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60 free Mexican-American War trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Mexican American War trivia quiz covers the 1846-48 conflict that redrew the map of North America. The easy questions handle the basics: which president started it, the annexation of Texas, Zachary Taylor and Santa Anna, the treaty that ended it and the future Civil War generals who learned their trade in Mexico. From there it moves through the Nueces Strip dispute, the Thornton Affair, Lincoln's Spot Resolutions, the Bear Flag Revolt, Kearny's bloodless capture of Santa Fe and the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista. The harder half is for history buffs: the 'flying artillery', the Diabólicos Tejanos, Perry's guns at Veracruz, the Niños Héroes legend, the San Patricios, Santa Anna's last battle, the price per acre of the Mexican Cession, the Senate ratification vote and the All-Mexico debate. If you have played our American history or Texas quizzes, this is the deep dive on one war. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry on the war before publishing.
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Q 01In which years was the Mexican-American War fought?
1846-1848
It began with a clash on 25 April 1846 and ended with a treaty signed on 2 February 1848.
Q 02South of the border, the conflict is usually known by what name?
The United States intervention
Mexico calls it the United States intervention in Mexico; in the US it was long simply the Mexican War.
Q 03Which US president led the country into the war?
James K. Polk
He had been elected in 1844 on a platform of expanding to Oregon, California and Texas by any means.
Q 04The 1845 US annexation of which former republic set the stage for the war?
Texas
Mexico still considered it Mexican territory, refusing to recognise the 1836 Treaties of Velasco.
Q 05Mexico claimed the Texas border lay along which river, rather than the Rio Grande?
The Nueces
The strip between the two rivers was the disputed ground where fighting began.
Q 06How much did Polk's envoy John Slidell offer Mexico for the disputed land, California and New Mexico?
$25 million
Mexico refused even to receive him, and the president who considered doing so was deposed for treason.
Q 07The war's opening clash, in which Mexican cavalry routed a 70-man US patrol, is known as what?
The Thornton Affair
Eleven Americans were killed and 52 captured; Polk used it to argue that American blood had been shed on American soil.
Q 08On what date did the US Congress approve the declaration of war?
13 May 1846
Only fourteen Whigs voted no on final passage, among them John Quincy Adams.
Q 09Which freshman Illinois Whig demanded Polk name the 'spot' where American blood was shed?
Abraham Lincoln
His eight 'Spot Resolutions' haunted his later campaigns in heavily Democratic Illinois.
Q 10Which former US president spoke a resounding 'No!' in the House when war came to a vote?
John Quincy Adams
Only thirteen others followed him, though he later voted for war appropriations.
Q 11Which writer went to jail for refusing to pay a war tax and turned it into the essay Civil Disobedience?
Henry David Thoreau
Emerson predicted the US would conquer Mexico 'as a man who swallowed the arsenic'.
Q 12Which editor coined the phrase 'Manifest Destiny' that animated supporters of the war?
John O'Sullivan
He wrote of overspreading 'the continent allotted by Providence'.
Q 13Which Democratic congressman proposed banning slavery in any territory taken from Mexico?
David Wilmot
The Wilmot Proviso passed the House but not the Senate.
Q 21Which explorer's California Battalion absorbed the Bear Flag rebels in July 1846?
John C. Frémont
He had earlier provoked the Mexican commander by raising the US flag on Gavilan Peak.
Q 22What did Mexicans call the Texans who showed Taylor's men how to 'mouse hole' at Monterrey?
Diabólicos Tejanos
The 'Devil Texans' had fought in a Mexican city before, at the Siege of Béxar in 1835.
Q 23The largest battle of the war, in February 1847, was fought at which mountain pass?
Buena Vista
Santa Anna marched 20,000 men north but arrived with 15,000 after desertions; Taylor had 4,600.
Q 14Which US general commanded the army on the Rio Grande and won at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma?
Zachary Taylor
He later became president on the strength of his war record.
Q 15What did the US Army call its mobile horse-drawn light guns that proved decisive at Palo Alto?
Flying artillery
Mexican gunpowder was so poor that American soldiers could dodge the slow-moving cannonballs.
Q 16What Texas city grew up around Fort Texas, renamed for Jacob Brown after its bombardment?
Brownsville
The fort faced the Mexican city of Matamoros across the river.
Q 17Which Mexican general, exiled in Cuba when the war began, returned and led Mexico's armies?
Antonio López de Santa Anna
He had secretly told US envoys he would sell the disputed land, then pocketed the money and fought instead.
Q 18How many times did the Mexican presidency change hands in 1846 alone?
Four
The war ministry changed six times and the finance ministry sixteen times that year.
Q 19Which US general's Army of the West took Santa Fe in August 1846 without firing a shot?
Stephen W. Kearny
Governor Manuel Armijo declined to fight and fled to Chihuahua; Kearny declared himself military governor.
Q 20The June 1846 uprising in which American settlers seized Sonoma, California, is known as what?
The Bear Flag Revolt
Thirty-four settlers led by William B. Ide raised the flag that inspired California's state banner.
Q 24Which future Confederate president's Mississippi Rifles formed a V that saved Taylor's line at the war's largest battle?
Jefferson Davis
Historians agree the US Army might have been beaten had Santa Anna fought the battle to a finish.
Q 25Where did General Winfield Scott make the first major amphibious landing in US history, in March 1847?
Veracruz
Some 12,000 men came ashore using specially designed landing craft.
Q 26Which commodore, later famous for opening Japan, directed the naval guns at Scott's siege of the Gulf port?
Matthew C. Perry
The bombardment blew a thirty-foot gap in the city walls and the defenders surrendered after 12 days.
Q 27Which of these future Civil War generals served in Scott's invasion force?
Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and Stonewall Jackson
George Meade and James Longstreet were also there.
Q 28Which disease began cutting down US soldiers during the siege of the Gulf port in 1847?
Yellow fever
Disease killed far more American soldiers than combat did.
Q 29What castle housing a military school was stormed in the final assault on Mexico City in 1847?
Chapultepec
The legend of the Niños Héroes, cadets who died rather than surrender, was born there.
Q 30Legend says cadet Juan Escutia leapt from the castle walls during the assault on Mexico City wrapped in what?
The Mexican flag
The six Niños Héroes, aged 13 to 17, became icons of Mexican patriotism.