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ChapterS War and Weariness in 1865 1. First Expedition to Cocuite; Three Actions The year began with constant pin-pricks by an audacious enemy leader named Garcia, "a clever miscreant" in the eyes of the French command. Had they known, he was not the unsavoury guerrillero of this name but Colonel Antonio Garcia, commander of a force of regular Republican troops. Comandante Campos, who was no flatterer, described him as "calm and calculating , skilled in the military arts." The command at Veracruz mobilized a punitive patrol to "chase Garcia and his band with instructions to kill every enemy armed bandit they found." The force was commanded by Lieutenant Chesneau of the Foreign Regiment, the commandant of Medellin. It was composed of 70 Sudanese under Sub-Lt. Baron and a detachment of 40 Mexican Imperial Mounted Police. The column set out from Medellin on the evening of 21 January 1865 and arrived by forced marches at Paso del Limon on the Rio Blanco at 15.30 hours on the 22nd. The river was almost fordable at that time of year, so they crossed two at a time each man holding the stirrup of a swimming cavalry horse. Two Sudanese were drowned in the crossing.1 The enemy had prepared to defend it. Chesneau's force went forward at once and, after a lively defense, the enemy retired. Chesneau had hoped to arrive that evening at Cocuite but, after an exhausting march, he did not arrive until 22.00 hours that night. The men had already been in action that day and had marched 68 km. They were dead tired, so they bivoacked for the night. At dawn on 23 January the force advanced; Sub-Lt. Baron with 35 Sudanese were on the left flank of the assault. The enemy doggedly resisted, disputing every tumble-down hovel. Some tried to escape into the surrounding 65 66 Black Corps d'Elite woods; these the Sudanese dispatched. Twenty-two Mexican bodies were counted when the assault was over. Only then was it disclosed that the enemy commander was not Garcia but the guerrilIero "Pillardo" Sala, "notorious for his ferocity." A French innkeeper in Cocuite told Chesneau that the enemy force they had defeated numbered at least 300 men, but there was a second unit of about 350, weIl disciplined and weIl equipped, led by Colonel Antonio Garcia himself. It had been a hard fight; the Sudanese and their Mexican allies each had had two men killed and three wounded. Chesneau had his horse shot under him. On the strength of this action, Chesneau decided to carry out a reconnaissance up the left bank of the Rio Blanco. He re-crossed the river at Paso del Limon, again crossing two at a time with each man holding on to the stirrup of a swimming cavalry horse. During the rest of January 23 the enemy lay low. A curious thing happened . As the column marched through the villages they noticed that there were no men to be seen, only weeping women. When questioned, the women, after much prevarication, admitted that their menfolk had been forced by the enemy to take up arms and join them. So after threatening some of them, Chesneau learned that Antonio Garcia's force had been reinforced by the survivors of their battle that morning and by other smaIl groups and were ready to bar the passage of troops in the gorge of EI Palmar. At 0600 on the 24th January, Chesneau led his column toward the enemy whose dispositions showed clearly that their commander was a competent soldier; Chesneau estimated his enemy at 300 infantry and 100 weIl-mounted cavalry. He was at last convinced that he was in the presence of a unit of the Republican regular army. Chesneau immediately attacked. At the outset of the battle of EI Palmar, the Sudanese soon dislodged the enemy from the heights of the defile and the latter took cover in a grove, nearly 5 km long, of royal palms. There, for close to two hours, the enemy kept up their fire in a sniper's combat. Then they drew off and, with their wounded, made for the nearby woods and disappeared . Altogether they left 62 dead of whom three were regular officers with epaulettes, a rare sight in the Tierra Caliente. Among the casualties on the French side were two Sudanese killed2 and three wounded. Baron had his horse shot under him. On 25th January the column returned to Medellin. Lt. Chesneau...

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