Home Squadron

Last updated
Home Squadron
USS Mississippi 1863.jpg
The paddle frigate USS Mississippi in 1863. She served as the flagship of the Home Squadron during the Mexican–American War.
Active1838–1861
CountryFlag of the United States (1861-1863).svg  United States of America
BranchFlag of the United States Navy (1864-1959).svg United States Navy
Type Naval squadron

The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the Atlantic slave trade, make coastal surveys, and train ships to relieve others on distant stations. It was discontinued in 1861 after the outbreak of the American Civil War, when the Union blockade forced a reassignment of ships to close off Southern ports.

Contents

History

USS Albany, a sloop of the Home Station during the Mexican-American War. Albany-sloop-Currier-Ives.jpeg
USS Albany, a sloop of the Home Station during the Mexican-American War.

Mexican–American War

During the Mexican–American War the ships of the Home Squadron, commanded by Commodore David Conner, USN fought in several engagements against Mexican forces. Many of the Home Squadron vessels were attached to vice commander Commodore Matthew C. Perry's Mosquito Fleet which was involved in the battles of Tuxpan, Tabasco, Villahermosa and Veracruz. No ship-to-ship combat occurred though several merchant vessels were captured, the Home Squadron primarily operated against Mexican coastal forts and artillery batteries.

Reform War

Since the Mexican War of Independence ending in 1821, Mexican liberals, a political party which evolved from the Masonic Lodge of the York Rite created by Joel R. Poinsett who was an American Diplomat sent by President James Monroe to secretly propose the purchase of the northern provinces from the First Mexican Empire; and the conservative party—which as its name indicates, had as its principal objective was to preserve the traditions and customs of the nation—were constantly in conflict at each other throughout the first decades of the existence of Mexico.

The continuous friction led to a major civil war known as the Reform War from 1858 to 1860 and political instability, which the U.S. government under James Buchanan saw as a great opportunity to further expand the U.S. territory limits southwards (after the acquisition through war of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, most of Colorado, south Wyoming, and a fraction of Kansas and Oklahoma. For this reason and based upon the Doctrine Monroe, the U.S government sent an emissary to discuss with Juarez's liberal party the possibility to cede the Baja California peninsula to the United States, which he promptly accepted in exchange of diplomatic, economic and military support to counteract the conservative power that at that point, had the full support of the majority of the Mexican people, and was in control of the entire country with the exception of the cities of Morelia and Veracruz.

During the Second Siege of Veracruz in 1859, a Mexican officer named Thomas M. Marin of the Mexican Navy purchased vessels in Cuba, that he armed and equipped to sail back to Veracruz to assist and supply General Miramon's siege of the held city. The Liberal Mexican government declared Marin's fleet to be that of pirates so ships of the Home Squadron were ordered to intervene and arrest Marin. Two of Marin's ships, the steamer General Miramon and the sloop-of-war Marquis of Havana, arrived at their rendezvous off Anton Lizardo. They were spotted by a Mexican fort and the frigate USS Savannah which ordered the sloop-of-war USS Saratoga to intervene with help from two steamers.

The American ships under Commander Thomas Turner approached and fired warning shots, the Mexicans obviously fired back as the American fleet had no jurisdiction within Mexican waters. Despite the fact of being outnumbered by the American fleet, the Mexican vessels engaged in battle resulting in a bloody encounter Battle of Anton Lizardo and the capture of the conservative ships and over thirty casualties on both sides. The battle played an important role in ending the Reform War with a liberal victory and the signatory of the secret MacLane-Ocampo Treaty where Juarez and the radical liberals agreed on further cessions of Mexican territory to the U.S., as well as a couple of transit concessions through the Tehuantepec Isthmus, and from Tamaulipas across Mexico to the Gulf of California in perpetuity to the U.S. that eventually was rejected by the American congress, as it was determined that the inclusion of these states into the American federation could strengthen the southern confederate states.

Due to the American intervention, the conservatives under General Miramon failed to take Veracruz from the liberals for a second time, which a few years later led Mexico to a French intervention.

