Members of the Mexican army look out on a
new era while others in the foreground are negotiating with a
recently arrived Anglo fur trader.
The average Mexican infantryman in the U.S.
Mexican War had inferior weapons to the Americans, and they had
a different style of leadership. Mexican soldiers carried old
flintlock muskets, most of which were manufactured in Great Britain
and sold as surplus to Mexico. Many Mexican soldiers fired from
the hip, rather than raising the rifle up to their shoulder, and
used too much powder in their guns. The result was that their
shots would often go over the heads of the Americans. Although
Mexican soldiers fought bravely their officers sometimes treated
them badly. Some Mexican officers were known to slash at their
own men with their sabers, to force them forward or to make them
stand their ground.
The earliest Anglos in the El Paso area came
here to trade. Frontera, eight miles northwest of downtown El
Paso, was established in 1848 by T. Frank White, the first Anglo-American
trader of record in the area.
