Pacific Coast Campaign

Overview of the war including engagements of the Pacific Coast Campaign

The Pacific Coast Campaign refers to United States naval operations against targets along Mexico's Pacific Coast during the Mexican-American War. It excludes engagements of the Conquest of California in Alta California. The objective of the campaign was to secure the Baja California peninsula, blockade or capture west coast ports of Mexico and especially capture Mazatlan, a major Mexican seaport used for imported supplies.

Following an easy occupation at first, due to the capitulation of La Paz by Governor Col. Francisco Palacios Miranda, loyal Bajacalifornios met and declared Miranda a traitor and rose in revolt under Maurico Castro Cota and then under Manuel Pineda Munoz who defended Mulege from American landings, then attempted to expel the Americans from La Paz and San Jose del Cabo. Pineda was eventually captured and the Mexican army finaly defeated at Todos Santos but only after the peace treaty that ended the war returned the captured regions south of Alta California to Mexico.

See also

• Baja California
• Baja California del Sur

Sources

• Richard W. Amero, The Mexican-American War in Baja California, The Journal of San Diego History; Winter 1984, Volume 30, Number 1
• Karl Jack Bauer, The Mexican War, 1846-1848, U. of Nebraska Press, New York, 1992.