The Marines in Mexico
16 JULY 1847
THE MARINES IN MEXICO
The period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War could be called the “doldrums” of US Marine Corps history, suffering as they did from insufficient manning and even scantier funding. The end of June 1820 saw only 19 officers and 552 enlisted Marines left, including the Commandant, LCOL Archibald Henderson. And despite their gallant service aboard ship during the Revolutionary War, by 1812 the Marines were being used increasingly to supplement Army ground forces. In fact, after that war the Marines were brought under the jurisdiction of Army regulations, and by December of 1829 President Andrew Jackson recommended to Congress, “that the Marine Corps be merged in the [Army] artillery or infantry…, there being no peculiar training required for it.”
Bitterly resisting the dissolution of the Marines was the irascible, yet capable Commandant Henderson. By deploying Marines in a series of actions during this period–against Caribbean pirates, at Kuala Battoo, in western Africa, and against rebellious Seminoles in Florida–Henderson was able to preserve their separate role. With the outbreak of the 1846-48 war with Mexico, Marines of the Pacific Squadron performed notable actions in California, Mazatlan, Guaymas, and San Jose del Cabo. But ever the politician, Henderson also wished to have a role in the strategic push to final victory, the campaign against Mexico City. This campaign began with the landing of GEN Winfield Scott’s army of 8,600 on 9 March 1847 at Veracruz, on the eastern Mexican coast. Itself no small logistic feat, the landing was followed by a successful siege of Veracruz. Scott then paused for reinforcements, hoping to amass an Army large enough to move inland against the Mexican capital before the onset of the coastal yellow fever season.
Henderson, in Washington, convinced President James K. Polk that a Marine battalion could be more hastily recruited to reinforce Scott than an Army unit. Three companies totaling 22 officers and 324 men were quickly mustered and set sail three days later from New York. Veteran Marines from shipboard companies of the Pacific and Home Squadrons were reassigned to this battalion in the hopes of hastily imbuing war-readiness into the raw recruits. Brevet LCOL Samuel E. Watson was pulled from CDORE Matthew Perry’s blockading squadron for overall command, and on 1 July 1847, the battalion arrived at Veracruz. Here, they were incorporated into the Army division under (future President) BGEN Franklin Pierce. On this day, Watson’s battalion stepped off toward Mexico City. Few could have anticipated then how successful this green battalion would become in capturing the “Halls of Montezuma” two months later, nor how much their actions would echo through USMC history.
See related stories 13-14 September 2023
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Bauer, K. Jack. The Mexican War 1846-1848. Lincoln, NB: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1974, pp. 273-74.
Heinl, Robert Debs, Jr. Soldiers of the Sea: The United States Marine Corps, 1775-1962. Baltimore, MD: Nautical & Aviation Pub., 1991, p. 49.
Millett, Allan R. Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps. New York, NY: Macmillan Pub Co., 1980, pp. 76-77.
Simmons, Edwin H. The United States Marines, 1775-1975. New York, NY: Viking Press, 1976, pp. 28-42.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: Watson was initially disappointed to be assigned to Pierce’s division–the force Winfield Scott had detailed to the inglorious task of guarding his supply trains. After leaving the coast the battalion fought only six skirmishes with Mexican forces on its journey to Puebla, the staging area for the assault on Mexico City. However, events in the battle of Molina del Rey, 6-7 September, outside Mexico City, would propel Watson’s battalion to the fore in the assault on Chapultepec Castle, the “Halls of Montezuma.”
