Editing French Foreign Legion (section)

===Mexican Expedition 1863–1867===
{{Main|Second French intervention in Mexico|Battle of Camarón}}

[[File:Légionnaire-Mexique.JPG|thumb|upright|Uniform of a legionnaire during the 1863 Mexican campaign]]

The 38,000 strong French expeditionary force dispatched to Mexico via sea between 1862 and 1863 included two battalions of the Foreign Legion, increased to six battalions by 1866. Small cavalry and artillery units were raised from legionnaires serving in Mexico. The original intention was that Foreign Legion units should remain in Mexico for up to six years to provide a core for the Imperial Mexican Army.<ref>René Chartrand, ''The Mexican Adventure 1861–67'', p. 19, {{ISBN|978-1855324305}}</ref> However the Legion was withdrawn with the other French forces during February–March 1867.

It was in Mexico on 30 April 1863 that the Legion earned its legendary status. A company led by Captain [[Jean Danjou]], numbering 62 Legionnaires and 3 Legion officers, was escorting a convoy to [[Siege of Puebla (1863)|the besieged city of Puebla]] when it was [[Battle of Camarón|attacked and besieged]] by three thousand Mexican loyalists,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/E/escape_to_the_legion/legion.html|title=About the Foreign Legion|access-date=9 March 2007}}</ref> organised in two [[battalion]]s of infantry and cavalry, numbering 2,200 and 800 respectively.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} The Legion detachment under Danjou, [[Ranks in the French Army|Sous-Lieutenant]] {{ill|Jean Vilain|fr|vertical-align=sup}}, and Sous-Lieutenant {{ill|Clément Maudet|fr|vertical-align=sup}}<ref name="2rei.legion-etrangere.com">{{citation |url=http://2rei.legion-etrangere.com/mdl/info_seul.php?id=143&idA=28&block=15&idA_SM=0&titre=historique-du-2e-rei |work=Official Website of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment |title=Historique du 2 REI, La Creation (Creation) |access-date=13 July 2015 |archive-date=30 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630212436/http://2rei.legion-etrangere.com/mdl/info_seul.php?id=143&idA=28&block=15&idA_SM=0&titre=historique-du-2e-rei |url-status=dead }}</ref> made a stand in the ''Hacienda de la Trinidad'' – a farm near the village of Camarone.  When only six survivors remained, out of ammunition, a [[Bayonet|bayonet assault]] was launched in which three of the six were killed. The remaining three wounded men were brought before the Mexican commander Colonel [[Francisco de Paula Milán|Milán]], who allowed them to return to the French lines as an honor guard for the body of Danjou. The captain had a wooden hand, which was later returned to the Legion and is now kept in a case in the Legion Museum at Aubagne and paraded annually on Camerone Day. It is the Foreign Legion's most precious relic.

[[File:Main Danjou.gif|thumb|left|[[Jean Danjou]]'s prosthetic wooden hand]]

During the Mexican Campaign, 6,654 French died. Of these, 1,918 were from a single regiment of the Legion.<ref name="neeno">{{cite web |url=http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/19thcentury/articles/frenchinmexico.aspx |title=The French Intervention in Mexico (1862–67) |last=Neeno |first=Timothy |publisher=Military History Online |access-date=26 February 2011 |archive-date=30 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330000851/http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/19thcentury/articles/FrenchInMexico.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>