Hi, I’m the History Guy. I have a degree in history,
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The 19th century was a period of enormous change in naval technologies as fleets moved from wooden
sailing vessels to iron hauled, steam powered ships, that mounted breech loading cannons
that fired explosive shells. And while each of those technologies advantages seemed obvious,
it actually took quite some time for that change to come as the technologies developed,
and as navies were slow to embrace change. It might surprise you to find out that the
first truly modern naval vessel, built from the keel up, with an Ironbound hull, steam power,
mounting breech-loading cannons that fired explosive shells, served not in a European Navy,
but in the Mexican Navy. Where they fought in a nearly forgotten battle, in a war you probably
never heard of, with a navy you probably didn't know existed. And yet the nearly forgotten 1843
naval Battle of Campeche holds a unique place in history, and it deserves to be remembered.
The story starts in 1821, when after an 11-year struggle, Mexico defeated Spain in the Mexican
War for Independence, ending nearly 300 years of European rule over Mexico, since the Spanish
defeat of the Aztec empire in the 16th century. But the early years of the Mexican Republic were
unsettled, and what would become a century long conflict between conservatives, representing
traditional power such as the army, and the church, struggled against liberal reformers. The
resulting period of turmoil eventually resulted in a growing Mexican central authority, under
the dominant figure in Mexico for the first half of the 19th century, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
When, in 1835, Santa Anna repealed the Federalist Mexican Constitution of 1824,
several Mexican states went into open rebellion. Perhaps the most
famous of these rebellions was the Texas Revolution of 1835.
Texas, the northern part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas, had a significant population
of Anglo American settlers, when Santa Anna abolished the state legislature and moved
to central authority, they went into revolt. Santa Anna took an army to quell the rebellion,
but facing overwhelming logistical challenges, his army was defeated by the Texian army at the
Battle of San Jacinto in April of 1836, and gave Texas independence, with the treaties of Velasco,
the following May. But Mexico maintained that the treaties were signed under duress,
and the small struggling Republic of Texas, lived under threat of invasion. But Texas was
not the only state frustrated by the growing central government, while Mexico was able to
put down other revolts, the state of Yucatan found itself in the situation similar to where
Texas had been. It was small, distant from the capital, and poor. What's more, the poverty
and inequality faced by its large population of Mayan Indians, offered unique challenges.
In 1841, the local Chamber of Deputies, concerned at the centralization of authority in Mexico and
convinced that the old federal system was the best way to fight poverty, adopted Articles of
Independence proclaiming the Yucatan, a Sovereign Republic. But Santa Anna had again taken control
of the Mexican government, and had become even more radical in his centralization of authority.
After attempts at diplomacy failed, he decided to attack. Knowing that Mexico could attack by sea,
the Yucatan appealed to the Republic of Texas, for the help of its Navy.
Yes, Texas had a navy. The president of Texas, from 1838 to 1841, was Mirabeau Lamar,
and he saw a Navy as being necessary to protect Texas from the threat of invasion from Mexico by
sea. But the Navy had a problem, as Sam Houston had again been elected president in 1841,
and Sam Houston was afraid the Navy was too provocative, and too expensive,
and so had ordered that the ships be sold off. But before that could happen, representatives
of the Republic of the Yucatan offered to hire the Texas Navy, and against Sam Houston's order,
the commander of the Texas Navy, former US naval officer Commodore Edwin Moore, set sail
with the two ships of the Texas Navy to help the Republic of the Yucatan take on the Mexican fleet.
The Texas Navy was just two ships, the 20 gun, 600 ton, sloop of war Austin, and the 16 gun,
brig, Wharton. Both were powerful ships by the standards of the Gulf of Mexico,
and much larger than the few small schooners that the Yucatan had available. But they were
about to face two of the most powerful and modern warships in the world,
and that all had to do with the relationship between the United States, and Great Britain.
In 1840, an enterprising shipbuilder named John Laird, had built a new warship,
the largest iron hulled ship in the world to date. It was powered by steam engine,
and armed with powerful French designed Paixhans guns, the first naval guns built to fire exploding
shells. But the Royal Navy wasn't interested, they didn't see a reason to replace their large,
and powerful fleet of wooden warships. But when Mexico offered to buy Laird's ship,
and another steam-powered warship, Great Britain saw an opportunity.
