Combat· Mexican-American War
Siege of Vera Cruz
The first major American amphibious assault and the opening of Scott's campaign against Mexico City.
On 9 March 1847, more than eight thousand soldiers, sailors, and Marines under General Winfield Scott went ashore near Vera Cruz in specially built surfboats, landing on the beach below the city without significant opposition, the largest opposed landing the United States had yet attempted. There followed a twenty-day siege of the walled city and its fortress of San Juan de Ulúa, the Americans pressing their batteries close and bombarding the defenses until the place capitulated on 29 March. Marines took part in both the landing and the siege. The references confirm their presence but do not itemize a separate Marine casualty figure; the siege's losses fell overwhelmingly on the Army. The fall of Vera Cruz opened the national road to the capital and launched the campaign that ended at Chapultepec.
Podcast episodes on Mexican-American War
Record no. 53