Anna McClarmonde Chase (also Ann Chase; 1809 – 1874) was an American merchant and spy for the United States during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. Born in Ireland, she emigrated to the U.S. in 1824. She spent time in Philadelphia and New Orleans before settling in

Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...

, Mexico, where she was a merchant and lived with her husband, the U.S. consul to Mexico. During the war, she spied on troop movements, spread

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...

and relayed information to the U.S. Navy. Her information led to the capture of Tampico and she gained the nickname "Heroine of Tampico".

Early life

Anna McClarmonde was born in 1809 in northern Ireland. Her father died in 1818 and her family immigrated to the United States in 1824. Her mother died a year after their arrival and Anna went to live with her brother in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She helped him manage his business and they both moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

in 1834. She moved to the port city of

, in the Mexican state of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

, in 1836. She met Franklin Chase, a U.S. consul in Mexico, and the pair married in 1838. In Tampico, Chase and her husband were successful merchants. She was a full partner alongside her husband in their firm, named F&A Chase. The "castle-like mansion" they lived in doubled as the

customs house A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

for Tampico. In the early 1840s, Chase nursed U.S. writer Benjamin Moore Norman back to health after he contracted malaria. She also presented him with three

Huastec Huastec can refer to either: *Huastec people, an indigenous group of Mexico *Huastec language (also called "Wasteko" and "Teenek"), spoken by the Huastec people * Huastec civilization, the pre-Columbian ancestors of the modern day Huastec people S ...

sculptures that were later given to the

New York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...

Mexican–American War

At the start of the

in 1846, citizens of the United States were ordered to evacuate Tampico. Franklin Chase signed his property over to Anna to prevent its confiscation by Mexican authorities. He left Tampico in June of that year and she stayed to manage the business, exempt from the evacuation order due to her status as a subject of the United Kingdom. Chase spied on troop movements and collected information on the defenses of the city which she passed along to the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

via British sailors. Chase also provided

about U.S. troop strength. Possibly upon learning of Chase's troop estimates, the withdrawal from Tampico of Mexican defense forces was ordered by

Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...

. Anastasio Parrodi led his troops out of the city in late October 1846. U.S. Navy commodore David Conner, who led the

Home Squadron The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the Atlantic slave trade, make coastal surveys, ...

during the war, did not sail for Tampico until after receiving a communiqué from Chase in early November informing him of the withdrawal of the defense forces. Tampico was captured on November 14, 1846. After learning that the U.S. forces had arrived in Tampico, Chase hoisted a U.S. flag over her house. The fortifications of the invading forces were named Fort Ann, after her. For her deeds, she became known as the "Heroine of Tampico".

Death

Chase died of cancer on December 24, 1874, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. The

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

holds the Chase Family Papers in its Special Collections.

Early life

Mexican–American War

Death

References

Further reading