Further pursuing our interest in the neighborhood context of the White House, as well as the presidential complex itself, this issue hopes to paint a picture of the Mexican-American War era there (1846–48), when the American armies were fighting a war two thousand miles away on foreign soil. The capital tensed for reports from the fronts. Military action followed two main lines of assault in Mexico, the first, under General Zachary Taylor, pushing inside the Mexican republic overland from Texas and the second entering by sea at Vera Cruz and marching from that Gulf of Mexico port, under General Winfield Scott, to the capital at Mexico City.

It naturally was an exciting time in Washington. No better visit to the scene can be found than the diary of Elizabeth Dixon, wife of Congressman James Dixon, a Whig from Connecticut. Their time in Washington precisely coincided with the Mexican War. Her experiences in the wartime capital are vividly detailed. Her friends were numerous. White House History is especially proud to be the first to publish this diary, which is in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society and has long been a prized source for scholars of the era. The second half of Mrs. Dixon’s diary relates to the Civil War, when her husband returned to Washington. Watch for it in a later number of the journal.