Irish Heroes of Mexico
Written by Mike H
Mexico and Ireland, two countries split by distance and different languages, but united by strong historical links dating from the 17th century. We as Mexican citizens share part of our history with our Irish brothers and sisters!
Having an interest in history, I decided to explore the historical and cultural links between Mexico and Ireland. As I was conducting online research, I stumbled across a really nice interview from 2015 by Sonja Hyland, the Irish Ambassador to Mexico. In this interview, she spoke about the strong historical and cultural links between Mexico and Ireland.
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| Erin Go Bragh Banner |
The leading connection between both countries is the “Saint Patrick’s Battalion” an elite artillery unit. However, prior to this unit, in 1640 an Irish Catholic adventurer by the name of William Lamport, arrived in Mexico during the colonial period. Known as “Guillermo Lombardo”, he claimed to be a bastard son of King Philip III of Spain and tried to start a rebellion against the Spanish crown aiming at freeing all the indigenous and Africans from slavery. Even though he failed in his task, he is still considered as hero.
The Saint Patrick’s Battalion
It has been often said that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. Perhaps, there is a little bit of truth in that and we as Mexican citizens are not the exception. On March 17th Mexico remembers a lesser known but glorious chapter in its history, the one referring to a handful of brave men, mostly Irish, who fought alongside the Mexican troops during the American Intervention in Mexico between 1846 and 1848. These heroes are known as the “San Patricios” or the “The Saint Patrick's Battalion”. It was a Mexican army unit led by Irish deserter John Riley and comprised primarily of other Irish Catholics having deserted from the invading American army.
Historical Origins
At the time of the war, the great majority of the soldiers joining the American army were recent immigrants, most of them Catholic, fleeing from the poor economic conditions and famine in Ireland. Thousands of them were enrolled with the promise of salaries, lands and the citizenship after the war. However the army and society in general were at that time very intolerant towards the Irish and Catholics. All the prejudices made life very difficult for Irish in American society at large and particularly in the army, leading to a massive desertion.
Numerous theories have been proposed as to their reasons for this desertion: cultural alienation, ideological convictions, mistreatment from the army officers, and even an incentive by Mexican government of being granted greater land extensions in Mexico. It is believed though, that the primary motivations were shared religion with the Mexicans and sympathy for their cause based on similarities between the historical situations: the Irish felt marginalised and saw a resurgence of their own struggles in Ireland on this foreign land.
The Saint Patrick's Battalion first fought as a recognised Mexican unit in the Battle of Monterrey on September 21st 1846, as an artillery battery. Popularly they were called Los Colorados because of their ruddy, sun-burnt complexions and fair hair colour. Considered as an elite artillery unit, they inflicted great damage to the Americans during the subsequent battles. Their greatest and final battle is the one in Churubusco, in Mexico City. They were divided and sent to defend one of the approaches to the city: some were stationed at a defensive works at one end of a causeway into Mexico City, the others were in a fortified convent, which holds currently the National Museum of the Interventions.
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| Battle of Churubusco |
When the Americans attacked on August 20th 1847, the San Patricios fought fiercely. They only surrendered when they ran out of ammunition. Most of the San Patricios were either killed or captured in this battle: some escaped into Mexico City, but not enough to form a cohesive army unit. John Riley was among those captured. Less than a month later, Mexico City was taken by the Americans and the war was over. The soldiers captured by the American Army were treated and punished as traitors for desertion in time of war. Seventy-two men were immediately charged with desertion by the Army. In all, fifty Saint Patrick's battalion members were officially executed by the Americans.
Nowadays, these soldiers are still honoured and revered as heroes in Mexico. The Batallón de San Patricio is celebrated on two separate days; September 12th, the generally accepted anniversary of the executions of some battalion members and March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day. In 1997, former President Ernesto Zedillo commemorated the 150th anniversary of the execution of the San Patricios at a ceremony in Mexico City's San Jacinto Plaza, at the National Museum of the Interventions. Ireland and Mexico jointly issued commemorative postage stamps to mark the anniversary.
In 2004, at an official ceremony attended by numerous international dignitaries, the Mexican government gave a commemorative statue to the Irish government in perpetual thanks for the bravery, honour and sacrifice of the Saint Patrick's Battalion. The statue was erected in Clifden, Connemara, Ireland, where leader John Riley was born.
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| Saint Patrick's Battalion Plague |
On closing this post I wish to add that the source material is very large and was used only for my personal research. Indeed, summarizing all the information available in few lines was a hard task. My intention was not rekindle any controversy but to give you an overview about this episode in our history: each one of us is free to have an opinion about it. Although the heroism of Saint Patrick’s Battalion has been largely debated (for American history they were traitors), in Mexico these soldiers are seen under a completely different angle: these national heroes fought not out of fear, but out of a sense of righteousness and justice for the Mexican cause.
Concluding, I can say that despite the language differences and the distance, Mexico and Ireland have gone through similar periods in their history: fighting for survival and preserving their identities and freedom.
References to Jon Riley in Culture:
- In the 1999 film One Man's Hero Riley was portrayed by Tom Berenger.
- There is also a song about Jon Riley from the Irish folk band Shantalla.
- In music, Riley's story is the subject of Tim O'Brien's song "John Riley",[4] and features in his album The Crossing. David Rovics also sings of Riley in "Saint Patrick's Battalion".[5] The Street Dogs sing about the Battalion and Riely in "San Patricios " on their album State of Grace.
- In historical-fiction, Riley features in James Alexander Thom's novel St Patrick's Battalion: A Novel of the Mexican-American War, pub. 2008" Jon Riley Zeus of Toronto.
- A half-hour documentary Saol John Riley (The Life of John Riley) was broadcast on the Irish language television channel, TG4 in 2011. Directed by Kieran Concannon, it followed the Irish singer songwriter Charlie O'Brien as he traced the path of Riley's journey from Clifden to Veracruz.
Images: Supplied by author.
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