was considered insignificant in the overall scheme of the Mexican War, but did cause the U.S. Navy to contract for water shipped in from Texas rather than attempt foraging operations off the Mexican shoreline. In late 1846, Potomac became part of the large naval force preparing for the all out invasion of Veracruz. As the fleet gathered some to the southeast of Veracruz, Parker witnessed the grounding of the fleet flagship, . Cumberland was then rotated out of action to be replaced by . Parker recalls in his biography that one of the ranking squadron commanders at the time (Matthew C. Perry) blamed the grounding on Commodore David Conner, but Conner was not relieved of his command, but rather simply transferred his flag to Raritan. On February 24, 1847, shortly after the Battle of Buena Vista, the U.S. Navy began to offload the first elements of the 4th Infantry Regiment. The main offload of the entire American invasion force then began on March 9. During this period, Parker met and conversed with both then Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant and Captain Joseph E. Johnston. The Battle of Veracruz began on March 22, 1847. The day before, the squadron to which Potomac was assigned had shift to the command of Commodore Matthew Perry. On March 23, Perry ordered several naval units ashore to set up shore batteries. Parker was assigned to the shore battery from Potomac with all batteries under the overall command of Captain Alexander Slidell Mackenzie. The Army liaison officer to the Naval Shore Battery was Captain Robert E. Lee. During the bombardment of Veracruz, Parker was slightly wounded when a bullet grazed his knee and also witnessed his first close quarters casualty when a gunner a few feet away was decapitated by an enemy round shot. Parker also witnessed extreme bravery from a fellow midshipman, Charles M. Fauntleroy, who would later become an important officer in the Confederate Army. After Veracruz surrendered less than a week later, Parker returned aboard Potomac, which then proceeded to anchor off of a fortress overlooking Veracruz. At the start of June 1847, Potomac departed, under the command of Commodore Perry aboard , to capture the region of Alvarado. Arriving to find the town already surrendered to Lieutenant Charles G. Hunter, Perry had Hunter reprimanded for acting without authority, even though the town had surrendered without firing a shot (it was later revealed that