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Schematic plan · US-Mexican War

Battle of Churubusco

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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.
Flat, Bare groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveScottSanta Anna0500 m1 kmN

USA (US Army, 8,497 men under Scott) attacked Mexico (Mex Army, 10,500 men under Santa Anna) in Mexico. The CAA Database of Battles records 3.5 hours of fighting on a front of 2 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 996 (12%), Mexico 3,124 (30%).

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 wingInfantry2,039
USA centreInfantry2,719
USA right wingInfantry2,039
USA reserveInfantry1,699
ScottCommander—
In this plan8,496

Mexico

Santa Anna

UnitArmMen
Mexico left wingInfantry2,520
Mexico centreInfantry3,360
Mexico right wingInfantry2,520
Mexico reserveInfantry2,100
Santa AnnaCommander—
In this plan10,500

What the sources report

USAMexico
Strength, this plan8,49710,500
Losses, this plan9963,124

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 162, “Churubusco”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
3.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Flat, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
2 km (attacker), 1.1 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker8,497996——Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Mexicodefender10,5003,124——Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · momentum +1 · 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.