lasted from 1846 until 1848. It grew out of unresolved border disputes between the
. It ended in 1848 with the
.
.
| Kearny occupies Santa Fe, New Mexico.
.
, Californios and Mexicans retake Los Angeles.
| Californios defeat and capture 24 Americans, led by Benjamin D. Wilson, who were hiding in an
.
, defeat 203 US Marines led by U.S. Navy Captain
.
| Occupation by the U.S. Navy.
| Occupation by the U.S. Army.
| Town located in northern California.
and occupies her for a day or two.
| Also called the "Battle of Temascalitos" in Spanish. Mexican forces attack El Brazito, New Mexico. U.S. forces were led by
.
| Battle |
Date |
Engagement remarks |
Result |
| Battle of Santa Clara The Battle of Santa Clara, nicknamed the "Battle of the Mustard Stalks", was a skirmish during the Mexican–American War, fought on January 2, 1847, 2½ miles west of Mission Santa Clara de Asís in California. It was the only engagement of its type in Northern California during the...
|
January 2 |
Fought in California. |
(A) |
| Battle of Rio San Gabriel The Battle of Rio San Gabriel fought on January 8, 1847 was a decisive action of the California campaign of the Mexican-American War and occurred at a ford of the San Gabriel River, at what are today parts of the cities of Whittier, Pico Rivera and Montebello, about ten miles south-east of downtown...
|
January 8 |
Part of a series of battles for control of Los Angeles. |
(A) |
| Battle of La Mesa The Battle of La Mesa of the Mexican-American War occurred on January 9, 1847, in present-day Vernon, California, the day after the Battle of Rio San Gabriel during the California Campaign.-Background:...
|
January 9 |
Last conflict before U.S. forces enter Los Angeles. |
(A) |
Battle of CañadaThe Battle of Cañada was part of the Taos Revolt, a popular insurrection against the American occupation of New Mexico by Mexicans and Pueblo Indians...
|
January 24 |
Sterling PriceSterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
defeats insurgents in New Mexico. |
(A) |
| First Battle of Mora |
January 24 |
A failed attack by American Forces on Mora, New Mexico led by Israel Hendley on January 24. |
(M) |
| Second Battle of Mora The Second Battle of Mora was a military engagement during the Taos Revolt of the Mexican-American War. After being defeated in the First Battle of Mora on January 24, 1847, American forces attacked Mora again about a week later and destroyed the New Mexican insurgents holding the town.-Battle:On...
|
February 1 |
On February 1, another American expedition armed with howitzers succeeded in razing the village of Mora in New Mexico. |
(A) |
| Siege of Pueblo de Taos The Siege of Pueblo de Taos was the final battle during the main phase of the Taos Revolt, an insurrection against the United States during the Mexican-American War. It was also the final major engagement between American forces and insurgent forces in New Mexico during the war...
|
February 3/4 |
Rancheros and Mexican Militia surrender to U.S. forces thus ending the Taos Revolt The Taos Revolt was a popular insurrection in January 1847 by Mexicans and Pueblo allies against the United States' occupation of present-day northern New Mexico during the Mexican–American War. In two short campaigns, United States troops and militia crushed the rebellion of the Mexicans and...
. |
(A) |
Battle of Buena VistaThe Battle of Buena Vista , also known as the Battle of Angostura, saw the United States Army use artillery to repulse the much larger Mexican army in the Mexican-American War...
|
February 22/23 |
Zachary TaylorZachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
fights Antonio López de Santa AnnaAntonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
south of Saltillo in one of the largest battles of the war. |
(A) |
| Battle of the Sacramento The Battle of the Sacramento River took place on February 28, 1847 during the Mexican–American War. About twenty-five miles north of Chihuahua, Mexico at the river Sacramento, American forces numbering less than 1,000 men defeated a superior Mexican army which led to the occupation of...
|
February 28 |
Doniphan defeats a larger Mexican army before the capture of Chihuahua The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 825,327. The predominant activity is industry, including domestic heavy, light industries, consumer goods production, and to a smaller extent maquiladoras.-History:It has been said that the...
. |
(A) |
| Battle of Embudo Pass The Battle of Embudo Pass was part of the Taos Revolt, a popular insurrection against the American army's occupation of northern New Mexico. It took place on January 29, 1847, during the Mexican-American War, in what now is New Mexico.-Battle:...
|
January 29 |
Last insurgent stand before the Siege of Pueblo de Taos The Siege of Pueblo de Taos was the final battle during the main phase of the Taos Revolt, an insurrection against the United States during the Mexican-American War. It was also the final major engagement between American forces and insurgent forces in New Mexico during the war...
