Saint Patrick's Battalion
The Saint Patrick's Battalion, later reorganized as the Foreign Legion of Patricios, was a Mexican Army unit which fought against the United States in the Mexican–American War. Consisting of between 175 and several hundred mostly European expatriates and immigrants, including numerous men who had deserted or defected from the United States Army, the battalion was formed and led by Irishman John Riley. It served as an artillery unit for much of the war, and despite later being formally designated as an infantry unit of two companies, the battalion continued to operate artillery pieces throughout the conflict. The San Patricios participated in many of the bloodiest battles during the American invasion of Mexico, with Ulysses S. Grant remarking that "Churubusco proved to be about the severest battle fought in the valley of Mexico".
Commemorative plaque placed at the San Jacinto Plaza in the district of San Ángel, Mexico City in 1959: "In memory of the Irish soldiers of the heroic St. Patrick's Battalion, martyrs who gave their lives to the Mexican cause in the United States' unjust invasion of 1847"
San Patricios defended the city of Monterrey with artillery fire from its citadel, indicated here with the key "F".[d]
Churubusco's monastery at the height of the 1847 Battle of Churubusco, painted by James Walker
A depiction of George Ballentine, an eyewitness of the battalion
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, was an invasion of Mexico by the United States Army from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its territory because Mexico refused to recognize the Treaties of Velasco, signed by President Antonio López de Santa Anna after he was captured by the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its Anglo-American citizens who had moved from the United States to Texas after 1822 wanted to be annexed by the United States.
Comanches of West Texas in war regalia, c. 1830.
Liberal Valentín Gómez Farías, who served as Santa Anna's vice president and implemented a liberal reform in 1833, was an important political player in the era of the Mexican–American War.
U.S. Army full dress and campaign uniforms, 1835–1851.
Sarah A. Bowman "The Great Western", depicted as the Heroine of Fort Brown. At her death, she was buried with full military honors.