WORLD MILITARY HISTORY: A HISTORY OF WAR: GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY: U.S. INVASION OF MEXICO AND OCCUPATION OF VERACRUZ, 1914

"Poor Mexico! So far from God and so near the United States!" - Historian Nemesio Garcia Naranjo.

On April 9, 1914, in the midst of the Mexican Civil War (with the U.S. backing revolutionary factions led by Venustiano Carranza), nine U.S. sailors that had gone ashore to buy gasoline in Tampico, Mexico, were detained for 1h30 by Mexican colonel Ramón Hinojosa. Although the sailors were immediately freed, and general Morelos Zaragoza formally apologized, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson gave the go-ahead for an already planed invasion of Mexico targeting Veracruz, the largest port in that country. The ultimate goal was to overthrow the government of Victoriano Huerta. Meanwhile, 20,000 U.S. Army soldiers were being mobilized at the U.S.-Mexican border.

On April 21-24, a mighty fleet of 22 U.S. Navy warships bombarded the city and landed 7,000 Blue Jackets and Marines, securing Veracruz after five days of sporadic fighting and seizing $1 million from the Custom House, along with the cash register of the local administration. Although unopposed by Mexican regulars, the U.S. officially lost 22 killed and 70 wounded, the Mexicans had about 300 killed and 250 wounded (militia, students of the Naval school and civilians). The occupation of Veracruz would last until November 1914.

This imperialist show of force provoked anti-American demonstrations throughout Mexico, forcing tens of thousands of U.S. citizens to cross the border in haste or to be evacuated by U.S. Navy ships and given shelter in refugee camps set up in San Diego, Texas, and New Orleans. Even revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza denounced the “Second North American Invasion” and called for war. Widespread anti-American riots also broke out in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Uruguay.

After the actions at Veracruz, the U.S. changed their plans from a full invasion of Mexico, including taking the capital, to simply keeping the city of Veracruz, where Robert J. Kerr, a lawyer from Chicago, was appointed governor. Wilson had him replaced by Major General Frederick Funston who implemented martial law and mandatory vaccinations on the entire population. Keeping discipline among the occupation troops in a foreign land proved more delicate: 2,400 U.S. troops were court-martialed, although only 83 were convicted.

The Navy ordered 56 Medals of Honor awarded for “heroism” for the brief Veracruz Expedition, more than any other military operation to date! Major Smedley Butler demanded that he be allowed to return his, seeing as he had done little to deserve it. The Navy ordered him not only to keep it, but also to wear it.

Anti-American sentiment in Mexico from the Tampico incident and the Occupation of Veracruz was the chief reason that the government kept Mexico neutral during WW1. President Wilson considered another military invasion of Veracruz and Tampico in 1917–1918, to take control of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the shortest overland route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Tampico oil fields. In 1916, Wilson also sent a punitive expedition led by General John J. Pershing deep into Mexico that failed to capture Pancho Villa.