page_title: Battle of Chapultepec
section_title: Legacies
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Chapultepec / Legacies
caption_attribution_description: English: Plate and place where they were found the remains of six Mexican soldiers in Chapultepec 1947. Español: Placa y lugar donde fueron hallados los restos de seis combatientes Mexicanos en Chapultepec 1947.
context_page_description: The Battle of Chapultepec on 13 September 1847 was an assault by invading American forces on a small contingent of Mexican forces holding the strategically located Chapultepec Castle just outside Mexico City. The building, sitting atop a 200-foot hill, was an important position for the defense of the city. For the campaign to take Mexico City, of which the Battle of Chapultepec is a part, General Winfield Scott's U.S. Army totaled 7,200 men. General Antonio López de Santa Anna deployed Mexican forces to several sites to defend the capital, so that just 880 troops, including military cadets of the Military Academy defended the position at Chapultepec against 2,000 U.S. forces. The Mexican forces' loss opened the way to take the center of Mexico City. In Mexican history, the battle is cast as the story of the brave deaths of six cadets, the Niños Héroes, who leaped to their deaths rather than be taken captive, with one wrapping himself in the Mexican flag. For the U.S. there are many depictions of the battle from their point of view. Although it lasted only about 60–90 minutes, the battle has great importance in the histories of both countries.
context_section_description: The efforts of the U.S. Marines in this battle and subsequent occupation of Mexico City are memorialized by the opening lines of the Marines' Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma...".
  A number of lower-ranking U.S. Army officers participating in the invasion, became generals on both sides of the American Civil War, including Daniel H. Hill, Ulysses Grant, George Pickett, James Longstreet, John C. Pemberton, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, and Robert E. Lee.
  U.S. Marine tradition maintains that the red stripe is worn on the trousers of the Blue Dress uniform, commonly known as the blood stripe, because a large number of the Marine NCOs and officers of the detachment died while storming the castle of Chapultepec in 1847, though iterations of the stripe predate the war. In 1849, the stripes were changed to a solid red from dark blue stripes edged in red, which dated from 1839.
  In Mexico, the battle has a complicated place in historical memory, since the capture of Chapultepec led to the fall of Mexico City to the invaders. The fierce defense of Chapultepec by military cadets at the Military Academy, six of whom died by leaping from the walls to their deaths. The Niños Héroes ("Boy Heroes") were considered martyrs fighting to maintain Mexico's honor as a nation. Their bravery and innocence was lauded in Mexico, as opposed to the Mexican Army generals, particularly Antonio López de Santa Anna, blamed for Mexico's defeat. 
  In 1947, President Harry S. Truman laid a wreath on the 1881 cenotaph of the Niños Héroes as a gesture of goodwill after Mexico aided the U.S. in World War II.
caption: Plate and place where the remains of six Mexican soldiers were said to be found in Chapultepec in 1947
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