Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

 I have been to the birthplace of Ignacio Zaragoza, the hero of the Battle of Puebla on Cinco de Mayo, 1862.

I've been many times. Zaragoza was born in 1829 at Bahía del Espiritu Santo. It was then in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas. If you go to Goliad, Texas, you can't miss it.

Few people who celebrate Cinco de Mayo know what it's about or that the young general who won the famous battle on that date was born in Texas. 

During the American Civil War, the United States was fighting for its life and was in no position to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. The French moved in.

The conventional wisdom was that Mexican forces couldn't meet a European army in a pitched battle on equal terms. The Battle of Puebla didn't win the war, but it proved that the conventional wisdom was spectacularly wrong.

I used to go to Goliad to get my cultural bearings. You can't really understand Texas without understanding some of the history that occurred there. 

The history is difficult and complicated. And most of the state's political leaders want to make it illegal to teach it honestly in the public schools.

Here's one small instance of how complicated it is: General Zaragoza was just 6 during the Texas Revolution. When he was born, his father was a sergeant in the Mexican army and was loyal to Mexico. The general’s mother was a Seguin, a family of famous revolutionaries who fought for the independence of Texas.

Many Spanish-speaking families have relatives on both sides of the border. It’s one of the reasons Texas, for all its faults, is such a fascinating place.