THE NAVAL BRIGADE. CAPTURE OF TABASCO.
COMMODORE MATTHEW C. PERRY was one of the first American naval officers
to overcome the prejudice of seamen against infantry drill, and to form
a corps of sailor-soldiers. Under his predecessor, the navy had lost
more than one opportunity of gaining distinction because [they were]
unable to compete with infantry, or to face cavalry in the open field.
Perry formed the first United States naval brigade, though Stockton in
California employed a few of his sailors as marines in garrison. The men
of Perry’s brigade numbering twenty-five hundred, with ten pieces of
artillery, were thoroughly drilled first in the manual of arms and then
in company and battalion formations under his own eye. His first
employment of part of this body was at Tuspan. Twenty-two days after the
fall of Vera Cruz, and on the day of the battle of Cerro Gordo, the bar
at the river’s mouth was crossed by the light ships, the fort stormed,
and Tuspan “taken at a gallop!” Obliged to give up his marines to
General Franklin Pierce, Perry drilled his sailors all the more, so that
little leisure was allowed them.
The capture of Tabasco involved the problem of fighting against
infantry, posted behind breastworks, with sailors. This was somewhat
novel work for our navy. Hitherto all our naval traditions were of
squadron fights in line, ship-to-ship duels, or boat expeditions. In the
present case the flotilla was to ascend a narrow and torturous river to
the distance of nearly seventy miles through an enemy’s country densely
covered with vegetation that afforded a continuous cover for riflemen,
and then to attack heavy shore batteries.
From various points on the coast, the ships and steamers assembled like
magic, and on Monday morning, June 14, 1847, the squadron came to anchor
off the mouth of the Tabasco river. The detachments from eleven vessels,
numbering 1084 seamen and marines in forty boats, were under the
Commodore’s immediate direction and command. He had prepared the plan of
attack with great care. Every contingency was foreseen and provided
against, and the minutest details were subject to his thoughtful
elaboration.
At that point of the river called the Devil’s Bend, danger was
apprehended. Here the dense chapparal feathered down to the river’s edge
affording a splendid opportunity for ambush. The alert Commodore was
standing on the upper waist deck of the _Scorpion_ under the awnings
entirely exposed, on the look-out for the enemy. Suddenly, as the
flag-ship reached the elbow, from the left side of the river the guns of
at least a hundred men blazed forth in a volley, followed by a dropping
fire. In an instant the awnings were riddled and all the upper works of
wood and iron scratched, dented, and splintered, by the spatter of lead
and copper. Strange to say, not a single man on the _Scorpion_ was
touched by the volley though a sailor on the _Vesuvius_ was hit later.
As the smoke curled up from the chapparal, Perry pointed with his glass
to the guns still flashing, and gave, or rather roared out, the order
“Fire.” The guns of the _Scorpion_, _Washington_ and the surf-boats,
with a rattling fusillade of small arms, soon mowed great swaths in the
jungle. From the masthead of the _Stromboli_, a number of cavalry were
seen beyond the jungle. A ten-inch shell, from the eight-ton gun of the
_Vesuvius_, exploding among them, seemed to the enemy to be an attack in
the rear, cutting off their retreat, and they scattered wildly. Very few
of the Mexicans took time to reload or fire a second shot.
It was now past six o’clock and it was determined to anchor for the
night. The whole squadron assembled in the Devil’s Turn, and anchored in
sight of the Seven Palm Trees below which the obstructions had been
sunk. Due precautions were taken against a night attack, as the dense
chapparal was only twenty yards distant. A barricade of hammocks was
therefore thrown up on the bulwarks for protection, and the sailors, as
soldiers are, in rhetoric, said to do, “slept on their arms.” But one
volley was received from the shore during the night, the air only
receiving injury.
The enemy had placed obstructions at the bar to prevent the further
ascent of our forces. The Commodore, early in the morning, dispatched
two boats with survey officers to reconnoitre and sound a channel. These
drew the fire of a breastwork, La Comena, on the shore, which severely
wounded Lieutenant William May.
