Mexican cavalry next arrived on the scene and threatened to overrun the Americans. Davis, reinforced by the 3rd Indiana Regiment, shaped his men into a V and poured converging fire into the enemy horsemen. “Boys, fire, and at them with your knives!” he cried. A few Mississippians did manage to drag the fleeing lancers from their mounts and stab them to death with well-honed bowie knives.

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Davis’ inarguably fine performance at Buena Vista won him national fame (and helped win his erstwhile father-in-law the presidency a year later). He quickly parlayed his heroic reputation into election to the U.S. Senate, where his growing influence soon made him a leader of the Southern delegation. Without his Mexican War laurels, it is doubtful that Jefferson Davis would ever have become president of the Confederacy; with them, his election was virtually inevitable.

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