Battle of Las Cruces ( 1928 ) The Second Battle of Las Cruces , or the New Year ' s Day Battle , was a major engagement during the American occupation of Nicaragua . It was fought on 1 January 1928 , during an expedition to destroy a Sandinista fortress . A column of United States Marines and Nicaraguan National Guard smen were attacked by a superior force of rebels entrenched on Las Cruses Hill and , after a long battle , the Americans and Nicaraguans routed the Sandinistas and captured their positions . Background . During November 1927 , marine reconnaissance aircraft detected the fortress of El Chipote , which was the main base of the Sandinista rebels , located near the border with Honduras . There was much rebel activity in the area so the American Marines and the Nicaraguan Guardsmen had no choice but to destroy the fortifications . Accordingly , two columns were dispatched on this mission , one under Captain Richard Livingston , composed of 115 men , and the second under First Lieutenant Meron A . Richal , composed of sixty - five men . Captain Livingston was in Jinotega and his orders were to leave on 19 December 1927 , and meet with Richal ' s column , which was marching from Telpaneca , at Quilali . However , before the rendezvous both columns encountered resistance . Captain Livingston was the first to engage the rebels . While just 1 , 500 yards south of Quilali , he was attacked by approximately 200 Sandinistas well concealed behind rocks and foliage . After an eighty minute battle the rebels retreated , though they managed to kill five Marines and two of the guards , twenty - three others were wounded . Livingston then proceeded into Quilali without further opposition . On the same day , Lieutenant Richal ' s men were twenty - two miles away from Telpaneca when they engaged in a twenty minute skirmish with about fifty rebels , but they were beaten off . One Marine was wounded in the engagement and the rebels are not believed to have suffered any casualties . After that Richal continued towards the rendezvous and , on 1 January 1928 , another battle was fought , six miles northwest of Quilali . Battle . At about 12 : 30 pm , the column was marching single file up the trail , when suddenly it was fired on by the Sandinistas from well entrenched positions at and around Las Cruces Hill , also called Sapotial Hill in the American report of the encounter . The location had been the scene of a rebel victory two months earlier . Colonel Francisco Estrada was in command of the rebels and he had about 400 men armed with several machine gun s , rifles , pistols and dynamite , positioned in parapet s made of pine tree s . After the first shots , Richal ordered his men to return the enemy ' s fire which had mortally wounded Sergeant Thomas G . Bruce who was serving as a lieutenant and commander of the Nicaraguan Guardsmen . His body was later found stripped and mutilated . The Sandinistas then charged and forced the Marines and Guardsmen back fifty yards placing the latter within the protection of their 3 - inch Stokes mortar and a Lewis machine gun which then opened up against the hill along with a 37 - millimeter field piece positioned some distance up the trail . Richal ordered his men to form a skirmish line and he also noted that most of the fire , at that point , was coming from his right flank against the main body while a few rebels on his left flank were engaging both his main body and the rear guard . Though the machine gun used by the marines eventually jammed , rifle fire and that of the artillery successfully held off further Sandinista attacks . Gunnery Sergeant Edward G . Brown , who assumed command after Richal was hit , counter attacked with a handful of men and captured the hill as the rebels fled . Immediately afterwards , two American biplanes arrived on scene and began strafing the retreating rebels . Aftermath . Augusto César Sandino , the rebel general who was known to over - exaggerate , claimed that his men won the battle after three hours of fighting . Sandino also stated that ninety - seven Americans were killed , mostly by machete s , and another sixty men were wounded . He claimed that six Lewis machine guns , three M1A1 Thompson s , forty - six Lewis automatic rifle s and sixteen pack mules loaded with ammunition were captured , as well as battle plans and a code book for communicating with American aircraft . Captain Livingston , knowing Richal was likely to run into an ambush during the march , sent a platoon of sharpshooters under Second Lieutenant A . T . Hunt , to reinforce the column . This force of about twenty men arrived at Las Cruces Hill at 2 : 15 pm , after the fighting was over . Both Richal and Hunt ' s men camped on the hill for the night . On the next day , they proceeded into Quilali without opposition . Meanwhile , Sandino reinforced his defeated troops and besieged Quilali for a few days , which forced the Marines and guardsmen to abandon the expedition to El Chipote . During the battle Lieutenant Bruce was the only fatality although Richal was seriously wounded when he was hit in the eye by a bullet , three others were also wounded while an estimated twenty rebels were killed . Richal later received a Navy Cross for his conduct in the engagement .