[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                       HONORING GENERAL ZARAGOZA

  (Mr. HINOJOSA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a true hero who gave 
his life to free his country from foreign oppression. Ignacio Zaragoza 
Segun was born in 1829 near what is now Goliad, Texas, in my 15th 
Congressional District.
  In 1862, French troops began to march to capture Mexico City. They 
met the Mexican forces at the city of Puebla in a battle that lasted 
the entire day of May 5, 1862. Under General Zaragoza's leadership, the 
vastly outnumbered Mexican Army forced the withdrawal of Napoleon III's 
Army, the premier army in the world at that time. French losses were 
heavy, but Mexican casualties were few. The costly delay in Puebla 
helped shorten the French intervention. It also helped preserve the 
American union, as it kept the French Army too busy to directly aid the 
Confederacy with troops during the U.S. Civil War.
  General Zaragoza received a hero's welcome in Mexico City. While 
visiting his sick troops, he contacted typhoid fever and he died 
September 8, 1862, at the age of 33. On September 11, 1862, President 
Juarez declared May 5, Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday.
  Today, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated throughout Mexico and around the 
world, but I hope that as we celebrate this holiday, we remember the 
courage and sacrifice of this true hero.

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