Category:Pacific Coast Campaign On October 20, 1847 Captain Elie A. F. La Vallette of the first-class frigate USS Congress in company with the sloop USS Portsmouth forced the Mexican garrison of Guaymas to evacuate the city under the threat of bombardment, then dismantled the seaward defenses of the city and thereafter controlled the city by the threat of bombardment by a sloop of war kept on station at the mouth of the harbor.