Britain and the US had been embroiled in a disagreement over the borders of the Oregon
Territory. And Britain, while they had recognized Texas Independence, did not want Texas to join the
United States. Britain saw helping Mexico as a way to counterbalance power with the United States,
and so they not only allowed Mexico to buy the ships, but they allowed officers,
and sailors of the Royal Navy to take a leave of absence in order to enlist in the Mexican Navy,
and crew the vessels. And thus, the Texas Navy was about to face two of the most modern warships
in the world, the ironclad steam warship Guadalupe, and the similarly sized wooden
hauled steam warship Montezuma, both crewed by sailors of the British Royal Navy. The two
fleets finally met on May 16th of 1834, in what has become known as the Naval Battle of Campeche.
In theory, the Mexican vessels far outclassed the Texas Yucatan fleet, but Moore sailed
aggressively. In a running battle, the Texas ships were able to move close enough to engage, negating
the range advantage of the Mexican guns. As with most naval battles of the day, most firing was
actually ineffective. While the Paixhans guns were powerful, the fuse technology was unreliable, and
many of the large shells failed to explode. Both fleets did damage to each other, and the battle
ended indecisively. But it was a strategic victory for the Yucatan, preventing Mexico from taking the
port city of Campeche. The Yucatan had a strong enough position that, in armistice talks, it
was able to maintain its independence. And it was really a victory for the Texas Navy, which despite
being apparently outclassed, not only fought the Guadalupe and the Montezuma to a standstill,
but also had caused far more casualties on the Mexican vessels, who had more than 100 crewmen
killed, versus just five Texas sailors killed. The Naval Battle of Campeche stands alone as the only
time in naval history where wooden sailing ships held their own, against steam vessels, in combat.
The cylinder of the popular model 1851 Colt Navy Revolver has etched upon it,
a scene for the Battle of Campeche, a thank you from Samuel Colt to the Texas Navy,
whose purchase of his Colt Paterson Revolver, was his first commercially successful contract.
In the end the Naval Battle of Campeche had little real impact on world history. It was
really the land battle in the Yucatan Revolution that dictated the outcomes of the conflict,
and both fleets quickly disappeared from history. The enlistments for the British
sailors aboard the Guadalupe, and Montezuma expired in June, and those sailors went home,
leaving the ships undermanned, and with no trained crews to operate their fancy guns,
and the Mexican Navy no longer threatened to invade Texas by sea. When in 1846,
Mexico went to war with the United States over the issue of Texas statehood, both ships happened to
be in the United States in shipyards laid up for repairs, and afraid that the United States would
commandeer the vessels, they were disarmed and sold to British commercial interests.
The Texas Navy returned to Galveston as heroes, cantankerous Sam Houston tried to have Commodore
Moore and his captains arrested as Pirates, but they were acquitted in a court-martial,
but with the Mexican Navy no longer a threat, the ships were allowed to rot in Port.
There have been a lot of discussions over why these two advanced naval vessels performed so
poorly in their first battle. They had command problems, the commander of the Guadalupe had
to return to England, and the commander of the Montezuma had died of a fever the night before
the battle, and so both had new captains. They had communication problems between
the British and Mexican elements of their crews, and because they were so expensive,
the captains were afraid to risk their vessels, and so sailed timidly, versus the Texas fleet,
which really had nothing to lose. And despite being advanced vessels that were steam-powered,
they didn't use screw propellers, but instead used side paddle wheels,
and as those paddle wheels are vulnerable to fire, once again the captain's had to behave timidly
to try to protect their vessels. Despite being some of the most advanced warships of the day,
their poor performance in their one battle relegated them to forgotten history. And yet
those two forgotten ships, in a forgotten battle, in a forgotten war, against the forgotten navy,
hold a unique place in naval maritime history, and deserve to be remembered.
I’m the History Guy. I hope you enjoyed this episode of my series, 5 minutes of history,
short snippets of forgotten history 5 to 10 minutes long, and if you did enjoy then please
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