Combat· Mexican-American War
USS Dale skirmish at Bocachicacampa
A sharp little inland action fought after the war was, unknowingly, already over.
On 13 February 1848 a landing force of Marines and seamen from the Dale went ashore at Guaymas and marched some twelve miles inland to strike the town of Bocachicacampa, routing the Mexican force there in a brief engagement in which several men were wounded. The skirmish took place after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had been signed on 2 February, but before news of the peace could reach the distant Pacific theater, so the fighting went on as if the war continued. No deaths are recorded. It was one of the last clashes of the conflict on the Mexican Pacific coast, a small reminder of how the slowness of communication kept the fighting alive on the far frontiers for weeks after the diplomats had brought it to a formal close.
Podcast episodes on Mexican-American War
Record no. 346