Escape After Dark: The Skirmish of Tantoyuca

As General Santa Ana marched north toward General Taylor's forces in February 1847, his army captured a number of scouting parties.  These captives were marched back to Mexico City, where they would wait for exchange or sit out the war.  In April 1847, Santa Ana clashed with General Winfield Scott at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.  It was a tremendous defeat for the Mexicans, resulting in a large portion of the army being captured by the Americans.  Not having the ability to house so many captives, the Americans gladly offered them in exchange for American captives.

In June 1847, a column of American POWs were marched toward Tampico as the soldiers to be exchanged.  Upon reaching Huejutla, the march was halted.  General Garay declared that the paperwork was wrong.  In fact, Santa Ana didn't want any Americans returned.  However, six of the prisoners escaped and successfully arrived at Tampico in July.  Learning the story of these men, Colonel Gates - commander of the troops at Tampico - outfitted an expedition to retrieve the rest of the prisoners.  He chose Colonel Lewis DeRussy to lead it.

DeRussy departed Tampico on the 8th of July, 1847, and marched without incident down the coast and then into the interior.  He explained his mission to the various authorities he met along the way and was not harassed.  The expedition arrived in Tantoyuca on the 11th.  DeRussy had about 120 men in his command.  There were 35 Maryland Dragoons under Captain James Boyd, 34 artillerymen of the 3rd Artillery under Captain Francis Wyse, 44 soldiers of the Louisiana Volunteers under Captains Russell Mace and Bornt Seguine, and a dozen citizens who styled themselves as the Tampico Rangers.  The column had only one artillery piece, a six-pound cannon.

The Battle of Rio Calabozo

On the morning of the 12th, the column set out for Huejutla.  DeRussy had Boyd's Dragoons in the van, about 200 yards ahead of the main party.  During the march, an Indian revealed that there was an ambush awaiting them at the Calabozo River.  DeRussy dispatched Lt. Lindenberger to warn Boyd but it was too late.  Musket fire erupted from the other side of the Calabozo, killing Capt. Boyd and several others.  Even on their side of the river, gunfire came from the trees on either side.  The Americans counterattacked, the Louisiana Volunteers splitting to the right and left to the treeline while Captain Wyse's artillery pounded away at the Mexican troops on the otherside of the river.  While the Americans were engaged, Mexican lancers fell upon the baggage train and rode off with most of the provisions.  A bugle sounded and the Mexicans withdrew.

The Skirmish of Tantoyuca

Though DeRussy inflicted more casualties than he suffered, there was no question of continuing.  Captain Wyse only had 3 rounds left for the cannon and most of the baggage was gone.  The retreat proved to be a running skirmish.  Upon returning to Tantoyuca - which had been quite friendly when they left that morning, they found Mexican lancers and soldiers standing ready for battle.  DeRussy marched toward the waiting force then let Captain Wyse blast a hole in the Mexican line.  The cannon proved decisive, and the Americans soon captured Tantoyuca.  The men scoured the town for powder and ammunition, managing to assemble some makeshift cannister rounds for the cannon.

Sometime after dark, an officer from General Garay approached.  He demanded the surrender of the American force, explaining how hopeless their situation was.  DeRussy refused and had his men settle in for the night.  It had not escaped his notice that many Mexican soldiers had headed north along the road the Americans had traveled from Tampico; clearly, there was another ambush being readied.

At 2 AM and during a heavy rainstorm, the Americans departed.  Opting to avoid the presumed ambush, they took the road toward Panuco.  As after his shipwreck, DeRussy had once again escaped an encircling force after dark.  Though the column suffered further attacks along the way, the Mexican forces came to respect the devastating effects of the cannon and avoided open engagements.  Once in Panuco, DeRussy sent for a relief column which Colonel Gates sent.

The expedition lost 11 killed and 6 missing and presumed dead.  Lt. Tannehill, one of Boyd's Dragoons, had been mortally wounded and could not be transported.  They left him in Tantoyuca; he died 2-weeks later in Huejutla.

Escape After Dark: The Wreck of the Ondiaka

At the end of January 1847, a regiment of Louisiana Volunteers set out for the Mexican War aboard the Ondiaka.  The ship stopped along the Texas coast, where many of General Taylor's veteran troops were being assembled for transport to Veracruz.  The ship then went to Tampico, a Mexican port city that had been captured a couple of months prior.  The next stop would be Isla de Lobos, where the fleet had an interim concentration point.  Unfortunately, the Ondiaka didn't make it.

Shipwrecked near the Mexican coast, four companies of Louisiana volunteer regiment and the crew of the Ondiaka struggled to shore without losing anyone.  However, only 100 or so functional muskets and a week's worth of provisions made it ashore.  Colonel Lewis De Russy had the men setup a perimeter.  Soon, Mexican peasants and fishermen were scouting the camp and offering assistance.  Or were they?  Not much later, Mexican soldiers under command of General Cos encircled the American position.

General Cos was a veteran of the Texas campaign of 1835 and 1836.  He had been marching to relieve Santa Ana at San Jacinto but arrived too late.  Since then, he had been relegated to a command in Tuxpam.  Here was an opportunity.  He demanded the American surrender.

Colonel De Russy requested until the following morning to provide his answer, which Cos allowed.  The men lit campfires for the night.  Then, around midnight, De Russy marched his command north, avoiding any of General Cos' pickets.  They had left most of their baggage on the beach, only taking what would aid in their escape.

Meanwhile, news of the wreck of the Ondiaka had reached Tampico and a rescue mission was launched.  A navy ship found and burned the Ondiaka so as to deny it to the Mexicans.  The rescue mission intercepted the Louisiana Volunteers and escorted them the rest of the way to Tampico.  Only 6 men were lost.

The wreck of the Ondiaka left De Russy and his men in Tampico.  They did not join the landings at Veracruz that happened the following month.  Instead, they were garrisoned in Tampico.  Had De Russy missed the war on account of the shipwreck?  Maybe not.