The Pride of Mexico

Unless you're of Mexican descent, or live in the American Southwest, May 5 is probably just another day. Yet for Mexicans and friends of Mexico, May 5 is, literally, Cinco de Mayo--a national holiday and day of pride.

Cinco de Mayo does not celebrate Mexico's independence from Spain, as many Americans assume. But it does celebrate how the Mexicans beat the French (and influenced the American Civil War), before the French roared back and put an Austrian emperor in Latin America. Clear? Read on.

How Cinco de Mayo Gave Heart to Mexico (and Help to Abraham Lincoln)

In 1862, the American Civil War was entering its bloodiest year. The South had proved to be a far tougher adversary than Lincoln had anticipated, and the Union's president trembled at the thought that a foreign power might join the Confederate cause.

France was a likely candidate. At the head of its mighty army sat the power-hungry Emperor Napoleon III, who disliked America's increasing political clout. Worst of all, his troops were practically next door.

The French had been marching through Mexico for months, ostensibly to collect unpaid debts from the bankrupt government. But Mexico had nothing to offer, having been in a financial fix for years, its coffers drained by winning independence from Spain in 1821 and losing half its territory to the United States decades later.

Hoping to rebuild the country's economy, Mexican President Benito Juárez attempted to negotiate a lengthy installment plan with the European powers. Most eventually agreed, but French Emperor Napoleon III (nephew of the legendary conqueror) sent soldiers in 1861 to press the issue. When Napoleon's troops seized the port city of Veracruz that December, Juárez knew it wasn't just money the French were after. It was empire.

Napoleon III planned to make his cousin, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, emperor of all Mexico. With all possible odds on his side--the latest military equipment, the French Foreign Legion, highly trained cavalry and foot soldiers, and support from upper-crust Mexican landowners--Napoleon ordered his commander, General Charles Latrille Laurencez, to take Mexico's capital.

On May 5, 1862, as thunderclouds gathered above, Laurencez led 7,500 French and renegade Mexican troops toward Puebla, Mexico, 60 miles east of Mexico City. There, under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza, waited 2,000 mestizo and Indian troops, along with the citizens of Puebla, who carried their farm tools as weapons.

Laurencez, who expected the less experienced Mexican troops to quail at the sight of French artillery, ordered his men to charge the enemy's center. To his shock, the Mexicans held their ground. Twice more the French drove straight at the Mexican line, but were defeated each time. While the foot soldiers toiled, General Porfirio Díaz (later president of Mexico) led the Mexican cavalry against the elite French horsemen in a surprise victory.

Meanwhile, a force of Zapotec Indians armed with machetes stirred up hundreds of cattle, who stampeded across the muddy battlefield to trample the French soldiers. Aided by the distraction, the mestizo and Indian army managed to break through and overwhelm the French lines. Exhausted, the French pulled back as night fell and braced for another Mexican attack. When it failed to happen, Laurencez gave up and withdrew back to Veracruz.

The victory at Puebla wasn't decisive. The French got 30,000 reinforcements from across the sea, took the capital, and put Maximilian in charge. But the battle became a source of national pride for Mexicans nonetheless, who felt it symbolized the people's right to defend the country against foreign invaders. In fact, the Mexicans got the better of Napoleon III and his puppet just a few years later, in 1867, when a defeated Emperor Max faced a firing squad.

President Lincoln got a free gift out of the deal. Many historians believe that had the French achieved quick victory at Puebla, they might have supported the South in the American Civil War. And who knows how history might have changed. ¡Viva Mexico!