Meaning of the halls of Montezuma in the Marine hymn?

Answer 1

Winfield Scott landed 12,000 troops, mainly soldiers, and captured Vera Cruz in March of 1847. Then with about 9,000 soldiers, Scott moved inland. The soldiers routed an entrenched, numerically superior Mexican force at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.

Scott proceded to Puebla. There, he had to release a number of volunteer troops whose enlistments had run out. He was reinforced back to a QQstrength of between 12,000 and 13,000 troops. The reinforcements included a battalion of Marines which numbered less than 400 officers and men. The Marines were assigned to General Quitman's Division.

In the battles of Contreras, Churusbuco, and El Molino del Rey, soldiers defeated numerically superior forces of Mexicans. During those battles, Quitman's Division guarded supply wagons.

Quitman's Division, including the Marines, was one of the forces which assaulted Chapultepec Castle. Quitman's attack was initially stopped short of the walls of Chapultepec. The Marine Battalion remained outside Chapultepec Castle during the assault.

The troops who actually scaled the walls, fought it out with the garrison and actually took Chapultepec were Soldiers, not Marines.

"Halls of Montezuma" is included in the Marines' Hymn because a battalion of Marines was part of Winfield Scott's army which captured Mexico City. Actually the Marine Battalion, contrary to the belief of many Marines, did not play a significant role in the capture of Mexico City.