How is a war affected by the availability or lack of medical knowledge and supplies?

How can political factors influence military decisions?

Use THE U.S.-MEXICAN WAR MAP to orient students to the different military operations underway in the summer of 1846. Locate the Mexican towns of Matamoros and Camargo on the Rio Grande and Monterrey in northeastern Mexico.

Discuss the health conditions in various parts of the U.S. Outbreaks of smallpox, malaria and cholera were prevalent in crowded port cities like New York, Boston and Charleston and were also found in various states.

Many officers and soldiers who fought in this war would also fight in the Civil War, such as Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and George McClellan. What lessons would they have learned about camp sanitation and health care during the U.S.-Mexican War?

• Compare the realities of war with the romanticized ideas that some soldiers brought with them.

• Discuss the uneasy relationship between Zachary Taylor, the general on location, and James K. Polk, the commander-in-chief in Washington. Their communication was only as fast as the time it took to travel the distances between them. If there were an eroding trust between them, what effect would that have as the war continued? How do fast, modern communication systems affect events and people's responses today?

Small Group Problem Solving

Ask students to make a presentation about camp conditions of the U.S. and Mexican armies.

Persuasive Writing

Ask students to write letters or poetry from the point of view of: U.S. soldiers at Camargo, Camargo citizens who were also getting sick or families who were concerned about their loved ones who had gone to war. The exercises can be done in conjunction with one of the U.S. or Mexican daguerreotypes.