Battle

Taylor's army, with the Texas Division leading under the command of Major General and Texas Governor James Pinckney Henderson, reached the plain in front of Monterrey at 9{{nbsp}}am on the morning of 19 September, when they were fired upon by Col. Jose Lopez Uraga's 4th Infantry guns : San Patricio Battery atop the citadel.^[1]{{rp|92}} Taylor ordered the army to camp at Bosque de San Domingo while engineers under the command of Major Joseph K. Mansfield reconnoitered.^[1]{{rp|92}}

Besides the citadel, Mexican strong points within the city included: the "Black Fort" ( Col. Jose Lopez Uraga, 3d & 4th Line and 9 guns-incl. "San Patricio" Battery) "the Tannery," La Teneria,( 2d Ligero under Col. Jose M. Carrasco and part of the Querétaro Battalion, and 2 guns & 1 mountain howitzer - Lt (?) J. Espejo ) El Fortin del Rincon del Diablo ( Lt. Col. Calisto Bravo and 3 guns- Capt. Ignacio Joaquin del Arenal . ), La Purisima bridge and tete-de-pont ( Activos of Aguascalientes under Col. Jose Ferro and the Querétaro under Comdte. Jose Maria Herrera 3 guns- Capt. P. Gutierez ).^[1]{{rp|92}} West of the city atop Independencia stood Ft. Libertad ( 4 guns) and the Obispado (bishop's place) with the Activos of Mexico commanded by Lt. Col. Franciso de Berra and 3 guns and 1 howitzer, and atop Federacion was a redan( 2 guns )and Fort Soldado.^[1]{{rp|93}} In reserve at la Plaza was the 3d Ligero under Lt. Col. Juan Castro and 1 gun-Lt. Agustin Espinosa.

General Zachary Taylor decided to attack western Monterrey using William J. Worth's Division in a giant north and west "hook" movement while simultaneously attacking with his main body from the east.^[1]{{rp|93}} Worth started at 2{{nbsp}}pm on 20 September along with Col. John Coffee Hays's Texas Regiment screening the advance, but they camped for the night three miles from the Saltillo road.^[1]{{rp|93–94}}

By 6{{nbsp}}am on 21 September, Worth continued his advance, repulsing a Jalisco cavalry charge by Col. Juan Najera, killing the latter and an advance guard consisting of General Manuel Romero's brigade and Lt. Col. Mariano Moret's Guanajuato Regiment.^[1]{{rp|94}} By 8:15{{nbsp}}am, Worth had severed the Saltillo road from Monterrey and sent Capt. Charles F. Smith with 300 infantry and Texans, plus Capt. Dixon Miles's 7th Infantry and Persifor Smith's 2nd Brigade to take Federacion and Fort Soldado, which they quickly did.^[1]{{rp|94}}

In the meantime, Taylor launched a diversion against eastern Monterrey with Col. John Garland's 1st and 3d Infantry plus Lt. Col. William H. Watson's Maryland and District of Columbia Battalion, which quickly grew into an assault.^[1]{{rp|95}} By 8{{nbsp}}am, Capt. Electus Backus's company of the 1st Infantry had taken the tannery and by noon, with Col. William B. Campbell's 1st Tennessee and Mississippi Rifles, had taken Fort de La Teneria.^[1]{{rp|96}}^[2][3]

No attacks or sorties occurred on 22 September.^[1]{{rp|97}}

At 3{{nbsp}}am on 23 September, Worth sent the Texas Rangers and the 4th and 8th Infantry, under Lt. Col. Thomas Childs, to take Fort Libertad on Independencia, which they did by daybreak.^[1]{{rp|97}} With the help of James Duncan's battery, they soon took the Obispado and had control of western Monterrey.^[1]{{rp|97}}^[2] By then, the Mexicans had abandoned their outer defenses on the east side of Monterrey, concentrating in the Plaza Mayor, and John A. Quitman's brigade held eastern Monterrey by 11{{nbsp}}am.^[1]{{rp|97,99}}

During the exchange of fire, a young Mexican woman wandered into the crossfire to tend to the wounds of injured soldiers of both armies. She was struck by a bullet while attending to a wounded American soldier, and was likely killed. Her name was later discovered to be María Josefa Zozaya.^[4]

By 2{{nbsp}}pm on 23 September, General Worth advanced into the city from the west, burrowing{{clarify|date=June 2016}} house to house, supported in the late afternoon by a mortar set up in Plaza de la Capella, and were within a block west of the plaza by 11{{nbsp}}pm.^[1]{{rp|99}} The Texan volunteers taught the U.S. regulars new techniques for fighting in the city, techniques that they did not employ on 21 September, which led to staggering casualties. Armed with these new urban warfare skills, the U.S. Army, along with Texan, Mississippian, and Tennessee volunteers moved house to house, rooting out Mexican soldiers hiding on rooftops and inside the thick, adobe-walled houses of northern Mexico.^[5][6] By 2{{nbsp}}pm, Taylor and Quitman were within two blocks east of the plaza when Taylor ordered a withdrawal before nightfall.^[1]{{rp|99}}

