Samuel Ringgold
(1796-1846)
Mexican War Officer
A member of the first graduating class of the United States Military Academy at West Point (1818), Ringgold, an artillery officer, was on General Winfield Scott's staff when this portrait was painted. In 1846, in the first clash of the Mexican War, Ringgold led a small American force to victory at Palo Alto. Wounded, he died three days later. News of his death, the first of the war, created an explosion of national pride, and he became a hero.
