Battle of Camarón 1863
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Date | 30 April 1863 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1863 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Mexico | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Second French intervention in Mexico | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 19.0167, -96.6167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Camarón (French: Bataille de Camerone) was a last stand engagement fought on 30 April 1863 between the French Foreign Legion and the Mexican Army, during the Second French intervention in Mexico (1861–1867). A small French detachment of 65 men, led by Captain Jean Danjou, was escorting a supply convoy when it was surrounded near the village of Camarón de Tejeda in Veracruz by a force of around 2,000 Mexican troops. Refusing repeated calls to surrender, the legionnaires made a determined defensive stand at the Hacienda Camarón, holding out for nearly eleven hours until they were either killed, wounded, or captured.
Although a tactical defeat, the action became a celebrated episode in French military history. The disproportionate resistance, which resulted in over 800 Mexican casualties, was regarded in France as a moral victory and a symbol of discipline, sacrifice, and esprit de corps. Danjou, who was killed in action, became an enduring symbol of the Legion's values, and his wooden prosthetic hand is now its most venerated relic.
The battle had no decisive effect on the outcome of the campaign, which ended in French withdrawal a few years later, but it came to define the identity of the French Foreign Legion.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Camarón (revision 1370435969), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Fortín 1862 · 42 km
- Second siege of Veracruz 1860 · 52 km
- First siege of Veracruz 1859 · 52 km
- Siege of Veracruz 1847 · 52 km
- Battle of San Juan de Ulúa (1568) 1568 · 55 km
- Battle of Veracruz (1838) 1838 · 55 km
Other battles of the Second French intervention in Mexico
- Battle of Atlixco (1862) 1862
- Battle of Barranca Seca 1862
- Battle of Cerro del Borrego 1862
- Battle of Puebla 1862
- Battle of Guanajuato 1863
- Battle of San Pablo del Monte 1863
- Battles of Acapulco 1863
- Siege of Puebla (1863) 1863
- Battle of Tacámbaro 1865
- Battle of la Loma 1865
All 15 battles of the Second French intervention in Mexico →
Browse more: battles in Mexico · North America · 19th century battles