Siege of San José del Cabo
Encyclopedia
The Siege of San José del Cabo, from January to February 1848, was a prolonged battle of the Mexican-American War in which Mexican militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 besieged a smaller force of American marines, sailors and Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...

 militia. The final engagement during the battle involved half of the American garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

, and a landing party from a reinforcing warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

, which successfully lifted the siege.

Background

By early 1848, Captain Manuel Pineda of the Mexican Army
Mexican Army
The Mexican Army is the combined land and air branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle, , in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue...

 had assembled hundreds of peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...

s to fight against the American naval threat on Mexico's west coast. After his forces were defeated three times at the battles of La Paz
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...

 and San José del Cabo
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:...

, Captain Pineda's militia attacked San José del Cabo
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...

 again and initiated a siege. The Mexican force consisted of about 300 according to American accounts; several Yaqui detribalized natives also fought with the Mexicans.

The United States garrison of San José del Cabo consisted of twenty-seven United States Marines, sixteen United States Navy sailors and twenty Californio militiamen, armed with American weapons. One 9-pound cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...

 was also available, as well as two other guns, left by before she set sail for the East Coast
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...

. Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Charles Heywood
Charles Heywood
Major General Charles Heywood was the ninth Commandant of the Marine Corps. He served as an officer for over 45 years and was the first Marine to reach the rank of major general...

, of the navy, was in command. After Portsmouth left for home, the Americans were once again left isolated at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula
Baja California Peninsula
The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...

 and open to Mexican attack.

Portsmouth sailed on January 4, 1848; Lieutenant Heywood ordered his reinforced garrison to make better fortifications around their chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...

 and emplace the two additional cannons to form an artillery battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

.

Siege

For over two weeks the United States garrison encountered no enemy, all of which were apparently still recovering from the siege at La Paz. The siege of Cabo officially began on January 22, Mexicans described as insurgent
Insurgent
Insurgent, insurgents or insurgency can refer to:* The act of insurgency-Specific insurgencies:* Iraqi insurgency, uprising in Iraq* Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, uprising in India* Insurgency in North-East India...

s seized eight of Heywood's men who were hauling supplies up from the nearby beach to San José del Cabo's chapel barracks. The supplies were left behind by an American schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

, name unknown. After this incident, Pineda's loyalists and Yaqui allies attacked Heywood's position.

The Americans and Californios initially were surprised by the Mexican force but the Mexicans were not able to sustain that advantage for long due to the Americans and Californios who quickly took up battle positions. As soon as the fighting began, the engagement was complicated by nearly fifty women and children, who fled to the Americans and their militia allies after hearing the first musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....

 volley. None were reported injured though. The fighting continued for a few days, the Mexicans gradually took contol of the town.

By February 10, Manuel Pineda's militia occupied all of the town except the barracks position which housed the United States fighting men and dozens of civilians. From the buildings of the town, the Mexicans were able to skirmish with the Americans and Californios, this was done for the remainder of hostilities. On February 11, a Mexican rifleman shot Midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

 Tenant McLanahan
Tenant McLanahan
Tenant McLanahan was an officer in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War.-Biography:Born in Louisiana, McLanahan was appointed midshipman 12 December 1839 and passed midshipman 2 July 1845...

 in the neck, Heywood's second-in-command, during a usual skirmish. The next day, the loyalists captured the garrison's water supply but not much is known as to how this was achieved.

At this point the American and Californio company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...

 became famished and were forced to either starve or surrender. Somehow a United States Navy commander in the campaign, William B. Shubrick, learned of the prolonged engagement at San José del Cabo and sent to relieve the garrison force. At sundown of February 14, USS Cyane reached the waters off San José del Cabo and the next morning, offloaded 102 officers and men to relieve the besieged town.

The contingent advanced along a two-mile dirt road near the hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

 of San Vicente. There near the hamlet the insurgents were waiting and had set up an ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...

. Lieutenant Heywood learnt of the landing and decided to leave half of his men under the protection of their battery and barracks. Heywood and the other half, of about thirty riflemen, were able to slip out of San José del Cabo to the nearby coast where they joined the relief force.

From the meeting point, Heywood and United States Army Captain Seymour Steele's relief force of New York Volunteers
New York Volunteers
The New York Volunteers was a American Loyalist provincial regiment which was served in the British Army during American War of Independence.It was raised in Halifax, January 1776. Two companies were in the 1776 New York campaign. It was at the raids on Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery...

, marines and sailors, proceeded up the road where the Mexican militia waited. The Americans were fired on from somewhat concealed positions and were ordered to charge and thus rout the Mexicans from the field. As soon as the Americans began their charge, most of their enemies began to flee. Some fired only one shot before turning around to run away, many were trapped and were forced to fight. The Americans advanced hastily and the fight was over in minutes.

Aftermath

After the battle near San Vicente, the Mexicans retreated from San José del Cabo. The siege was lifted and the relieving American force occupied San José del Cabo. During the siege and final relief, thirteen to thirty-five Mexican militiamen were counted dead on the two battlefields, and many others were reportedly wounded. Three Americans were killed as result of the fighting, two of Lieutenant Heywood's company and one other during Captain Steele's battle.

An unknown number of other Americans or Californios were reported to have been wounded. The United States military would follow this victory up with another at San Antonio
San Antonio, Baja California Sur
San Antonio de la Sierra is a small town in La Paz Municipality in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, located near El Triunfo on Federal Highway 1. It had a 2010 census population of 463 inhabitants, and is situated at 400 meters elevation above sea level.-Information:Adm...

, several miles south of La Paz. During this raid, the American forces attacked Captain Manuel Pineda's camp, sent him fleeing into the wilderness and freed the eight American captives, held since the beginning of the siege.
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