 Cinco de Mayo Cache #7
A cache by 1teddybearrunning & The A-man Hidden: 5/5/2008
Size:  (Micro) Difficulty:  Terrain: (1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)
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The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be!
And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be.
Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the
15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first
Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico. So, why
Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well?
Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor
Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico
City on the morning of May 5, 1862. The French under Emperor
Napoleon III, had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English
troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican
debts from the newly elected government of democratic President
(and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made
deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas. The
French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United
States was embroiled in its own Civil War. The Mexicans won a great
victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate
rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the
greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the
Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of
Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War. Union forces were then
rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who
made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they
needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with
their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army
to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the
Victory Parade in Mexico, City. It might be a historical stretch to
credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000
Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?
In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl
Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian
Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls,
trying to join up and fight another war for America. Mexicans, you
see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans.
That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates
FREEDOM and LIBERTY. There are two ideals which Mexicans and
Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since
the 5th of May, 1862. VIVA! el CINCO DE MAYO!!
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