The Battle of Palo Alto marked several firsts in American history: a new generation of professional soldiers--Ulysses S. Grant, George G. Meade, and James Longstreet--provided a wealth of expert knowledge to their senior officers; the military demonstrated the superior qualities of their newly introduced "flying" artillery, one that would see fruition during the far greater epoch of the Civil War; and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy experienced their first major test.
The battle was essentially an artillery duel that pitted highly effective U.S. cannon against Mexican cannon of...