USS Texas and the Tampico Affair

in 1914 the powder keg of europe the balkans finally ignited and setting off a cascading series of events that would eventually draw europe into the great war but europe wasn't the only place where tensions were high across the pond revolutionaries were active beginning in 1910 a revolution in mexico would lead to violence and instability for the course of the next decade just months before the assassination of friends ferdinand would lead to the july crisis a minor event in the mexican city of tampico would nearly bring the united states to war with its southern neighbor in the event marked the beginning of the extraordinary career of the battleship uss texas foregoing its shakedown crews in order to become part of a diplomatic action against the dictatorial regime victoriano huerta the little remembered tampico incident could have led to war and it had a significant impact on north american participation in the coming war in europe it is history and it deserves to be remembered in 1910 the 80 year old porfirio diaz president of mexico since he had seized power in a coup in 1876 had not offered any kind of plan for his succession diaz's rule had focused on his slogan order and progress putting down banditry and instability to encourage foreign investors to invest in the mexican economy he also built railways and telegraph lines which helped to centralize power under the mexican government essentially ending violence in the country by 1900 of course his reforms were imperfect causing increasing wealth inequality oppression of indigenous communities and involving the use of coercion to repress democratic power in his bread or bludgeon policy which nevertheless did encourage investment resistance to his rule grew as the years wore on especially as diaz had reneged on his initial promise of no re-election to remain president since 1884 he offered no political alternative to himself the 1910 election saw francisco madero an independently wealthy landowner and businessman challenged diaz madera had called for the defeat of diaz in a 1908 book calling the sham elections undemocratic he bankrolled the anti-re-electionist party leading the resistance to the regime just before the elections diaz had maduro arrested which led to the elections themselves being seen as illegitimate maduro was able to escape to the u.s and issued the plan of san luis potosi which called for an armed uprising several uprisings in the failure of diaz's federal army to contain the violence quickly led to diaz's resignation and exile however despite maduro being elected by nearly 90 percent of the vote in elections in 1911 the period of mexican revolution had just begun he immediately faced opposition from other revolutionaries and by 1913 a military coup led by general victoria huerta ousted madero in the 10 tragic days of 1913 madero and his vice president were arrested and then assassinated huerta was in charge but serious armed resistance remained this period of the mexican revolution was an all-out civil war relations with the united states at this time were strained william howard taft had just lost the 1912 election to woodrow wilson and he left the decision of whether to recognize huerta's government to the next administration wilson refused to recognize huerta despite the urging of the us ambassador to mexico who had actually helped organize huerta's coup wilson sent his own personal representative to the country wilson also began to supply weapons to the mexican rebels wilson's government pressed huerta to step down offering a loan on the condition that huerta told democratic elections and not present himself as a candidate he refused huerta would hold elections but shortly after dissolve the congress and arrested unfriendly representatives in december 1913 wilson said there can be no certain prospect of peace in america until general huerta has surrendered his usurped authority american intervention seemed more and more likely american ships were already off the coast of mexico in the gulf to protect american lives and interests near timpico where many americans had invested in the oil industry there standard oil refinery as well as american families lived nearby the fifth division of the atlantic fleet was there including the battleships connecticut and minnesota as well as the cruisers chester and des moines despite tensions relations between the american sailors and the mexican government there were good sailors often went ashore to play baseball on april 6 rebel forces seized several towns near tampico that housed american interests and government forces bombarded rebel troops rear admiral henry mayo in charge of the fifth division sent a letter to both parties declaring his neutrality but warning that he would take all necessary steps to protect american lives and property as fighting continued foreigners in the region sought refuge on the american ships as well as a german and british ships nearby on april 9 rear admiral mayo sent ralph earl ashore to buy gasoline for an auxiliary engine aboard the dolphin male's flagship earl ordered several sailors to pick up purchased fuel with a whale boat which is flying american colors while loading the fuel the unarmed sailors were surrounded by mexican government soldiers and taken at gunpoint as the area had apparently been declared off limits further complicating things neither side could speak the other's language some reports would later claim that the sailors were paraded through town though the sailors were held only briefly before being allowed to continue loading they were ordered by mexican authorities not to leave without permission earl was ordered to seek the sailor's release they approached the mexican governor and commander ignacio zaragoza who apologized to explaining that his men were evidently ignorant to the first laws of war within an hour of being arrested the american sailors returned to the dolphin it all could have ended there but mayo was offended and viewed the arrest as an affront to american sovereignty that would require reparations a message was sent to zaragoza that stated that taking men from a boat flying the american flag is a hostile act not to be excused mayo demanded a formal disavow punishment of the responsible officer and that you hoist the american flag in a prominent position on shore and salute it with 21 guns zaragoza referred the issue to the mexican ministry of war while president wilson said male could not have done otherwise and that unless the guilty persons are promptly punished consequences of a grave sort might ensue wilson was not bluffing he had stated that he refused to recognize huerta because he could not recognize a government of butchers and told the british ambassador to the u.s that he would teach the south american republics to elect good men one of the main issues was that two of the arrested sailors had been forced out of the whaling boat which was considered while flying american colors to be national soil huerta refused to salute the flag as mayo demanded stating that the us had received ample satisfaction for the incident he called the demands humiliating carrying courtesy to the point that would be equivalent to accepting the sovereignty of a foreign state to the derogation of national dignity and decorum wilson already stood against the mexican regime and now had an incident that might be used as a casa's belly for military action the uss texas was launched in 1912 the first u.s ship launched to carry the huge 14-inch 45-caliber guns that would be installed on the new york nevada and pennsylvania class battleships as such she carried some of the world's most powerful guns when she was officially commissioned on march 12 1914 while being fitted with fire control equipment in april woodrow