Battle of Monterey

Battle of Monterey
Part of the Mexican-American War
Officers of Commodore Sloat raise the U.S. flag over Monterey
Date July 7, 1846 Location Monterey, California Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Mexico
Commanders and leaders
John D. Sloat	Mariano Silva
Strength
225 sailors and marines	unknown
Casualties and losses
0	0

The Battle of Monterey, at Monterey, California, occurred on 7 July 1846, during the Mexican-American War. The United States captured the town unopposed.

Prior to the Mexican-American War the Californio forces had routed the Mexican-appointed Governor Manuel Micheltorena and most of his forces from Alta California. The Californio Governor Pio Pico, had about 100 poorly armed and poorly equipped soldiers, and was nominally in charge in Alta California; he consolidated his forces in Pueblo de Los Angeles—the then-largest city in California with about 1,500 residents.

The main forces available to the United States in California were the about 400–500 bluejacket sailors and U.S. Marines on board the five ships of the Pacific Squadron there. Speculating that war with Mexico over Texas etc. was very possible, the U.S. Navy had sent several additional naval vessels to the Pacific in 1845 and 1846 to protect U.S. interests there and prevent possible British action. It took about 200 days, on average, for ships to travel the over-12,000 miles (19,000 km) trip from the East coast around Cape Horn to get to California. More ships assigned to the Pacific Squadron would continue to arrive from 1846 to 1847.

On 26 May, Commodore Sloat received word of the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, upon which he sent a coded message to Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft that he was leaving for California. Sloat sailed on the frigate Savannah on 8 June, arriving Monterey on 1 July.

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