Battle of Molino del Rey

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Date	September 8, 1847
Location	Mexico City, D.F.
Result	U.S. victory

Combatants

United States

Mexico

Commanders

Winfield Scott,
William J. Worth

Antonio Léon †
Francisco Pérez

Strength

2,800

4,000 Leon & Perez Infantry Brigades & other units

Casualties

116 killed
665 wounded
18 missing
799 total

787 killed and 852 captured

Mexican–American War
Fort Texas – Palo Alto – Resaca de la Palma – Cañada – Mora – Embudo Pass – Pueblo de Taos – Monterrey – Buena Vista – Puebla – Cañoncito – Santa Fe – San Pasqual – Rio San Gabriel – La Mesa – Huamantla – Veracruz – Cerro Gordo – Contreras – Churubusco – Molino del Rey – Chapultepec – Mexico City – 1st Tabasco – Tuxpan – 2nd Tabasco – El Brazito – Sacramento

The Battle of Molino del Rey was one of the bloodiest engagements of the Mexican-American War.

1 Background
2 Battle
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Background

On September 6, 1847, as the armistice and negotiations that followed the Battle of Churubusco were breaking down, a large number of Mexican troops were observed around a group of low, massive stone buildings known as Molino del Rey. Spread across the distance of this point, they were about 1,000 yards (1 km) west of the Castle at Chapultepec, which itself was about two miles (3 km) from the gates of Mexico City. A large grove of trees separated the molino from the castle.

General Winfield Scott received reports that the trees masked a foundry for casting cannon, and there were rumors that Antonio López de Santa Anna, leader of both the Mexican government and military, in desperate need of ordnance, was sending out church and convent bells to have them melted down and converted to cannon. Scott ordered General Worth to attack and take the molino, break up the factory, and destroy any munitions found.

[edit] Battle

When there was no response to a brief bombardment, Worth assumed the Mexicans had abandoned the buildings. He sent an assault column of 500 men, the U.S. 8th Infantry Regiment led by Major George Wright, down a gently sloping plain. Behind them he placed Colonel Charles F. Smith's light battalion and George Cadwalader's brigade in the center, and to their right was Garland's brigade and a battery under Captain Simon H. Drum. On the left was Colonel James Duncan's battery and a brigade commanded by Colonel James S. McIntosh. These men faced the Casa Mata, a stone structure adjacent to the molino. Worth had a total strength of 2,800 men.

When Worth's men arrived, they met a fierce fire. Six pieces of a field battery opened fire on them, while the heavy guns of Chapultepec and nearly 6,000 muskets from Mexican entrenchments mowed them down by the hundreds. At least half of Worth's men fell during the first barrage of bullets. Retreating, the Light Battalion and 11th Infantry sprang forward amid the clouds of smoke and deadly fire. The Mexicans' works quickly fell.

No factory or munitions were discovered in the ruins.