1846–1847
San Patricio soldiers fight for Mexico
Mexico; immigrant soldiers, including Irish Catholics
The San Patricio unit fought in the Mexican army during the U.S. invasion. Its members included immigrants who had left U.S. military service. The National Park Service account describes anti-Catholic hostility, harsh military discipline, opposition to the war and Mexican enlistment incentives among the circumstances behind their decisions. Captured members later faced U.S. courts-martial and executions.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
No single motive is assigned to every member, and the unit was not exclusively Irish. This entry retains the chapter’s broad wartime date range rather than inventing a formation day. The NPS account is later interpretation; individual enlistment histories and trial records remain to be checked. Resistance describes their service against invasion, not a finding that every member held the same antislavery views.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 8, p. 160; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- National Park Service, The San Patricio Brigade, composition, service and punishment ↗