[23.] (Small ports) Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1204–8, 1223, 1228–9; [76]Buchanan to authorities of Tapantla, May 10, 1847. The main purposes of taking the small ports were to gather fresh provisions, exclude contraband trade, and obtain funds under the contributory tariff ([chap. xxxiii]). The usual terms required a renunciation of Mexican allegiance during the war, obedience to American orders, and the payment of all revenues to the United States.
An indefinite number of citations bearing upon the situation in Yucatan could be given, but the following are deemed sufficient. Bankhead, no. 11, 1846. Journal des Débats, Sept. 13, 1842. Constitutionnel, Nov. 2–3, 1846. Polk, Diary, Aug. 29, 1845; Feb. 27, 1847. Sen. 43; 30, 1. [49]Bancroft to Conner, May 19, 1846. [49]Mason to Id.., Oct. 16, 1846; Feb. 25, 1847; to Perry, Mar. 17, 1847. Semmes, Service, 84. [335]Tinsley to Trist, Aug. 6, 1846. [335]Robira to Id.., June 7, 1847. Sen. 40, 42, 43, 45, 49; 30, 1. Gaceta de Ciudad Victoria, Jan. 27, 1846. Picayune, Oct. 8, 1846; Jan. 12, 1847. México á través, iv, 599. Sen. 1; 29, 2, p. 382. Suárez y Navarro, Causas, 6–9. Richardson, Messages, iv, 581–3. Memoria de ... Relaciones, Dec, 1846. [76]Barbachano, procl., July 2, 1846. Temístocles, Dec. 27, 1846. [13]Pakenham, no. 33, 1847. Ho. 60; 30, 1, pp. 256–7 (Walker). Wash. Union, Jan. 18, 1847. [366]Declar. of Mérida. [166]Perry to Conner, Dec. 27, 1846. [166]Conner to Sands, Feb. 8, 1847. [166]McFaul to ——, Nov. 12, 1847. Buchanan, Works, vii, 222. Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1175–6 (Conner), 1204 (Perry). [165]Gen. orders, Dec. 15, 1846. (May cruise) [47]Perry, Dec. 27, 1846; Sept. 21, 1847. [47]Conner, Dec. 29. May 15 Laguna port was opened to commerce; May 18 Frontera.
[24.] Second Tabasco expedition. Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1207–23, 28–32 (Perry and officers). [47]Perry, June 25. [47]Correspondence of Perry and Bigelow, July 18–23. Bennett, Steam Navy, 97. Negrete, Invasión, iii, 153–6. Roa Bárcena, Recuerdos, 526–8. [76]Correspondence of Bigelow and Echagaray, July 1, 2; letters of E., May 31; June 9, 18, 23; July 5. México á través, iv, 703. (Later) Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1233–6 (Perry); [47]Perry, Aug. 16.
On the way to S. J. Bautista Perry had six men wounded. Many fell from exhaustion. June 30 on an expedition to Tamulté, about three miles out, three were killed and eight wounded. The Mexican leaders were Bvt. Gen. Domingo Echagaray and three Maldonado brothers.
Aug. 16, 1847, the squadron was disposed as follows: (Raritan and Albany had gone home); Mississippi, Pensacola; sloop Germantown, Antón Lizardo, preparing to distribute supplies; sloop Decatur, blockading Tuxpán; sloop Saratoga, V. Cruz, maintaining connection with the army and watching the police; sloop John Adams, expected from Tuxpán probably to join bomb-vessel Stromboli in Goatzacoalcos River; gunboats Reefer and Petrel at Tampico; gunboat Falcon at Alvarado; steamer Scourge, bomb-vessel Ætna, gunboat Bonita at Frontera; bomb-vessel Vesuvius, gunboat Mahonese at Laguna; steamers Vixen and Scorpion in reserve; steamers Spitfire and Petrita laid up with injured engines; bomb-vessel Hecla ashore on Alvarado bar. Aug. 18, 1847, Perry ordered that all merchant vessels should be visited on their arrival in port to detect irregularities (Ho. 60; 30, 1, p. 788).
