Please see the subsequent lot for a related presentation sword. 

 

A HERO’S LAST MISSION: THE MEXICAN WAR JOURNEY OF ALEXANDER S. FORBES, WHO WENT TO MEXICO CITY TO RECOVER THE FALLEN…AND DIED ON HIS RETURN

 

HISTORIC ARCHIVE THAT CONTAINS FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF PROMINENT TEXAS RANGER, JOHN COFFEE HAYS

 

 

 

“…Supposing you would like to hear from the Halls of Montezuma…”

 

A remarkable archive of eleven (11) documents from the Mexican War recording the heroic, and ultimately tragic, journey of Alexander Stanton Forbes (1819–1848), who traveled from New York City to Mexico City to retrieve the bodies of fallen New York officers. After receiving his orders, he journeyed from New York City to New Orleans, then onward to Vera Cruz, and ultimately to Mexico City. In his detailed and eloquent letters home, he expounds upon the war, the battlefields, the regiments, and their leaders. Though successful in his mission, he succumbed to yellow fever on his return journey.

 

The archive includes the original manuscript orders given to Forbes by the New York City Common Council, Forbes’s commission in the Baxter Blues, a manuscript detailing the presentation of a sword by Forbes to Captain John Helme, and eight (8) lengthy letters written by Forbes to either his brother George or his wife Sarah.

 

Alexander Stanton Forbes (1819–1848) was the son of a Scottish immigrant (Bulloch, ed., p. 126) and a proud New Yorker. Married with a daughter, he may have worked as an engraver (Manhattan New York Directory, 1839–1840, p. 259). He was involved in several militia groups, including the Gulick Guard (see letter No. 11) and the Baxter Blues (see letter No. 10), and served as a Second Lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment of New York Volunteers. It was remarked in his eulogy that “not being ordered into service, his desire to serve the country in this capacity was not gratified” (The New York Daily Herald, 13 July 1848), and he therefore sought to undertake the solemn task of retrieving the bodies of several fallen New Yorkers from the front lines of the Mexican–American War. Forbes was considered especially qualified, as he was “a private in the Baxter Blues, and well acquainted with the distinguished officers of the 1st Regiment, whose lives had been the forfeit of their patriotic devotion; he was selected by the Common Council as the agent for bringing their remains to this city.” (Herald, 13 July 1848).

 

Forbes’s journey to Mexico began with a letter included in this archive, signed by Alderman George H. Purser to Forbes on behalf of the Common Council (a forerunner of the City Council). The letter outlines Forbes’s mission, stating that he was “delegated to procure and bring on to the city the bodies of Col. Baxter and Liut. Chandler,” as well as those of “Capt. Burke and Lt. Morris, natives of this state.” (ALS by Purser to Forbes, 28 January 1848, p. 1).

 

Shortly thereafter, Forbes began his quest, traveling by all manner of conveyances and arriving in New Orleans by mid-February. Throughout his journey, he wrote regularly to both his wife Sarah and his brother George. His letters reveal Forbes to be observant and well connected, and he crafted thoughtful and powerful accounts of his travels. While in the Crescent City, he remarks on the fascinating culture and social life, as well as the many New Yorkers he encountered there en route to the war front. He recounts an incident involving one of his acquaintances defending the American cause and General Winfield Scott: “One of them (Lt. Henry) unfortunately got into a squabble here the other night like a foolish fellow. It appears he had been out rather late and returning home feeling a little fine, he came in contact with 4 or 5 Blackguards who commenced abusing Genl. Scott. Henry naturally espoused the Cause of his Genl. and they commenced an attack. He severely whipped one and the others went at him with sticks and beat him very badly so as he had to get his eye sewed up after. I felt sorry for him, but he gave as good as they sent and only used his hands, proving to them that N.Y. Stock is generally ready any way tackled.” He also reports on a duel between Sergeant Smith Prentiss (1808–1850) and another lawyer, Mr. Irwin.

 

While still in New Orleans, Forbes met soldiers returning from Mexico who reported that some of the officers whose remains he had been charged to return had already been “shipped for N.York some time ago.” Forbes writes that he “was rather staggered, but upon reflection I determined still to go on, not feeling satisfied… if after all the trouble I have taken I should be deprived of paying the last tribute of respect to my late gallant Commandant, I will indeed be disappointed. Altho’ I still think I will find him in Vera Cruz.”

 

Forbes arrived in Vera Cruz, Mexico, on March 2 and quickly set to work. Writing to his brother George, he reports his progress: “Tell Geo. Hall his friend in the Custom House Mr. Robinson has been of great assistance and very attentive to me… I am going to the Castle to take measure of the Coffins and have cases made air tight… Col. Baxter’s the Qt. Master is going to have it opened for me and filled with Lime. I am in hopes I can yet preserve him enough to recognize something.” (ALS to George, 2 March 1848). Referring to his letter from the Common Council, he adds: “The order of Secty Marcy is a passport to all their affections, as there are many others on similar business to mine but with no order and they have trouble enough.” (ALS to George, 2 March 1848).

