The First Battle of Tabasco was fought during the Mexican-American War The Mexican–American War was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas Revolution.
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Background
The battle was part of the U.S. ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language Home Squadron's efforts to blockade the major Mexican In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory, which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain which would eventually become Mexico ports on the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is the eleventh largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and.
Battle
Commodore Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry was the Commodore of the U.S. Navy who compelled the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854 led a detachment of 7 ships south along the coast towards Tabasco Tabasco is a state in Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Veracruz to the west, Chiapas to the south, and Campeche to the north-east. To the east Tabasco borders with the Petén department of Guatemala, and to the north with the Bay of Campeche (part of the Gulf of Mexico). Tabasco is in the northern half of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Perry reached the Tabasco River (present day Grijalva River) in late October and seized the town of Frontera along with two Mexican ships. Leaving a small garrison he pushed upriver towards the city of San Juan Bautista Villahermosa is the capital city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and the municipal seat of the Centro municipality. Villahermosa reported a population of 658,524 in the 2005 census, whereas its Centro municipality had 558,524 inhabitants. The municipality covers an area of 1,612 km2 (622.4 sq mi). The city is located at 863 kilometers from Mexico. Perry reached the town on October 24 and seized five more Mexican vessels and put the landing party ashore. Colonel Juan B. Traconis, the Mexican departmental commander lacked a sufficient force to fight the U.S. and withdrew from the town. Perry also lacked the numbers to hold the town and recalled the landing force.
During the night, Mexican forces returned to the city and barricaded themselved within the buildings. Perry realized that shelling the town was his only option to drive out the Mexican Army, and not wanting to damage the city merchants, he decided to withdraw the next day. On the morning of October 26, Perry was readying the fleet to return to Frontera when the Mexican forces began firing upon the fleet. Perry returned fire, but a plea from the civilians made him stop and run up a white flag The white flag is an internationally recognized protective sign of truce or ceasefire, and request for negotiation. It is also used to symbolize surrender, since it is often the weaker military party which requests negotiation. A white flag signifies to all that an approaching negotiator is unarmed, with an intent to surrender or a desire to to show his intentions of withdrawing peacefully. While leaving one of the captured ships ran aground, and the Mexicans began firing upon it. Perry again returned fire, but he directed that the non-combatant buildings be spared if possible. The ship was freed and the fleet returned to Frontera. From there he rejoined the Home Squadron under Commodore David Connor for the operations against Tampico Tampico is the main city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is the nation's chief economic powerhouse on the Gulf of Mexico. Economic development during the 1920s made the city a commercial leader in the aviation and soda industries. Oil is the chief export, but the city also is a major exporter of silver, copper, and lumber, together with.
Perry returned to Tampico in 1847 with a larger force, and he achieved more successful results against Tabasco.
See also
References
- Nevin, David; editor, The Mexican War (1978)
- Bauer, K. Jack, "The Mexican-American War 1846-48"
- http://www.dmwv.org/honoring/naval.htm
