The battle of the chapultepecs castle

1. Thebattle of thechapultepecscastle Madeby:PedroAlfonso

2. TheBattle of Chapultepec On September 13, 1847, the American army assaulted the Mexican Military Academy, a fortress known as Chapultepec, which guarded the gates to Mexico City. Although the Mexicans inside fought valiantly, they were outgunned and outnumbered and were soon overrun. With Chapultepec under their control, the Americans were able to storm two of the city gates and by nightfall were in tentative control of Mexico City itself. 

3. Chapultepec Castle Scott now turned his attention to Chapultepec. He had to take the fortress in combat: it stood as a symbol of hope for the people of Mexico City, and Scott knew that his enemy would never negotiate a peace until he had defeated it. The castle itself was an imposing stone fortress set on the top of Chapultepec Hill, some 200 feet above the surrounding area. The fortress was relatively lightly defended: about 1,000 troops under the command of General Nicolas Bravo, one of Mexico's better officers. Among the defenders were 200 cadets from the Military Academy who had refused to leave: some of them were as young as 13. Bravo had only about 13 cannons in the fortress, far too few for an effective defense. There was a gentle slope up the hill from Molino del Rey.

5. Assault of Chapultepec The Americans shelled the fortress all day on September 12 with their deadly artillery. At dawn on the 13th, Scott sent two different parties to scale the walls and assault the castle: although resistance was stiff, these men managed to fight their way to the base of the walls of the castle itself. After a tense wait for scaling ladders, the Americans were able to scale the walls and take the fort in hand-to-hand fighting. The Americans, still angry over their murdered companions at Molino del Rey, showed no quarter, killing many wounded and surrendering Mexicans

6. Nearly everyone in the castle was killed or captured: General Bravo was among those taken prisoner. According to legend, six young cadets refused to surrender or retreat, fighting to the end: they have been immortalized as the "NiñosHéroes," or "Hero Children" in Mexico. One of them, Juan Escutia, even wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and leapt to his death from the walls, just so that the Americans would not be able to take it in battle. Although modern historians believe the tale of the Hero Children to be embellished, the fact is that the defenders fought valiantly.

7. Bibliography http://culturacolectiva.com/la-verdadera-mentira-de-los-ni-tan-ninos-ni-tan-heroes/ http://jovimecavic.tripod.com/NinosHeroes.htm http://www.mnh.inah.gob.mx/historia/hist_historicos.html http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/Mexican-AmericanWar/p/The-Battle-Of-Chapultepec.htm