Combat· Mexican-American War
USS Dale at Loreto
A brief call at another gulf-coast town a few days after the repulse at Mulegé.
The Dale put in at Loreto on the eastern shore of Lower California, where a landing party from the ship went ashore. The visit was a minor affair: the small port was secured without resistance and the flag shown, but the Dale, lacking the strength to garrison the place, soon stood out to sea again. The official Marine history notes that the ship's Marine contingent numbered only eighteen, so the bulk of any landing party here was made up of sailors. Loreto was one of several points the squadron touched along the gulf coast as it tried to assert control over a peninsula it could not fully hold. No casualties resulted. The action was a small consolidating gesture amid the larger struggle to keep the upper hand in Baja California.
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Record no. 340