The Bombardment of San Juan del Norte or the Bombardment of Greytown was a naval engagement initiated by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sloop-of-war

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 USS Cyane

USS Cyane (1837)

The second USS Cyane was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War.Cyane was launched 2 December 1837 by Boston Navy Yard. She was commissioned in May 1838, Commander John Percival in command....

 against the town of San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

. The July 13, 1854 attack was in response to attempts by the independent government of Greytown to charge taxes and duties on the ships that were using it as a port to access Commodore Vanderbilt's Nicaragua Route to California. Other reasons were for attacks attributed to Nicaraguan rebels, damaging American property and in one case, attacking an American consulate within Nicaragua. Despite international outrage at the bombardment of the town, the United States refused to apologize for any damage or loss of life incurred, instead opting to avoid discussion of the incident until President Pierce finally gave an official position, six months later:

After giving a somewhat detailed and biased account of the bombardment, the president concluded that while it would have been more satisfactory if the Cyane's mission could have been consummated without the use of force, "the arrogant contumacy of the offenders rendered it impossible to avoid the alternative either to break up their establishment or to leave them impressed with the idea that they might persevere with impunity in a career or insolence and plunder."