The United States occupation of Veracruz, which began with the Battle of Veracruz, lasted
for six months and was a response to the Tampico Affair of April 9, 1914. The incident came
in the midst of poor diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United States, and
was related to the ongoing Mexican Revolution. Background
The Tampico Affair was set off when nine American sailors were arrested by the Mexican government
for entering off-limit areas in Tampico, Tamaulipas. The armed sailors were arrested when they
entered a fuel loading station. The sailors were released, but the U.S. naval commander
demanded an apology and a twenty-one gun salute. The apology was provided but not the salute.
In the end the response from President Woodrow Wilson ordered the United States Navy to prepare
for the occupation of the port of Veracruz. While awaiting authorization from the Congress
to carry out such action, Wilson was alerted of a delivery of weapons for Victoriano Huerta
due to arrive in the port on April 21 aboard the German-registered cargo-steamer SS Ypiranga.
As a result, Wilson issued an immediate order to seize the port's customs office and confiscate
the weaponry. The weapons had actually been sourced by John Wesley De Kay, an American
financier and businessman with large investments in Mexico, and a Russian arms dealer from
Puebla, Leon Rasst, not the German government as newspapers reported at the time. Huerta
had usurped the presidency of Mexico with the assistance of the American ambassador
Henry Lane Wilson during a coup d'état in February 1913 known as La decena trágica.
The Wilson administration's answer to this was to declare Huerta a usurper of the legitimate
government, to embargo arms shipments to Huerta, and to support the Constitutional Army of
Venustiano Carranza.
The arms shipment to Mexico, in fact, in part originated from the Remington Arms company
in the U.S., went to Odessa, Russia to Hamburg, where De Kay added to the load. The arms and
ammunition were to be shipped via Hamburg, Germany, to Mexico allowing Huerta's arms
dealers to skirt the American arms embargo. The landing of the arms was blocked at Veracruz
but they were discharged a few weeks later in Puerto Mexico, a port controlled by Huerta
at the time.
Initial landing On the morning of April 21, 1914, warships
of the United States Atlantic Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher,
began preparations for the seizure of the Veracruz waterfront. By 11:30, with whaleboats
swung over the side, 502 U.S. Marines from the 2nd Advanced Base Regiment, 285 armed
Navy sailors, known as "Bluejackets," from the battleship USS Florida and a provisional
battalion composed of the Marine detachments of the Florida and her sister ship USS Utah
began landing operations. as the landing party moved toward pier 4, Veracruz's main wharf,
a large crowd of Mexican and American citizens gathered to watch the spectacle. The invaders
encountered no resistance as they exited the whaleboats, formed ranks into a Marine and
a seaman regiment, and began marching toward their objectives. This initial show of force
was enough to prompt the retreat of the Mexican forces led by General Gustavo Maass. In the
face of this, Commodore Manuel Azueta encouraged cadets of the Veracruz Naval Academy to take
up the defense of the port for themselves. Also, about 50 line soldiers of the Mexican
Army remained behind to fight the invaders along with the citizens of Veracruz.
Battle of Veracruz The bluejackets were instructed to capture
the customs house, post and telegraph offices, while the Marines went for the railroad terminal,
roundhouse and yard, the cable office and the powerplant.
Arms were distributed to the population, who were largely untrained in the use of Mausers
and had trouble finding the correct ammunition. In short, the defense of the city by its populace
was hindered by the lack of central organization and a lack of adequate supplies. The defense
of the city also included the release of the prisoners held at the San Juan de Ulúa prison.
Although the landing had been nearly unopposed as U.S. forces marched into the city, Veracruz
quickly became a battleground. Just after noon, fighting began with the 2nd Advance
Base Regiment under Colonel Wendell C. Neville becoming heavily involved in a firefight in
the rail yards. While the forces ashore slowly fought their way forward, Admiral Fletcher
landed the USS Utah's 384 man bluejacket battalion, the only other unit at his disposal. By mid
afternoon, the Americans had occupied all of their objectives and Admiral Fletcher called
a general halt to the advance, initially hoping that a cease-fire could be arranged. That
hope rapidly faded as he could find no one to bargain with and all troops in the city
were instructed to remain on the defensive pending the arrival of reinforcements.
On the night of the 21st, Fletcher decided that he had no choice but to expand the initial
operation to include the entire city, not just the waterfront. Five additional U.S.
battleships and two cruisers had reached Veracruz during the hours of darkness and they carried
with them Major Smedley Butler and his Marine Battalion which had been rushed from Panama.
The battleship's seaman battalions were quickly organized into a regiment 1,200 men strong,
supported by the ship's Marine detachments providing an additional 300-man battalion.
