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Cinco de Mayo - May 5, 1862:
Cinco de Mayo

The celebration of Cinco de Mayo marks the extraordinary victory of about 4000 Mexican patriots over several battalions of French troops on May 5, 1862. The French force, which possibly outnumbered the Mexicans by a margin of 2:1, were soundly defeated in this battle due to the strategy of the Mexican leader, General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. Seguin used everything at his disposal to beat the French, including Native American Indians from central Mexico and a local herd of cattle stampeded into the core of advancing French troops.


Unfortunately, it was a short- lived victory. France sent reinforcements, battled their way to Mexico City, and eventually conquered the nation a year later.

The question which is usually raised at this point of the narrative is why the French Army was even in Mexico in 1862. Ostensibly, they were sent to collect a debt.

The story begins with Mexican indebtedness to France, Great Britain, and Spain after securing loans to mitigate the government’s near bankrupt status as a result of the Mexican Civil War of 1858 and the internal Reform Wars between liberal and conservative political factions.

The period known as “La Reforma” ended with the liberals taking control in 1860 with the intent to create a more modern Mexican civil society with a capitalist economy using the United States as a model.

In March of 1861, Benito Juárez, the first Native American to be elected president of Mexico, was provided a four-year term under the Constitution of 1857. Unfortunately, as he took the reigns of government he discovered the real economic circumstances of a destitute treasury.

By July 17, 1861, Juarez issued a moratorium aimed at suspending all foreign debt payments for two years. It was not a good move. France, Great Britain, and Spain all sent warships into the Gulf of Mexico and jointly seized the custom house in the port city of Veracruz in December of 1861.

The obvious intent of the troika was to stay until they collected on their respective outstanding loans. Britain and Spain simply renegotiated the debt with the Juarez administration and the troops got in their ships and sailed back to Europe. But, the French did not. France left their ships parked in the Gulf of Mexico and left their troops on alert. Their intent was not initially obvious, but Napoleon III, the French emperor, had cleverly decided to utilize the crisis to establish a French empire in Mexico. The emperor had sent Maximilian von Habsburg, a younger brother of the Emperor of Austria, to become the new emperor of Mexico.

Marching from Veracruz towards Mexico City, the first major battle occurred near the little village of Puebla. It was there on May 5, 1862 the powerful French battalions with 8,000 troops encountered heavy resistance from a Mexican band which numbered about 4,000 consisting of Mexican cavalry, troops, and Zapotec and Mixtec Indians as well as a herd of cattle that the Mexicans stampeded into the oncoming French footsoldiers. This victory surprised the French and galvanized the Mexican resolve to fight for their freedom.

Unfortunately, it was simply a temporary setback for the French forces.

In 1863 with 30,000 troops, the French forced the Juarez government to flee north and ultimately to the city of El Paso del Norte, which is now know as Ciudad Juárez. Here is where he established his government in exile. In July of 1863, the French took over Mexico City. On April 20, 1864, the French installed Maximilian as Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and essentially made Mexico a French colony. The United States could not do anything because our country had splintered and the nation was in the midst of the Civil War.

One of the fears of the Lincoln administration was that the French were in a great position to aid the Confederacy, which some historians believe was one possible effect of the French colony. Jefferson Davis had appealed to the British and French to assist the Southern cause in the “Second Revolution” against the tyrannical Federal administration under Lincoln. Because of the victory at Puebla, it delayed French attempts to assist the Confederates for one full year.

Read more at http://www.commdiginews.com/life/the-american-civil-war-and-the-battle-of-cinco-de-mayo-16622/#eRyVwxUvQCxXEomZ.99



During the French-Mexican War, a poorly supplied and outnumbered Mexican army under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeats a French army attempting to capture Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico. Victory at the Battle of Puebla represented a great moral victory for the Mexican government, symbolizing the country's ability to defend its sovereignty against threat by a powerful foreign nation.

In 1861, the liberal Mexican Benito Juarez became president of a country in financial ruin, and he was forced to default on his debts to European governments. In response, France, Britain, and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but France, ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to carve a dependent empire out of Mexican territory. Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large French force and driving President Juarez and his government into retreat.

Certain that French victory would come swiftly in Mexico, 6,000 French troops under General Charles Latrille de Lorencez set out to attack Puebla de Los Angeles. From his new headquarters in the north, Juarez rounded up a rag-tag force of loyal men and sent them to Puebla. Led by Texas-born General Zaragoza, the 2,000 Mexicans fortified the town and prepared for the French assault. On the fifth of May, 1862, Lorencez drew his army, well-provisioned and supported by heavy artillery, before the city of Puebla and began their assault from the north. The battle lasted from daybreak to early evening, and when the French finally retreated they had lost nearly 500 soldiers to the fewer than 100 Mexicans killed.

Although not a major strategic victory in the overall war against the French, Zaragoza's victory at Puebla tightened Mexican resistance, and six years later France withdrew. The same year, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who had been installed as emperor of Mexico by Napoleon in 1864, was captured and executed by Juarez' forces. Puebla de Los Angeles, the site of Zaragoza's historic victory, was renamed Puebla de Zaragoza in honor of the general. Today, Mexicans celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla as Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday in Mexico.