The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day. Mexico declared its independence from Spain on the 16th of September, 1810.
Why should we celebrate Cinco de Mayo? 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.
Emperor Napoleon III sent French troops to 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, they came to stay. The French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War. The French Army attacked Mexico City and 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 Zaragosa, the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Porfirio Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to massacre them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through 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. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III 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, essentially 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.
This is why Cinco de Mayo is a celebration that celebrates freedom. VIVA CINCO DE MAYO!
