One of Just Five Major-Generals Commissioned by President Polk During the Entire Mexican War

Polk responded by appointing three more Major-Generals: Zachary Taylor and W.O. Butler on June 29 and Robert Patterson on July 7. This was the top military leadership as the war got underway. In 1847, Polk promoted two more men to this rank: John Quitman and Gideon Pillow. Thus just six men ever held the senior rank during the entire conflict. Of the six, four were Southerners: Scott from Virginia, Taylor from Louisiana, Quitman from Mississippi and Pillow from Tennessee. Butler was a Western man, from Kentucky. The sole Northerner in the entire American military leadership in Mexico was Patterson, an Irish-born Pennsylvanian. All the men were politically Democrats, with not one Whig present. 

Of these men, the most famous were Taylor and Scott. Taylor, of course, went on to the presidency. Scott ran for president in 1852 but lost. When the Civil War broke out, he commanded the United States Army, and urged on Lincoln the famous Anaconda Plan to strangle the South, which eventually proved successful. Butler had just lost a race for the Kentucky governorship in 1844. In the lead up to the Civil War, he would try to conciliate both sides, but without success. Pillow was an attorney from Tennessee who was a personal friend of Polk's. During the Civil War, as a Confederate general, he commanded opposite Grant at Fort Donelson. Grant's knowledge of Pillow and his weaknesses, gained in Mexico, allowed him to boldly take Donelson. Quitman was a Mississippian who later served as that state's governor. He was an ardent secessionist.

Patterson was a staff officer in the war of 1812. After the war he became a successful businessman in Philadelphia with close connection to the Democratic Party. In the 1820s he was an active Jacksonian. He was a delegate at the Pennsylvania convention that nominated Andrew Jackson for the presidency, and in 1836 was president of the electoral college that cast the vote of Pennsylvania for Martin Van Buren. He was commissioned a major-general of volunteers at the outbreak of the Mexican War, and during the war commanded a division of volunteers under both Generals Taylor and Scott. He led the 2nd Division during the Tampico campaign and was considered for command of the entire Veracruz expedition (which Scott took on himself). Patterson was then placed in command of the expedition's Volunteer Division and was instrumental during the Siege of Veracruz and at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was wounded. He led the American pursuit of the Mexican Army and was the first to enter Jalapa. Patterson was mustered back into service on April 15, 1861, as a major general of volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War. He served in Virginia during the First Bull Run campaign, but at age 69 was no longer up to the challenge of active combat and was mustered out on July 27, 1861. Patterson then served a member of the Board of Trustees of Lafayette College, and as president of the Aztec Club, a fraternal organization of U.S. army officers who had served in the war with Mexico. 

Document signed, with engravings of flags, cannon and other accoutrements of war, Washington, July 8, 1846, being Polk's original appointment of Patterson "Major General (under the Act approved June 26, 1846)", to "rank as such from the Seventh day of July." The document is countersigned by Secretary of War William Marcy, and at upper left is also signed as entered by then Assistant Adjutant General and future Civil War General Lorenzo Thomas. We obtained this document directly from the Patterson descendants, and it has never before been offered for sale. It may well be the only Mexican War Major-General's commission in private hands, if, indeed, the others still exist.

It is fascinating to note that despite the fact that the Mexican War was not popular in the North, Polk apparently was not concerned about shoring up his support there. He only saw fit to name one major-general from there, and none north of Philadelphia.