Battle of Camarón Mexican-French history [1863] Actions Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Camaron Give Feedback External Websites Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

　　External Websites Napoleon.org - The Mexican Campaign: the Battle of Camarón Warfare History Network - Battle of Camarón: Legendary Last Stand of the French Foreign Legion Print Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Camaron Feedback External Websites Feedback Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Feedback Type Select a type (Required) Factual Correction Spelling/Grammar Correction Link Correction Additional Information Other Your Feedback Submit Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

　　External Websites Napoleon.org - The Mexican Campaign: the Battle of Camarón Warfare History Network - Battle of Camarón: Legendary Last Stand of the French Foreign Legion Written by R.G. Grant R.G. Grant is a historian who has written extensively on many aspects and periods of history. R.G. Grant Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Jun 26, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents Date: April 30, 1863 (Show more) Location: Mexico (Show more) Participants: France Mexico (Show more) Context: French Foreign Legion (Show more) See all related content →

　　The Wooden Hand of Captain Jean DanjouThe wooden hand of Captain Jean Danjou, revered by the soldiers of the French Foreign Legion, who was killed during the historic Battle of Cameron, Mexico, in 1863. © Gerd Roth/picture alliance/Getty Images(more)A defensive action fought on April 30, 1863, with suicidal courage during France’s ill-fated intervention in Mexico, the Battle of Camarón is a foundational legend of the French Foreign Legion. Captain Jean Danjou, who led the legionnaires, enjoys the strange distinction of having his wooden hand revered as a relic of war.

　　Almost a year after their setback at Puebla in 1862, the French expeditionary force in Mexico resumed its push toward Mexico City. Puebla was placed under siege. Danjou was ordered to protect a valuable supply convoy containing gold coins, cannons, and ammunition that was heading for Puebla from Veracruz. With sixty-two men, representing Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and Denmark, and two French lieutenants under his command, he encountered some 3,000 Mexican cavalry and infantry.

　　Britannica Quiz World Wars Danjou was a battle-hardened veteran who had lost a hand fighting rebels in Algeria. Abandoning fires he had ordered to be built in order to make coffee, Danjou held off the Mexican cavalry by forming his men into an infantry square before falling back to a strong defensive position in a warehouse on the grounds of Hacienda Camarón, a high-walled inn in the present-day town of Camarón de Tejeda in the state of Veracruz. The situation was hopeless, but Danjou refused to surrender following a demand delivered by the son of a French citizen, Captain Ramón Lainé, on the part of Mexican commander, Colonel Francisco de Paula Milán. His legionnaires swore to fight to the death. Barricaded in the hacienda, they cut down wave after wave of Mexican infantry with disciplined fire. At around midday Danjou was shot in the chest and killed; his senior lieutenant, Napoleon Vilain, assumed command but was also soon killed by Mexican fire. Resistance continued for another four hours and the number of dead and wounded mounted until only six men were left fighting, Lieutenant Clément Maudet and five legionnaires. Still refusing to surrender, this remnant fixed bayonets and charged the Mexican line. Two soldiers survived to be taken prisoner, and their request for an honorable surrender was granted by the Mexicans. Those survivors were later exchanged for a Mexican colonel captured by French forces.

　　Every subsequent year, on April 30, the Legion would bring out Danjou’s wooden hand, recovered after the battle from a nearby farmhouse, for veneration on the anniversary of the Battle of Camarón; the hand is still viewable at the Legion Museum of Memory at Aubagne, near Marseilles. To commemorate the undrunk coffee on the morning of battle, Foreign Legion officers serve coffee to their troops. France abandoned its fruitless Mexican adventure in 1866.

　　At the order of Napoleon III, the French Foreign Legion flag bears the legend “Camarón 1863.” At the Battle of Dien Bien Phu during the war in Indochina (Vietnam), French senior officers debated whether to surrender or, acknowledging the presence of a large Foreign Legion detachment among their forces, to “make a Camarón” and fight on to the death. One officer reportedly remarked that one could sacrifice 100 soldiers, but not 10,000, at which the French commander, General Christian de la Croix de Castries, elected to surrender.

　　Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Losses: French, 43 dead, 20 wounded of 65; Mexican, 90 dead and several hundred wounded of 3,000.