Battle of Antón Lizardo
Battle of Antón Lizardo | |||||||
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Part of the Reform War | |||||||
USS Saratoga | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Conservative Mexico | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Thomas Turner | Tomás Marín Sabalza | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1 U.S. Marines |
1 sloop-of-war 1 steamer Unknown number of crew: Mexican Marines | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1 killed 3 wounded 1 sloop-of-war damaged 1 steamer damaged |
~30 wounded 1 sloop-of-war captured 1 steamer grounded |
The Battle of Antón Lizardo was a naval engagement of the Mexican civil war between liberals and conservative governments, the
Background
After the mutiny and passage to Havana, where Spanish colonial military forces in Cuba granted him safety, Tomás Marín Sabalza began purchasing small
General Miramón and Marquis of Havana arrived off Antón Lizardo north of the San Juan de Ulúa
Battle
Saratoga and the steamers left their patrol at 8:30 at night on March 6. When they reached Antón Lizardo and the two anchored rebel ships it was almost midnight. The Mexican sailors sighted the American sloop-of-war and immediately began to flee towards Sacrificios. The U.S. ships closed range to within hailing distance and ordered the rebels to stop, these orders were ignored so Saratoga fired a warning shot. When this was also ignored, Saratoga fired four more warning shots. This time General Miramón replied by firing her howitzer into the pilot-house of Indianola. Not expecting resistance, the Americans were surprised but soon returned fire. Indianola then closed in to board General Miramón while her crew and the soldiers fired their muskets. In an attempt to avoid friendly fire, Commander Turner directed his men to change targets from Rear Admiral Marín's ship to the Marquis of Havana.
Saratoga dueled with the Marquis of Havana for a moment and at least one shell hit the targeted ship, the shot blew a hole through the hull of the wooden steamer, apparently above the waterline. Marquis of Havana then surrendered by raising her colors, a Spanish flag, probably from Cuba. USS Saratoga captured her while Indianola and Wave chased General Miramón. Seeing that commander Marín was near escape, Saratoga joined in and quickly advanced with her big sails. Saratoga came alongside the General Miramón and Turner's crew boarded the vessel the hard way, without grappling hooks and not by means of launches. Marin's men fought off the first attempt at capture, so Saratoga tried again. At this point Marín was sailing through shallow waters and ran aground on a shoal. Saratoga drew close again, but the Mexicans chose not to resist any longer.
Aftermath
Thirty wounded men were aboard the General Miramón when she was taken. An unknown number of Mexicans and Cubans were taken prisoner, the wounded were quickly removed to the Saratoga and received medical attention. In addition to about 4,000 rifles captured, Commander Turner's men took over 1,000 artillery shells from the Mexican vessels. The shells were much needed by conservative forces which had already failed one siege of Veracruz due to a lack of ammunition for their cannons. The battle played an important role in ending the Reform War with a liberal victory. Due to the loss of supplies, the conservatives under General Miramón failed to take Veracruz from the liberals for a second time. Soon after Miramón surrendered his army which ended the conventional phase of the war and started the guerrilla phase. The two United States steamers anchored for the night right at the wreck of General Miramón and both tried to free her of the shoal at 5:00 am. The salvage of Captain Marín's flagship failed, so the ships set sail for Veracruz. One U.S. sailor was killed in the battle, and another three were wounded. Both Saratoga and Indianola were slightly damaged. Tomás Marín Sabalza, the mutineers and their Cuban allies were handed over to the Mexican authorities at Veracruz. Marquis of Havana eventually ended up in Confederate States Navy service during the American Civil War and was renamed CSS McRae. Commander Turner later served with distinction as a commodore during the Battle of Charleston Harbor and was awarded the rank of rear admiral.
See also
References
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2014) ) |
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Secretary of the Navy Official site
- https://web.archive.org/web/20100412200542/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res