The Tender Flame (8 page)

A few days after Grant’s return, the Smiths had the Reynolds family to their home for supper. Sixteen-year-old Billy discussed military matters with Grant during the early part of the meal and then asked his opinion of the Mexican crisis, which Billy’s history teacher talked about each day.

Grant told him that with the Mexican government so angry at the United States, and now with General Antonio López de Santa Anna once again president of Mexico, he feared there would be war.
It was Santa Anna who had led the Mexican army when it attacked the Alamo and when it was defeated at San Jacinto.

“Enough war talk, Billy,” Beverly Reynolds said. “I’d like to hear if your sister and her intended have discussed a wedding date.”

Grant and Lydia looked at each other and smiled.

“We have, Mrs. Reynolds,” Grant said. “We’ve decided that we’d like to marry on Sunday afternoon, June 7. Since graduation at the academy is May 1, this will give us time to make final preparations for the wedding after graduation.”

“Probably the best thing would be to talk to the pastor about it,” Scott said. “Make sure the date is all right with him.”

Grant smiled. “We already did that, Dad. Just this afternoon. The date is set.”

“Well, great!” Scott swung his gaze to Marjorie. “Just think, honey. As of June 7 we’ll have us another daughter!”

“Yes!” exclaimed Sharon, who was now a maturing eighteen-year-old. “Theresa and I have wanted Lydia for our sister for a long time.”

“Well, we’ll have us another son too,” Duane said. “And we’re mighty proud of him.”

“And I’ll finally have a brother!” Billy said. “And Grant is the one I would choose if I had been given a choice.”

Grant reached over and mussed Billy’s hair. “And I’d choose you too, Billy!”

“So what about your orders upon graduation, Grant?” Duane asked. “Do you have any idea where the army is going to send you?”

“Yes, sir. I received that information just before the semester closed. They gave us opportunity to choose the fort where we would like to be stationed. They don’t always meet our requests, but they did mine. I asked to be stationed at Fort McHenry, and they granted it.”

“Well, praise the Lord! You and Lydia won’t be very far away.”

“Lydia and I will be living in the married officers’ quarters. General Wexford has seen them and told me they’re fairly new and quite comfortable.”

Lydia smiled at him. “Even if they weren’t comfortable, I’d gladly live there with you.”

Scott chuckled. “It’s good that you have that attitude, Lydia. Many of the forts around this country aren’t so nice.”

“No matter, Mr. Smith. As long as I’m with Grant, it’ll be a little bit like heaven.”

On December 30, the newspapers reported that the strained relations between the United States and Mexico were growing worse. The previous day, the Republic of Texas had become the country’s twenty-eighth state. Antonio López de Santa Anna viciously and publicly denounced President James K. Polk and declared the act would forever alienate Mexico from the United States.

When Grant and Lydia got together at the Reynolds’ house on New Year’s Day, 1846, they couldn’t hold in their excitement. They were now in the year that would bring them together as husband and wife.

Grant was scheduled to leave on Monday, January 5. On January 2, the newspapers carried the story that President Polk had dispatched a large number of troops to south Texas, under General Zachary Taylor’s command. Taylor would occupy the disputed area between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Polk had declared that any move on this territory by Mexican troops would constitute an act of aggression against the United States. Such a move would mean war.

On the same day Grant Smith boarded the train to return to West Point for his final semester, the newspapers reported a message from President Santa Anna. He and his countrymen were demanding that the statehood of Texas be rescinded and that President Polk make a public apology for leading his country to annex Texas.

Two days later the newspapers carried Polk’s curt reply, an open letter to Santa Anna:

My dear sir
,

Be it understood that Texas will remain the twenty-eighth state of the United States. I emphasize the word “United.” The Texas-Mexico border is the Rio Grande, not the Nueces. If Mexican troops cross the Rio Grande, it will be considered a direct act of aggression, and will be met with deadly force and resistance by the UNITED States army
.

James K. Polk

President, UNITED States of America

T
HE STRAIN BETWEEN THE
U
NITED
S
TATES
and Mexico continued as the months passed. President Santa Anna continued his verbal attacks from his balcony in Mexico City as great crowds gathered around the presidential palace. His harsh words were reported almost daily in newspapers throughout the United States and kept the American people on edge. There was more and more talk in Washington, and in military installations all over the country, about war.

President Polk delivered a speech in Washington attempting to settle the country’s dread of impending war with Mexico. Polk said there was still hope for peace, since it was now mid-April and as yet no Mexican troops had been ordered across the Rio Grande. Polk believed that the Mexican government didn’t really want war and that peaceful negotiations could end the hostile feelings. To that end, he was sending John Slidell and a team of negotiators to Mexico to talk to Santa Anna and his military leaders.

The American people were filled with hope by the president’s speech, and many were praying for the success of the negotiators.

During these same months, letters flew back and forth between Grant Smith and Lydia Reynolds as they planned their wedding, now only weeks away. They did not mention the Mexican problem in their correspondence. Their letters were filled with love, hope, and the anticipation of becoming husband and wife.

