The Irish diaspora refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland.
The Saint Patrick's Battalion, later reorganized as the Foreign Legion of Patricios, was a Mexican Army unit which fought against the United States in the Mexican–American War. Consisting of between 175 and several hundred mostly European expatriates and immigrants, including numerous men who had deserted or defected from the United States Army, the battalion was formed and led by Irishman John Riley. It served as an artillery unit for much of the war, and despite later being formally designated as an infantry unit of two companies, the battalion continued to operate artillery pieces throughout the conflict. The San Patricios participated in many of the bloodiest battles during the American invasion of Mexico, with Ulysses S. Grant remarking that "Churubusco proved to be about the severest battle fought in the valley of Mexico".
In the Battle of Monterrey during the Mexican–American War, General Pedro de Ampudia and the Mexican Army of the North was defeated by the Army of Occupation, a force of United States Regulars, Volunteers and Texas Rangers under the command of General Zachary Taylor.
John Patrick Riley was an Irish soldier in the British Army who emigrated to the United States and subsequently enlisted in the United States Army. During the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848, Riley led a number of other Irish Catholics in the ranks who defected to Mexico, where they formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion in the Mexican Army.
The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. The battalion was a volunteer unit of between 534 and 559 Latter-day Saint men, led by Mormon company officers commanded by regular U.S. Army officers. During its service, the battalion made a grueling march of nearly 2,100 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California.
Erin go Bragh, sometimes Erin go Braugh, is the anglicisation of an Irish language phrase, Éirinn go Brách, and is used to express allegiance to Ireland. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever."
The Flight of the Wild Geese was the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland. More broadly, the term Wild Geese is used in Irish history to refer to Irish soldiers who left to serve in continental European armies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Doughboy was a popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s. Examples include the 1942 song "Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in Ireland", recorded by Dennis Day, Kenny Baker, and Kay Kyser, among others, the 1942 musical film Johnny Doughboy, and the character "Johnny Doughboy" in Military Comics. It was gradually replaced during World War II by "G.I."
The Battle of Churubusco took place on August 20, 1847, while Santa Anna's army was in retreat from the Battle of Contreras or Battle of Padierna during the Mexican–American War. It was the battle where the San Patricio Battalion, made up largely of US deserters, made their last stand against U.S. forces. The U.S. Army was victorious, outnumbering more than two-to-one the defending Mexican troops. After the battle, the U.S. Army was only 5 miles (8 km) away from Mexico City. 50 Saint Patrick's Battalion members were officially executed by the U.S. Army, all but two by hanging. Collectively, this was the largest mass execution in United States history.
One Man's Hero is a 1999 historical war drama film directed by Lance Hool and starring Tom Berenger, Joaquim de Almeida and Daniela Romo. The film has the distinction of being the last film released by Orion Pictures' arthouse division Orion Classics, as well as being the last Orion Pictures film, until 2013's Grace Unplugged, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer revived the Orion Pictures brand.
Irish Mexicans are inhabitants of Mexico that are immigrants from or descendants of immigrants from Ireland. The majority of Irish immigrants to Mexico were Catholic.
The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. By the 1990s, the South Armagh Brigade was thought to consist of about 40 members, roughly half of them living south of the border. It has allegedly been commanded since the 1970s by Thomas 'Slab' Murphy who is also alleged to be a member of the IRA's Army Council. Compared to other brigades, the South Armagh IRA was seen as an 'independent republic' within the republican movement, retaining a battalion organizational structure and not adopting the cell structure the rest of the IRA was forced to adopt after repeated intelligence failures.
The Irish military diaspora refers to the many people of either Irish birth or extraction who have served in overseas military forces, regardless of rank, duration of service, or success.
Michael Hogan is an American author of twenty-seven books, including two collections of short stories, eight books of poetry, selected essays on teaching in Latin America, two novels, the critically acclaimed Abraham Lincoln and Mexico, and the best-selling Irish Soldiers of Mexico, a history of the Irish battalion in Mexico which formed the basis for an MGM movie starring Tom Berenger. He received his B.A. and MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona and holds a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies from the University of Guadalajara and the Institute of Advanced Studies.
James Allen was a U.S. Army officer who organized the Mormon Battalion and was commander of Fort Des Moines (1843–1846), the fort from which the City of Des Moines grew. He was also in charge of improvements to the harbor of Chicago as well as producing maps of the U.S. frontier.
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the Intervención estadounidense en México, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its territory. Mexico refused to recognize the Treaties of Velasco, because they were signed by President Antonio López de Santa Anna while he was captured by the Texas Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its Anglo-American citizens wanted to be annexed by the United States.
The Hillcrest Bar bombing, also known as the "Saint Patrick's Day bombing", took place on 17 March 1976 in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a car bomb outside a pub crowded with people celebrating Saint Patrick's Day. Four Catholic civilians were killed by the blast—including two 13-year-old boys standing outside—and almost 50 people were injured, some severely.
Thomas McGrath was an IRA soldier who fought on the anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War in north Kerry. He drowned after trying to escape a siege by Irish Free State forces at Clashmealcon during what was the last major military action of the War.
Patrick O'Shea was a farm labourer and IRA soldier who fought on the anti-Treaty side during the Irish Civil War in north Kerry. He died after falling from a cliff trying to escape from Irish Free State forces in a siege at Clashmealcon in the last major military action of the civil war.
