| Jon O'Riley | |
|---|---|
Inscription to the memory of the St Patrick's Batallion - Museo de las Intervenciones, Coyoacán, DF |
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| Born | February 8, 1824 Clifden, Ireland |
| Died | October 10, 1879 Veracruz, Mexico |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom United States United Mexican States |
| Service/branch | British Army United States Army Mexican Army |
| Rank | Brevet Major |
| Battles/wars | Mexican-American War *Siege of Fort Texas *Battle of Monterrey *Battle of Buena Vista *Battle of Cerro Gordo *Battle of Churubusco |
Jon Patrick Riley (Irish: Seán Pádraic Ó Raghallaigh), also known as John Patrick O'Riley, (c. 1805 – August 1850), a United States Army private, was one of the several hundred immigrant Catholic Irishmen who defected from the US Army and formed the Saint Patrick's Battalion to fight for Mexico in the 1846-48 Mexican-American War. Riley led the battalion as a brevet major commissioned by Mexico.
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Riley was born in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland about 1805; his name in the original Irish Gaelic is Seán O' Raghailligh. Riley served with the British Army before emigrating to Canada. Connemara and other rural regions suffered greatly during the Irish Potato Famine, and millions of people emigrated by ship from Ireland to Canada and the United States to survive.
Soon after his arrival in the United States in Michigan, Riley enlisted in the US Army. Many immigrants were recruited in the 1840s; some served just to earn some money, as they had usually fled famine and severe poverty in their home countries.
Prior to his desertion, Riley served in Company K of the 5th US Infantry Regiment. Riley and Patrick Dalton formed the Batallón de San Patricio, or the Saint Patrick's Battalion. It was made up of mostly Irish and German immigrants, although it included Catholics from many other countries as well, plus some African Americans who escaped from slavery in the American South. They fought at several battles and finally at the Battle of Churubusco, on the outskirts of Mexico City, where more than 70 were captured by US forces and the rest disbanded. Units of the disbanded battalion went on to fight at the Battle for Mexico City.
Because Riley deserted before the US declared war against Mexico, he was not sentenced to execution following his conviction at the court martial held in Mexico City in 1847. He testified to deserting because of discrimination against and mistreatment of Irish Catholics in the US Army, and anti-Roman Catholic sentiment which he had encountered in the United States.
Unlike the film portrayal of Riley in One Man's Hero it can be surmised that the circumstance of Riley's life after the war were not very pleasant.[1]
Robert Ryal Miller, author of Shamrock and Sword (1989), found Riley's death certificate in book of burials No. 6, entry 133, of the then parish (now cathedral) of Veracruz. Like Riley's Mexican army records, it refers to the name "Juan Reley". It reads:
"In the H. [Heroic] city of Veracruz, on the thirty first of August of eighteen hundred and fifty, I, Don Ignacio Jose Jimenez, curate of the parish church of the Assumption of Our Lady, buried in the general cemetery the body of Juan Reley, of forty five years of age, a native of Ireland, unmarried, parents unknown; died as a result of drunkenness, without sacraments, and I signed it."[2]
In his honor, and to commemorate Saint Patrick's Battalion, a bronze sculpture was erected in his birthplace of Clifden, Ireland, as a gift from the Mexican government.
In the 1999 film 1999 One Man's Hero Riley was portrayed by Tom Berenger.
Riley's story is the subject of Tim O'Brien's song "John Riley" or [1]. It features in his album The Crossing. Youtube recording of the song
David Rovics also sings of Riley in "Saint Patrick's Battalion" [2]
Riley features in James Alexander Thom's novel St Patrick's Battalion: A Novel of the Mexican-American War, pub. 2008" Jon Riley Zeus of Toronto.