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The Battle of Chapultepec took place in September 1847 during the Mexican-American War, at Chapultepec Castle on Chapultepec Hill, guarding the western approach to Mexico City.
Background
On September 8 in the costly battle of Molino del Rey, U.S. forces had managed to drive the Mexicans from their positions near the base of Chapultepec Castle guarding Mexico City from the west. However army engineers were still interested in the southern approaches to city. General Winfield Scott held a council of war with his generals and engineers on September 11. Scott was in favor of attacking Chapultepec and only General David E. Twiggs agreed. Most of Scott's officers favored the attack from the south including Captain Robert E. Lee. A young Lt. Pierre Beauregard gave a text book speech that persuaded General Pierce to change his vote in favor of the western attack. Scott officially declared the attack would be against Chapultepec.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was in command of the army at Mexico City. He understood that Chapultepec Castle was an important position for the defense of the city. The castle sat atop a 200 foot hill which in recent years was being used as the Mexican Military Academy. General Nicolás Bravo however had less than 1,000 men to hold the hill including 200 cadets, some as young as 13 years old. A gradual slope from the castle down to the Molino del Rey made an inviting attack point.
Scott organized two storming parties numbering 250 hand picked men. The first party under Captain Samuel Mackenzie would lead Gideon Pillow's division from the Molino east up the hill. The second storming party under Captain Silas Casey would lead John A. Quitman's division against the southeast of the castle.
Chapultepec
The Americans began an artillery barrage against Chapultepec at dawn on September 12. It was halted at dark and resumed at first light on September 13. At 08:00 the bombardment was halted and Winfield Scott ordered to charge to go forward. Following Captain Mackenzie's storming party were three assault columns from George Cadwalader's brigade of Pillow's division. On the left were the 11th and 14th regiments under Colonel William Trousdale, in the center were 4 companies of the Voltigeur regiment under Colonel Timothy Patrick Andrews and on the right were the remaining 4 Voltigeur companies under Lt. Col. Joseph E. Johnston. Pillow was quickly hit in the foot but ordered the attack forward. Andrews's column followed Mackenzie out of the Molino and cleared a cypress grove to their front of Mexican troops as Trousdale and Johnston moved up on the flanks. The attack stalled when Mackenzie's men had to wait for storming ladders to arrive and a lull came over the battle.
To the southwest 40 Marines led Captain Casey's storming party followed by James Shields' brigade of volunteers north towards Chapultepec. Again the storming party stalled while waiting for ladders and the rest of Shields' men halted in the face of Mexican artillery. Finally the scaling ladders arrived and the first wave ascended the walls. In fact so many ladders arrived that 50 men could climb side by side. George Pickett (later famous for "Pickett's Charge" and the Battle of Five Forks during the American Civil War) was the first American to top the wall of the fort and the Voltiguers soon planted their flag on the parapet. Colonel Trousdale's column supported by Lt. Thomas J. Jackson's artillery faced superior numbers of Mexicans in a spirited defense. Newman S. Clarke's brigade brought new momentum to the fight on Pillow's front. General Shields was severely wounded as his men poured over the walls but his troops managed to raise the Star and Stripes over the castle. Caught between two fronts General Bravo ordered a retreat back to the city. Before he could withdraw, Bravo was taken prisoner by Shields' New York volunteers. The Mexican retreat was a mad stampede down the causeways leading into the city. Many simply jumped from the walls disregarding height to escape the attackers. Santa Anna watched disaster befall Chapultepec while an aide exclaimed "God is a Yankee".
Los Niños Héroes
A moving mural decorates the ceiling of the palace, showing Juan Escutia wrapped in the flag, apparently falling from above. A monument stands in Chapultepec Park commemorating their courage. The cadets are eulogized in Mexican history as the Los Niños Héroes, the "Child Heroes" or Heroic Cadets.Saint Patrick's Battalion
Some men from the controversial Saint Patrick's Battalion (el Batallón de San Patricio or San Patricios), a group of former U.S. army solders who joined the Mexican side, were executed en masse during the Battle of Chapultepec. They had been previously captured at the Battle of Churubusco. General Scott specified that they were to be hanged with Chapultepec in view, and that the precise moment of their death was to occur when the U.S. flag replaced the Mexican tricolor atop the citadel.Belén and San Cosmé Gates
General Scott arrived at the castle and was mobbed by cheerful soldiers. He detached a regiment to garrison Chapultepec and the prisoners there. Scott then planned for the attack on the city. He ordered a secondary attack against the Belén Gate and brought up the rest of William J. Worth's division to support Trousdale's men on La Verónica Causeway for the main attack against the San Cosme Gate. Trousdale followed by John Garland's, Newman Clarks' and George Cadwalader's brigades began advancing up the causeway. However General Quitman quickly gathered the troops in Chapultepec along with Persifor F. Smith's brigade, turned east and immediately headed down the Belén Causeway. Intended to be only a feint Quitman pushed home his attack chasing the late defenders of Chapultepec back into the city. His troops were met by strong resistance in front of the gate supported by a battery of artillery. Using the stone arches of the aqueduct running down the center of the causeway, Quitman's men crept forward inch by inch. The troops of General Andrés Terrés began to desert and fled back to the citadel. Led by the Mounted Rifles (fighting on foot), Quitman's attack breached the Belén Gate 1:20pm. General Scott later commented "brave Rifles, you have gone through fire and come out steel".
To the north Robert E. Lee led Worth's attackers down the causeway. It was by now 4:00pm before Worth reached the junction of La Verónica and San Cosme causeways. Worth beat back a counter attack by 1,500 cavalry then turned east down the San Cosme causeway. Progress was slow and casualties were mounting. Sappers destroyed buildings along the causeway to make way for reinforcements to come up. Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant discovered the bell tower of San Cosme Church south of the causeway. Then he helped haul a howitzer to the bell tower and began firing shots down onto the defenders from his lofty position. On the north side of the road naval officer Raphael Semmes repeated Grant's successful maneuver. Lieutenant George Terrett led a group of Marines behind the Mexican defenders and climbing to the roof unleashed a deadly volley on the artillery gunners. By 6:00pm Worth had broken through the gate and the defenders scattered. Many retreated to the ciudadela sweeping Santa Anna along with them. As night fell Worth lobbed five mortars into the city falling near the National Palace. The day's fighting was over.
Aftermath
The battle had been a significant victory for the U.S. Lasting throughout most of the day the fighting had been severe and costly. Generals Twiggs and Shields had both been wounded as well as Colonel Trousdale. The heaviest losses occurred during Quitman's attack on the Belén Gate. Every member of Quitman's staff had lost their lives in the close fighting on the causeway. Santa Anna lost General Bravo as a POW and General Francisco Pérez was killed. In a fit of rage Santa Anna slapped General Terrés and relieved him of command for losing the Belén Gate. In his memoirs Santa Anna branded Terrés as a traitor and made him the scapegoat for the defeat at Mexico City.
The efforts of the U.S. Marines in this battle and subsequent occupation of Mexico City are memorialized by the opening lyrics to Marines' hymn. "From the Halls of Montezuma..." are a reference to the Chapultepec Castle also known as the Halls of Montezuma. These lyrics were written by a Marine officer who had served in Mexico following the war's end.
See also
Sources
- Nevin, David; editor, The Mexican War (1978)
- Bauer, K. Jack, "The Mexican-American War 1846-48"
- Winfield Scott's Official Report
1847 in Mexico | Battles of the Mexican-American War | Battles of the Texas Ranger Division | History of Mexico City
Batalla de Chapultepec | Slag om Chapultepec | Slaget vid Chapultepec
"Battle of Chapultepec"