peashooter85:My Bad Bro!!! The Accidental Capture of Monterrey,In 1842 the commander of the U.S. Pac
peashooter85:My Bad Bro!!! The Accidental Capture of Monterrey,In 1842 the commander of the U.S. Pacific Squadron, Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones received second hand news and rumors that Mexico and the United States had gone to war. Furthermore he learned that the British had dispatched a warship, the HMS Dublin, to capture the port of Monterrey in order to annex California. In a rush to take California before the British could, Commodore Jones set sail from Lima, Peru for Monterrey with a fleet of three warships, the frigate USS United States and two war sloops. On the night of October 19th, the fleet anchored in Monterrey Bay and a small party went ashore demanding the Mexicans surrender by 9:00 am the next morning. The Mexican garrison only consisted of 58 soldiers housed in an outdated and poorly armed fort. When the Americans landed ashore the next morning with 50 Marines and 100 sailors, the Mexicans surrendered without offering resistance.Shortly after the capture of Monterrey, Commodore Jones learned some shocking news; Mexico was not at war with the United States and the British had no intentions of seizing California. With apologies, the Americans freed the Mexican soldiers, lowered the American flag and replaced the Mexican flag, saluted the Mexicans with cannon, and immediately returned to their ships and departed.Four years later the Americans recaptured Monterrey without resistance, this time as part of a real war, the Mexican American War. -- source link