(Note: For more than 25 years I have been preaching to the public that both the U.S. and Mexico celebrate Cinco as a Bi-National Holiday on account of the Cinco and Civil War connection. I send columns based on this info to corporate media (both print and electronic) to no avail. One of my goals  is that someday I can publish a Cinco de Mayo for Dummies edition so I can send them out to all these media folk who refuse to believe this story.)

  What America needs is a Cinco de Mayo for Dummies  … .

Many of us confuse May 5 with Sept. 16, Mexican Independence Day. Even less is known of the incredible Cinco de Mayo connection between the Battle of Puebla, fought between Mexico and France, and the salvation of  American, not Mexican, independence.

Mention the date to today’s young Latinos and their anglo counterparts and you’re bound to get the same answer: party-time! But it’s not their fault. Not when there is next to nothing in school curricula that even hints of a President Lincoln-Mexican President Benito Juárez connection during the Civil War.

    May 5, 1862, is when the Battle of Puebla shook the Americas. The victory of a ragtag Mexican Army against an elite French military machine was just the start of  the story. Or shall we say stories. Newly shared research reveals that the original (non Native American) Texas settlers, los tejanos, were involved , but alas,  few scholars have taken notice.    

Check the date. The U.S. Civil War was raging. The country seemed headed onto a path of self-destruction. While the North counted on vast industrial resources, the Southern rebs’ quest for secession tempered them with a fierce, almost barbaric, fighting spirit.

    President  Lincoln could ill afford a nation divided. Benito Juárez’s troops were thought to be no match for the Euro-warriors  who had not tasted defeat in more half a century and  were said to be “the premier army in the world.” Both leaders were desperate for a military miracle.  

    Some historians claim that the desire of Napoleon Bonepart’s nephew, Napoleon III, to occupy Mexico was fueled by his intense dislike for the United States and the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the United States would oppose any European invasion into the Americas. A French stronghold in Mexico would thwart the United States’ growing power and strength.

    Noted writers, among them fellow tejano José Antonio Burciaga and John Shepler, point out that Napoleon III shrewdly banked on the fact that the United States, in the midst of its own civil war, would not interfere in Mexico’s events.                  

    “Under orders of their emperor, French troops arrived in Mexico   with a dual purpose: to help the Confederacy win the war against the United States and to conquer Mexico.” wrote Donald W Miles in his book, “Cinco de Mayo — What Is Everybody Celebrating?”

   Thus with state-of-the-art equipment and the French Foreign Legion at his disposal, Napoleon III planned a traditional military assault on Puebla and then on to that country’s capital, Mexico City. Once the capital had fallen into French hands, the rest of the country would surrender.

    Then they would march north and keep their promise to the Rebels in the North. It was quite a plan, except they didn’t count on Texas-born, Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza’s non-traditional battle skills and his passionate pleas to the Mexican soldiers, mostly Zapotec Indians. Nor did they have any inkling, writes Texas historian Dr. Andrés Tijerina that General Zaragoza would recruit Captain Porfirio Zamora from Palito Blanco in south Texas and in turn he would recruit 500 tejanos. Together as a cavalry unit they would join the Mexican army in repelling the French invasion. The tejanos, although still Mexicans at heart, were U.S. citizens.

    “On the morning of May 5, 1862, French General Lorenz led 4,000 French forces toward Puebla believing he would be welcomed and that the local clergy would shower his troops with magnolia blooms.” writes Shepler. “Instead, waiting for him was General Zaragoza with a much smaller force of 2,000 troops along with Puebla citizens who brought their own farm tools as weapons.”

   The Texas general’s guerilla tactics included stampeding cattle into the French-occupied areas near Puebla. Then the screaming, machete-wielding Zapotecs sliding down muddy hillsides baffled the brightly dressed French Dragoons. The numero-uno army in the world was no match for the inspired natives, who were growing  weary of foreign warriors traversing across their lands.

    What a scene it must have been! Dark-skinned natives swinging their machetes as they utilized the slippery slopes to surprise Mexico’s  latest invaders. Cows trampling neatly organized French rifle racks. Tejanos helping their brothers once more. Where’s Hispanic Hollywood when you need it?

   Benito Juárez’s people had risen to the task. Napoleon’s plans to help the South were crushed.  On April 18, 1865, the Civil War ended with the surrender of the Confederate army. By then, 617,000 Union and Confederate soldiers had died in the war.

   In gratitude for their aid, Washington’s leaders invited the Juárez family to Washington after the war. Maybe someday both countries will get their historical facts straight and celebrate Cinco together.

    Just as their forefathers did.