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San Patricio deserters face court-martial
On this day in 1847, the first court-martial for the San Patricio
Battalion convened in Tacubaya, Mexico. Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna
formed the San Patricio Battalion in 1846 from Irish Catholic deserters
from the United States army and other foreigners in Mexico to fight the
"Protestant tyrants" in the Mexican War. The battalion was led by the
Irish-American John Riley, formerly a member of the Fifth United States
Infantry, and was praised for its actions in battle at Monterrey,
Saltillo, and Buena Vista. Santa Anna eventually gathered enough
deserters and foreigners to organize two San Patricio Battalions of 100
men each. At the battle of Churubusco, Mexican soldiers reportedly tried
three times to raise the white flag, but the San Patricios, desperate
because of their fate if captured, tore it down. After the Mexican
surrender, the court-martial at Tacubaya and a second court-martial
convened three days later at San Angel condemned all but two of the
seventy-two deserters to death. After appeals from the archbishop of
Mexico, the British minister to Mexico, and a number of foreign citizens
resident in Mexico City (including United States citizens), the
sentences were reevaluated and only fifty men were hanged; fourteen
others remained prisoners until after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
In 1848 Mexico formed two more companies from original San Patricios and
new deserters. These new companies patrolled areas of Mexico to protect
the people from bandits and Indians but were dissolved later that year
after becoming involved in revolts within Mexico.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- SAN PATRICIO BATTALION
- SANTA ANNA, ANTONIO LOPEZ DE
- MEXICAN WAR
- TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO
- ANTEBELLUM TEXAS
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Carl Crane, aviation pioneer, makes first automated landing (1937)
- Loyalist warns governor of anti-Mexican sentiment in Nacogdoches (1835)
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