Slave trade

Slavers seized by the Home Squadron: [1]

VesselCaptorDateLocation
Putnam Dolphin 21 August 1858 Cuba
Cygnet Mohawk 18 November 1859 Cuba
Wildfire Mohawk 26 April 1860 Cuba
William Wyandotte 9 May 1860 Cuba
Bogota Crusader 23 May 1860 Cuba
W.R. Kibby Crusader 23 July 1860 Cuba
Joven Antonio Crusader 14 August 1860 Cuba
Toccoa Mohawk 20 December 1860 Havana
Mary J. Kimball Mohawk 21 December 1860 Havana

Commanders

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Brooklyn</i> (1858) Sloops-of-war of the United States Navy

USS Brooklyn was a sloop-of-war authorized by the U.S. Congress and commissioned in 1859. Brooklyn was active in Caribbean operations until the start of the American Civil War at which time she became an active participant in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.

USS <i>Raritan</i> (1843) Sailing frigate, laid 1820, destroyed 1861

The first USS Raritan was a wooden-hulled, three-masted sailing frigate of the United States Navy built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, laid down in 1820, but not launched until 13 June 1843, sponsored by Commodore Frederick Engle. She was one of the last sailing frigates of the United States Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miguel Miramón</span> Mexican politician and general

Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo, known as Miguel Miramón, was a Mexican conservative general who became president of Mexico at the age of twenty seven during the Reform War, serving between February 1859 and December 1860. He was the first Mexican president to be born after the Mexican War of Independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Conner (naval officer)</span> United States Navy commodore

David Conner was an officer and commodore of the United States Navy. He served in the War of 1812 and led the Home Squadron during the Mexican–American War. He led the successful naval assault during the siege of Veracruz which included the landing of 10,000 U.S. troops, the largest U.S. military amphibious assault at the time. He served on the Board of Navy Commissioners; as the first Chief of the Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair; as a Special Diplomatic Agent to Mexico and commanded the Philadelphia Naval Yard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Murray (1816–1884)</span>

Rear Admiral Alexander Murray was a flag officer in the United States Navy, who served during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.

Edmund Ross Colhoun was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who served during the Mexican War and the American Civil War, in which he was commended for his participation in the bombardment and capture of Fort Fisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Harwar Parker</span>

William Harwar Parker was an officer in the United States Navy and later in the Confederate States Navy. His autobiography, entitled Recollections of a Naval Officer 1841–1865, provides a unique insight into the United States Navy of the mid-19th century during an era when the Age of Sail was coming to an end and the advent of steam power and ironclads was beginning.

USS <i>Saratoga</i> (1842) Sloop-of-war of the United States Navy

USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Battle of Saratoga of the American Revolutionary War. Her keel was laid down in the summer of 1841 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 26 July 1842 and commissioned on 4 January 1843 with Commander Josiah Tattnall III in command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Squadron</span> U.S. Navy squadron positioned in the Pacific Ocean (1821–1907)

The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval supplies and purchased food and obtained water from local ports of call in the Hawaiian Islands and towns on the Pacific Coast. Throughout the history of the Pacific Squadron, American ships fought against several enemies. Over one-half of the United States Navy would be sent to join the Pacific Squadron during the Mexican–American War. During the American Civil War, the squadron was reduced in size when its vessels were reassigned to Atlantic duty. When the Civil War was over, the squadron was reinforced again until being disbanded just after the turn of the 20th century.

USS Germantown was a United States Navy sloop-of-war in commission for various periods between 1847 and 1860. She saw service in the Mexican–American War in 1847–1848 and during peacetime operated in the Caribbean, in the Atlantic Ocean off Africa and South America, and in East Asia. Scuttled at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, she was captured and refloated by the Confederate States of America and placed in service with the Confederate States Navy as the floating battery CSS Germantown before again being scuttled in 1862.

