Railroaded

in collaboration with The Spatial History Project


You are here

The battle against the French and the Archduke Maximilian had been for Mexicans the equivalent of the American Civil War, forging national and personal interests in a complicated amalgam where one could later be mistaken for the other. Desperately in need of money for weapons, Romero had brokered Mexico's future by helping to sell Mexican bonds issued by a government in virtual exile at deep discounts to New York capitalists. Many of the bonds guaranteed land and other concessions should the Mexican government default.

To buttress his financiers and railroad men, Rosecrans enlisted U.S. politicians, many of whom were already active in other railroad speculations. James A. Garfield and Chief Justice Salmon Chase joined his consortium, and, more surprisingly, Ulysses S. Grant, who needed money and whom Rosecrans needed because Grant was highly thought of in Mexico because of his sympathy toward Juarez.

Pletcher, Rails, Mines, and Progress, 37-49, 152-154.