Confidential Letter of the Secretary of War to General Kearny

In December 1845, the U.S. Congress voted to annex the Texas Republic which Mexico considered to be its territory and, after border skirmishes, Congress declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846. Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny was sent with troops to secure New Mexico, Chihuahua, and California. This June 3, 1846 letter to Kearny from the Secretary of War was reprinted in the United States Serial Set and the Library of Congress provides access to H. Ex. Doc. No. 60 p. 153 (30th Congress, 1st Session) (1848).