The Battle of Buena Vista (February 22–23, 1847), known as the Battle of La Angostura in Mexico, and sometimes as Battle of Buena Vista/La Angostura, was a battle of the Mexican–American War. It was fought between U.S. forces, largely volunteers, under General Zachary Taylor, and the much larger Mexican Army under General Antonio López de Santa Anna. It took place near Buena Vista, a village in the state of Coahuila, about 12 km (7.5 mi) south of Saltillo, Mexico. La Angostura ("the narrow place") was the local name for the site. The outcome of this battle was unforeseeable: there were factors that could grant Mexicans a proper victory on the battlefield, despite the US overall superiority. After the first day "many Americans … believed that the American army would soon collapse when the fighting began the next day" .
The outcome of the battle was ambiguous, with both sides claiming victory. Santa Anna's forces withdrew with war trophies of cannons and flags and left the field to the surprised U.S. forces, who had expected there to be another day of hard fighting. Yet the Mexican retreat was perceived in Mexico largely as an American victory, weakening Santa Anna politically and contributing to subsequent political turmoil between the conservative elites and the liberals.
Background
U.S. president James K. Polk had decided that an invasion into central Mexico via the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz would make the Mexicans come to the negotiating table. He told Major General Zachary Taylor to stay in his position at Monterrey. Polk had placed General Winfield Scott as commander of all the U.S. forces in Mexico. Scott himself ordered Taylor to remain in place. After the Battle of Monterrey and the end of the armistice, Taylor's Army of Occupation with Brigadier General William J. Worth's 1,000 men advanced onto undefended Saltillo on November 16, despite orders to halt any movement further south, considering it strategic to cover the approaches to Monterrey and Parras de la Fuente. Taylor then directed General John E. Wool from Monclova to Parras, the objective being control of that agricultural area. Wool's force moved to Agua Nueva, south of Saltillo, on December 21, to counter rumors of impending attack. Scott had intelligence that the army of Santa Anna was getting into position to attack, just six miles from Taylor's position.
In mid-August 1846, General Antonio López de Santa Anna returned from exile and quickly assumed command of the Mexican Army, having tricked Polk into allowing him to return to Mexico, telling him that he could reconcile Mexico to make peace with the U.S. He reached San Luis Potosí on October 8 with a force of 20,000 men and 5,000 women (soldaderas). This was a significant force, but some troops had no uniforms or weapons. In general, Mexican forces had large numbers but had far fewer resources than those of the U.S., with outdated weapons, inability to pay its troops, and inability to consistently provision its forces, since there was no money to pay local civilians. Most troops were new recruits, and most had not fired a single weapon in training. However, Santa Anna had the advantage of knowing the territory since the Mexican army had often used the main route.
In early January while encamped in San Luis de Potosí, Santa Anna acquired a letter from General Scott ordering Worth's troops to join General David E. Twiggs and General John A. Quitman's divisions in Veracruz, prompting Santa Anna to make attack plans for Saltillo. General José de Urrea's cavalry would simultaneously retake Ciudad Victoria and cut off Monterrey from the port of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Santa Anna's army departed San Luis Potosí on January 27 with a force of 21,553, and reached Encarnación, south of Saltillo, with 15,142 men on February 20. General Miñon surprised a group of 100 U.S. troops at Encarnación, and took them captive. Their capture cheered the Mexican troops. The winter weather was against the poorly dressed and provisioned Mexicans, with the coldest temperatures in decades. The men and women in Santa Anna's forces began to die of exposure, and thirst once the cold weather lifted was also a problem. Some soldaderas set fire to trees around the encamped troops to warm them, but by the time the two armies fought, the Mexican forces had already lost thousands to illness, exposure, and desertion.
Taylor moved 4,650 of his men to Agua Nueva on February 14, but on February 20, Major Benjamin McCulloch's Texas Rangers encountered Santa Anna's force at Encarnación, prompting Taylor's withdrawal to La Angostura ("the narrow place"), a mile and a quarter south of Hacienda San Juan de la Buena Vista. General Wool was charged with selecting "the field of battle" and making "such dispositions of the troops on the arrival of the enemy" as he deemed necessary. Wool thought the site excellent for defense, since the road passed through a narrow valley here, which was crossed at right angles by several ravines east of the road and arroyos were to the west. Wool placed Captain John M. Washington's battery across the road, supported by the 1st Illinois under Colonel John J. Hardin and 2nd Kentucky under Colonel William R. McKee. Continuing to the left was the 2nd Illinois under Colonel William H. Bissell, General Joseph Lane's Indiana Brigade, and the Kentucky and Arkansas horsemen, with two squadrons of dragoons and a company of Texans in reserve.
Santa Anna's forces consisted of Major General Manuel María Lombardini's division and Major General Francisco Pacheco's division in the center with 14 pieces of artillery, Colonel Santiago Blanco's regiment of engineers, and three 16-pounders on the left, and Major General Pedro de Ampudia's light infantry with General Julián Juvera's strong cavalry brigade on the right with two batteries. In reserve was Major General José María Ortega's infantry division and Brigadier General Francisco Mejia's brigade.
Battle
Santa Anna had chosen the day of battle, not apparently aware that it was George Washington's birthday, which galvanized patriotic sentiment among the U.S. forces. "A more inopportune moment could not have been selected by the Mexican general." A captured U.S. soldier said the Mexicans found it hard to believe that General Washington had not been leading the troops himself, but had been dead for nearly fifty years.
