Cinco De Mayo:

Why Should We Celebrate?

By: Michael Curry

I actually know people who have asked me exactly when is this “Cinco de Mayo” that they hear so much about in various beverage commercials. Ha ha! To me, that’s like asking what the number is to 911. For those that don’t know it, Cinco de Mayo is on the 5^th of May. It’s one of a few independence days that Mexico observes from the various countries that had invaded it throughout history. There are many people who out there who simply dismiss this time of celebration as just a foreign holiday. But in reality, Cinco de Mayo is tied directly to the United States and in shaping of our own distiny. A little history lesson:

For hundreds of years (Maybe thousands) the entire land mass consisting of Mexico, USA and Canada was being fought over by various world powers. France, Russia, England, Spain, etc… all claimed bits and pieces of it despite the fact that it was already very well inhabited. This continent was a treasure trove of natural resources and those who had the ships and weaponry could lay claim to it in the name of one ruler or another.

In the case of Mexico, England and Spain had already taken their fair share of it and were satisfied at the moment with that as they struggled with their own political problems back home. The French, however, were a different story. The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President, Benito Juarez.  The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left.  The French, however, had different ideas. Under the leadership of Emperor Napoleon III, (who detested the United States) the French had come to stay.  Along for the ride was a young Hapsburg prince from Austria by the name of Maximilian. They had promised him that he could be the new ruler of the New Mexican Empire. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in over 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion.  The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was fully embroiled in its own Civil War, North vs the South.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west. They had incorrectly assumed that the Mexicans would give up once they took over their capital -- as European countries traditionally did. Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans waited. General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry out to flank the French.  In response, the French did an unwise yet predictable thing. They sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to annihilate them. They knew the country very well and used it strategically in their favor. The surviving French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes who were also allies on the side of Mexico.

4000 Mexicans and their allies had defeated over 8000 French troops and their allies. This victory over Napolean III actually kept France from supplying and the Southern confederate rebel army in the USA for an entire year. Thin, in turn, allowed the US Northern army to build the greatest fighting force the world had ever seen.  This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the Mexican “battle of the Puebla” on May 5th, essentially ending the Civil War in America.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the rest of the last French resistance.  American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French.  The American Legion of Honor was invited by the Mexican leaders to march in a place of honor during the Victory Parade in Mexico, City. In gratitude, Mexico has a history of joining our army in times of war. Thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces.  They did the same in the Persian Gulf War.

So American and Mexico have something to celebrate together. The date, Cinco de Mayo, is almost as much America’s as it is Mexico’s. I don’t know if I’d recommend shooting your pistolas up in the air on this special day. But you might want to invest in a piñata, if the mood so takes you. ¡Arriba!