I'm Ranger Boone Merrick, and here's one more tale from these walls, and this one will surprise you — because a baby born right here at this presidio grew up to give the whole world a holiday.
Back in eighteen twenty-nine, before any of the revolution trouble, this was a peaceful Mexican garrison, and in the officers' quarters a soldier's wife gave birth to a son. They named him Ignacio Zaragoza. His family moved on, and the boy grew up in a Mexico that was forever fighting for its life against invaders. Young Ignacio became a soldier, and then a general — and here's where his story becomes famous. In eighteen sixty-two, the empire of France, the most powerful army in the world, invaded Mexico, marching on the capital, expecting an easy conquest. At the city of Puebla, a smaller, poorer, outgunned Mexican army stood in their way — and its commander was General Ignacio Zaragoza, the boy from La Bahía.
And on the fifth of May, eighteen sixty-two, against all odds, Zaragoza and his men beat the French. They threw back the finest army on earth and saved their capital, at least for a time. It was a stunning, improbable victory, and Mexico has celebrated it ever since as the Cinco de Mayo — the fifth of May. So the next time you see that day come around, remember that the general who won it, the hero of Cinco de Mayo, took his first breath inside this very fort in Texas. Goliad gave the world more than one thing to remember.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