. |
(A) |
Siege of VeracruzThe Battle of Veracruz was a 20-day siege of the key Mexican beachhead seaport of Veracruz, during the Mexican-American War. Lasting from 9-29 March 1847, it began with the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States military forces, and ended with the surrender and occupation...
|
March 9–29 |
Beginning with Marine landings, U.S. forces besiege and gradually encircle Mexican Marines and Coast Guard in vicious twenty-day siege. |
(A) |
Battle of Cerro GordoThe Battle of Cerro Gordo, or Battle of Sierra Gordo, in the Mexican-American War saw Winfield Scott's United States troops flank and drive Santa Anna's larger Mexican army from a strong defensive position.-Battle:...
|
April 18 |
Dubbed the "ThermopylaeThe Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August...
of the West." |
(A) |
| First Battle of Tuxpan |
April 18 |
Commodore Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard and a current honorary title in the U.S. Navy with an intricate history. Because the U.S. Congress was originally unwilling to authorize more than four ranks until 1862, considerable importance...
Matthew C. Perry seizes the port city of TuxpanTuxpan is both a municipality and city located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The population of the city was 78,523 and of the municipality was 134,394 inhabitants, according to the INEGI census of 2005, residing in a total area of 1,051.89 km²...
on the Gulf coastThe Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. |
(A) |
| Battle of Red River Canyon The Red River Canyon Affair, or the Battle of Red River Canyon, was a military action fought during the Taos Revolt of the Mexican-American War...
|
May 26 |
New Mexican insurgents fight a skirmish with United States troops. |
(A) |
| Second Battle of Tuxpan The Second Battle of Tuxpan was one of the three small battles of the Mexican-American War to occur in Tuxpan, Mexico. The exact date is unknown but was fought between a landing force of Matthew C. Perry's Mosquito Fleet and Mexican soldiers and or militiamen. The engagement resulted in the death...
|
June |
Perry's Mosquito Fleet The term Mosquito Fleet has had nine main meanings in U.S. naval and maritime history:#It is the term used to describe the United States Navy's fleet of small gunboats, leading up to and during the War of 1812, most were part of the New Orleans Squadron....
engages Mexicans at Tuxpan for a second time. |
(A) |
| Third Battle of Tuxpan The Third Battle of Tuxpan was one of the three small battles of the Mexican-American War to occur in Tuxpan, Mexico. The engagement occurred on June 30, 1847, between Mexican troops and or militia and an American landing force from the Mosquito Fleet under Matthew C. Perry.Not much is known but a...
|
June 30 |
Perry's Mosquito Fleet engages Mexicans for a third time. |
(A) |
| Capture of Perote |
April 22 |
54 Guns and mortars, and 500 muskets captured at Perote. |
|
| Second Battle of Tabasco The Second Battle of Tabasco, also known as the Battle of Villahermosa, was a battle fought in June 1847 during the Mexican-American War as part of the U.S. blockade of Mexican Gulf ports.-Background:...
|
June 16 |
Commodore Perry captures Villahermosa Like most of the Tabasco, Villahermosa has a tropical climate. The city specifically features a tropical monsoon climate. Temperatures during spring and summer seasons reach upwards of 40°C , with humidity levels hovering around 30% during the same period...
, the last port city on the Mexican Gulf coast. |
(A) |
| Battle of Las Vegas The Las Vegas Affair or the Battle of Las Vegas was a battle of the Taos Revolt, fought in July 1847. It was initiated by American troops against New Mexican insurgents at the presidio town of Las Vegas during the Mexican-American War.-Background:...
|
July 6 |
New Mexican insurgents and United States soldiers fight at Las Vegas, New Mexico Las Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...
. |
(A) |
| Battle of Cienega Creek The Cienega Affair, or the Battle of Cienega Creek, was the last engagement of the Taos Revolt during the Mexican-American War. The battle occurred in July, 1847 and was fought between New Mexican insurgents, Pueblo natives and United States Army troops.-Battle:On July 9, 1847 a detachment of...
|
July 9 |
New Mexicans and United States forces clash near Taos, New Mexico. |
(A) |
Battle of ContrerasThe Battle of Contreras, also known as the Battle of Padierna, took place during August 19–20, 1847, in the final encounters of the Mexican-American War. In the Battle of Churubusco, fighting continued the following day.-Background:...
(also known as Battle of Padierna) |
August 19 |
Santa Anna fails to support the Mexican line at a critical moment; turns victory into rout. |
(A) |
Battle of ChurubuscoThe Battle of Churubusco took place on August 20, 1847, in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Contreras during the Mexican-American War. After defeating the Mexican army at Churubusco, the U.S. Army was only 5 miles away from Mexico City, the capital of the nation...
|
August 20 |
Regular Mexican troops and Saint Patrick's BattalionThe Saint Patrick's Battalion , formed and led by Jon Riley, was a unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. Most of the battalion's members had...
under Manuel Rincón hold a fortified monastery against Winfield Scott; just over half of the San Patricios are killed or captured, the rest retreat with the rest of the Mexican forces in the area. |
(A) |
| Battle of Molino del Rey The Battle of Molino del Rey was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Mexican-American War. It was fought in September 1847 between Mexican forces under General Antonio Léon against an American force under General Winfield Scott at a hill called El Molino del Rey near Mexico City.-Background:On...