The boats having been unable to find a channel, Perry gave orders to
land. With grape, bombs, and musketry, the fleet cleared the ground, and
then Perry gave the order, “Prepare to land,” and led the way in his
barge with his broad pennant flying. All eyes watched his movements as
he pulled up the river. When opposite the Palms, he steered for the
shore, and with his loud, clear voice heard fore and aft, called out,
“Three cheers, and land!” The cheers were given with enthusiasm, and
then every oar bent. His boat was the first to strike the beach, and the
Commodore was the first man to land. With Captain Mayo and his aids, he
dashed up the nearly perpendicular bank, and unfurled his broad pennant
in the sight of the whole line of boats. Instantly three deafening
cheers again rang out from the throats of a thousand men who panted to
be near it and share its fortunes. It was a sight so unusual, for a
naval Commander-in-chief, to take the field under such circumstances at
the head of his command, that the enthusiasm of our tars was unbounded
and irrepressible. They bent to their oars with a will and pulled for
the shore.
The artillery and infantry were quickly landed on the narrow flats at
the base of the high banks. Reaching these, the infantry were formed in
line within ten minutes. Then came the tug-work of drawing seven field
pieces up a bank four rods high, and slanting only twenty-five feet from
a perpendicular. With plenty of rope and muscle the work was
accomplished. Three more pieces were landed later from the bomb ketches
and added as a reserve. Most of the landing was done in five, and all
within ten minutes. In half an hour after the Commodore first set foot
on land, the column was in motion as follows:—
The pioneers far in advance under Lieutenant Maynard, the marines under
Captain Edson, the artillery under Captain Alexander Slidell Mackenzie,
and the detachments of seamen under the various captains to whose ships
they severally belonged. Captain Mayo acted as adjutant general, the
Commodore giving his personal attention to every movement of the whole.
In this, as in all things, Perry was a master of details.
The march upon Tabasco now began, the burly Commodore being at the
front. Through a skirt of jungle, then for a mile through a clear plain,
and again in the woods, they soon came in sight of Acachapan where an
advancing company of a hundred musket-men opened fire on our column. At
this chosen place, the Mexican general had intended to give battle,
having here the main body of his army with two field pieces and a body
of cavalry. At the first fire of the Mexican musketry, our field pieces
were got into position, and a few round shots, well served, put the
lessening numbers of the enemy to flight. The terrible execution so
quickly done showed the Mexicans that the Americans had landed not as a
mob of sailors but a body of drilled infantry with artillery. A change
came over the spirit of the orator, Bruno, and he fell back in his
intrenchments. The road wound near the water and the march was
re-commenced.
Meanwhile the ships left in the river were not idle. The flotilla, led
by the _Spitfire_ under Lieutenant, now Admiral Porter, had passed the
obstructions, and according to Perry’s orders, were gallantly ascending
near the fort and town. The three hearty cheers which were exchanged
between ships and shore when the two parties caught sight of each other,
greatly intimidated the _veteranos_ in the fort. Behind the deserted
breastworks of Acachapan, our men found the usual signs of sudden and
speedy exit. Clothes, bedding and cooking utensils were visible. The
bill of fare for the breakfast all ready, but untasted, consisted of
boiled beef, tortillas, squash and corn in several styles.
Without delaying here, the advance column passed on and rested under
several enormous scyba trees near a lagoon of water. Officers and men
had earned rest, for the work of hauling field pieces in tropical
weather along narrow, swampy and tortuous roads, and over rude corduroy
bridges hastily constructed by the pioneers, was toilsome in the
extreme. In some cases the wheels of a gun carriage would sink to their
hubs requiring a whole company to drag them out. Some of the best
officers and most athletic seamen fainted from heat and excessive
fatigue, but reviving with rest and refreshment, resumed their labors
with zeal that inspired the whole line. This march overland of a naval
force with artillery along an almost roadless country seemed to
demoralize both the veterans and militia in fort and trenches.
