Program Information

During the Mexican War a group of American deserters composed an artillery unit in the Mexican Army: St. Patrick's Battalion.

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Transcript

Lead: During the Mexican War a group of American deserters composed an artillery unit in the Mexican Army: St. Patrick's Battalion.

Tag: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Led by John O'Reilly, a native-born Irishman, and made up of Irish ex-patriots, former slaves--and not a few American abolitionists fearful that the Mexican War was a plot to increase the number of slave states--the San Patricios, or St. Patrick's Battalion, formed themselves into a highly effective, mobile artillery unit.

In the spring of 1846 diplomatic efforts by the United States to purchase New Mexico and California provoked an anti-American revolution in Mexico. The new government under General Santa Anna rejected the U.S. overtures, and President James Knox Polk ordered an army under General Zachary Taylor into disputed territory just north of the Rio Grande River. This was an effort to lure the Mexican government into declaring war. It worked. Mexico declared war and by September General Taylor was at the gates of Monterey, the most important city in Northern Mexico. In repeated assaults the Americans were thrown back by Mexican regulars and the deadly cannon fire of the San Patricios.

In fighting all over the country--mostly rear-guard actions designed to slow the steadily advancing U.S. Army--the San Patricios proved themselves a tenacious fighting force. At a deserted convent on the Churubusco River near Mexico City, the remnants of the battalion were captured after a furious defense which, young Lt. Ulysses S. Grant called, "the severest battle fought in the Valley of Mexico."

As Essayist James Callaghan writes, many of the captured deserters were hanged. Ironically their leader John O'Reilly, because he deserted before war was declared, only received a sentence of hard labor and lived to serve as a colonel in the Mexican Army. He was later involved in a failed coup attempt, was exiled, and from there drops out of the historical record. The San Patricios, St. Patrick's Battalion, are remembered today with great honor by the people of Mexico.

At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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