REFLECTION PAPER: STAFF RIDE- BATTLE OF SAN PASQUAL The Battle of San Pasqual, also spelled San Pascual, was a military encounter that occurred during the Mexican-American War in what is now the San Pasqual Valley community of the city of San Diego, California. The series of military skirmishes ended with both sides claiming victory, and the victor of the battle is still debated. On December 6 and December 7, 1846, General Stephen W. Kearny's US Army of the West, along with a small detachment of the California Battalion led by a Marine Lieutenant, engaged a small contingent of Californios and their Presidial Lancers Los Galgos (The Greyhounds), led by Major Andrés Pico. After U.S. reinforcements arrived, Kearny's troops were able to reach …show more content…
President James Polk sent the U.S. Army, 1st U.S. Dragoons almost immediately, under the command of Stephan Watts Kearny, west from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to California. It was considered at the time the longest U.S. military march in history. Almost 2000 miles later, on December 6, 1846, these soldiers engaged in combat with a group of Mexican cowboys called caballeros at a place now called “San Pasqual”. The small group of about 100 Mexicans, then called Californios, (and nicknamed the Greyhounds) engaged approximately 100 Americans (of a 169 men force), most of which were comprised, at the time, of one of the most elite fighting units in the United States Military Arsenal, the 1st U.S. Dragoons. The Mexicans fought ferociously against the foreign aggressors and, despite being out-gunned, inflicted tremendous casualties against the Americans. In less than an hour, the battlefield found at least 19 Americans and possibly six Mexicans dead and over thirty wounded …show more content…
Later, Major Andrés Pico, after a failed search for a detachment of U.S. soldiers, joined forces with the captains and took command. These Californios led a force consisting of landowners, sons of landowners, and vaqueros, many with well-known and respected family names in the community Having lost the element of surprise, at midnight Kearny ordered an immediate advance. It had rained that night. Men, muskets, pistols and equipment were wet and cold, but the troops, after over six months without any action, were eager to engage the Californios. Early in the morning of December 6, 1846, the column proceeded by twos across the ridge between Santa Maria (present day Ramona, California) and San Pasqual. During the descent, while it was still dark and with a low-lying fog, Kearny's force became strung out and were caught in a disadvantageous position by General Pico's swift
This book by Otis A. Singletary deals with different aspects of the Mexican war. It is a compelling description and concise history of the first successful offensive war in United States military history. The work examines two countries that were unprepared for war. The political intrigues and quarrels in appointing the military commanders, as well as the military operations of the war, are presented and analyzed in detail. The author also analyzes the role that the Mexican War played in bringing on the U.S. Civil War.
Santa Anna was a marvelous war hero and even addressed himself as “the Napoleon of the West.” With this confidence and his experience as a leader and war hero, it was a surprise to everyone when he lost the Battle of San Jacinto against the Texicans. There were many factors at play leading to this loss. Had Santa Anna been smarter and more careful with his leadership and his war strategies, his loss could have been avoided; the battle all together could have even been avoided.
San Antonio, Texas-- The Battle of the Alamo, a battle in San Antonio, against the Mexicans broke out, marks the most important of the battles so far during the Texas fight for independence. The battle began on February 23, 1836 and ended two days ago on March 6, 1836, lasting for 13 days. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, leader of the Mexican force, planned to seize the fort with an army of thousands. Unprepared, the Texans had an army of around 200 men, including well- known congressman David Crockett and James Bowie and not so well-known William Barret Travis.
General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.
U.S. forces and signaling the end of the Indian wars in the Southwest. Geronimo and a band
él Californio: Don Alejandro Vásquez a great uncle of José, very stubborn old man who stayed in California after the war, as far as he was concerned he was still in México.
Made famous by Theodore Roosevelt’s volunteer Rough Rider’s and the Buffalo Soldiers, the Battle of San Juan Hill (July 1, 1898), also known as The Battle of San Juan Heights, was the bloodiest battle of the Spanish American War. After landing on the beachhead, the US V Corps under the command of Major General William Shafter fought their way west toward the port town of Santiago. After an indecisive clash at Las Guasimas on June 24, Shafter readied his men to take the strategic heights around the city, while Cuban insurgents blocked any Spanish reinforcements arriving on the roads to the north, in what would be one of the most decisive battles of America’s “Splendid Little War.” 1
The Civil War split our nation, Americans fighting Americans, brother against brother. The war lasted four long years, a key battle fought westward was the turning point in the war: the Battle of Vicksburg.
These men had returned with the news of a Spanish outpost with the name Las Guasimas. By afternoon of the same day the Rough Riders had been order to head out to the location of Las Guasimas and eliminate all opposition and secure the surrounding area, the men would camp outside the outpost then attack the next morning. For started, the Rough Riders were at a disadvantage, they were not accustom to the dense jungles of Cuba in which they were fighting in, and did not know the jungles trails like the Spanish did. Yet the next morning the attack commenced, with General Young, commander of the cavalry and regulars, attacked the outpost straight on.
Bauer, K. Jack. “Mexican War,” Handbook of Texas Online, last modified June 15, 2010, accessed May 2, 2014, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdm02
A Texan, William B. Travis and a small group of Texans attacked a squad of Mexican troops in Anahuac with the motive that “taxes should not thus be collected from them to support a standing army in their own country” (SOS 1) and soon drove them back. Travis retreated to San Felipe and were assisted to Bexar. Skirmishes and the threat of war with Mexico soon followed.
The battle of Gettysburg occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It began as a meeting engagement, but by its end involved approximately 170,000 Americans. The battle is considered to be the turning point in the American Civil War and is one of the most studied battles in American history. The events that took place at Gettysburg had a tremendous impact on the outcome of the Civil War and the fate of the United States.
This was called the Thornton Affair, 11 troopers were killed and the rest were captured. After that, the Mexicans started bombing Fort Brown, the United States sent General Zach Taylor with 2400 men to relieve the fort. Mexican general Mariano Arista with 3400 men rushed out to meet them. When the congress heard the news, they declared American blood has been shed on American soil and they declared war on Mexico.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, President William McKinley sent a telegram to Governor Miguel A. Otero, Jr., at Santa Fe, asking him to assist in recruiting stalwart young men who were good shots and good riders. Otero, the first Hispanic to serve as governor of the territory, knew he was on the spot. “Many newspapers in the East,” he later told an interviewer, “were dubious about our loyalty we having such a large Mexican population.” Hoping to lay suspicions to rest, Governor Otero issued a call to every town and ranch in the territory for volunteers and offered his own services, if needed. The response from both Hispanics and Anglos was so generous that afterward Theodore Roosevelt would claim that half the officers and men of his famous Rough Riders Regiment came from New
?Spanish-American War and Philippine Resistance.?? U.S. Department of the Army:? Army Area Handbooks.? 1993.? St. Louis.? Online.? UM-St. Louis Libraries.? Internet 12 Mar. 2000.? Available gopher://gopher.umsl.edu/00/library/govdocs/armyahbs/aahb4/aahb0247.