The Mexican American War in Baja California Sur
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On July 21, 115 U.S. Army Volunteers landed peacefully in La Paz where
the commander of the brigade was very impressed with the prettiest
town he had seen in the Californias. "The houses were all of adobe,
plastered white, and thatched with the leaves of the palm tree, and
were most delightfully cool. The whole beach was lined with palms,
date, fig, tamarind and coconut trees, and their delicious fruit
hanging down on them in clusters."
A private schooner Libertad, chartered from a U.S. citizen living in
La Paz harassed trade between Guaymas and Mulegé but was as
ineffective in retraining trade there as the fleet had been in
Mazatlan. On September 30, the Dale, a third class sloop, ran in to
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Mulegé under English colors. After it was anchored, it lowered that flag and raised the Stars and Stripes. Lieutenant Tunis Augustus Macdonough Craven, U.S. Navy, tried to go ashore, but was prevented by a party of Mexicans. Local lore says that the Mexicans found every sombrero in town and posted them on sticks behind the fortification making their numbers look larger and thus thwarting the American invasion.
Colonel Don Manuel Pineda was in command of the Mexican forces and local conscripts and rejected a call to lay down their arms and proudly stated he would not only repel the invasion of Mulegé, but liberate La Paz as well. On the afternoon of October 1, U.S. troops and the Mulegé forces exchanged fire for several hours without casualties. The U.S. troops were forced to withdraw at sunset. On November 10, the tiny Libertad and the crew of eleven captured the sloop Alerta, about twenty-five miles north of Mulegé
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Meanwhile, resistance to the U.S. occupation grew in Baja Sur,
rooted in Todos Santos. San Jose del Cabo declared the occupation at
an end on October 23 but changed their minds back when three U.S.
warships arrived three days later. A detachment of 31 men was sent to
Todos Santos to investigate. While there, the troops were plied with
wine and women while word was sent to Pineda to ambush the U.S. troops
when they returned to San Jose del Cabo. The ambush never happened and
the U.S. forces returned to San Jose on November 7, after a pleasant
‘outing’.
On November 16, 150 Mexicans attacked the 21 U.S. sailors left to
defend San Jose del Cabo. In an valiant attack on the positions young
Lieutenant José Antonio Mijares was shot and killed. Today he is still
revered as a Mexican hero and a statue in his honor can be seen in San
Jose del Cabo. The attack on the garrison was abandon after two U.S.
whalers appeared in the harbor, which the Mexican believed to be U.S.
warships. Six to twelve of the Mexican attackers were killed and none
of the American defenders.
At the same time the 115 man U.S. garrison at La Paz was attacked and
put under siege. The attack was repulsed under fire from the U.S. 6
pound guns. One American was killed and four or 5 Mexicans. Six days
later the troops repulsed in San Jose joined the attack on
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the La Paz positions bringing the number of Mexicans to an estimated 500. The U.S. garrison was under regular attack until relieved by the Cyane on December 21. During the siege no Americans were killed and a reported 36 graves were discovered left by the attackers. Much of La Paz was burned or plundered by the Mexican troops before their withdrawal.
On January 22, 1848 8 of Hayward’s men in San Jose were captured by
the Mexican insurgents. And laid siege to the U.S. positions there. By
February 11 the Mexicans had recaptured most of San Jose del Cabo
except for the U.S. fortifications including the water supply and
surrender of the U.S. forces seemed imminent. On February 14 the Cyane
reached San Jose and 115 U.S. troops advanced to rescue the garrison.
A long fire fight ensued. By the end of the siege three Americans and
13 to 35 Mexicans had been killed.
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On March 15th, U.S. forces raided Pineda’s camp in San Antonio and
freed the 8 soldiers captured earlier in San Jose del Cabo. On March
27 a detachment of 115 men set out for Todos Santos to suppress the
insurrection. On the first day Pineda was captured by an advance party
and on November 30, U.S. troops captured Todos Santos costing 10
Mexicans and no U.S. casualties.
Around the first of April, town leaders of Mira Flores surrendered
Mauricio Castro, who assumed leadership of the Mexicans following
Pineda’s capture. By the end of April all was quiet in Baja.
Strangely enough, the defining actions in Baja occurred AFTER the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848 which ended the war and Baja was not included in the land successions to the U.S.. During the 18 month battle for Baja, President Polk, Commodores Stockton and Shubrick, and Commander Montgomery promised that Baja California would become part of the United States. Many of the residents of Baja California had anticipated being annexed by the United States, along with the California Territories. Such was the support for the U.S. occupation that when the U.S. troops withdrew later that summer 130 Mexicans were evacuated as refugees, back to Monterey. (CA).
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The United States had offered $25 million dollars for the land later seized in the Mexican American War. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexico lost half it's territory to the United States and in return received $18.6 million dollars in restitution. The war served to provide the United States with two important Pacific Ports; San Francisco and San Diego. (the pueblo of Los Angeles was so small at the time it didn't matter)
For Mexico, it was a significant blow to
it's position in the western hemisphere but the war served to provided
a unifying factor to the states of the country that had been missing
since the independence movement some years before. About 1700
Americans were killed in combat, another 11,300 died of disease and
about 4100 were wounded. The Mexican losses were estimated around
25,000 of which about 2500 were civilians.
Tomas
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Research:
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
San Diego Historical Society
U.S. Naval War Records
History of Ancient and Lower California
by Francisco Xavier Clavijero