[25.] For the share of the navy in the conquest of California see chap. xvii. (Impossible) [13]P. J. Blake of Juno, Apr. 10, 1848; [53]Pakenham to Buchanan, Dec. 14, 1846; [13]Id.., no. 57, 1846. (Proclam. and orders) Ho. 4; 29, 2, pp. 670, 673–4. Du Pont, Official Despatches, 9. (Cancelled, etc.) [53]Pakenham to Buchanan, Dec. 14; [12]Walker to Seymour, Mar. 26, 1847; [132]Howland & Aspinwall to Buchanan, Sept. 22, 1847; [13]Pakenham, no. 139, 1846; Sen. 1; 30, 1, p. 1303 (Mason); [48]Mason to Biddle, Mar. 30, 1847; [48]Orders, Dec. 24, 1846; [247]Biddle to Larkin, Mar. 6, 1847. [47]Stockton to Du Pont and to Hull, Aug. 20, 1846. [47]Id.., reports, Aug. 22; Nov. 23. [47]Hull to Stockton, Sept. 12. [47]Du Pont to Stockton, Oct. 12. [76]Peinbert to ——, res., undated. Calif. Star, i, no. 9. (Guaymas) Du Pont, Official Despatches, 13; [47]Correspondence of Du Pont, Spanish vice consul, and Campusano; Sonorense, Oct. 9; [76]comte. gen. of Sinaloa, Nov. 11; [76]gov. Sonora, Oct. 16; [76]Campusano, Oct. 5; Cyane, journal; U. S. Naval Instit. Proceeds., 1888, p. 539 (Rowan). (Mazatlán) [171]Cyane, journal and abstract of journal; [47]Du Pont to Stockton, Dec. 1; Id.., Official Despatches, 19; [12]Walker to Seymour, Mar. 26, 1847; [76]Téllez to Bustamante, Feb. 17, 1847; [13]A. Forbes, Apr. 17, 1847; [13]Bankhead, no. 9, 1847. Sen. 1; 29, 2, pp. 378–80. Sen. 1; 30, 1, 948. Balbontín, Estado, 19. Memoria de ... Guerra, Dec., 1846. (Spring) [120]Shubrick to Biddle, May 4, 1847; [120]list of captures. Wise, Gringos (N. Y., 1849), 82–100. [76]Letter from Mazatlán, May 5; [247]Biddle to Larkin, Mar. 6, 1847. [47]Shubrick, May 31; June 1; Aug. 11, 1847. (Monopoly) [12]Seymour, Dec. 26, 1846, no. 70. (After May) [61]R. B. Mason to adj. gen., Feb. 1, 1848; [47]Shubrick, May 31, 1847. Journ. Milit. Serv. Instit., xxxii, 249.
Stockton intended to cruise for the protection of our whalers, etc., and also to invade Mexico by way of Acapulco (vol. i, p. 338); but affairs in California prevented. The Malek Adel was bravely cut out at Mazatlán, Sept. 7, 1846, under the Mexican guns. Guaymas was cannonaded because the Mexicans refused to give up two gunboats, preferring to burn them. As there were two harbors at Mazatlán, a single vessel could not blockade the port satisfactorily. In the spring of 1847 Shubrick was ordered to blockade both Mazatlán and Guaymas, but for this reason he kept both the Independence and the Cyane at Mazatlán. In Feb. and March, 1847, there might have been serious trouble between the British commander, Sir Baldwin Walker, and Captain Montgomery of the Portsmouth owing to conflicting orders and interests; but the former, having far the stronger force, knew he could afford to be considerate, and the latter treated British commerce so well that our government was thanked by England ([13]to Crampton, June 30, 1847; Sherman, Sloat, xxiv; and note particularly Journ. Milit. Serv. Institute, xxxii, 249–53). Shubrick was at Mazatlán in May, 1847, but left at the beginning of June. The Cyane remained a little longer. She and the Portsmouth anchored there, at the end of June, but both sailed away within two days. Biddle was ordered Jan. 6, 1846, to take command of the squadron, but did not receive the orders until Dec. 31 (at Lima). Mar. 2 he took command. His vessels then were the Columbus (74 guns) on which he arrived, Independence (razee, 54), frigates Congress (44) and Savannah (44), sloops Portsmouth (20), Levant (20), Cyane (20), Warren (20), Dale (16) and Preble (16), storeships Erie (8), Lexington (8) and Southampton (6), and the captured Malek Adel (Sen. 1; 30, 1, p. 948; [48]Bancroft to Shubrick, Aug. 21, 1846). The Savannah and Levant went home; and the Warren, on account of its condition, was assigned to guard duty ([120]Shubrick to Stockton, Mar. 1, 1847). The Ohio reached the squadron in the early part of 1848. Besides blockading, cruising for prizes, looking after the American whalers, and watching for possible privateers, long voyages were necessary to obtain provisions and instructions. The latter were usually very tardy and the commanders had to follow their own judgment in the main. Monterey, Calif., was in general the base of operations.