|
September 8 |
Americans lose nearly 800 men in an attempt to take a suspected cannon foundry: "They fell in platoons and companies." |
(A) |
Battle of ChapultepecThe Battle of Chapultepec, in September 1847, was a United States victory over Mexican forces holding Chapultepec Castle west of Mexico City during the Mexican-American War.-Background:On September 13, 1847, in the costly Battle of Molino del Rey, U.S...
|
September 13 |
Scott assaults Chapultepec Castle. Los Niños HéroesThe Niños Héroes , also known as the Heroic Cadets or Boy Soldiers, were six Mexican teenage military cadets. These cadets died defending Mexico at Mexico City's Chapultepec Castle from invading U.S. forces in the 13 September 1847 Battle of Chapultepec, during the Mexican–American War...
pass into legend. Some captured San Patricios members executed during the battle. |
(A) |
Battle for Mexico CityThe Battle for Mexico City refers to the series of engagements from September 8 to September 15, 1847, in the general vicinity of Mexico City during the Mexican-American War...
|
September 13/14 |
Fierce fighting for Mexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. |
(A) |
| Siege of Puebla The Siege of Puebla began the same day Mexico City fell to Winfield Scott and lasted for 28 days when a relief force was able to fight its way into the city and lift the siege.-Background:...
|
September 14 |
Mexican forces begin the siege of Puebla, PueblaThe city and municipality of Puebla is the capital of the state of Puebla, and one of the five most important colonial cities in Mexico. Being a planned city, it is located to the east of Mexico City and west of Mexico's main port, Veracruz, on the main route between the two.The city was founded...
. |
(A) |
| Fall of Mexico City |
September 15 |
U.S. forces enter Mexico City. |
(A) |
| Battle of Mulegé The Battle of Mulegé was an American attack on Mulegé, Baja California Sur, during the Mexican-American War. On October 1, 1847, United States Marines and sailors fought with Mexican militia.-Background:...
|
October 2 |
Mexican forces led by Captain Manuel Pineda are defeated by a small detachment of American forces at Mulegé Mulegé is an oasis town in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, situated at the mouth of the Río de Santa Rosalía. It is the fourth-largest community in Mulegé Municipality...
, Baja California SurBaja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...
. |
(A) |
| Battle of Huamantla The Battle of Huamantla was a U.S. victory late in the Mexican-American War that forced the Mexican Army to lift the Siege of Puebla.-Background:...
|
October 9 |
U.S. relief column is able to reach Puebla. |
(A) |
| Siege of Puebla The Siege of Puebla began the same day Mexico City fell to Winfield Scott and lasted for 28 days when a relief force was able to fight its way into the city and lift the siege.-Background:...
|
October 12 |
Siege of Puebla lifted. |
(A) |
| Skirmish at Atlixco Atlixco is a city and a municipality in the Mexican state of Puebla. It is located only 24 km south of the city of Puebla, yet it is 300 meters lower in altitude, at 1840 m. This drop in altitude causes a noticeable change in the weather of the city compared to the surrounding regions of the...
|
October 19 |
Also known as the "Atlixco Affair" |
(I) |
| Bombardment of Punta Sombrero The Bombardment of Punta Sombrero, was an American naval bombardment in response to a Mexican attack on a United States Navy warship which occurred during the Mexican-American War in October of 1847.-Background:...
|
October 31 |
United States Navy schooner USS Libertad silences Mexican shore batteries in the Sea of Cortez |
(A) |
| Battle of La Paz The Battle of La Paz was an engagement of the Pacific Coast Campaign during the Mexican-American War. The belligerents were United States Army troops against Mexican militia, commanded by Mexican Army officers...
|
November 16/17 |
A Mexican defeat at La Paz, Mexico |
(A) |
| Battle of San José del Cabo The Battle of San José del Cabo was a military engagement of the Mexican-American War which took place on two November days in 1847, after the fall of Mexico City.-Background:...
|
November 20/21 |
Mexicans defeated by American forces at San José del Cabo The city of San José del Cabo is located in Baja California Sur Mexico and is the seat of the municipality of Los Cabos at the south end of the Baja California peninsula. In the 2010 census it had a population of 69,788. Together with neighboring Cabo San Lucas it forms a major tourist destination...
|
(A) |
| Siege of La Paz The Siege of La Paz was a Mexican siege of their own city of La Paz in Baja California Sur. Mexican militia forces attempted to destroy the United States Army garrison, occupying the peninsular town...
|
November 27/December 8 |
A second Mexican attack on La Paz, Mexico ending in an American victory. |
(A) |
continued to resist the U.S. Army of Occupation. Formal fighting, however, had ceased by the end of January.