Ignacio Zaragoza

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Lore & Background

Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín was a Mexican military officer and politician, born on March 24, 1829, in the village of Bahía del Espíritu Santo, in the Mexican province of Texas (now Goliad, Texas, United States). His parents were Miguel G. Zaragoza and María de Jesús Seguín, a niece of Erasmo Seguín and cousin of Juan Seguín. His upbringing was not particularly wealthy. The family moved to Matamoros in 1834 and then to Monterrey in 1844, where young Zaragoza entered a seminary. By 1846, he grew tired of seminary life and wished to pursue military endeavors as a cadet in the Mexican-American War, but his offer to enlist was rejected. He worked in the mercantile business from 1846 to 1850. In 1852, as a member of the Mexican Liberal Party, he obtained a position in the national guard, and in 1853 he joined a militia branch of the army, achieving the rank of sergeant. He fought against dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna in the liberal Revolution of Ayutla from 1854 to 1856, securing his first significant victory. He later fought in a civil war against conservative leaders, winning the decisive battle of Calpulalpan on December 22, 1860. After this, he served as minister of war and navy under President Benito Juárez in 1861, helping negotiate a two-year moratorium on Mexico’s debt to France. Following his wife’s death in 1862, he resigned to lead the Army of the East against the French invasion. He was forced to withdraw at Acultzingo on April 28, 1862, before his defining victory at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, where his force of 3,791 men defeated 5,730 French troops, inflicting an estimated 1,000 casualties while losing about ninety of his own. He died of typhoid fever on September 8, 1862, at age 33.

Reader's Guide

Ignacio Zaragoza’s military career began in earnest during the liberal Revolution of Ayutla, where as a captain he led forces against the dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna. This victory helped restore a constitutional democratic government in Mexico, though it also intensified political turmoil. Zaragoza subsequently fought in a civil war against conservative leaders, committing so deeply to his cause that he missed his own wedding to remain with his troops. His string of successes culminated in a decisive defeat of conservative forces at the battle of Calpulalpan in 1860. President Benito Juárez then appointed him minister of war and navy, a role in which he managed military deployments and helped negotiate a two-year moratorium on Mexico’s debt to France. When French forces invaded under Napoleon III, Zaragoza resigned his post to command the Army of the East. After an initial forced withdrawal at Acultzingo, he fell back to defensive forts outside Puebla. There, with roughly 3,791 men, he repelled repeated French assaults by a superior force of 5,730 troops, then ordered a general counterattack that drove the French into retreat. The victory cost about ninety Mexican lives against an estimated one thousand French casualties, making Zaragoza a national hero and establishing the holiday Cinco de Mayo. He died of typhoid fever shortly afterward at age thirty-three.

Did You Know?

• Zaragoza was born in what is now Goliad, Texas, in the United States.
• He missed his own wedding to lead his army in the Mexican civil war.
• His wife Rafaela died in January 1862, months before his victory at Puebla.
• His remains were later exhumed and transferred from Mexico City to Puebla.