Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín (March 24, 1829 – September 8, 1862) was a general in the Mexican Army, best known for unlikely defeat of invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 (the Cinco de Mayo).
Zaragoza was born in la Bahía del Espíritu Santo, in what was then the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas, now the city of Goliad, Texas, in the United States. The Zaragoza family moved to Matamoros in 1834 and then to Monterrey in 1844, ...
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Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín (March 24, 1829 – September 8, 1862) was a general in the Mexican Army, best known for unlikely defeat of invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 (the Cinco de Mayo).
Zaragoza was born in la Bahía del Espíritu Santo, in what was then the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas, now the city of Goliad, Texas, in the United States. The Zaragoza family moved to Matamoros in 1834 and then to Monterrey in 1844, where young Ignacio entered the seminary.
During Mexico's political unrest of the 1850s, Zaragoza joined the army supporting the cause of Mexico's Liberal Party, opposing dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He led an army of volunteers in 1855 that defeated Santa Anna and led to the reestablishment of a constitutional democratic government in Mexico.
When the French forces of Maximillian invaded Mexico, Zaragoza fought them, first engaging the French at Acultzingo on April 28, 1862 where he was forced to withdraw. Zaragoza understood the...
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