The Siege of Veracruz

On March 9, 1847, the twenty-day Siege of Veracruz began, one of the key battles in the Mexican-American War.  Major General Winfield Scott led the US troops.  The troops began to build a siege line around the city, and soon started the artillery bombardment.  On March 25, Mexican officials requested that women, children, and noncombatants be allowed to leave the city.  Scott refused, and continued to shell the town and the innocent civilians.   One foreign observer living in Veracruz wrote that “… about four thousand bombs have fallen on a city that does not have more than 1200 houses.  The bombardment has been so destructive that Veracruz is at present a pile of ruins….” An estimated 1,000 civilians were killed during the bombardment.  The Mexicans formally surrendered on March 28.