General Ampudia decided to negotiate on 24 September.^[1]{{rp|99}} Taylor negotiated a two-month armistice, along the line Rinconada Pass-Linares_San Fernando de Parras, in return for the surrender of the city.^[1]{{rp|100}} The Mexican Army was allowed to march from the city from 26 to 28 September, with their personal arms and one field battery of six guns.^[1]{{rp|99, 101}}

Aftermath

Ampudia had moved beyond the armistice line by 30 September and San Luis Potosi by early November.^[1]{{rp|101}}

The resulting armistice signed between Taylor and Ampudia had major effects upon the outcome of the war. Taylor was lambasted by some in the federal government, where President James K. Polk insisted that the U.S. Army had no authority to negotiate truces, only to "kill the enemy." In addition, his terms of armistice, which allowed Ampudia's forces to retreat with battle honors and all of their weapons, were seen as foolish and short-sighted by some U.S. observers.

For his part, some have argued that Ampudia had begun the defeat of Mexico. Many Mexican soldiers became disenchanted with the war. In a well-fortified, well-supplied position, an army of ten thousand Mexican soldiers had resisted the U.S. Army for three days, only to be forced into surrender by American urban battle tactics, heavy artillery and possibly further division in the Mexican ranks.

The invading army occupied the city and remained until June 18, 1848. As soon as the occupation occurred, the U.S. Army committed several executions of civilians and several women were raped. Among the most memorable massacres is the one reported by the Houston Telegraph and Register on January 4, 1847 when Texas volunteers blamed the Mexicans for the death of several of their companions in Monterrey. Consequently, Americans began to shoot all civilians they encountered. The newspaper, citing military sources reported more than fifty civilians killed in Monterrey in a single event. Similar acts of violence occurred in other surrounding occupied towns such as Marín (which was destroyed and set on fire), Apodaca as well as other towns between the Rio Grande and Monterrey. In most cases those attacks were perpetrated by the Texas Rangers.^[8][9] Several American volunteers condemned the attacks, and blamed the Texas Rangers for committing hate crimes on civilians allegedly for revenge of the former Mexican campaigns in Texas. Before and after the US occupation, a large number of civilians fled the city. In response to the occupation several local guerrilla groups emerged such as those led by Antonio Canales Rosillo and José Urrea, the latter widely repudiated by the Texans because of his leadership participation in the campaigns of the Texas War ten years ago.^[10] Taylor admitted the atrocities committed by his men, but took no action to punish them.^[11]

See also

• Battles of the Mexican–American War

References

Further reading

• Toro, Alfonso "Historia de México", vol. 2, pp. 372–374.
• Alcaraz, Ramon et al. "Apuntes Para la Historia de la Guerra Entre Mexico y los Estados Unidos"
• Henderson, Timothy J. (2008). A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States. USA: Macmillan. {{ISBN|978-1-429-92279-1}}.
• Balbotin, Manuel "La Invasion Americana, 1846 a 1848"
• Grant, U.S. "Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Vol I, pp 74-82", {{ISBN|0-940450-58-5}}
• Note 1 Alcaraz in "Apuntes..." lists the initial Mex. units on pp 90–91.
• Note 2 Balbontin in " La Invasion" lists the Mex. reinforcements on pp 10–11. He lists units and artillery at some of the defense points.
• Annual Reports 1894, War Department list trophy guns as: 1- 12 pounder, 3- 8 pounders, 2- 4 pounders, 2- 4 pounder mountain howitzers & 1- 68 pound howitzer.
• {{cite book |last=Eisenhower |first=John S. D. |title=So Far from God, The U.S. War with Mexico, 1846-1848 |publisher=Random House |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-8061-3279-2}}
• Dishman, Christopher, ''A Perfect Gibraltar: The Battle for Monterrey, Mexico," University of Oklahoma Press, 2010 {{ISBN|0-8061-4140-9}}
• {{cite book|title=Gateway South: The Campaign for Monterrey |publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History}}

External links

• [https://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/war/monterrey.html The Capture of Monterrey - PBS U.S.-Mexican War]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130921143524/http://library.uta.edu/usmexicowar/moduleresult.php?module_id=1 The Battle of Monterrey - A Continent Divided: The U.S.-Mexico War], Center for Greater Southwestern Studies, University of Texas at Arlington
• Nuevo Leon, Historic Sites of the U.S.-Mexican War - Descendants of Mexican War Veterans
• Battle for Monterrey, Mexico
• [https://www.army.mil/article/176061/mexican_american_war_remains_arrive_in_us_for_study Mexican-American War remains arrive in U.S. for study]