[John H K]

It was indeed a stinging military defeat for the French; however, it was at the hands of the Spanish Army.

Good lord, where did you get THAT idea?

It was, in fact, the French being defeated by the Mexicans in 1862. No Spanish involved at all.

Interestingly it appears it really isn't that big of a deal in Mexico (Mexican Independence Day is a bigger deal there) but it's mostly a Mexican-American thing.

The French came back with a much bigger force the next year and reached Mexico City and installed a puppet emperor.

A lot of Mexican-American sites make a big deal about the Battle of Puebla delaying French control of Mexico long enough to keep Napoleon III from using Mexico as a base to aid the Confederates and thus was key to the Union winning the Civil War, but you always have to be suspicious about such things.

After the Civil War was over we sent Phil Sheridan and 50,000 Union Veterans to the Rio Grande and politely suggested to the French that they might want to stop fooling around in Mexico and started mumbling about the Monroe Doctrine, so the French left and then the Mexicans overthrew the puppet emperor. Our threats had more to do with getting rid of the French for the Mexicans than the Mexicans did, really.

The end of a long history of the French fooling around in Mexico, before Puebla the French briefly intervened to get compensation for a French Pastry Bakery being destroyed in the "Pastry War"...this is when Santa Anna famously lost his leg, and was one of the few non-embarrasing episodes in Santa Anna's military career (but, of course, it was against the French.)

[JesseHousman]

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator)...

I mistakenly assumed that General Zaragosa was a Spaniard. I really compounded the mistake because he was, in fact, a Texan.

[P-Marlowe]

Interestingly it appears it really isn't that big of a deal in Mexico (Mexican Independence Day is a bigger deal there) but it's mostly a Mexican-American thing.

If Americans of Mexican descent want a day to celebrate, they should celebrate February 20, the day of the Battle of Cahuenga Pass, which set the stage for California to be a part of the United States.

Cinco de Mayo, is not a holiday that Americans of any descent ought to be celebrating. It has nothing to do with America.