Hopes for a peaceful settlement between the United States and Mexico were shattered when, on April 22, the U.S. negotiators were turned away from the presidential palace in Mexico City. Santa Anna told them that until Texas was removed from statehood, there would be no peace negotiations.

Polk received word of it on April 24, and the next day, General Zachary Taylor and his regiments, occupying Point Isabel on the Rio Grande River, were attacked by Mexican troops who had sneaked across the Rio Grande under cover of darkness. The Mexicans had been driven back across the river, but not before sixteen of Taylor’s men were killed and several others wounded.

James Polk learned of the attack four days later. He was furious but kept it from the press. He wanted to meet with Congress before the bad news reached the American people.

Secret emergency joint sessions of Congress were held beginning on Friday, May 1.

On that same day, at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, some two thousand people were seated on the wooded academy grounds, attending the open-air graduation ceremonies. In the crowd were Scott and Marjorie Smith, along with their daughters, Sharon and Theresa, and Duane and Beverly Reynolds, Lydia, and Billy.

The academy military band played an exhilarating march while the graduates filed from the main building in perfect step, then onto the platform to join the academy’s faculty and administration, along with several army dignitaries. The ceremonies began, and after several brief speeches it was time to call each graduate to the podium to receive his diploma and commission as a lieutenant in the United States Army.

Lydia’s golden brown hair glistened in the sun. She had it styled in Grant’s favorite way … in an upsweep with long, dangling curls on
the back and tiny ringlets across her forehead and at her temples. She wore a cool pale yellow dress sprinkled with light green leaves and a pattern of trailing vines. Lydia sat tall and proud, waiting eagerly for Grant’s name to be called. Her mind strayed to her wedding, and she pictured herself in the long, flowing white dress, walking down the aisle on the arm of her father, with the pump organ playing. She saw Pastor Britton standing on the platform, wedding manual in hand, looking distinguished in his black suit with his thick head of silver hair.

At the altar, tall and handsome in his officer’s uniform, stood Grant, smiling at her.

She pictured Grant and herself rushing up the aisle after taking their vows to enter their new life as Lieutenant and Mrs. Grant Smith.
Mrs. Grant Smith
. She mused over the title for several minutes, feeling the warmth and joy it brought to her heart.

The list of graduates finally reached the
S
es, and Lydia’s attention came back to the ceremony. Lydia was seated between her parents, and each one took her by the hand as Grant’s name was called and the tall, broad-shouldered young man strode across the platform, halted before General Forrest Wexford, and offered a snappy salute.

Tears moistened Lydia’s eyes when General Wexford congratulated Grant on being in the top five of his class scholastically and announced that his fellow classmates had voted him the 1846 graduate “most likely to succeed” in his army career.

When Wexford handed Grant his papers and saluted him, Grant proudly returned the salute, pivoted military style, and headed for his seat. He glanced down at Lydia, gave her a wide smile, and winked at her. Lydia gave a tiny wave and smile in return.

In Washington, D.C., the joint sessions of Congress continued into the next week. On May 5, however, President Polk released the story, knowing that he could keep it a secret no longer.

While newspapers across the land reported the Mexican attack on
General Taylor and his troops, Congress and the president were carefully deliberating the course of action to take.

The joint sessions were finished on May 6. Polk took the opinions and suggestions of the congressmen to the Oval Office, and there met with his secretary of war and top military advisers.

Early in May, Lydia Reynolds moved into the house of Captain and Mrs. Nathan Daniels at Fort McHenry. The captain and his wife were friends of Pastor John Britton, who had told them that Lieutenant Grant Smith and his bride-to-be were members of his church, and that Grant would be living in the married officers’ quarters with his new bride after they were married on June 7. When Captain Daniels learned that Grant was moving into the apartment upon his arrival from West Point and Lydia wanted to do some fix-up work on it before the wedding, he and his wife gladly offered their spare bedroom to Lydia so she could be at the fort.

The apartment was completely furnished but a bit cramped for space. Lydia decided that a fresh coat of white paint would work wonders at making the place seem larger, and Grant agreed. As they painted, scrubbed, and rearranged furniture, they spun their dreams of a wonderful life together.

Word came to Washington that on the night of May 3, Santa Anna’s army had shelled Fort Texas on the Rio Grande from across the river. No one in the fort was killed, but United States property was severely damaged. The U.S. troops fought back, and the Mexicans lost some men as their troops retreated with their cannons.

On May 9, President Polk sat in the Oval Office alone and began to carefully prepare a war message to Congress. The next day, the flag-draped coffins of the American soldiers killed at Point Isabel arrived in Washington, and great crowds of irate citizens gathered to look upon them. The newspapers named the dead men, and the people of the United States felt sure President Polk would ask
Congress to back him as he declared war on Mexico.

On Monday morning, May 11, Polk met with Congress and delivered his war message. In the stirring address, Polk stated that Mexico had “boldly and contemptuously invaded United States territory at Port Isabel, and shed American blood on American soil.” He further decried the act of aggression at Fort Texas.

Grant and Lydia had just finished polishing the apartment to perfection when there was a tap at the open door. Duane Reynolds was there to pick up his daughter and take her home, where she would remain until after the wedding.