The Height of Folly: A History of the Mountain Howitzer & Rocket Battery in the Mexican War 1846-1848

During the Mexican American War of 1846-1848 a special battery of artillery was created that was different from any other unit in the United States Army. The "Mountain Howitzer & Rocket Battery" came into being to support another special unit, the Voltigeurs, an elite light infantry unit like those used in Europe, as part of the Ten Regiment Bill. Neither unit remained part of the American military after the war came to an end in 1848 for both political and economic reasons. The battery was made up of two experimental weapons, the 12-pounder Mountain Howitzer and the Hale Rocket System. It was special because it was populated with ordnance soldiers not artillerymen. This had never happened before, nor has it happened since. Like many units during that war, half of the men were "Native Born" Americans while the other half were immigrants, primarily German and Irish, and fresh off the boat.

No book has ever been written about the history of the battery other than one biography of a single soldier, a German immigrant named Frederick Zeh, who wrote down a memoir in his old age. All three officers of the battery were wounded in action during the war, including other officers who were assigned to replace them. Almost twenty-five percent of the unit died in Mexico and many more were discharged for disabilities and sent home. This unit had two future presidents of the United States and two presidential candidates who served in close proximity to them. In addition, Ulysses S. Grant, George McClellan, Raphael Semmes and P.G.T. Beauregard all laid claim to have led some part of the battery, even if only a single howitzer. Robert E. Lee placed the battery in position three separate times as they went into action. A long list of notable future Union and Confederate officers led the battery, served in it or next to it. The favorite officer of the men was the namesake of Reno, Nevada, Second Lieutenant Jesse L. Reno.

The unit dissolved at the dock in New Orleans on July 13, 1848, and the enlisted men went their separate ways. The Artillery Branch of the service wanted to forget the unit ever existed. However, the battery still exists. Four surviving howitzers were kept together after being shipped back to the arsenal. Someone, possibly Winfield Scott himself, certainly the surviving ordnance officers, saved the four surviving gun tubes of the battery, and then hid them in plain sight on Governor's Island in New York for over one hundred and fifty years. The battery now resides in the Frontier Army Museum at Fort Leavenworth. One of the four is currently at the Infantry Museum at Fort Moore. They carry the names of all of their battles, engraved on their barrels and have an amazing story to tell. This little battery was ahead of its time, and barely survived its service in Mexico, yet most of the men who served in it were anonymous until now. The book includes the service record of the majority of the enlisted and non-commissioned officers as well as a list of casualties and where they are buried in Mexico. Some men went on to serve again thirteen years later in the American Civil War. Some were so debilitated by their time in Mexico that they never served again. Their story deserves to be told as well.