Oppenheimer

__//**The Fall of Mexico City: The End of the Mexican American war **//__ Citation For Picture "The Battle for Mexico City." //http://www.theartofbattle.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. . {[(VIDEO)]} Link Below __//My Objective: For the students to be able to tell how and why Mexico City fell to the Americans. //__ Answer to my Objective: Mexico City fell because Santa Ana, (the Mexican Dictator/General), made very poor battle desicions and he eventually fled without his army.

[] The Americans wanted the California, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada regions of Mexico. The Battle for Mexico City began on September 8, 1847, and ended on September 15, 1847. This was not just one battle but three, it includes, the battle for Molino del Rey, the battle for Chapultepec Castle, and finally, the fall of Mexico City itself.

Mexico City fell, which eventually led to the Americans gaining the southwestern portion of the United States, because the Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, was a corrupt and inept leader. As a result, his army was disloyal and often deserted during the heat of battle. He also made poor tactical decisions, which caused him to lose the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec, just outside Mexico City.

General Winfield Scott had heard that bells’ were being melted down in Molino del Rey to make cannons for the Mexican Army. He wanted to stop this so had one of his sub commanders, Worth, send 2 brigades of his troops forward to capture Molino del Rey, which was a former flour mill. His troops captured the Molino, with about 2/3 of the Mexicans retreating to Chapultepec and 1/3 of them deserting the Mexican Army. Then, the Mexicans counterattacked and the Americans won the skirmish, but with heavy losses. Again, 2/3 of the Mexican troops retreated to Chapultepec and another 1/3 of them deserted the Mexican Army. While this was all happening, Santa Ana’s only sub commander, Alverez, led his 4,000 cavalry in an attempt to outflank the Americans attacking Molino del Rey. The 270 American cavalry commanded by Sumner charged the 4,000 Mexican Cavalry and then withdrew until Worth redirected his artillery to pound the Mexican cavalry with artillery shells. Worth’s troops then worked to fight off the Mexican troops that remained in the Casa Mata area of Molino del Rey. At first, the Americans had to retreat back to Molino del Rey and they watched as small groups of Mexican soldiers killed the wounded Americans. They vowed to remember the sight of this so on their second assault on Casa Mata, Worth pounded it with his artillery and the American troops attacked forcing the Mexicans to abandon Casa Mata.

Casualties (just Molino del Rey):

Americans: 166 killed 665 wounded, many were officers,

Mexicans: 269 killed, 500 wounded, 862 captured, (and they lost their four (4) cannons), Both the Mexicans and the Americans took a few days to rest after the battle of Molino del Rey.

After the battle of Molino del Rey, Santa Ana’s forces withdrew to Chapultepec castle, just outside of Mexico City. During the night after the Battle of Molino del Rey, Scott reorganized his brigades into four, larger, divisions. When the Americans attacked, there were only a handful of Mexican troops in the castle and most of them were just Mexican army cadets, (Chapultepec castle was a military school at the time). When the American troops first attacked Chapultepec, they were driven back by a volley of fire from the Mexican troops guarding Chapultepec. This happened because to get to Chapultepec from Molino del Rey, they had to walk towards it, but then they would have to round a bend in order to attack the castle. Once they rounded the bend, the Mexicans opened fire on the Americans when they weren’t ready. The second attack on Chapultepec was much more successful. Unlike the first attack where the Americans just marched towards Chapultepec castle, the second time, they bombarded it with cannon fire, and this killed or wounded most of the opposition. So, when the Americans attacked Chapultepec castle for the second time, they took the castle and pushed back the Mexican troops towards the gates of Mexico City, and eventually, into the city. The Americans who had seen their comrades mercilessly killed during the first assault on Casa Mata got their revenge.

While the 1rst regiment of American troops, (under Worth), pushed the Mexican troops back towards one of Mexico City’s gates on the far side from the battle, Alverez and his remaining Mexican cavalry tried a flanking maneuver but were defeated and retreated into Mexico City. Ulysses S. Grant helped Worth hoist a cannon into a nearby churches bell tower and fired into the Mexican defenders. Once Worth entered the city and formed a sapping team. (Sapping is when and enemy’s troops dig under a walls foundation and undermine it).

After the Americans entered Mexico City, Santa Ana fled along with most of, (if not all of), his highest-ranking officers. After this, Scott entered Mexico City. But Santa Ana, even though he fled, still wanted to make capturing the city tough so he released every prisoner in Mexico City, who after the Mexican soldiers began to fire at the Americans from the rooftops of buildings, did the same.

Scott gave Quitman and his division the honor of being the first ones to enter Mexico City. Scott then lowered the Mexican flag flying above the National Palace and a U.S. Marine hoisted the American flag. Scott then made Quitman the military governor of Mexico City. Quitman was the only American ever to rule from the National Palace.

** SOME FINAL NOTES: **

Volume Library, A Modern ……….. pp54-55 Santa Ana rules Mexico from 1833 to 1855, Texas War for Independence in 1836, Mexican American War from 1846 to 1848, Mexican Civil War from 1861 to 1868, Santa Ana was a Corrupt Coduillo,

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