Second Battle of Tabasco

Second Battle of Tabasco
Part of Mexican-American War
American landing in San Juan Bautista (Villahermosa today) during the Second Battle of Tabasco.
Date June 15–16, 1847 Location Villahermosa, Tabasco Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Mexico
Commanders and leaders
Matthew C. Perry David D. Porter	Domingo Echagaray Claro Hidalgo
Strength
8 vessels 1,050 U.S. Marines 7 field artillery pieces	600+ Soldiers
Casualties and losses
6 wounded, 3 missing	about 30

The Second Battle of Tabasco, also known as the Battle of Villahermosa, was a battle fought in June 1847 during the Mexican-American War as part of the U.S. blockade of Mexican Gulf ports.

Commodore Matthew C. Perry, commander of the U.S. Home Squadron had recently captured the port cities of Tuxpan and Carmen. He next decided to move against the city of San Juan Bautista (present day Villahermosa), the capital of the state of Tabasco.

Perry had received reports in April that the Mexican commander in Tabasco, Col. Domingo Echagaray, had strengthened the city's defenses and built obstructions in the Tabasco River . (present day Grijalva River). Perry assembled the Mosquito Fleet, consisting of the steamboats Scourge, Scorpion, Spitfire, and Vixen, plus the brigs Washington, Stromboli, and Vesuvius, and the merchant schooner Spitfire, off Frontera on 14 June and began moving upstream, towing 40 ship's boats carrying 1,050 men and seven surfboats with a field piece each.

At 4:15 PM, near Santa Teresa, 12 miles (19 km) below San Juan Bautista, the fleet ran through an ambush with little difficulty. At 5:45 PM, at an "s" curve in the river known as the "Devil's Bend", Perry encountered Mexican fire from the chaparral, dispersed some cavalry with the Vesuvius, and anchored for the night intending to deal with the obstructions ahead during daylight the next day. At dusk, a lone Mexican shot one of Perry's men on the Vesuvius's forecastle.

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