Naval Diplomacy (cont.)

                                      14 FEBRUARY – 8 JUNE 1839                                        NAVAL DIPLOMACY (cont.) When Master Commandant Uriah P. Levy approached the coast of Yucatan in USS VANDALIA, 20, in March 1839 it was uncertain the degree of intimidation he would discover to which American interests Read More

Naval Diplomacy

                                     11 FEBRUARY-12 APRIL 1842                                  LAST EVERGLADES EXPEDITION After our acquisition of Florida from Spain in 1819, settlers came into increasing conflict with the Native Americans of Florida, collectively called Seminole Indians.  Conflicts over territory and over the sheltering of runaway slaves Read More

USS WOODBURY and the Pastry War

                                             29 NOVEMBER 1838                            USS WOODBURY AND THE PASTRY WAR The Mexican Federalist War of 1835-41 pitted the aristocratic Centralist Mexican rulers against the federalist peasantry of the provinces.  Foreign businessmen in Mexico who suffered collateral damages from Centralist Mexican Army operations Read More

“From the Halls of Montezuma…” (cont.)

                                             13 SEPTEMBER 1847                        “FROM THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA…” (cont.) Meanwhile, a diversion created by Quitman’s troops allowed a second Army division under MGEN Gideon J. Pillow to carry the lower walls of Chapultepec from the west.  And, to the south, Quitman’s Read More

“From the Halls of Montezuma…”

                                             13 SEPTEMBER 1847                             “FROM THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA…” By this date in the 17-month-old war with Mexico, the United States had gained control of California from San Francisco to Los Cabos in southern Baja.  But complete victory in the war required Read More