The Battle of Sacramento, or the battle of the Sacramento River, took place on February 28, 1847, during the Mexican–American War. About fifteen miles (24 km) north of Chihuahua, Mexico, at the crossing of the Sacramento River, American forces numbering less than 1,000 defeated the superior Mexican army.
== Background == On February 8, Colonel Alexander Doniphan's force of 924 soldiers and 300 civilians left El Paso del Norte for Chihuahua, despite learning that John E. Wool had abandoned his march there. Major Samuel Owens had the civilians formed into a battalion along with the caravan of 312 wagons. On 25 February, they reached the Laguna de Encinillas, where they learned of the Mexican defenses prepared for them. Governor Trias had built up a force under the command of General Jose A. Heredia, consisting of Around 800 cavalry (Gen. Garcia Conde: Vera Cruz Dragoons, Durango & Chihuahua Lancers), 250 infantry (Chihuahua Activos), 119 artillerymen (10 field guns & 6 culverins), 180 National Guards and Mostly Volunteer rancheros. They had constructed a redoubt near the Hacienda Sacramento where the El Paso road crosses the river, and at Hacienda el Torreon two miles (3.2 km) to the west. At sunrise on February 28, the Americans took up the line of march and formed the whole wagon train into four columns with the artillery and mounted men in the middle. Three companies screened the front. When the Americans arrived within sight of the Mexican defenses, Doniphan made a reconnaissance of the enemy positions. Twenty-three separate works had been dug for twelve 4- to 9-pounders and nine lighter pieces.
== Battle == Doniphan used his cavalry to screen the movement of his force parallel to the Arroyo Seco and to the right and out of range of the Mexican artillery. Doniphan formed the wagons into a fort after crossing the gully onto a plateau, and Major Meriwether Lewis Clark Sr.'s guns fired on General Garcia Conde's lancers, forcing them to flee. Doniphan's men approached the southernmost Mexican earthworks, held by Heredia's best troops. Doniphan ordered Capt. Richard H. Weightman's twin howitzers to the front accompanied by Capt. Reid's force of mounted cavalry men. Major Owens was killed in the charge, but Missourians took the fort. Trias made a counterattack and Captured an Artillery piece that made the Americans Retreat. By 5 PM the fighting was over.
== Aftermath == Unable to defend Chihuahua, Trias fled to Parras. Doniphan commented, "The fire of our battery was so effective as to completely silence theirs." Doniphan's men marched into Chihuahua on March 2, and on April 23 he was ordered to bring his men to Saltillo, reaching Encantada on May 21. Mexician sources One recurring phrase in oral retellings (recorded in interviews from the 1930s and 1940s) says: “Los americanos vinieron con sus carretas y se llevaron a sus muertos, más de doscientos, para darles sepultura cristiana cerca del río.” (“The Americans came with their wagons and took their dead — more than two hundred — to give them a Christian burial near the river.”)
== In popular culture == The Battle of the Sacramento River is mentioned in the 1985 Western novel Blood Meridian. While interned in a Chihuahua City prison, the main character meets a veteran of the battle who recounts the events.
== See also == Battles of the Mexican–American War
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References
== Further reading == Brooks, N.C. Complete History Of The Mexican War: Grigg, Elliot & Co.Philadelphia 1849, pp.271-280 Listing of 1846–1848 US Army Casualties Cooke, Philip St. George (1964). The Conquest of New Mexico and California, an Historical and Personal Narrative. Albuquerque, NM: Horn and Wallace. p. 89.
== External links == Col. Doniphan's report of the battle Marker to Doniphan in Clay Co., MO. - Missouri "Mormon" Frontier Foundation. - John Whitmer Historical Association. Doniphan biography. - Kansas "bogus legislature" website. Doniphan. - Columbia Encyclopedia. Speaking of History Podcast with audio of John Dillingham speech on the life of Alexander Doniphan. - presented at the Truman Presidential Library in May 2007. A Continent Divided: The U.S. - Mexico War, Center for Greater Southwestern Studies, the University of Texas at Arlington
