![]() They took heavy casualties at the Battle of Buena Vista where official reports argued that they were “worthy of the most consummate praise because the men fought with daring bravery.” Despite supply issues and large numbers of casualties, the San Patricio brigade performed valiantly throughout 1847, until the Battle of Churubusco when other Mexican units they fought alongside decided that they were hopelessly outnumbered and should surrender. The San Patricio brigade fought with distinction in numerous battles. It was at this point that they designed their signature battle flag, a green flag with a gold harp at the center, surrounded by shamrocks and bearing the words “Erin Go Bragh.” Their success in this battle encouraged more American soldiers to defect and join the San Patricio Brigade, whose numbers swelled from about 200 to 700 following the conflict. ![]() On September 21, 1846, they saw their first action as an individual artillery unit, when they defeated American forces in three separate engagements during the Battle of Monterey. The San Patricio Brigade was organized from a pre-existing unit of foreign soldiers who fought for the Mexican Army from the beginning of the war. Whatever attracted them, this predominately Irish fighting force became one of Mexico’s most competent units in the Mexican-American War. Still others were attracted by generous land grants that Mexico offered to foreign nationals who enlisted in the Mexican Army. Others were catholic immigrants from other countries such as Germany, Poland, and France who grew disenchanted with the United States due to the widespread bigotry towards Catholics which only ratcheted up as the predominately Protestant US prepared for war with the overwhelmingly Catholic nation of Mexico. Some were escaped slaves and free Blacks who saw Mexico, a nation that had outlawed slavery, as a freer country than the United States and who fought against the expansion of slavery. Not all members of the San Patricio Brigade were Irish. For men who grew up as unwilling imperial subjects, the US invasion of Mexico reminded them of the British dominance of Ireland. Within the US Army many of these men encountered anti-Catholic bigotry and brutal discipline that left them disenchanted. Most members of the San Patricio Brigade were traumatized survivors of the Irish Potato Famine who had watched their friends and loved ones starve because of British imperial policies which devalued Irish life and which privileged Protestant settlers over the Irish Catholic majority. The San Patricio Brigade was primarily comprised of Irish immigrants who had objected to the war or who resented their treatment in the United States military by officers such as Harney who had a documented history of abusing enlisted men. Amongst the Americans who opposed this war were the men that Harney executed at war’s end in Mexico City. Many Americans considered these actions part of a broader “Slave Power Conspiracy” by powerful Southern elites and their Northern allies that was designed to increase the number of slave states and create antidemocratic structures that empowered slaveholders. With reports of troops under fire, Polk gained bipartisan congressional support to fund an invasion of Mexico that enabled him to fulfill his campaign promise of territorial expansion. Lincoln argued (and most historians agree) that President James Knox Polk, sent American military forces into disputed territory to intentionally provoke a military response form Mexican forces who were defending their homeland from invaders. Northerners, such as then-Congressman, Abraham Lincoln, saw the US invasion of Mexico as “‘from beginning to end, the sheerest deception,” because it was unprovoked and unjustified. The war that Harney fought in had divided the American people. ![]() It was the largest collective execution ever ordered by the US military, and 12 years before he instigated the Pig War, William Harney was the executioner. This was the last of 3 mass executions that General Winfield Scott had ordered against the San Patricio (Saint Patrick) Brigade, a group of mostly Irish immigrants who fought on the side of Mexico in the Mexican-American War. ![]() Harney ordered his mule carts forward, tightening the nooses on 30 men who he led to the gallows. on the morning of September 13, 1847, the US flag rose above the Mexican lines, signaling that his side had won the battle. Future Pig War commanding general, William Harney watched as American forces stormed Chapultepec Castle, the last major citadel protecting Mexico City from the invading US Army. ![]()
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