=379. Ambitions of Scott and Taylor.=—The leading soldier in the United States was General Winfield Scott, the hero of Lundy’s Lane (§ 309). Military success in a republic generally brings civil honors; and Scott was a Whig, with his eyes already on the Presidency. A Democratic administration could not bring itself to give Scott a chance to distinguish himself, and for some time he was detained at Washington; but his subordinate, General Zachary Taylor,[173] who was at first given command (§ 377), was also Whig in his sympathies. Such being the case, various expedients were suggested; it was even intended to give Senator Benton supreme command, he being a good Democrat and a colonel of the War of 1812. But all schemes failed. Scott was finally sent to the front, and Taylor (§ 389) captured the Whig nomination for the Presidency (1848). Such are some of the intrigues that the historian finds behind the Mexican War. It is little wonder that the Whigs—including old statesmen like Webster, and new statesmen like Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, who was serving his only term as congressman—should have denounced the contest as wrong in itself and as prosecuted in the interests of the slaveholders and land grabbers of the country. It is little wonder, too, as we have seen, that the Mexican War does not live in popular imagination as a heroic struggle (§ 377). THE CONDUCT AND RESULTS OF THE WAR. [Illustration: GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR.] =380. Taylor’s Victories.=—Whatever we may think of the causes of the Mexican War and of the conduct of the American authorities, there can be but one opinion as to the valor with which officers and troops conducted themselves after hostilities had begun. Taylor received notice from the Mexican general, Arista, on April 24, 1846, that his occupation of the northern branch of the Rio Grande meant war. On the same day the first American blood was shed. It was avenged shortly; for, on May 8, Taylor met about six thousand Mexicans at Palo Alto, and defeated them severely with his own small force of about two thousand. The next day he won another complete victory at Resaca de la Palma, and drove the enemy across the Rio Grande. The news of these victories aroused the country and made Taylor a popular hero. He was already much loved by his soldiers, who gave him the nickname of “Rough and Ready,” because of his carelessness of dress and other details and his thorough capability as a commander.