Combat· Mexican-American War
Defense of La Paz
A stubborn small-unit stand in the war's late phase, far down the Baja peninsula.
La Paz, the capital of Lower California, had been occupied earlier in 1847 by Marines and sailors as the Americans extended their hold along the Baja coast. In mid-November a Mexican force considerably larger than the garrison closed in and assaulted the town repeatedly over two days. The defenders, a body of about a hundred men holding fixed positions, beat off the attacks and kept possession of La Paz. The fighting cost the garrison one killed and two wounded. The successful defense preserved the American grip on Lower California through to the end of the war. It was a creditable example of a small, isolated detachment standing firm against heavier numbers in a remote theater, the sort of stubborn holding action that characterized much of the scattered fighting on the distant edges of the Mexican War.
Podcast episodes on Mexican-American War
Record no. 58