Quote Originally Posted by cajunscot
To add to Doc's post, many of the San Patricios were deserters from the US Army; some were Irish immigrants, who later claimed to have a sense of soldidarity with their Mexican opponents, but others were not Irish at all -- English, Scots, Poles, etc. -- members of the foreign community of Mexico City who were conscripted into the Mexican Army to fight the Norteamericanos.

Robert Miller's "Shamrock & Sword" is the best history of the San Patricio Battalion.

There were many Irish expats who served in the Spanish Army in the American colonies, such as the founder of the Presidio at Tucson, Hugo O'Connor (the Spanish called him Oconor).

Cheers,

Todd
And while we are at it, let us not forget the Liberator of Chili, Bernardo O'Higgins. Son of a Spanish mother and Irish ex-patriate father.