One of the fascinating things about history is that you can never know all of it. Here I am, an American of 100% Irish forebears, and I had not a clue that there had been a battalion of Irish immigrant soldiers who fought with Mexico during the Mexican-American war of 1846-1848.
Nor did I know that there is a group of Mexican bagpipers called the St. Patrick's Battalion Pipe Band, named in honor of Capt. John Riley's band of deserters from the U.S. Army who helped to defend Mexico.
"The Rogue's March: John Riley and the St. Patrick's Battalion in the Mexican-American War."by Peter F. Stevens is a book I'll have to check out. "No one wanted them here," Stevens said of the Irish soldiers. "It's a story of prejudice. The desertion was fueled by prejudice in the U.S. ranks."
I remember my grandmother telling me that when she first came to America as a teenager, there were signs posted in storefront windows that read "No Irish Need Apply." Imagine the fun today's ACLU would have with that one! But my grandmother went on to recite a little poem that helped assuage the hurt caused by those signs:
"Whoever this has written,
'Tis written very well,
For these same words are written
Upon the gates of hell."
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.
