Editing Saint Patrick's Battalion (section)

===Executions===
In all, 50 Saint Patrick's Battalion members were officially executed by the U.S. Army, all but two by hanging. Collectively, this was the largest [[mass execution]] in United States history. (The hanging of 38 [[Sioux]] at the conclusion of the [[Dakota War of 1862#Execution|Dakota War of 1862]] appears to have been the largest execution by hanging at a single event.) En masse executions for [[treason]] took place at three separate locations on three separate dates; 16 were executed on 10 September 1847 at San Ángel, four were executed the following day at the village of Mixcoac on 11 September, and 30 were hanged at [[Chapultepec]] on 13 September.{{sfnm|1a1=McCaffery|1y=1994|1p=196|2a1=Eisenhower|2y=1999|2p=297}} One {{lang|es|San Patricio}} was murdered by American soldiers when he was recognised among the prisoners of war in the aftermath of the [[Battle of Molino del Rey]], by being thrown "into a mill flume and crushed by the wheel".{{sfn|McCaffery|1994|p=181}} 
At the San Ángel hangings all prisoners were executed without incident except for Patrick Dalton, who, as an American captain described, was "literally choked to death". Dalton had previously voiced concerns regarding his treatment.{{sfn|Miller|1989|pp=93, 105}}

By order of Gen. [[Winfield Scott]], thirty {{lang|es|San Patricios}} were to be executed at Chapultepec in full view of the two armies while they fought the [[Battle of Chapultepec]], at the precise moment that the flag of the U.S. replaced the flag of Mexico atop the citadel. This order was carried out by Col. [[William Harney]].{{sfn|Hogan|2006}} Harney was taunted and jeered by the condemned men.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|p=297}} 
While overseeing the hangings, Harney ordered Francis O'Connor hanged although he had had both legs amputated the previous day. When the army surgeon informed the colonel that the absent soldier had lost both his legs in battle, Harney replied: "Bring the damned son of a bitch out! My order was to hang 30 and by God I'll do it!"{{sfn|Wunn|1984|p=14}}
[[File:Sanpatricioshang.jpg|thumb|270px|right|The mass hanging of {{lang|es|San Patricios}}, as portrayed by [[Samuel Chamberlain]], c. 1867]]
The U.S. flag appeared on the flagpole at 9.30 a.m. Legend has it that the Mexican flag had been taken by a cadet, {{ill|Juan Escutia|es}} of the [[Niños Héroes]], who leapt with it to his death from [[Chapultepec Castle]] to deny the Americans the honor of capturing it. In a final act of defiance, the men about to be hanged cheered the [[Mexican flag]], as one onlooker remarked; "Hands tied, feet tied, their voices still free".{{sfn|Stevens|1999|p=275}} At Harney's signal, the carts holding the tied and noosed men pulled away.{{sfn|Hogan|1998|p=287}} Harney refused to cut the bodies down, stating that "I was ordered to have them hanged, and have no orders to ''unhang'' them".{{sfn|McCaffery|1994|p=197}} Harney was subsequently promoted to brigadier general, which rank he held while the U.S. Army occupied Mexico City.

The Mexican government described the hangings as "a cruel death or horrible torments, improper in a civilized age, and [ironic] for a people who aspire to the title of illustrious and humane",{{sfn|Downey|1955}} and by a writer covering the war as "a refinement of cruelty and ... fiendish".{{sfn|Fast|1993}} George Ballentine remarked, in his account of his American military service in Mexico, ''"[T]he desertion of our soldiers to the Mexican army ... were still numerous, in spite of the fearful example of the executions at Churubusco, [and] also served to inspire that party with hope."'' {{sfn|Ballentine|1860|p=281}}