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Texas native Zaragoza repels French army on Cinco De Mayo
On this day in 1862, Texas native Ignacio Seguín Zaragoza led a Mexican
army in its resounding defeat of a French invasion. Zaragoza was born on
March 24, 1829, at Bahía del Espíritu Santo in the state of Coahuila and
Texas, near present Goliad, Texas. With Mexico's defeat in the Texas
Revolution, his father moved the family from Goliad to Matamoros. Zaragoza
eventually entered the Mexican army and served in many campaigns. When the
French invaded Mexico in 1862 he was entrusted with the defense of Puebla.
French forces attacked the town in a battle that lasted the entire day of
May 5, 1862, the now-famed Cinco de Mayo. Zaragoza's well-armed,
well-trained men forced the withdrawal of the French troops. The number of
French reported killed ranged from 476 to 1,000. Mexican losses were
reported to be approximately eighty-six. Although the French captured
Mexico City the next summer, the costly delay at Puebla is believed to
have shortened the French intervention in Mexico and changed its outcome.
Zaragoza became a national hero, but died from typhoid fever the following
September. Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican national holiday, is celebrated in
Texas and the Southwest as well.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- ZARAGOZA, IGNACIO SEGUIN
- FIESTAS PATRIAS
- GENERAL ZARAGOZA STATE HISTORIC SITE
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Victory over French marks origin of Cinco de Mayo celebration (1862)
- UT observatory dedicated in Davis Mountains (1939)
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