Home of the Brave (55 page)

“I must ask you to promise
that you will honor my decision and that there will be no
debate.”

“I can’t promise that,
Mother. I want you to come home too badly.”

“This is more home to me
than New Jersey, Robert. Like your Aunt Nan, I just borrowed your
father’s family.” At last, dry eyed, she turned to look at her son.
“Mexico needs me. It’s my destiny as a daughter of La
Malinche.”

February 2, 1848

Guadalupe Hidalgo,
Mexico

The Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo ceded 525,000 square miles of Mexican land to the United
States in exchange for $15,000,000 and $3,250,000 in debt
forgiveness. The land included parts of the modern Colorado,
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming, as well as all of
California, Nevada, and Utah.

The End

* Autobiography of
Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott in Two Volumes - by Winfield Scott,
1864. (Edited for readability.)