 

Writing the same day to his wife, he recounts an eerie coincidence. While touring the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa before landing in Veracruz, he had unknowingly encountered the coffins of the very officers he had been sent to retrieve: “judge of my surprise that yesterday I traced to the same tower and in the same coffins my late Friends Col. Baxter, Capt. Pearson + Van Olinda that I had been looking at and thinking about some days before.” (ALS to Sarah, 2 March 1848).

 

Forbes remained in Vera Cruz throughout March, accepting an invitation from the soldiers to live in camp with them and writing that he preferred camp life to the city, remarking, “Turn in at Tattoo up at Reveille and trot about. I will be a Soldier myself before long.” He vividly describes attacks by guerrillas, the arrival of troops, their training, and their commanders. At one point, he observes more than five hundred soldiers drilling as skirmishers across the field and into the chaparral, noting how eagerly the men moved “like race horses” when ordered into double quick time.

 

After joining a search party for guerrillas who had killed two soldiers, Forbes interviewed Captain Jack Taylor of the Baltimore Rangers, who told him that he rarely took guerrillas prisoner, believing it too much trouble, and that his men generally dealt with them on the spot.

 

In a letter to Sarah dated March 28, Forbes describes the arrival of a massive wagon train from Mexico City, nearly twelve miles long and consisting of roughly twelve hundred horses and mules attached to wagons and escorted by several hundred soldiers. The train carried more than two hundred sick, disabled, and discharged soldiers. He describes the spectacle vividly, noting the strange assortment of clothing and appearances among the men after such a long journey, before turning to the grim reality of their arrival as wounded and maimed soldiers were unloaded at the hospitals. The sight, he writes, was “sickening, horrible and would make most any say, NO more War if this is thy reward.”

 

In the same letter, he reports that he would soon depart for Mexico City with the next wagon train, numbering roughly two thousand soldiers. He arrived in Mexico City on April 20 and wrote Sarah the following day, assuring her of his safe arrival.

 

Forbes’s final letter home, written on May 6 to his brother George, spans eight pages and describes in remarkable detail the twenty-four-day journey from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. Opening dramatically, he writes, “Supposing you would like to hear from the Halls of Montezuma…” He recounts visits to battlefields such as Cerro Gordo and meetings with prominent officers, including Texas Ranger John Coffee Hays. He describes climbing the nearly perpendicular slopes of Cerro Gordo and visiting the Natural Bridge, where he narrowly missed encountering Santa Anna. He also relates stories of Texas Rangers and other irregular fighters whose brutal methods were feared even by Mexican soldiers.

 

Now in Mexico City, Forbes writes of dining with Major General Robert Patterson, second in command to Winfield Scott. He also complains at length about New Yorkers who had avoided military service and criticizes the political nature of certain officer appointments. Yet he expresses deep pride in the reputation of the New York Volunteers, writing that they were widely regarded as the finest volunteer regiment in the service. He concludes with a moving reflection, hoping to see them return home and march “up Broadway with their tattered and torn Flags,” declaring that any New Yorker who did not feel pride in them “has no Soul.”

 

Clearly well liked and respected by the soldiers with whom he spent so much time, Forbes writes of the many gifts presented to him, including swords and esopettes (a type of carbine or rifle), though he declined most of them as impractical to transport. Captain Fairchild, he notes, presented him with a wax figure as a keepsake.

 

Closing his final letter, Forbes describes a remarkable device invented by a soldier to measure the distance traveled along the road between Vera Cruz and Mexico City. The instrument, attached to a wheel of an artillery carriage, functioned much like an odometer, marking each revolution of the wheel on a clock-like dial and accurately recording distances without needing to be reset. Forbes includes a list of locations between the two cities totaling 252½ miles.

 

After writing this final letter, Forbes began the return journey home, escorting the coffins of the fallen officers. Tragically, he did not survive the journey. While in New Orleans, he contracted yellow fever and died, his own body joining those he had labored so hard to recover.

 

The officers whose remains he retrieved included Lieutenant Edgar Chandler (1823–1847), killed at Churubusco while gallantly sustaining his colors; Lieutenant Charles F. Gallagher (d. 1847), noted for gallantry at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo; Captain Charles H. Pearson (1815–1847), mortally wounded at Chapultepec; Captain James Barclay (d. 1848), who died suddenly in Mexico; and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Baxter (1814–1847), mortally wounded at Chapultepec and distinguished earlier at Churubusco.

 

News of Forbes’s death and the return of the fallen officers prompted a great outpouring of grief and public mourning in New York. The New York Daily Herald reported extensively on the funeral procession, describing the streets as filled with thousands gathered to honor the fallen. The procession, led by the mayor, members of the Common Council, and ministers from nine denominations, was witnessed by more than twenty thousand people. The bodies of the officers were carried beneath the battle-worn standard of the First New York Volunteers, the flag having been shot through repeatedly at Churubusco as successive soldiers carrying it were struck down.

 

The scene echoed Forbes’s own words from his final letter, expressing his desire to see the regiment march home along Broadway with their tattered flags. The funeral procession gathered on Canal Street before turning onto Broadway, fulfilling his haunting prediction.

