Cinco de Mayo

El Cinco de Mayo ("Fifth of May" in Spanish) is a national celebration in Mexico. It commemorates the victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza over the French expeditionary forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

United States Role

Although Abraham Lincoln roundly condemned Napoleon's imperialist ambitions in a neighboring country, he was unable to provide ground forces to assist Mexico as the United States was embroiled in the American Civil War at the time; however, he did provide other notable military assistance, including two elements believed to have been key to eventual Mexican victory:

Related Topics:
Abraham Lincoln - United States - American Civil War

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• First, the President sent a large contingent of US warships to blockade the port of Veracruz, thus preventing thousands of French reinforcements from consolidating the victories they had already achieved, and preventing more cities from capitulating as had the capital, in what might have been the single most important strategic factor in ensuring ultimate Mexican victory.
• Second, Lincoln also supplied vital logistics, guns, and artillary, including many arms that were at the time the world's most technologically advanced, such as repeating rifles. This also helped ensure the defeat of numerically superior French forces during the guerilla campaigns that eventually drove Napoelon's forces out.

Apart from Lincoln's stated disdain for the French intervention, there were other more pragmatic reasons to aid Mexico, stemming directly from the Civil War itself. The Confederacy had sent numerous diplomatic missions south of the border, seeking international recognition. Althought they failed to enter into negotiations with the Mexican federal government, they did obtain the support of several northern Mexican state and territorial governors, including permission to use their territories as logistical bases for the Confederacy. This was possible because federal authority was difficult to enforce in the northern part of the country, and the lawless region fell largely under the direct rule of governors who were also regional strongmen. The Confederacy even considered taking advantage of Mexico's problems to annex large portions of northern territory into the Confederacy, an idea that was very popular with high ranking military officials, but was ultimately rejected by Jefferson Davis.

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