wilson ordered the atlantic fleet to mexican waters as a show of force usually when a new ship is commissioned they have a shakedown cruise and sometimes sea trials to test the ship and ensure all systems are functional and determine performance capabilities and to train the crew after which the ship goes in for repairs texas had not gotten a shakedown cruise yet when she was ordered to tempico she would arrive on may 26th the crew learned the ship and tested her capabilities on the way to mexico by the time she arrived she'd sailed over 5 000 miles would sell another 1200 while stationed near veracruz on april 20th woodrow wilson addressed congress putting the tampico incident into a series of incidents that he declared a pattern of behavior general huerta wilson said was willing to go out of his way to show disregard for the dignity and rights of this government he mentioned that a sailor for the minnesota was arrested and thrown in jail in uniform only a few days after the arrest of the nine men from the dolphin and that mexican officials withheld a dispatch from american embassy in mexico city the u.s wilson said was the only nation facing these indignities he asked congress for approval that i should use the armed forces of the united states in such ways and to such an extent as may be necessary to obtain redress from general huerta congress give him permission almost immediately wilson ordered landings at veracruz to seize the custom house there and intercept an arms shipment meant for government forces marines from the naval continent began landing on the morning of april 21st and first the mexican general ordered troops to resist the landings but the mexican minister of war ordered them to retreat before the end of the day our american forces had seized their objectives prisoners were released and armed to defend beer crews and while most of the mexican forces retreated some of the prisoners resisted the us invasion firing on them as they approached the custom house the first american casualty was a navy signalin on top of the terminal hotel by the end of the day four were dead and 20 wounded that same day they detained a german merchant ship the epiringa which was carrying arms for huerta's forces as there was no formal declaration of war between mexico and the u.s german diplomats protested that the detainment was illegal and the appearanga was released and delivered its arms to huerta at another port the next day the us forces were ordered to capture the entire city not just the waterfront sailors struggled to adjust to street fighting but by 11am on april 22nd the city was secure and six thousand us troops were shore 19 u.s soldiers were killed and 70 wounded but hundreds of mexican soldiers and civilians were killed in the brief fighting anti-us riots broke out across central and south america forcing u.s citizens to flee back to the u.s though the invasion itself was over when texas arrived tensions remained high fighting continued across the mexican countryside as government forces fought several rebel armies and none of the mexican leaders were happy with the u.s intervention the texas did travel briefly to galveston during this time the only time during active service that the ship actually visited her namesake state she received her silver service there a collection of silver serving trays and other items that had been bought by the state of texas from money donated by citizens the silver service remains on the ship today the two countries were on the brink of war perhaps shockingly both accepted an offer of a peace conference from three south american powers considered the most influential and wealthy countries in the region argentina brazil and chile the abc powers though nearly forgotten today in 1914 the conference was front page news niagara falls ontario was chosen as location for the conference was held at the clifton hotel beginning in may throughout june the delegates mediated the eventually averting a possible war between mexico and the u.s but the conference failed to produce stability in mexico despite agreeing to mediation the fact is that the abc powers had no authority to compel the participants to meet their commitments as thomas walter christie of the university of montana noted in a dissertation on the conference neither the mediators nor wilson knew mexican conditions well enough to see that their efforts were futile from the start the civil war in mexico continued to pace pancho villa and other mexican generals routed awareness forces throughout the country and by mid-april mexico city was vulnerable by mid-july huerta stepped down the federal army was gone and huerta would eventually be arrested and held in the u.s until his death the texas remained at veracruz until august supporting the forces there until it was ordered back to new york to return to service in mexico in october remaining in the gulf until december the american occupation of beer cruise lasted until november 23 1914 fighting over which faction would control mexico continued through world war one possibly the most important consequences of the intervention was the solidification of anti-us sentiment in mexico it was a determining factor in keeping mexico neutral during world war one as they refused to support the american expedition to europe and promised to allow german businesses to continue to operate in the country this mexican-german relationship would be part of what convinced the germans to offer an alliance in the zimmerman telegram which loomed large in the american decision to enter the war throughout this period the united states continued to be involved in mexico panchavia actually raided across the border into new mexico which then led to an intervention into mexico by general pershing to try to capture pancho via although the expedition was unsuccessful the event that started it all was fairly minor no lives were lost and mexico even apologized but the event also provided convenient pretext to more aggressively press wilson's already antiwarta policy even while the u.s stood steadfastly neutral in the brewing european war wilson was more than willing to engage with his southern neighbor over what he saw as principle as well as the desire to enforce his vision of peaceful coexistence on the world an ambition that would become even more evident in the coming war his seriousness in the endeavor is well illustrated by the taxes perhaps the most powerful worship in the world and a symbol of american military resolve ordered there by the extraordinary measure for going a shakedown cruise one of america's greatest weapons primed for combat the event eventually blew over but at the time it wasn't completely obvious that it would events in europe eventually overshadowed it and drew in the united states partly because of german overtures towards mexico but mexico partly because of the tampico affair stayed out of the war today the uss texas is the last remaining of the world war one era dreadnoughts she was the first american battleship to be made a permanent museum and the first to be designated a u.s national historic landmark but her long years at the dock at the san jacinto battlegrounds historic site have taken a toll on her the battleship texas foundation has embarked on a campaign to restore the ship and if you're interested in helping to preserve this piece of american history the foundation encourages you to shout come on texas and donate at battleshiptexas.org i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music] you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 89,789

Rating: 4.9802227 out of 5

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, USS Texas, tampico affair, mexico

Id: xkyP9LhrJbw

Length: 14min 36sec (876 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 27 2021