The French suffered 476 casualties in the Battle of Puebla, while the outnumbered Mexicans only suffered 339.
May 5 is celebrated in Mexican-American communities throughout the United States as well as certain parts of Mexico itself. It is actually a bigger deal in the United States (especially in Los Angeles) than in Mexico, as I can vouch from personal experience growing up in a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood in North Hollywood, California). Mexico understandably puts a bigger emphasis on Mexican Independence Day—which takes place on September 16—or the anniversary of the 1910 Mexican Revolution.
In other words, contrary to common misconception, Cinco de Mayo is not one and the same as Mexican Independence Day (which was gained at the expense of Spain). It commemorates a Mexican force’s unlikely victory over a different Western European colonial power, France, in an 1862 engagement known as the Battle of Puebla.
The Origin of Cinco de Mayo
Subsequent to its internecine War of Reform in 1858, Mexico was dead broke, so newly-elected President Benito Juárez decided to suspend all foreign debt payments for two years. This did not sit well with Spain, the United Kingdom, and France, and all three nations sent joint forces to collect. The Spaniards and the Britons soon cut deals with Juárez, but French Emperor Napoleon III, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, decided to continue the punitive military mission.
Thus the stage was set for the battle, which took place in the eponymous city that in the present day and age is the fourth largest city in Mexico (located about 62 miles southeast of Mexico and about 140 miles west of the port city of Veracruz).
The Battle of Puebla
The battle pit 3,791 Mexican soldiers under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza against 5,730 French troops commanded by General Charles Ferdinand Latrille, Comte (Count) de Lorencez. Not only did Count Lorencez’s troops enjoy a 1.5-to-1 manpower advantage, but they also were flushed with victory in far-flung regions such as Southeast Asia and North Africa. For good measure, the count’s men were armed with long-range rifles that were far more accurate than the Mexicans’ smoothbore muskets.
Indeed, the French soldiers were so overconfident that they didn’t even bother to properly prepare their artillery when they arrived in-country on May 4. Well, as Richard “Demo Dick” Marcinko, aka The Rogue Warrior, (founding commander of SEAL Team 6) might’ve put it, Latrille’s officers neglected the “7 P’s” principle: Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. As noted by Jesse Greenspan states in a May 2, 2025, article for History.Com:
“On the morning of May 5, the French tried to intimidate the Mexicans with screeching bugle calls and advanced bayonet maneuvers. But after a full day of fighting, including three unsuccessful uphill charges, they were forced to retreat due to heavy casualties.”
How heavy were those casualties? The French suffered 131 killed in action and 345 wounded, compared with eighty-seven killed, 252 wounded, and twelve missing for the outnumbered Mexicans.
Aftermath of the Battle of Puebla
France lost the battle but won the war; enraged at his forces’ embarrassing setback at Puebla, Napoleon III sent an additional 30,000 troops that not only overran Puebla but also captured Mexico City. Ferdinand Maximilian von Habsburg, second in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was installed as Mexico’s ruler. However, even this victory proved to be short-lived; Napoleon III chose to end the occupation in 1866. Maximilian stubbornly held on until he was deposed in May 1867 and was executed by firing squad the following month.
Fellow military history buffs will undoubtedly recognize that the Battle of Puebla took place concurrently with the American Civil War, i.e., a conflict engulfing Mexico’s northern neighbor. Indeed, the U.S. government was too heavily embroiled in the conflict to try to invoke the Monroe Doctrine against France. However, in what was perhaps an unintended consequence, the Battle of Puebla ended up doing the Union a favor and dealt a concurrent blow to the Confederate States of America’s efforts to gain international recognition and legitimacy. As noted by Greenspan’s History.com colleague Dave Roos:
“Some contend that the year-long delay of the French invasion gave Abraham Lincoln’s generals just enough time to win decisive Union victories before Napoleon could provide upgraded artillery and munitions to the Confederacy. ‘By the time the French occupy Mexico City in June of 1863, the battle of Vicksburg was already underway,” says Eric Rojo, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and commander-in-chief of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, an organization composed of descendants of Union officers in the Civil War. Rojo points out that the Battle of Gettysburg was about to begin and that Union victories were ‘signaling the beginning of the end’ for the Confederacy. ‘Even if French were able to set their supply lines by mid-1863, it would have made very little difference in the outcome of the Civil War.”
Lending credence to Rojo’s contention is the fact that the Confederacy suffered a double-whammy the same year at the Battle of Puebla: the Battle of Antietam (or as the Southrons preferred to call it, the Battle of Sharpsburg). Though it was an incomplete victory for the Union (and thus cost Maj. Gen. George Brinton McClellan his command of the Army of the Potomac), it was enough of a strategic victory to enable President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and seize the moral high ground in the war.
This in turn not only further disincentivized France from recognizing the Confederacy, but had the same effect on Great Britain, as both these Western European powers had already abolished slavery by the time the American Civil War had broken out.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
