Expeditionary
Pacific Squadron Operations
The first sustained projection of American naval power into the Pacific.
In these years American warships ranged the eastern Pacific to assert national claims, protect a growing whaling and merchant trade, and watch over American interests amid the Spanish-American wars of independence convulsing the west coast of South America. The defining early act was the August 1818 flag-raising at the mouth of the Columbia River by Marines from the USS Ontario, a formal assertion of the United States claim to the Oregon Country during its period of joint occupation with Britain. Through 1820–1822 American sloops cruised off Chile and Peru, guarding American shipping as the Spanish colonies broke away. The mission was formalized with the establishment of the permanent Pacific Squadron in 1822, which would carry American naval presence in the Pacific through the rest of the century. Marines served throughout as shipboard guards and landing parties.
Engagements in this conflict (1)
Record no. 266