Cinco de Mayo and the American Civil War
Cinco de Mayo is a very popular holiday, perhaps more so in the United States than in Mexico. Many Americans falsely believe it’s “Mexican Independence Day.” As an American, I can tell you that we are a partying people and are willing to celebrate just about anything so long as there are drinks involved. We are also a nation of immigrants, so days like Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick’s day are an opportunity to celebrate some of the parent cultures that make up the melting pot of our modern-day society. Certainly, the beer companies and Mexican restaurants have taken this opportunity to turn, what might have been an obscure historical event, into marketing gold.
Okay, so most of you know that Cinco De Mayo is not “Mexican Independence Day.” It’s to celebrate the Battle of Puebla in which a small Mexican force staved off an overwhelming French invasion, May 5, 1862. Mexico celebrates it because it was an enormous military feat against great odds, but it didn’t accomplish much. Sure the French were sent away temporarily, but they came back the next year and won the Second Battle of Puebla, May 17, 1863. The French then sacked Mexico city and crowned Archduke Maximilian I Emperor of Mexico. He’d later end up facing a firing squad in 1867, but that’s another story.
So Cino de Mayo is not that big of a deal to the Mexicans. It was a temporary pause in what would be an eventual French victory. But it possibly had a much bigger impact on the history of the United States.
France used the pretense of Mexico’s unpaid debts to invade. They would never have dared if the United States wasn’t preoccupied with its own civil war. They knew very well that the Lincoln Administration wouldn’t be able to intervene as a European superpower took advantage of the low hanging Mexican fruit. France wanted to re-establish an empire in North America.
It was also an opportunity to reopen the cotton trade. The European textile industry had enjoyed a boon of cheap cotton exported by the Southern States. The Union blockade of Southern ports had brought that to a screeching halt which caused many textile factories in Europe to shutter their doors. Through the Mexican-Texan border, the French could supply the Confederacy with guns and supplies in return for cotton, and there would be nothing the U.S. Navy could do to about it.
That was a great idea in 1862. The Confederacy was winning battles and it looked like only a matter of time before the U.S. would give up on trying to force the Southern States back into the Union. With that victory, France would have a front-row seat to the lucrative cotton trade with the South.
But things were different when France finally put their puppet leader on the Mexican throne in 1863. The Federals had taken control of the Mississippi River all the way down to New Orleans, effectively cutting Texas, Arkansas, and Louisianna from the Confederacy. They were beginning to win in the East too. Now, France had to be careful who they supported in the American Civil War. They certainly didn’t want to end up on the losing side and thus ruin a trade relationship with the victors. So just like the United Kingdom, France would sit out.
But what if the French had won the First Battle of Puebla in 1862? What if they were able to flood the Confederacy with guns and supplies? Many say that the Union won because of its overwhelming resources. Could the French have evened the playing field for the Confederacy? Would that have been enough for an overall Confederate victory in the war? It’s something to ponder as you dip your tortilla in guacamole this Sunday.
Hey, if you liked that, check out my Civil War novel available on Amazon. It’s part of a series, and even though this book doesn’t cover the Battle of Puebla, Mexico does have a factor in it and we will get there in the books to come.
Or on the Amazon site you use where you live:
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PTSPD6H/?tag=
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Brazil:
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Mexico:
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