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"St.
Patrick's Batallion in Mexico"
March 3, 1845. On his last day in office President John Tyler scrawls his signature on a document. The Lone Star Republic becomes the 27th state admitted into the Union. The Mexican minister lodges a formal protest. The new presidente James Polk, orders General Zachary Taylor to move his army into the border region. At the same time special Envoy John Slidell arrives in Mexico City to negotiate the boundary dispute. Slidell also carries secret instructions -an offer to buy New Mexico and California. Then as now, diplomatic secrets had a habit of leaking out. Newspapers, circulars and broadsides threatened rebellion. Mexico’s president José Herrera promptly informed Polk that he had nothing to discuss with Yankee pirates. The stage was set for a major conflict. Polk, not wishing to be labeled a warmonger, was obliged to wait for an “incident”. He ordered General Taylor into the disputed region. General Mariano Arista ordered him out. Instead, Taylor marched all the way to the Río Grande. A skirmish broke out. Taylor reported to Washington that he had suffered sixteen casualties. Polk now had a perfect excuse. A declaration of war was stampeded through Congress. August 19, 1846. General Stephen Kearny, commanding the Army of the West, occupies Santa Fe without opposition. All of New Mexico falls into American hands without firing a single shot. Kearny then sends a contin- gent directly south into Chihuahua. By February 1847, Chihuahua is subdued. Meanwhile, Taylor’s Army of the Center marches inland from Matamoros to Monterrey. After a ferocious battle at Buena Vista, Santa Anna gathers up a few war trophies and hustles back to Mexico City. All of northeast Mexico is lost to the invaders. All this background is related to the tragic story of St. Patrick’s Battalion. The major US offensive was waged by General Winfield Scott’s Army of the South. Many Irish living in the southern states enlisted in Scott’s army. They soon became disillusioned by the injustice of Scott’s vicious assault on Veracruz. Bombardment from land and sea devastated the city, killing nearly 1500 Mexicans. Civilian casualties outnumbered military casualties by almost two to one. On the march inland lrish soldiers began disappearing from the ranks. They felt that as fellow Catholics their help was needed more by the Mexican army. Under Captain John O’Reilly they formed St. Patrick’s Company. Their battle flag: a white banner emblazoned with the coats of arms of Mexico and Ireland with their captain’s name embroidered in green. The battalion of two-hundred and sixty fought their own countrymen all the way to Mexico City. The battles for control of Mexico City were the most monumental in the war. As Scott’s army approached, St. Patrick’s Company took a defensive position in the Convent of Churubusco. Afterday-long fighting in the streets the Mexicans were worn down. The convent was surrounded by American troops. O’Reilly had but little option -annihilation or surrender. He ran up the white flag. The captain and his 60 surviving compatriots were immediately arrested. The military authorities sentenced them to be hanged. Misguided men who thought that they were fighting for the Church against the Protestants. By a quirk of timing O’Reilly and nine others escaped the deserter’s fate. The US Congress had issued a decree by which the death penalty could be exchanged for fifty lashes on a bare back and branded with the deserter’s ‘D’ on one hip. The remainder of the men had no choice; they had deserted before the decree was issued. On the morning of September 9,two weeks after their capture, sixteen stoic men were dragged to the town of San Angel and hanged. Two days later four were hanged in Mixcoac. Next day, 30 more in the same town. Beyond the fields of execution the fighting continued. In the bloodiest single encounter of the war Scott’s infantry won a decisive victory in the battle of Molino del Rey. Only one fortified position remained -Chapultepec Castle. September 13, 1847. General Scott orders Captain Ulysses S. Grant to storm Chapultepec. The Mexican land mines fall to explode. Scaling ladders are brought up. Americans pour over the walls. Vicious hand-to-hand fighting. The last defenders are the cadets - the Níños Héroes- who, rather than surrender, throw themselves from the ramparts. The war is over. San Angel, where
the first frish brigadeers were executed, is now one of the most elegant
neighborhoods in Mexico City. There is a colonial church and the beautiful
Parque San Jacinto. The tombs of these brave men are identified by markers.
On one side is the image of Ireland’s patron saint. On the reverse,
the Mexican coat of arms and “Saint Patrick’s Brigade”.
Mexicans will always remember these benighted men. Every year, on the
17th of March there is an official ceremony in San Angel to commemorate
the gallant men of the St. Patrick’s Brigade. |