EP. 153: How to Start a War- The Warfield and Snively Raids

Show Notes
The 1842 Mexican invasions of Texas and their aftermath, including the Mier expedition and the Black Bean Incident.
Sam Houston's use of privateer-style commissions, authorizing Charles Warfield and later Jacob Snively to raise private forces against Mexican trade on the Santa Fe Trail.
Warfield's failed raid near Mora, New Mexico, and his men's 200-mile walk back to Bent's Fort after losing their horses.
The unrelated robbery and murder of Santa Fe merchant Antonio José Chávez, and its effect on U.S.–Texas–Mexico relations.
Snively's Battalion of Invincibles, their march to the Arkansas River, and their lopsided victory over Governor Manuel Armijo's advance scouts.
Armijo's retreat to Santa Fe and the U.S. Army's intervention under Captain Philip St. George Cooke, including his disputed disarming of the Texans.
The diplomatic fallout: Santa Anna's closure of the Santa Fe Trail, Texas's formal protest, and the military court of inquiry into Cooke's conduct.
The shift from Lamar's aggressive New Mexico policy to Houston's peace-seeking approach, and how the boundary dispute was eventually settled in the Compromise of 1850.
The later lives of the expeditions' key figures, including Jacob Snively, Charles Warfield, and Captain Philip Cooke.

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