Mexico
The creation of the Second Mexican Empire was the impetus for an expansion of the French Foreign Legion. One of Maximilian I's conditions for the acceptance of the Mexican throne was the provision of a corps of 10,000 European soldiers. The Foreign Legion was loaned by Napoleon III to the Crown of Mexico for this purpose. The Legion departed Sidi-bel-Abbes, crossing the Atlantic Ocean uneventfully, and made landfall at Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico. The Foreign Legion was assigned to escort supply convoys in the Vera Cruz highlands. The strength of the Foreign Legion was depleted by yellow fever endemic to the region. It became necessary to quickly move the Legion elements inland to the healthier clime of Córdoba, Veracruz, however this was complicated by Mexican guerillas harassing their movement.
It was in Mexico on 30 April 1863 that the Legion earned its legendary status. A small infantry patrol led by Captain Jean Danjou, numbering 62 soldiers and 3 officers, was attacked and besieged by over a thousand Mexicans, organized in three battalions of infantry and cavalry, and was forced to make a defense in Hacienda Camarón. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, they fought nearly to the last man, with just three survivors and no ammunition and only the option to surrender, they fixed bayonetts and attacked. The Mexican General was so impressed he assigned an honorguard to escort the body of Capitaine Danjou back to his battalion.
Read more about this topic: History Of The French Foreign Legion
Famous quotes containing the word mexico:
“I think New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world that I have ever had.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Is this what all these soldiers, all this training, have been for these seventy-nine years past? Have they been trained merely to rob Mexico and carry back fugitive slaves to their masters?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)