Time Astra

Schematic plan · US-Mexican War

Battle of Chapultepec

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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 wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

USA (US Army, 7,180 men under Scott) attacked Mexico (Mex Army, 15,000 men under Santa Anna) in Mexico. The CAA Database of Battles records 13 hours of fighting on a front of 1.8 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 863 (12%), Mexico 1,800 (12%).

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 wingInfantry1,694
USA centreInfantry2,259
USA right wingInfantry1,694
USA reserveInfantry1,412
USA artillery (8 guns)Artillery120
ScottCommander—
In this plan7,179

Mexico

Santa Anna

UnitArmMen
Mexico left wingInfantry3,553
Mexico centreInfantry4,738
Mexico right wingInfantry3,553
Mexico reserveInfantry2,961
Mexico artillery (13 guns)Artillery195
Santa AnnaCommander—
In this plan15,000

What the sources report

USAMexico
Strength, this plan7,18015,000
Losses, this plan8631,800

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 164, “Chapultepec”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
13 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
1.8 km (attacker), 3.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker7,180863—8Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Mexicodefender15,0001,800—13Defensive plan; Withdrew

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.