Battle of Coyotepe Hill
Battle of Coyotepe Hill | |||||||
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Part of the Nicaraguan civil war (1912), Occupation of Nicaragua, Banana Wars | |||||||
Two Marines with Coyotepe Hill in the background in October 1912. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Rebels | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Benjamín Zeledón | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
850 marines 100 sailors 2 artillery pieces |
350 militia 4 artillery pieces 2 forts | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
4 killed 10 wounded | 32 killed |
The Battle of Coyotepe Hill was a significant engagement during the
.Coyotepe is an old fortress located on a 500-foot hill overlooking the strategic railroad line near Masaya roughly halfway between Managua and Granada, Nicaragua.
Battle
On 2 to 4 October 1912, a Nicaraguan rebel force led by
During pre-dawn hours on 4 October Butler's battalion, in concert with two Marine battalions and one from the
Aftermath
With the capture of León, Nicaragua two days later by U.S. Marines and the recapture of Masaya by Nicaraguan government troops, the Nicaraguan revolution of 1912 was essentially over. During the Somoza dictatorship the fortress was used as a prison. Occasionally dissidents imprisoned there would be taken from the fortress in a helicopter and dropped into a nearby volcano.[2]