Time Astra

Schematic plan · US-Mexican War

Battle of Cerro Gordo

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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, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

USA (US Army, 8,500 men under Scott) attacked Mexico (Mex Army, 12,000 men under Santa Anna) in Mexico. The CAA Database of Battles records 12 hours of fighting on a front of 2.4 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 431 (5%), Mexico 4,000 (33%).

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

USA

Scott

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry2,015
USA centreInfantry2,686
USA right wingInfantry2,015
USA reserveInfantry1,679
USA artillery (7 guns)Artillery105
ScottCommander—
In this plan8,500

Mexico

Santa Anna

UnitArmMen
Mexico left wingInfantry2,736
Mexico centreInfantry3,648
Mexico right wingInfantry2,736
Mexico reserveInfantry2,280
Mexico artillery (40 guns)Artillery600
Santa AnnaCommander—
In this plan12,000

What the sources report

USAMexico
Strength, this plan8,50012,000
Losses, this plan4314,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 160, “Cerro Gordo”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
2.4 km (attacker), 4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker8,500431—7Frontal attack; Breakthrough
Mexicodefender12,0004,000—40Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +2 · training +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +2 · combat effectiveness +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.