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Schematic plan · US-Mexican War

Battle of Buena Vista

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rugged, Bare groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseGuns02.5 km5 kmN

Mexico (Mex Army, 14,000 men under Santa Anna) attacked USA (US Army, 4,759 men under Taylor) in Mexico. The CAA Database of Battles records 16.5 hours of fighting on a front of 7 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that USA held. Losses: Mexico 2,000 (14%), USA 746 (16%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Mexico

Santa Anna

UnitArmMen
Mexico left wingInfantry3,360
Mexico centreInfantry4,480
Mexico right wingInfantry3,360
Mexico reserveInfantry2,800
Santa AnnaCommander—
In this plan14,000

USA

Taylor

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry840
USA centreInfantry1,120
USA right wingInfantry840
USA reserveInfantry700
USA cavalry of the leftCavalry509
USA cavalry of the rightCavalry509
USA artillery (16 guns)Artillery240
TaylorCommander—
In this plan4,758

What the sources report

MexicoUSA
Strength, this plan14,0004,759
Losses, this plan2,000746

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 159, “Buena Vista”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
16.5 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
7 km (attacker), 13 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Mexicoattacker14,0002,000——Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
USAdefender4,7597461,01816Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages initiative +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.