[26.] (Succeeded) [49]Bancroft to Shubrick, Aug. 21, 1846; [120]Shubrick to Biddle, Mar. 5; July 20, 1847; [47]Shubrick, July 21. (Notice) [47]Id.., Aug. 11. Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1072–5 (Shubrick). [76]Téllez, Nov. 4, 1847. (Guaymas) Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1075–83 (Lavallette et al.), 1110 (Shubrick); Correo Nacional, Nov. 30; [13]Wooldridge, Nov. 18. (Mazatlán) Wise, Gringos (N. Y., 1849), 95; Lummis, Mex. of To-day, 150; Mofras, Explor., i, 173; Gaxiola, Invasión, 162.
Guaymas, a place of considerable importance, was summoned Oct. 19. The Mexican troops and people decamped, and the cannon were removed. Hence the cannonade did little harm. A civil official reported the evacuation to Lavallette of the Congress, who was there with the Portsmouth (Montgomery). As Campusano, who was believed to have 600–800 troops and 6–8 guns, remained in the vicinity and cut off water and provisions, the town was abandoned by its foreign residents also. American marines landed, but soon reëmbarked. Nov. 17 a landing party was ambushed in the town, and the Dale, then occupying the harbor, took part in the firing. One American was wounded. The harbor of Mazatlán was open to the worst winds.
[27.] The references to Téllez in [76] are almost innumerable. It seems enough to cite here: M. Gutiérrez, May 19, 1846; To J. I. Gutiérrez, May 13, 17; To Téllez, Aug. 18; J. I. Gutiérrez, May 9; also Gaxiola, Invasión, passim; Apuntes, 371–3; [13]Bankhead, no. 74, 1846; Wise, Gringos (N. Y., 1849), 99. See also chap. xvi, [note 5]. Téllez, who was a generous, careless person, arrived at Mazatlán at the head of an expedition bound for Upper California. During the year before the war the receipts from the customhouse were about $3,000,000. He pronounced May 7, 1846, in favor of federalism as an excuse for insubordination. In Jan., 1847, fearing the government might overpower him, he pronounced for Santa Anna as dictator. He pretended to be a loyal Mexican, and the government wavered between recognizing him as comandante general of Sinaloa and trying to crush him. Finally it decided on the latter course. Cut off from his financial resources by the Americans, he could not support his forces, and toward the end of Jan., 1848, he gave up. J. P. Anaya was then comte. gen. (Capture of Mazatlán, etc.) Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1089–92, 1104, 1110, 1117; Wise, Gringos (N. Y., 1849), 144–5; Apuntes, 374–5; [76]Téllez, Nov. 10, 14, 15; [61]Shubrick to R. B. Mason, Dec. 6; [13]Wooldridge, Nov. 18; Gaxiola, Invasión, 163–6. The Erie had arrived at M. on Nov. 1. (Nov. 20) Ho. 1; 30, 2, pp. 1105–8; Wise, op. cit., 150–7; [76]Téllez, Nov. 20; U. S. Naval Instit. Proceeds., 1888 (Rowan, p. 555); Apuntes, 376; [76]Horn, Nov. 15, 21; Gaxiola, Invasión, 186. A land party of 94 and a boat party of 62 set out from Mazatlán at about 1 A.M. The Mexicans, who were commanded by Lieut. Carlos Horn, a Swiss, ought to have been routed, but they had received notice of the expedition and were on the alert. The American land party fell partially into an ambuscade, and the boat party were misled. After some desultory fighting both sides retired. The Americans lost 1 killed and 21 wounded. The Mexican loss was probably somewhat larger.