At the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, one of the early engagements of the Mexican-American War, United States General Zachary Taylor engaged the retreating forces of the Mexican Ejército del Norte ("Army of the North") under General Mariano Arista on May 9, 1846.

Background

During the night of May 8, following disappointments at the Battle of Palo Alto, Arista chose to withdraw to the more defensible position of Resaca de la Palma, a dry riverbed (resaca is the Spanish term for a dry riverbed), and establish himself while waiting for Taylor's next move.

On the morning of May 9, Taylor's 1,700 troops engaged a Mexican force which had increased to 4,000 with Arista's reinforcements. Arista's carefully laid plans for engaging the Americans at Resaca were, however, somewhat diluted because of political infighting in the Mexican officer corps and the difficulty in communicating in the rough terrain of the battlefield.