOUTH OF JULY

"I don't remember much celebrating that Fourth of July," wrote Ulysses S. Grant in his memoires. A second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Grant and 3,000 other soldiers were camped on the north bank of the Rio Grande overlooking Matamoros. The date was July 4, 1846. An earthen bastion christened Fort Texas but renamed Fort Brown after Major Jacob Brown's death was the only construction of any significance.

"The heat was unbearable," continued Grant. "Most of the troops were either Irish or German immigrants or from the northern states. They were miserable. Many were suffering from stomach disorders from the close quarters and the unclean water. The glorious victories of early May at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma had faded. Riverboats were transporting our forces up the river to a hellhole called Camargo. The return trips carried many of our dead boys who were dropping like flies under the horrendous conditions.

"I was riding back and forth from the front lines every week in order to advise General Taylor on our readiness for the march south to Monterrey and a battle that many of us feared would be our last. Morale was pitiful. There was too much unnecessary dying. Many of the Irish were deserting to the Mexican side and a few Germans were following them. To them July Fourth meant nothing. While General Taylor and his staff prepared a small party for the officers in honor of independence, the Irish and German enlisted men felt more enslaved than the blacks serving the military.

"I was living in a god-forsaken time in a god-forsaken place. At West Point we studied war. Thousands of miles away from the comforts of our homes we were learning war. We were still many weeks before we would have the necessary numbers and supplies to embark south and face our entrenched enemies. I felt like I was inhabiting a no-man's land between purgatory and hell.

"After dining on beef and chasing the sinewy meat down with several toasts of a clear, rotgut, Mexican alcohol that the quartermaster assured us was safe to drink, I retired to my tent. Mosquitoes made rest impossible although we were no longer routed from our sleep by snakes and spiders. Like the Mexicans, they had retreated into the thick brush that surrounded us."

"General Taylor had done his best to buoy our spirits by calling this campaign a noble cause. He said that we would reflect upon these days in our golden years as ones of great accomplishments. We were securing our borders and spreading freedom. He concluded that in the future a great city would rise on this very spot to honor our sacrifices. It was a stemwinder. The General could talk with the best of them, but a great city in this wasteland teetering on the edge of civilization...balderdash!"