 

It was widely reported that Forbes’s widow Sarah and their daughter Virginia were granted $500 by the committee overseeing the ceremonies. Even five years later, his brother George organized a commemorative ball in his honor. Until 2012, the fallen officers were buried at Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery beneath a single marker reading “Mexico.” After renewed interest in their story, Green-Wood historian Jeff Richman successfully petitioned the U.S. Veterans Administration to provide individual headstones for each man, which were unveiled on July 13, 2012.

 

List of included documents: 

1. Autograph letter signed by George H. Purser, as New York Alderman, to Alexander S. Forbes. 25 January 1848, City Hall, New York City, New York. 2 pages, 4to. 

 

2. Autograph letter signed (ALS) by Alexander S. Forbes, to Sarah Forbes. [New Orleans, Louisiana], [February], 1848. 4 pages, 4to. (Upper edge with place and date lacking). 

 

3. ALS By Alexander S. Forbes, to his brother [George Forbes]. New Orleans, Louisiana, 17 February 1848. 4 pages, 4to. 

 

4. ALS by Alexander S. Forbes, to his brother. Camp Washington, [Vera Cruz, Mexico],  2 March 1848. 2 pages, 4to. 

 

5. ALS by Forbes, to Sarah. Vera Cruz, Mexico, 2 March 1848. 4 pages, 4to. 

 

6. ALS by Forbes, to his Brother [George]. Camp Washington, Vera Cruz, 11 March 1848. 4 pages, 4to. 

 

7. ALS by Forbes, to Sarah. Camp Washington, near Vera Cruz, Mexico, 28 March 1848. 4 pages, 4to.

 

8. ALS by Forbes, to Sarah. Mexico City, Mexico, 21 April 1848. 1 page, 4to. 

 

9. ALS by Forbes, to George. San Angel, near Mexico City, Mexico, 6th May 1848. 8 pages, 4to. (Loss to corner of final leaf affecting text. Marked throughout in pencil with editorial marks that appear to suggest that it was being prepared or used for a publication.)

10. Twelfth Regiment, Fourth Brigade and First Division New York State Militia. Partly printed document completed in manuscript. Signed by Samuel P. Ayres. N.p., 5 June 1848. 3 pages, 4to, 8 x 13 in. 

 

To the verso of Forbes’ commission is a printed list attesting that Forbes had been “fully uniformed, armed, and equipped; has regularly and faithfully done duty to this date.” There are 7 printed statements, with four completed in manuscripts for Forbes on August 6th from 1845 through 1848. The third page prints extracts from the Laws of New York related to the militia. 

 

Printed by George F. Nesbitt (1809-1869), who was a New York City printer who pioneered chromatic wood types, producing several sample books. Here, he is designated as the printer to [the] First Division of the New York State Militia.

11. Autograph document signed by Forbes (“A.S.F.”) to Capt. Helme. [New York?], [circa October 1839]. 1 page, folio, 8 x 12 ⅛ in.  (Separations along old folds). 

 

A rousing document presenting a sword to Captain Helme on behalf of "the members of Our Gulick Guard wishing to present you with some Token of their Respect + Esteem have …this Sword they have Requested me to present it to you as a small Testimonial of the Respect they have for you."

 

Forbes praises Captain Helme at length and characteristic eloquence: "They were almost entirely ignorant of anything pertaining to the “School of the Soldier” and they even thought themselves incapable of even learning anything of “Military Tactics,” but by the persevering, Soldier-like and at the same time Gentlemanly manner in which you undertook to track them they soon became satisfied that under you they could learn anything...I hope if occasion ever required that you should use this sword it will only be, either in protecting or defending the rights and Liberties of our 'Native Land'"

 

The Gulick Guards were a firefighting militia organized in New York City in 1836. An 1838 uniform print by Currier depicts a member of the company in uniform with the motto “Firemen with pleasure - Soldiers at leisure.” Evidently, Helme was a member of the company; however, he is best remembered as a daguerreotypist, a commander of several militia companies in the antebellum era, and a police captain of the 27th Precinct, notably taking part in suppressing the 1863 draft riots. 

 

Remarkably, the sword is extant, identifiable to this presentation letter by its scabbard engraving: “Presented to Capt. John C. Helme as a token of respect by the members of the Gulick Guards. Oct. 1839.” The sword is an elaborate, early Ames presentation militia officer sword with 1832 style officer’s blade and heavy gilt brass scabbard. 

References: 

John Bulloch, ed. Scottish Notes and Queries. Second Series, Vol. I. Aberdeen: A. Brown & Co., 1900. P. 126.

 

Manhattan New York Directory, 1839-1840, p. 259

 

“Fitting Memorial Given to Veterans of Mexican-American War 164 Years (to the Day) After Their Internments.” The Arch. Winter/Spring 2013. p. 14

 

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs, Archives] [Mexican War, Mexican-American War, Seminole Wars, Florida Wars] [Death, Funerals, Mourning, Funeralia, Graveyards] [Militaria]

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs, Archives] [Mexican War, Mexican-American War, Seminole Wars, Florida Wars] [Death, Funerals, Mourning, Funeralia, Graveyards] [Militaria]