Battle of Contreras

The Battle of Contreras (also known, particularly in Mexico, as the Battle of Padierna) took place during the night of August 19–20 in the final encounters of the Mexican-American War. In the Battle of Churubusco, fighting continued the following day.

During the march on Mexico City, the U.S. army under Major General Winfield Scott found its way north blocked by a strong Mexican force at the town of San Antonio. Scott sent a force west across the pedregal, a lava field, to the town of Contreras to outflank the Mexican position. The Mexican commander and president Antonio López de Santa Anna dispatched a force of about 5,000 soldiers under Gabriel Valencia to oppose the Americans. The U.S. attacked and routed Valencia's army at Contreras. Participating in the attack was Brigadier General Franklin Pierce leading a brigade of regulars. During the fighting Pierce was seriously wounded when his horse fell on him.

With the rout of Valencia the main Mexican position at San Antonio fell back to Churubusco. After the U.S. forces took San Antonio they began to merge with the forces from Contreras for a further attack on Churubusco.

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