Official Mexican Account:

OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE BATTLE OF CAMERONE
OF APRIL 30, 1863, SUBMITTED BY COLONEL
FRANCISCO DE P. MILÁN
MILITARY COMMANDER OF VERACRUZ
TO MR. IGNACIO COMONFORT, MINISTER OF WAR AND THE NAVY.

“Seal reading: Army of the Center. Commander-in-Chief. Dated the 30th of last month, the Military Commander of Veracruz writes to me as follows:

‘I have the honor to inform you that, in compliance with the orders I received from your Government and from this Headquarters on the 12th of the month now ending, I departed for Jalapa in order to place myself on the road leading from Veracruz to Orizaba, taking with me for that purpose the Brigade of the Center, composed of the battalions “Independencia,” National Guards of Jalapa, “Zamora,” and “Córdoba,” which — together with the forces I managed to gather in these parts — amount to six hundred and fifty infantry and two hundred cavalry.

This morning, I went out, as I frequently do, to reconnoiter certain points along the road, taking the cavalry force with me. Upon reaching said road, we encountered a French force coming down from Chiquihuite, and I immediately ordered a charge against it; however, having formed square, it withstood the shock and retreated at speed to a masonry house located at the place called Camerone, where it barricaded itself and opened loopholes in the walls from which to fire. Our cavalry surrounded the house and, in the meantime, I urgently brought up the infantry forces that I had left in camp and began the attack.

However, the enemy was well protected, and we lacked artillery to open a breach, as well as sapping tools to pierce the walls.

The combat lasted half a day and ended near nightfall, and it was sustained by our opponents with a courage inspired by their belief that we were merely guerrillas and that we would spare none of their lives. In the end, they succumbed, after two officers had been killed and the other wounded and put out of action, along with the greater part of the force. This unit belonged to the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the Foreign Legion; it was commanded by a captain acting as major of the corps, who was killed, as was another second lieutenant, while the other, who was the regiment’s standard-bearer, was seriously wounded and taken prisoner. Of the sixty soldiers they commanded, twenty were killed; of the remainder, sixteen seriously wounded and twenty-four prisoners fell into our hands, without a single one escaping. We cleared the field, collecting all the weapons, and the wounded prisoners were cared for with the utmost diligence by the brigade’s medical section. On our side, we have had some losses to lament, which I shall report to you in detail as soon as I receive the reports from the commanders of the units. Lieutenant Colonel José Ayala, Chief of my Staff, was killed at the beginning of the combat; three lieutenants and three captains were wounded, and our losses among the troops were sixteen dead and eighteen wounded. All the citizens composing the Brigade of the Center fulfilled their duty. In due course I shall inform you of the names of those who lost their lives or shed their blood in defense of our independence. In the meantime, I respectfully ask you to bring this small action to the attention of the President of the Republic, informing him that the invaders will continue to be frequently harassed in the territory of Veracruz.

And I have the honor of transmitting this to you for the information of the Constitutional President, to whom you will kindly convey my most cordial congratulations for the victory won by our arms in the engagement in question. Liberty and Reform, San Lorenzo, May 7, 1863. Ignacio Comonfort, Minister of War and the Navy.’”

The Minister of War replied as follows: “This Ministry has received your communication dated the 7th of the current month, in which you report the engagement that the military commander of the State of Veracruz had with an enemy detachment of 60 men descending from Chiquihuite, which he surrounded and fought until forcing it to surrender, a result that has been highly satisfactory to the President of the Republic. Independence and Reform, May 12, 1863. Blanco. To the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Center.”