Saint Patrick's Battalion

The Saint Patrick's Battalion (Spanish: Batallón de San Patricio) was a unit of several hundred Irishmen, Germans, and other European Catholics who deserted the United States Army and fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. The San Patricios should be seen in the light of the centuries long Catholic-Protestant tension in Ireland, which they had just left, as well as in the Northern United States, where they had just arrived.

Historical perspective

For Americans of the generation who fought the Mexican-American War, the "San Patricios" were the vilest, most despicable of traitors and cowards. For Mexicans of that same generation, the San Patricios were heroes who selflessly came to the aid of fellow Catholics in great need.

In the book "Historia De Matamoros," Mexican author Jose Raul Consenco writes that many Irish lived in northern Texas, and were forced to move south due to constant raids by Indians, although the great majority of these men where recently immigrants from the northeast US ports only to be recruited directly into military service shortly or sometimes immediately on arrival. On their way south, General Zachary Taylor conscripted them with promises of salaries and land after the war. They helped Taylor attack the fort in St. Isabel, now the city of Port Isabel, TX. Realizing the Mexicans too were Catholic, the Irish could not bear supporting the invading Protestants.

The San Patricios first fought as a recognized Mexican unit in the Battle of Monterrey (21 September 1846), as a battery of artillery commanded by John Riley. Sometimes spelled Reily, Reilly, and O'Reilly, this Irish-born artilleryman, a veteran of the British Army, had joined the U.S. Army in Michigan in September 1845 after arriving via Canada and deserted in Matamoros in April 1846. Under Riley's leadership the San Patricios served with distinction, and are sometimes credited with defeating two separate assaults into the heart of Monterrey. Their tenacity, however, did not prevent the defeat of the Mexican forces there.

Following the engagement at Monterrey, the San Patricios grew in number, by some estimates reaching an enlistment of about 800 men, not all deserters of the US army but also other Irish and other Europeans already living in Mexico. With forces re-assembling near San Luis Potosi and after marching northward with a larger force commanded by Antonio López de Santa Anna sent from Mexico City, the Patricios became engaged with US forces and suffered numerous casualties, perhaps 1/3 of the total fighting force was killed at the Battle of Buena Vista on 23 February 1847. Despite their excellent performance in a number of engagements as artillery, the reduced San Patricios were ordered to muster a larger infantry battalion in mid-1847 by personal order of Santa Anna, which was re-named the The Foreign Legion of Patricios, commanded by Colonel Francisco R. Moreno, with Riley in charge of 1st company and Santiago O'Leary heading up the second.

As an infantry unit, the San Patricios continued to serve with distinction. Knowing that they were likely to face the death penalty if captured, the San Patricios are known to have threatened wavering Mexican troops with death by "friendly fire" at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, if they retreated. When the San Patricios were too heavily engaged to carry out their threat, the Mexican troops broke and ran, leaving the San Patricios as they fought U.S. troops in hand to hand combat.

At the Battle of Churubusco (20 August 1847) while holed up in a monastery, what was left of the unit was nearly annihilated, 35 killed, 85 taken prisoner (including John Riley) and about 85 more escaped with retreating Mexican forces. They were briefly reformed just before the Battle of Mexico City some two weeks later, but never regained their former numbers and were officially mustered out of Mexican military service in 1850.

The San Patricios captured by the U.S. Army suffered the punishment of traitors; they had been responsible for some of the toughest fighting (and the heaviest casualties) that the U.S. Army had faced. Those who had left military service before the official declaration of war on Mexico (Riley among them) were branded with the letter "D" as deserters and sentenced to the stockade at hard labor. Those who had entered Mexican military service following the declaration of war were hanged en masse for treason in full view of the two armies as they fought the Battle of Chapultepec (12 September 1847). By order of General Winfield Scott, 30 San Patricios were to be executed at the precise moment that the flag of the United States replaced the flag of Mexico atop the citadel. When the flag was run up the fortress' pole, the gallows were dropped. 16 more were executed two days earlier before at San Ángel.

Those who survived the war generally disappeared from history. A handful are on record as having made use of the land claims promised them by the Mexican government. Even today, they are honored and revered in Mexico.

To commemorate the support of those Irish-American renegades in the Mexican army, the street in front of the Santa María de Churubusco convent was named Mártires Irlandeses (Irish martyrs). The Batallón de San Patricio is also commemorated on two separate days in Mexico; the first being September 12, the anniversary of the first executions, and the other on Saint Patrick's Day.

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