Pacific Coast campaign (Mexican–American War)

Following the July–August 1846 campaign led by the Commander of the U.S. Navy Pacific Squadron, Commodore Robert F. Stockton proclaimed United States control of northern regions of Las Californias (known separately before 1836 as Alta California), on August 17, 1846. On August 19, Commander Stockton ordered Joseph B. Hull, commander of the USS Warren, to blockade Mazatlan. Samuel F. Dupont, commander of the second class sloop-of-war Cyane, was ordered to blockade San Blas (about 125 miles south of Mazatlan). Stockton intended to seize Acapulco, and use it as a base for a joint Army-Navy expedition into Mexico. On September 2, 1846, the Cyane captured two Mexican vessels in the harbor then a landing party spiked 34 cannons in the port of San Blas. On September 7, the Warren seized the Mexican brig Malek Adhel at Mazatlan. In an August 17 proclamation, Stockton had claimed United States control of the Baja Peninsula. To make good on this claim, Commander Dupont then sailed north to La Paz (on the Gulf of California), seized nine small pearl-fishing boats and secured a promise of neutrality from Colonel Francisco Palacios Miranda, governor of Baja California. On October 1, the Cyane seized two schooners at Loreto (about 150 miles north of La Paz). On October 7, the Cyane shelled Guaymas on the mainland after Colonel Antonio Campazano refused to surrender it. A boarding party from the Cyane seized the brig Condor in that port but, finding it unusable, burned it. The revolt of Californians in Los Angeles (September 27, 1846) prevented the resupply and replacement of the blockade force who could not maintain station without them. When news of the revolt came the Warren left for San Francisco. On November 13, the Cyane followed ending the first blockade of Mexico's west coast after about four weeks. ==Second Blockade of the West Coast of Mexico, Occupation of Baja California Sur==

On December 24, 1846, Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason ordered Stockton to impose an effective blockade on the west coast of Mexico. Its object was to prevent the enemy from getting munitions and other supplies and to make possible the landing of American soldiers. The Battle of La Mesa, which took place on January 9, 1847, was the last armed resistance to the United States conquest of California. The conquest and annexation of was confirmed with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga by US Army Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Frémont and Mexican General Andrés Pico on January 13, 1847. With the fate of California settled, on January 11, 1847, Secretary of War William L. Marcy instructed General Stephen Watts Kearny, commanding the Army forces in California, to make the American hold on the Californias so secure that none could successfully challenge it. However, at the time Kearny had only one company of troops (about 100 men), and awaited reinforcements. On February 3, Commodore Stockton, in San Diego ordered Commander John B. Montgomery, on the Portsmouth, to reestablish the blockade at Mazatlan and to raise the United States flag at San Jose del Cabo, La Paz, Pichilinque, and Loreto. However, resistance to the Americans was arising in the region. On February 15, a council meeting at Santa Anita (about 20 miles north of San Jose del Cabo) declared Governor Miranda a traitor and named Mauricio Castro Cota, of San Jose del Cabo, as his successor. Cota then attempted to raise a company of volunteers, but without success. On February 17, Montgomery imposed a blockade on Mazatlan, despite British objections. Montgomery then sailed for the Baja California peninsula, seizing San Jose del Cabo and San Lucas, but without sufficient forces did not set up garrisons there. On April 14, Montgomery accepted Colonel Miranda's surrender of La Paz. The articles of capitulation granted, to residents of Baja California who accepted the terms, the rights of United States citizens, along with retention of their own officials and laws. Fortunately for Kearny, the means to occupy Baja California Sur arrived at San Francisco, in March and April, in the form of the 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers. Acting under blockade instructions issued by the new commander of the Pacific Squadron, Commodore James Biddle, Commodore William Shubrick in the Independence, with the Cyane on April 26, relieved Montgomery and the Portsmouth, and resumed the blockade of Mazatlan April 27, 1847. On May 30, General Kearny sent U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Henry S. Burton, with Companies A and B of the New York Volunteers to La Paz on the storeship Lexington. Burton was to take possession of that part of the peninsula and uphold United States' laws. On July 15, 115 New York Volunteers landed at La Paz. Burton reinstated the civil government on condition it remained loyal to the United States. Residents of La Paz, in turn, entertained the Volunteers. On June 3, after the Independence left for San Francisco, the Cyane was the only U. S. Navy warship on the west coast of Mexico. To provide the friendly inhabitants of La Paz and San Jose del Cabo with a semblance of protection, Commander Dupont sailed the Cyane back and forth between San Jose del Cabo and Mazatlan, which broke the blockade. Upon meeting the Cyane at San Jose del Cabo, on June 20, Montgomery, of the Portsmouth, became aware that Mazatlan was open to commerce. After conferring with Dupont, Montgomery returned June 28 to San Francisco to ask Biddle for instructions while the Cyane sailed to Hawaii for supplies. The second blockade had failed. == Third Blockade of West Coast of Mexico, Revolt of Baja California Sur ==

Meanwhile, to the north of La Paz, at Loreto and Mulege, local priest Gabriel Gonzalez Pereyra of Todos Santos and Padre Vicente Sotomayor of Comondú incited rancheros to join the resistance to the Americans. In late September, Captain Manuel Pineda, of the Mexican army, arrived in Mulegé with officers and soldiers from Guaymas and began recruiting rancheros for his command. ==See also==