Antebellum South Carolina - The Mexican-American War

The Mexican-American War

South Carolina strongly supported the Mexican War, as its leaders believed success would allow acquisition of additional lands open to slavery. They hoped for slaveholding states to acquire greater power in the U.S. Congress. The State raised a regiment of volunteers known as the Palmetto Regiment. The Palmetto Regiment was prepared and trained for the Mexican-American War by cadets and faculty at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in Charleston. The Citadel created a training system which is known today as "Boot Camp" or "Recruit Training" to prepare the men for combat. The Citadel Cadets that trained the Palmetto Regiment were known as "Drillmasters" a term which later evolved to be "Drill Instructors." Under Pierce M. Butler, J.P. Dickinson, and A.H. Gladden, the Palmetto Regiment's flag entered Mexico City before any other. Chiefly because of disease, however, only 300 returned alive of the 1,100 South Carolinian volunteers who fought in the war.

As the war drew to a close, the introduction of the Wilmot Proviso raised sectional tensions, this time over the issue of slavery. Introduced by a northern congressman as a rider on a war appropriations bill, the proviso specified that slavery would not be permitted in any territory obtained from Mexico. In the debate that followed, both national parties split along sectional lines. The South had furnished more men for the war (435,248 against the north's 22,136) and expected this sacrifice to be rewarded with new slave states carved out of the conquered territory. Although twice passed in the House, the proviso was defeated in the Senate. However, the debate over extending slavery into the new territories was far from over: it would eventually be a major cause of the Civil War.