These newly arrived forces went ashore around midnight to await the morning's advance.
At 07:45, the advance began. The Leathernecks adapted to street fighting, which was a novelty
to them. The sailors were less adroit at this style of fighting. A regiment led by Navy
Captain E. A. Anderson advanced on the Naval Academy in parade ground formation, making
his men easy targets for the cadets barricaded inside. This attack was repulsed with casualties,
and the advance was only saved when three warships in the harbor, the USS Prairie, San
Francisco, and Chester, pounded the Academy with their long guns for a few minutes, silencing
all resistance and killing 15 of the cadets inside.
That afternoon, the First Advanced Base Regiment, originally bound for Tampico, Tamaulipas,
came ashore under the command of Colonel John A. Lejeune and by 17:00, U.S. troops had secured
the town square and were in complete control of Veracruz. Some pockets of resistance continued
to occur around the port, mostly in the form of hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, but by April
24 all fighting had ceased. A third provisional regiment of Marines, assembled at Philadelphia,
arrived on May 1 under the command of Colonel Littleton W. T. Waller, who assumed overall
command of the Brigade, by that time numbering some 3,141 officers and men. By then, the
sailors and Marines of the Fleet had returned to their ships and an Army Brigade had landed.
Marines and soldiers continued to garrison the city until the U.S. withdrawal on November
23, which occurred after Argentina, Brazil and Chile were able to settle the issues between
the two nations.
Aftermath U.S. Army Brigadier General Frederick Funston
was placed in control of the administration of the port. Assigned to his staff as an intelligence
officer was a young Captain Douglas MacArthur. While Huerta and Carranza officially objected
to the occupation, neither was able to oppose it effectively, being more preoccupied by
events of the Mexican Revolution. Huerta was eventually overthrown and Carranza's faction
took power. The occupation, however, brought the two countries to the brink of war and
worsened U.S.-Mexican relations for many years. The ABC Powers held the Niagara Falls peace
conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, on May 20 to avoid an all-out war over this
incident. A plan was formed in June for the US troops to withdraw from Veracruz after
General Huerta surrendered the reins of his government to a new regime and Mexico assured
the United States that it would receive no indemnity for its losses in the recent chaotic
events. Huerta soon afterwards left office and gave his government to Carranza. Carranza,
who was still quite unhappy with US troops occupying Veracruz, rejected the rest of the
agreement. In November 1914, after the Convention of Aguascalientes ended and Carranza failed
to resolve his differences with revolutionary generals Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata,
Carranza left office for a short period and handed control to Eulalio Gutiérrez Ortiz.
During this brief absence from power, however, Carranza still controlled two Mexican states:Veracruz
and Tamaulipas. After leaving Mexico City, Carranza fled to the state of Veracruz, made
the city of Cordoba the capital of his regime and agreed to accept the rest of the terms
of Niagara Falls peace plan. The US troops officially departed on November 23. Despite
their previous spat, diplomatic ties between the US and the Carranza regime greatly extended,
following the departure of US troops from Veracruz, and the two nations were now on
friendly terms.
After the fighting ended, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels ordered that fifty-six
Medals of Honor be awarded to participants in this action, the most for any single action
before or since. This amount was half as many as had been awarded for the Spanish-American
War, and close to half the number that would be awarded during World War I and the Korean
War. A critic claimed that the excess medals were awarded by lot. Major Smedley Butler,
a recipient of one of the nine Medals of Honor awarded to Marines, later tried to return
it, being incensed at this "unutterable foul perversion of Our Country's greatest gift"
and claiming he had done nothing heroic. The Department of the Navy told him to not only
keep it, but wear it.
Lt. Azueta and a Naval Military School cadet, Cadet Midshipman Virgilio Uribe, who also
died during the fighting, are now part of the roll call of honor read by all branches
of the Mexican Armed Forces in all military occasions, alongside the six Niños Héroes
of the Military College who died in defense of the nation during the Battle of Chapultepec
on September 13, 1847. As a result of the brave defense put up by the Naval School cadets
and faculty, it has now become the Heroic Naval Military School of Mexico in their honor
by virtue of a congressional resolution in 1949.
In popular culture Warren Zevon's album Excitable Boy features
a track called "Veracruz" named after this event. It depicts the battle and chaos for
what one may presume was the point of view of a resident of Veracruz. The last verse,
written in Spanish, is the character saying he will return to Veracruz, destiny has changed
his life and in Veracruz he shall die. It is also the setting for The Hot Country, a
2012 novel by Robert Olen Butler.