War between the United States and Mexico (1846-1848) that resulted in Mexico losing nearly half its national territory. Hardly remembered in the United States, but widely in Mexico; this war -resulted in Mexico losing nearly half its national territory. The war began over a dispute about where the border of Texas and Mexico should be, and with the prior transformation of Tejas, to "The Lone Star Republic" in 1836. With Texas' incorporation into the United States in 1845, the war gained momentum. Later, Ulysses Grant, who had been an officer in the "Mexican War," described the US Civil War as related to the expansion of the cotton and slavery system into new territory. Mexicans particularly recall the terrible bombardment of Veracruz, and the siege of Mexico City. Mexican heroes of the war include the Niños Héroes, a group of cadets who died defending the castle of Chapultepec. One of them, Juan Escutia, hurled himself over the wall draped in the flag, rather than see it captured. The war was ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, but the conflict served to embitter and cloud relations between the two nations. Some of the suspicions and stereotypes both peoples hold about the other can be traced to the war, including terms like"gringo."