A LIFETIME OF HEROISM: ZARAGOZA 154 YEARS LATER

(Ed.'s Note: As time passes, we are seeing that the victory of Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza in the heights of Puebla on that May 5, 1862 was merely the culmination of a lifetime of achievements. Zaragoza died at age 33, but in those three decades and three years, he packed what many men take lifetimes to achieve. Below is the translation of a proclamation to his Ejercito del Centro after they defeated the forces of Conservative Gen. Miguel Miramon during the Three Years War, or War of Reform. Puebla and the Cinco De Mayo were still two years away when he made the proclamation. At this time, he was 31 years old.)

"Courageous Companions:
In the midst of all the privations, and overcoming the incredible punishments that you have endured, you have undertaken a campaign that started with the Battle of Loma- Alta and ended in the glorious attack on Guadalajara, and the expedition to Sayula, where you made the reactionary hordes and their vain general before your terrible onslaught.
You have dislodged the enemy from his positions from where he – vain and conceited – did not dare do battle, and advanced to any battlefield he chose to measure yourself against him with his arms, blackened with the blood of free men, and darkened even more with the encouragement of tyrants in whose service they have earned their infamy.
In all this time you have not had payments, nor half the equipment you needed, nor blankets to cover you from the rain and cold; but you had a full heart of ambition for glory, fervid and vehement for the liberty and greatness of our nation, possessed of a demonstrated love for our popular institutions, daughters of justice and right, and these have proven enough that armed with these noble sentiments in your souls you have been content and satisfied.
The victory that you have attained in front of the gates of this city yesterday has extolled your glories, realized your aspirations and the yearned hopes of our Republic. This impulses have been enough to defeat the army of the reactionary forces and to raise over foundations, now indestructible, the monument based on just law, the magnificent and great banner of Reform.
In the most engaged moments of combat I could read with pride on your proud and embattled faces the anxiety with which you wanted to charge the enemy lines; you received my orders and were the first to step upon the battlefield of Miramon, the last refuge for their destroyed hopes of those miserable beings who dreamed of planting despotism on our land, forgetting that in the soil of Mexico exist men like you.
Courageous Soldiers of the Division del Centro:
We have little left to do here. A few more days' march and you can return to your homes, to place the laurels of your triumphs in the breasts of you spouses, of your mothers, of the beings which you most love, and receive in return the benedictions form those who love our nation, and the ovations that a grateful people confer upon their liberators.
Soldiers of the People: Long Live Freedom! Long Live the Constitution of 1857! Long Live the Reforma! Receive the best wishes of your compatriot and friend."


The statue on the top of the hill at El Presidio near Goliad was given to the State of Texas by the City of Puebla, Mexico. It features a young-looking bespectacled Zaragoza and at its base is this inscription: "Mexicanos: Los hijos de este generación nacimos libres así nos conservaremos o moriremos en la demanda." – Ignacio Zaragoza.
"Mexicans: The sons of this generation were born free and free we will remain or die demanding it." – Ignacio Zaragoza.
On March 24, 1829, Zaragoza was born in Espiritu Santo, Texas, present-day Goliad.
At the outbreak of the Texas Independence in 1834, his family moved to Matamoros where he attended elementary school for a few years.
They later moved to Monterrey in 1844 where he entered the seminary and later, worked for a local store keeper.
In the aftermath of Zachary Taylor's invasion of northern Mexico in 1846, he joined the local militias in 1847. By 1853, he had reached the rank of captain at the age of 22.
He joined the Liberal armies and in 1855 and participated in important battles including one against Conservative Gen. Adrian Woll in Saltillo, an action that earned him the rank of colonel. When Commanding General Jesus Gonzalez Ortega took ill, Zaragoza, named quarter master of the army, was assigned command. He was also assigned the pacification of Mexico City before Benito Juarez entered the capital, a recognition partly as reward for his defeat of the Conservative forces in the heights of Calpulapan.
In 1861 he was named Minister of War by Juarez and the following year he left that post to head the Division del Ejercito del Oriente to face the French army and its mercenaries at Puebla. His wife died as he battled the French and he was unable to attend her funeral or burial.
His report to Juarez consisted of two sentences. "The national arms have been covered with glory. The French troops conducted themselves with valor, their commander clumsily."
In Sept. 8, 1862, he contracted typhoid fever and died when the Republic most needed his valor and strength. He was 33.