The Battle of Resaca de la Palma was one of the early engagements of the Mexican–American War, where the United States Army under General Zachary Taylor engaged the retreating forces of the Mexican Ejército del Norte (“Army of the North”) under General Mariano Arista on May 9, 1846. The United States emerged victorious and forced the Mexicans out of Texas.
Following the Mexican defeat at the Battle of Palo Alto the previous day, Arista on the morning of May 9 moved his forces to a more defensible position along a resaca, known as Resaca de Guerrero to the Mexicans but as Resaca de la Palma to the Americans. Recalling his experiences at the Siege of Fort Texas, he positioned his forces along the twelve foot deep and two hundred foot wide resaca, three miles from the Rio Grande, by 10 a.m. Arista placed most of his infantry in the ravine, thickly forested on either side, to negate the effectiveness of Taylor’s artillery, with the 6th and 10th Infantry, Sappers, 2nd Light Infantry and 1st Infantry being placed east of the road, and the 2nd Infantry, Tampico Battalion and 4th Infantry west of the road. Covering the flanks in the rear were the Presidiales, the light cavalry, and the 7th and 8th Regiments, and two artillery batteries on the south bank.
Taylor reached the area about 3 p.m. and ordered Captain William W. Mackall’s skirmishers and Captain Randolph Ridgely’s battery along the road, with the 4th and 5th Infantry to the left and the remaining 4th and 3rd Infantry on the right.
American forces began to encounter the Mexican lines at around three in the afternoon. The advance party of skirmishers under Captain Mackall had been pursuing Arista’s army throughout the morning and early afternoon, and as they reached the brush around the resaca the group came under heavy rifle and artillery fire. Mackall attempted to press further in order to gain a clearer view of the Mexican position, but, lacking the firepower of Taylor’s main body, was ultimately forced to retreat and await reinforcements.
By four, General Taylor had linked with Captain Mackall and had begun to deploy his army to assault Arista’s position. First, he moved to destroy the Mexican skirmish line which was harassing his movements. Two infantry regiments, supported by Ridgely’s artillery battery, were able to converge on Arista’s skirmishers and force them back into the Mexican main line with heavy casualties. With his immediate front clear, Taylor began to press his attacks on Arista’s flanks.
Fighting was disorganized and uncoordinated due to the dense chaparral and the intense Mexican artillery fire, although Ridgely did repulse a Mexican cavalry charge. As regiments entered the heavy underbrush unit cohesion broke down, as smaller and smaller groups became visibly separated from each other; many of these groups were led by non-commissioned officers as the regular officers became cut off from the rest of their men. However, this same issue plagued the Mexican defenders, as the chaparral hampered the lines of communication as well as lines of sight. As a result, the majority of the fighting occurred simultaneously but also independently within these small, separate groups, as each lacked information on the battle as a whole. This breakup of unit integrity effectively negated many of the defensive and numerical advantages the Mexican Army would have ordinarily enjoyed.
Due to the low visibility of the chaparral, Ridgely’s artillery battery was unable to provide much support to the American assaults on the flanks. Rather, they concentrated on neutralizing Arista’s artillery; the resulting artillery duel proved inconclusive. Taylor ordered a charge by Captain Charles A. May’s dragoon squadron with the objective of clearing the Mexican battery. Supposedly, May said, “Hello Ridgely, where is that Battery? I am ordered to charge it”, and Ridgely replied “Hold on Charley, ’till I draw their fire and you will see where they are.” May’s charge however carried them well past the Mexican artillery and although he managed to capture General Romulo Diaz de la Vega, he could not hold the guns. Taylor then ordered William G. Belknap’s 5th and 8th Infantry to secure the guns, which they did. The Mexicans forces east of the road then retreated from their positions.
Up until this point of the engagement, General Arista had not taken the field to command, but rather had been in his tent performing his administrative duties. Though he had received word of the American assault, he believed it to be minor given the late hour and the assumed superiority of his position. Only when his line had begun to seriously crumble did Arista acknowledge the severity of the battle. After failing to rally his retreating infantry, Arista personally led a cavalry charge to try and break up American gains on the southern bank of the resaca. Though initially finding some success, the rough terrain quickly broke up the charge before it could deal any major damage to Taylor’s forces.
West of the road, Captain Robert C. Buchanan and men of the 4th Infantry found a trail which turned towards the Mexican left flank, enabling them to take and hold the battery located there. They held the position against General Pedro de Ampudia’s counterattacks, and the entire Mexican force panicked and fled across the Rio Grande, with many Mexican soldiers drowning in the attempt.
The victory at Resaca de la Palma quickly rose to great renown among the American military and public. Personal documents from soldiers attached to General Taylor’s army highlight tremendous joy and excitement from the Mexican rout, boosting an already confident morale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Resaca_de_la_Palma
The Game
A buddy of mine ran his home brew Mexican American War rules at our last Tuesday afternoon game day. We had been talking about it for a long time, but the time had finally come! His rules are a distant variant of the Old Brother against Brother skirmish rules. He has been using these for years to run various US Civil War games at HMGS conventions. However, his Mexican American collection actually pre-dates those figures by quite a spell.
He set up the battlefield using his terrain and provided all the figures. The system is straight forward and good for pushing a lot of skirmish figures in one sitting. He uses movement trays to facilitate moving and playing with the units (each of ten figures). They are not necessary, as the game plays more like most modern blob system. However, it defiantly makes this go fast! This is something I have to do for my Rebels and Patriots games…
The system uses D10s. You roll 2D10s to determine command and movement, 1D10 per figure for shooting and melee and 2D10 for morale results. At first glance of the quick reference guide, it was a bit confusing. However, it was all clear once we finished the first turn and we all could take care of our stuff without help.
The forces were set up in their rough historical locations. The table was mostly open, with a ravine through the middle of the Mexican lines. This provided cover and was deep enough to hide units that were at the bottom. It also provided cover to any fire crossing the area, to simulate the trees and scrubs growing around the water.
The victory would be based on the American results. They had to clear the road and exit a unit through the Mexican lines. Get off and win, don’t get off and loose! We started with the US turn. They moved forward with their battalions (each stand was a company, with groupings of three or four being a battalion).
They moved their skirmishers up front to screen the advance and then let loose with their cannons to try to silence the Mexican forward deployed artillery. The fire was quite terrible, and the Mexicans took it on the chin. It took two turns to silence the gas, but they were silenced! The Mexican artillery was not very effective, only plinking a figure here and there. This was partially because of the skirmishers, difference in quality and quality of die rolls!
The Americans advanced, shooting along the way. The Mexicans tried to fire back, but this was only somewhat effective. The effectiveness of the US artillery was noticeable, as they slammed the Mexican center mercilessly. After four turns, the Americans arrived in force at the Mexican lines and it was time for the bayonet!
With the Americans closing and the disappointment in their fire, the Mexicans tried going in with the bayonet first. This had mixed results, but did finally slow down the American advance. The fight turned into a bloody fight for the ravine, with both sides taking heavy losses. In the end, the forward Mexican units were either eliminated or reduced to a husk of themselves. The Americans still had plenty in reserve to through at the remaining Mexican brigade. However, the losses were too heavy and the Mexicans decided to fight another day….
- Manteuffel