CINCO DE MAYO HISTORY 

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! Also, Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th  of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced  to leave Mexico.

So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

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 (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon 111, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the New Mexican Empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carlota. Napoleon's

French Army had not been defeated in 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 embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Veracruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed  that the Mexicans would  give up should their capital fall    to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did. Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragoza, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz,  later to be Mexico's  president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French  Dragoons  led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish. General Zaragoza ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response,  the French did a most foolish thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and

his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining 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. When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon 111 from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates  at Gettysburg  just 14 months after the  battle of Puebla, essential- ly ending the Civil War. 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  French.  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

marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.

It might be a historical stretch  to credit the survival  of the United  States to those  brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced  an army twice as large in 1862.  But who knows? In  gratitude, thousands  of Mexicans  crossed  the  border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join  up and fight another war for America.

Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Ameri­ cans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862.

VIVA!  El CINCO DE MAYO!!

20% gratuity will be added to parties of 6 or more • Reservations suggested for all parties