page_title: Battle of Camarón
section_title: The battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Camarón / The battle
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Main en bois du capitaine Jean Danjou English: Wooden prosthetic of the captain Jean Danjou
context_page_description: The Battle of Camarón which occurred over ten hours on 30 April 1863 between the French Foreign Legion and the Mexican army, is regarded as a defining moment in the Foreign Legion's history. A small infantry patrol, led by Captain Jean Danjou and Lieutenants Clément Maudet and Jean Vilain, numbering just 65 men was attacked and besieged by a force that may have eventually reached 3,000 Mexican infantry and cavalry, and was forced to make a defensive stand at the nearby Hacienda Camarón, in Camarón de Tejeda, Veracruz, Mexico. The conduct of the Legion, who refused to surrender, led to a certain mystique, and the battle of Camarón became synonymous with bravery and a fight-to-the-death attitude.
context_section_description: On 30 April, at 01:00, the 3rd company of 62 Legionnaires and three Legion officers was en route from Chiquihuite for Palo Verde, 6 hours and 22 miles away. At 05:45, they reached Camerone and the La Trinidad Hacienda, its 50 meter long walls forming a square, enclosing a two-story ranch house on the north and an open stable on the south, long ago abandoned.
  They reached Palo Verde as planned by 07:00, and proceeded to prepare their morning coffee. Coffee was interrupted by the sighting around 08:00 of Mexican cavalry, Capt. Tomas Algonzanas' Cotaxtla Squadron of 250 rancheros, to the north heading to the southeast, but they continued southward, passing the road a half mile away. Seeking a more defensible position, Danjou moved his men back west, along the forest north of the road, to the hacienda's ten foot walls. Milán, meanwhile, decided that he must eliminate Danjou's men before they could discover the size of Milán's forces and their planned ambush of the convoy. Milán sent his dragoon squadron and four infantry battalions to join Algonzana's lancers. Danjou's plan was to draw the Mexican forces away from the convoy. The Legionnaires reached the hacienda by 09:00.
  Danjou decided to proceed west on the road towards Paseo del Macho but had proceeded only a short distance before discovering Algonzana's cavalrymen north of the road, and Danjou ordered his men to form a hollow square. Charging in two columns, the Mexicans "were stopped short" by salvos and then withdrew, allowing the 3rd to withdraw to the cactus-filled ditch on the south side of the road and make their way back to the hacienda. However, on the way, sixteen of Danjou's men were captured, and Danjou faced another Mexican cavalry charge sweeping around the south side of the hacienda. The second charge was again met by rifle fire from Danjou's square, forcing the Mexicans to ride away. Upon reaching the hacienda, the Legionnaires were surprised to discover Mexicans occupying the ranch house.
  Milán arrived with the dragoons at about the same time the bullion convoy headed back to La Soledad, after being warned of the 3rd's difficulties. Seeing that he was totally surrounded, Capt. Danjou "urged his men to take an oath to fight to the death rather than surrender... he made them swear their fealty on his wooden hand. Danjou then shared his bottle of wine and encouraged his men with "those noble words that warm one's heart and makes the final sacrifice less difficult to face."
  Milán sent Capt. Ramon Laine to negotiate a surrender, who explained to Danjou, "you will be needlessly slaughtered." Danjou replied that he "had plenty of ammunition and shall continue to fight."  At about 11:00, the Mexicans charged the gateways on the west end of the hacienda, and the breach on the south. Though the attack was held off, Danjou was hit in the chest and soon died. Lieutenant Vilain assumed command. Casualties mounted on both sides, but amongst the Legionnaires, "water and food, the two most required necessities, were not to be found. Thirst, heat exhaustion, and sunstroke had replaced them." Their mules had run off after the first encounter with the Mexican cavalry, and then Col. Milán's Center Brigade infantry, 1200-1400 men, arrived at the hacienda. When Capt. Laine offered the legionnaires a second chance to surrender, Sergeant Vincent Morzycki responded in the spirit of Pierre Cambronne, with "Merde." After four hours of fighting, thirty-two Legionnaires remained fighting. By 14:00, only twenty could still fight. At 14:30, Lt. Vilain was struck dead and Lieutenant Maudet took command.
  By 17:00, the roof of the ranch house had been burned away, the Legionnaires were down to twelve men, and Col. Milan ordered his men out of the hacienda, and offered the Legionnaires a third chance to surrender. In the next onslaught, Corporals Everiste Burg, Karl Magnin and Heinrich Pinzinger, plus fusiliers Leon Gorski and Hippolyte Kunnasseg were captured. By 17:30, only Lt. Maudet's men remained in the stable.
  By 18:00, with ammunition exhausted, the last of Danjou's men, numbering 
caption: Captain Danjou's prosthetic hand is now the Legion's most venerated relic