The disputed territory between the Rivers Neuces and Rio Grande was the direct cause of the war between the United States and Mexico. Texas, which had first won its independence, and subsequently been admitted into the Union, claimed the Rio Grande as the boundary line, while Mexico said it was the Neuces River. The American Government proposed to settle the controversy by negotiation, but the authorities of Mexico scornfully refused. Gen. Taylor was then ordered to advance his army, and, in November, 1845, had established a camp of about 5,000 men at Corpus Christi, near the mouth of the Neuces River. In March, 1846, he advanced to the Rio Grande and erected Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras. On the 26th of April, Gen. Arista, the Mexican commander, notified Gen. Taylor that hostilities had begun, and on the same day a company of American dragoons, commanded by Capt. Thornton, was attacked by a body of Mexicans, east of the Rio Grande, and here occurred the first bloodshed of the war.
It made no great stir among the people of Madison County, though the progress of the victorious troops from the Rio Grande to the halls of the Montezumas was hailed with an enthusiasm similar to that over the country generally. The Whig leaders claimed to see in the war a scheme for the extension of slavery, and on this ground made many bitter speeches against it; but the patriotism of the nation was aroused, and all opposition was swept away before the grand outburst of indignation which it caused. We have been unable to find any record of the soldiers who enlisted from Madison County, and there are no newspaper files of the London press reaching that far back; but we have picked up the following names of Madison County men who went into the Mexican war. viz.: Joel H. Worthington, Edward Hill, Samuel Creamer, Oscar McCormick, George W. Athey, Lewis Dun, William Justice, William Frost, Adam Bidwell, Este Bidwell, Samuel Armstrong, Edward Sager, and Mortimer A. Garlick. Let their names be honored for assisting to uphold the nation's flag in her hour of need.