Santa Anna had advanced to Carnero Pass below Agua Nueva on February 21 and on February 22 demanded Taylor's surrender, to which Taylor's aide, William Wallace Smith Bliss, replied, "I beg leave to say that I decline acceding to your request."
Santa Anna began the attack with a feint by Mejía to the American right, but his main thrust was to the American left. Wool moved three companies of Kentucky cavalry under Colonel Humphrey Marshall and four rifle companies of the Arkansas regiment under Colonel John S. Roane and four companies of Hoosiers under Major Willis A. Gorman to strengthen his left. Marshall and Ampudia's men skirmished by 3:30 pm, but darkness brought an end to the fighting.
After dark, Taylor, escorted by the Mississippi Rifles, Colonel Jefferson Davis, and Charles A. May's dragoons, checked on the Saltillo garrison, but returned by 9:00 am on February 23. During the night, Brigadier General Manuel Micheltorena moved five 8-pounders above the American left, intending to flank them along the high ground the next morning at daylight.
Ampudia's brigade started the assault, supported by Lombardini and Pacheco's divisions, while Moras demonstrated against the American right. The 2nd Indiana faced a force of 7,000 Mexicans, prompting Wool to send the 2nd Illinois and Captain Thomas W. Sherman's battery in support.
The Hoosiers, after taking 90 casualties, broke and fled, forcing the 2nd Illinois into a slow fighting withdrawal, and Marshall's men to flee northward to the Buena Vista hacienda. Juvera's cavalry was able to turn the American left flank and head for Buena Vista.
Davis' Mississippians were ordered to shield Buena Vista along with the volunteers of the Arkansas and Kentucky cavalry, the 3rd Indiana, and Captain Enoch Steen's dragoons. A large Mexican force routed the cavalry, killing Archibald Yell, and then reached the hacienda of Buena Vista. They had expected the building to be full of provisions, but instead they were dismayed to find that U.S. troops taking refuge in it were persuaded by their officers to defend it. The Mexican forces withdrew, pursued by U.S. Dragoons.
Steen's dragoons were able to split Juvera's column, forcing the advance portion past the hacienda and under fire from Sherman's battery, while the dragoons threw the rest into confusion. Davis' men then sent the Mexicans fleeing, although Davis was wounded in the heel.
Major John Munroe organized the defense of the hacienda proper, using the 2nd Indiana, from Juvera's attacks, while the Mississippians and the 3rd Indiana were organized into a large "V" which forced Juvera's approximately 2,000 survivors into a ravine. A young Mexican lieutenant, José María Montoya, tricked Taylor into a ceasefire, allowing the trapped Mexicans enough time to escape. Brigadier José Vicente Miñón appeared before Saltillo but retreated to the southwest.
Santa Anna renewed an attack on the main U.S. position led by General Francisco Pérez with artillery support. They were met at 5:00 p.m. by fire from O'Brien and Thomas's guns and two Illinois and a Kentucky regiment under Colonel John J. Hardin, during which Hardin was killed.
An artillery battery under Captain Braxton Bragg then arrived with orders to "maintain the position at all costs". Taylor rode over to Bragg, and after a brief conversation in which Bragg replied he was using single canister shot, Taylor ordered "double-shot your guns and give 'em hell, Bragg". Later, this order, although misquoted as "give them a little more grape, Captain Bragg", would be used as a campaign slogan that carried Taylor into the White House. Pérez's attack was repelled and the fighting ended as heavy rain fell over the field. On the battlefield, camp follower and heroine of Fort Brown, Sarah A. Bowman, known as the "Great Western", ministered to American troops, including "bolstering the nerves of the soldiers."
Santa Anna believed his army was on the verge of exhaustion and collapse, due to lack of provisions. Some Mexican soldiers were so driven by hunger that they "conducted unauthorized attacks just so they could take food from the Americans". In assessing whether to hold the field or withdraw, Santa Anna calculated that the lack of provisions would drive many of his men to desertion. On February 23, some of Santa Anna's council of war at Agua Nueva advised withdrawal, while others argued that cattle could be driven there to provision the soldiers. Those that argued for remaining thought that with one more day of fighting, the Mexicans would achieve a complete victory. However, the decision was to withdraw to Agua Nueva, and they left their campfires ablaze to confuse the U.S. troops. Taylor led his army back to Nueva Agua, but he did not pursue Santa Anna any further south.
Many U.S. Volunteers going into battle with Mexican forces held Mexicans to be their racial inferiors and poor soldiers. These soldiers were often unbelieving, but "learned after Monterey and Buena Vista to respect the fighting qualities of the Mexican soldier".
Santa Anna withdrew his troops, leaving the battlefield to the surprised U.S. forces. Santa Anna's forces had captured important war trophies from the U.S. Army, cannons and flags, as well as arms, which remained on display into the modern era at the Artillery School of Mexico. In the account written by Mexicans in the immediate aftermath of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the war, they considered the battle a victory. "On our part, the army was proclaimed victorious, alleging in proof the trophies captured, the positions taken, and the [U.S.] divisions vanquished. The truth is, our arms routed the Americans in all the encounters, and so far the issue of the battle is favorable to us. There had been three partial triumphs, but not a complete victory." There were serious losses of Mexican dead and wounded.