The Battle of Veracruz was a battle of the Franco-Mexican War which occurred in 1865. The rebel army of General Mauricio Ramirez stormed the Imperial Mexican garrison at Veracruz, overcoming superior Imperial firepower to capture the garrison and a carriage containing $3 million worth of gold.
History[]
In 1865, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and his advisor, Count Henri de Labordere, made arrangements for $3 million worth of gold to be secretly stowed on Countess Marie Duvarre's carriage as it was escorted from Mexico City to Veracruz and then shipped to France to fund the dispatch of French Army reinforcements to keep Maximilian on the throne. Labordere arranged for the convoy to be escorted not only by Captain Henri Danette's Royal Lancers, but also by a crew of American soldiers-of-fortune led by Joe Erin and Ben Trane, whom Maximilian and Labordere intended to see killed before the gold's delivery in order to avoid payment whilst utilizing their martial skills. Erin, Trane, and even Countess Duvarre secretly conspired to steal the hidden gold for themselves, but Labordere overheard their plot. When the convoy reached Las Palmas, where Duvarre planned to steal the gold and escape aboard a private boat, Labordere had Danette switch the gold from Duvarre's carriage to a supply carriage and used Duvarre's carriage as a decoy to lure away the American mercenaries (and, inadvertently, the rebel general Mauricio Ramirez's army) as the carriage with the gold reached the garrison at Veracruz.
The carriage arriving at the Veracruz garrison
Ramirez's army ambushed the American mercenaries after the mercenaries caught up to the wagon, catching them in the middle of a tense moment which involved the gang members mutinying after suspecting Trane and Erin of planning to rob the convoy without cutting them in. Trane cut a deal with Ramirez: he and Erin would agree to let the rebels have the $3 million in gold in exchange for $100,000 for their services. Ramirez agreed, and the two outlaws parted ways with the rest of their gang, who remained hostile towards their former comrades. Erin and Trane volunteered their services as marksmen for the rebels, while their former gang mates returned to the garrison to serve as hired guns.
Battle[]

The rebels retreating from their first attack
The Juarista army initiated its main assault the day after an initial failed attack, with Trane and Erin providing sniper support for Ramirez's men. The rebels were initially forced to fall back while coming under heavy rifle fire from Imperial Mexican soldiers in cover, but a Juarista carrying explosives succeeded in throwing himself against a door and blowing it open. This allowed the rebels to pour into the town, pushing past the royal guards and soldiers. Trane and Erin killed several Mexican Army sharpshooters as the rebels pushed towards the courtyard, where they were met with machine-gun and artillery fire. Trane and Erin killed the crew of the machine-gun and turned it on the Imperial cannon crews, but not before one of the cannons fired a round whose shrapnel injured Ramirez in the side. They were forced to jump away from the cannon after an Imperial soldier lobbed a grenade at them, but their efforts enabled the rebels to overwhelm the garrison. At the same time, the American hired guns turned on their Imperial paymasters and attempted to steal the wagon for themselves, but Ernest Donnegan was killed by a Mexican Marine before he could steal the wagon. Erin killed Captain Danette with his own lance, while Archie Ballard sniped the Marquis de Labordere before he could escape. Erin killed Ballard, betraying him in order to steal the gold for himself, but Trane confronted him over reneging on the deal with the rebels and on his frequent betrayals, and ultimately killed him after a showdown. By then, the rebels had overwhelmed the city, and Trane left with the Juarista spy and his lover, Nina Fernandez, as the local women came out to search the dead for their lovers.