The Hero of Cinco de Mayo Was Born in Texas [Video]

Don’t get me wrong. Margaritas, chips and queso, and mariachi music are wonderful—but they’re not required for celebrating Cinco de Mayo. The holiday memorializing the Battle of Puebla has become, for some north of the border, an excuse to overindulge in Tex-Mex fare and festivities. While it’s always a good idea to support family-owned Mexican restaurants and taquerias, there are other ways to honor our shared heritage with Mexico and to commemorate a proud moment in Mexican history. 

On May 5, 1862, an outnumbered and untrained army of indigenous Mexicans, civilians, soldiers, and Tejanos led by Texas-born Ignacio Zaragoza defeated French invaders on a hill overlooking Puebla, a city eighty miles southeast of the Mexican capital. Victory was short-lived—the French regrouped, eventually took the town, and then occupied the country for another few years—but not long after the conflict ended, Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans in Texas began commemorating the anniversary of the …