USS <i>St. Marys</i> (1844) Sloop-of-war of the United States Navy

The second USS St. Mary's was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Félix María Zuloaga</span> Mexican conservative general and politician

Félix María Zuloaga Trillo (1813–1898) was a Mexican conservative general and politician who played a key role in the outbreak of the Reform War in early 1860, a war which would see him elevated to the presidency of the nation. President Zuloaga was unrecognized by and fought against the liberals supporters of President Benito Juarez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomás Mejía Camacho</span> Mexican general (1820–1867)

José Tomás de la Luz Mejía Camacho, better known as Tomás Mejía, was a Mexican soldier of Otomi background, who consistently sided with the Conservative Party throughout its nineteenth century conflicts with the Liberals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second French intervention in Mexico</span> 1861 invasion of Mexico by the French

The second French intervention in Mexico, also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867), was a military invasion of the Republic of Mexico by the French Empire of Napoleon III, purportedly to force the collection of Mexican debts in conjunction with Great Britain and Spain. Mexican conservatives supported the invasion, since they had been defeated by the liberal government of Benito Juárez in a three-year civil war. Defeated on the battlefield, conservatives sought the aid of France to effect regime change and establish a monarchy in Mexico, a plan that meshed with Napoleon III's plans to re-establish the presence of the French Empire in the Americas. Although the French invasion displaced Juárez's Republican government from the Mexican capital and the monarchy of Archduke Maximilian was established, the Second Mexican Empire collapsed within a few years. Material aid from the United States, whose four-year civil war ended in 1865, invigorated the Republican fight against the regime of Maximilian, and the 1866 decision of Napoleon III to withdraw military support for Maximilian's regime accelerated the monarchy's collapse. Maximilian and two Mexican generals were executed by firing squad on 19 June 1867, ending this period of Mexican history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reform War</span> Civil war within Mexico from 1858 to 1861

The Reform War, or War of Reform, also known as the Three Years' War, and the Mexican Civil War, was a complex civil conflict in Mexico fought between Mexican liberals and conservatives with regional variations over the promulgation of Constitution of 1857. It has been called the "worst civil war to hit Mexico between the War of Independence of 1810-21 and the Revolution of 1910-20." Following the liberals' overthrow of the dictatorship of conservative Antonio López de Santa Anna, liberals passed a series of laws codifying their political program. These laws were incorporated into the new constitution. It aimed to limit the political power of the executive branch, as well as the political, economic, and cultural power of the Catholic Church. Specific measures were the expropriation of Church property; separation of church and state; reduction of the power of the Mexican Army by elimination of their special privileges; strengthening the secular state through public education; and measures to develop the nation economically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Battle of Tabasco</span> 1846 Mexican–American War battle

The First Battle of Tabasco was fought during the Mexican–American War, in October 1846, in an attempt to capture cities along the Tabasco coast.

USS <i>Hurst</i> (DE-250) Edsall-class destroyer escort

USS Hurst (DE-250) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. The ship served in both the Atlantic and the Pacific and was decommissioned in May 1946 and placed in reserve for the next 27 years.

USRC Walter Forward was a schooner constructed for service with the United States Revenue-Marine. She was more commonly known as USRC Forward. Forward served with the United States Army and United States Navy in Mexican waters during the Mexican–American War and was commended for her actions during the Tabasco River landings by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, U.S. Navy. After the war, she was transferred to the United States Coast Survey for a short time as USCS Walter Forward before being returned to the Revenue-Marine for service during the 1850s and the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Antón Lizardo</span>

The Battle of Antón Lizardo was a naval engagement of the Mexican civil war between liberals and conservative governments, the Reform War. It took place off the Gulf Coast town of Antón Lizardo, Mexico in 1860. A Mexican Navy officer, Rear Admiral Tomás M. Marín, mutinied and escaped to Havana, Cuba. There he formed a squadron of armed vessels to attack merchant ships and blockade Veracruz. The liberal Mexican Government of Benito Juárez declared Tomás Marín a pirate and permitted foreign navies to attack his ships. Juárez's government was supported by the United States and its navy already had several vessels patrolling in the Gulf of Mexico.

USS Petrita was a steamer that served in the United States Navy from 1846 to 1848. She saw service in the Mexican War.

References

  1. Canney, D.L. (2006) Africa Squadron, Potomac Books. pp.233–34
  2. Hammersly, General Register of the United States Navy and Marine Corps
  3. Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy, Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1814-