The _Spitfire_ and _Scorpion_ passed up the river unmolested until
within range of Fort Iturbide, a shot from which cut the paddle-wheel of
the _Spitfire_. Without being disabled, the steamer moved on and got in
the rear of the fortification, pouring in so rapid and accurate a fire,
that the garrison soon lost all spirit and showed signs of flinching.
Seeing this, Lieutenant, now Admiral, Porter landed with sixty-eight men
and under an irregular fire charged and captured it, the Mexicans flying
in all directions. The town was then taken possession of by a force
detailed from the two steamers, under Captain S. S. Lee, Lieutenant
Porter remaining in command of the _Spitfire_.
When the Commodore at 2 o’clock P. M. arrived at the ditch and
breastworks, a quarter of a mile from the fort, and in sight of the
town, he found the deserted place well furnished with cooked dinners and
cast off but good clothing. The advance now waited until the straggling
line closed up, so that the whole force might enter the city in company.
Soon after reaching the fort which mounted two six, three twenty-eight,
and one twenty-four pounder guns with numerous pyramids of shot and
stands of grape, they found the men from the ships in possession, and
the stars and stripes floated above, and each detachment of the column,
as it entered, cheered with enthusiasm.
The Commodore and his aids were escorted by the marines and the force
marched, company front, to the plaza. They moved almost at a run up the
steep street, the band playing Yankee Doodle. Bruno’s prophecy was
fulfilled, but without Bruno. A few of the citizens and foreign
merchants and consuls whose flags were flying welcomed the Commodore.
The rain was now falling heavily and, as the public buildings were
closed, and no one seemed to have the keys, the doors were forced.
Quarters were duly assigned to the Commodore, staff and marines. The
artillery was parked in the arcades of the plaza, so as to command all
the approaches to the city, and the men rested. Even the Commodore had
walked the entire distance, only one animal, an old mule, having been
captured on the way and reserved for the hospital party.
Six days were spent at Tabasco. From the first hour of arriving, the
Commodore made ample provision for good order, health, economy, revenue,
and the honor of the American name. The scenes on the open square during
the American occupation, the tattoo, reveille, evening and morning gun,
the hourly cry of “all’s well,” the shrill whistle of the boatswain, and
the occasional summons of all hands to quarters, showed that, with
perfect discipline, the naval batallion of the Home Squadron was
perfectly at home in Tabasco, and that the sailors could act like good
soldiers on land as well as keep discipline aboard ship.
The large guns and war relics were put on board the flotilla, but the
other military stores were destroyed. Captain A. Bigelow was left in
command of the city with four hundred and twenty men. Perry’s orders
against pillage were very stringent. He meant to show that the war was
not against peaceful non-belligerents, but against the Mexican official
class. Perry highly commended Captain Edson and his body of marines for
their share of the work at Tabasco. His approbation of these men, who
for nine months had served under his immediate eye, was warm and
sincere. They afterwards did good service before the gates and in the
city of Mexico. Perry wrote of the marines, “I repeat what I have often
said, that this distinguished and veteran corps is one of the most
effective and valuable arms of the service.”
The capture of Tabasco, whose commercial importance was second to that
of Vera Cruz, was the last of the notable naval operations of the war.
So far as the navy was concerned, the campaign was over, unless the
sailors should turn soldiers altogether, for every one of the Gulf ports
was in American hands. Since the fall of Vera Cruz, the navy had
captured six cities with their fortresses and ninety-three cannon. This
work was all done on shore, off the proper element of a naval force. In
addition to these operations, the Commodore demanded and received from
Yucatan her neutrality, carried into effect at the ports the regulation
of the United States Treasury Department for raising revenue from the
Mexicans, and found leisure to erect a spacious and comfortable hospital
on the island of Salmadina equipped with all the comforts obtainable.
This preparation for the disease certain to come among unacclimated men
was most opportune.
About this time Perry sent home to the United States in the _Raritan_,
in care of Captain Forest, the guns captured at various places. Three of
the six at Tabasco were assigned to the Annapolis Naval Academy to be
used for drill purposes. This was also in compliment to the first
graduates of the institution, several of whom were serving in the
Mexican campaign, as well as its first principal Captain Franklin
Buchanan.