Editing Saint Patrick's Battalion (section)

===Re-organization and final battles===
Despite their excellent performance in a number of engagements as artillery, the much-reduced {{lang|es|San Patricios}} were ordered to muster a larger [[infantry]] [[battalion]], as well as a cavalry unit, in mid-1847 by personal order of Santa Anna. It was renamed the '''Foreign Legion of Patricios''' and consisted of volunteers from many European countries, commanded by Col. Francisco R. Moreno, with Riley in charge of 1st [[Company (military unit)|company]] and Santiago O'Leary heading up the second.{{sfn|Fogarty|2005}} Desertion handbills were produced, specially targeting Catholic Irish, French and German immigrants in the invading U.S. army and stating that "You must not fight against a religious people, nor should you be seen in the ranks of those who proclaim slavery of mankind as a constitutive principle ... liberty is not on the part of those who desire to be lords of the world, robbing properties and territories which do not belong to them and shedding so much blood in order to accomplish their views, views in open war to the principles of our holy religion".{{sfn|Zinn|Arnove|2004|pp=157–158}}

[[File:Churubusco-convent.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Churubusco]]'s monastery at the height of the 1847 [[Battle of Churubusco]], painted by James Walker]]
The [[Battle of Churubusco]] (20 August 1847) took place about four months after the defeat at Cerro Gordo. Gen. Santa Anna gave a verbal order to "preserve the point at all risk".{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=283}} The San Patricio Companies initially met the attackers outside the walls of the convent at a [[Bridgehead|tête-de-pont]], which was about {{convert|500|yd|m|0}} from a fortified convent.{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=284}} A battery of three{{sfn|Smith|1919b|p=111}} to five{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=284}} heavy cannons were used from this position to hold off the American advance along with support from ''Los Independencia Batallón'' and ''Los Bravos Batallón''.{{sfn|Smith|1919b|p=111}} The Americans were under the command of [[William Hoffman (United States Army)|Col. William Hoffman]].{{sfn|Grant|1998|p=114}} Several U.S. charges towards the bridgehead were thrown off,{{sfn|Smith|1919b|p=115}} with the {{lang|es|San Patricio}} companies serving as an example to the supporting battalions.{{sfn|Smith|1919b|p=114}} Unlike the {{lang|es|San Patricios}}, most of whom were veterans (many having served in the armies of the United Kingdom and various German states), the supporting Mexican battalions were simply [[militia]] (the term 'National Guard' is also used{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=283}}) who had been untested by battle.{{sfn|Smith|1919b|p=111}}

A lack of ammunition led the Mexican soldiers in the trenches between the bridgehead and the convent to disband; without ammunition, they had no way to fight back.{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=286}} Santa Anna had ordered half of these soldiers to a different part of the battlefield.{{sfn|Smith|1919b|p=116}} When the requested ammunition wagon finally arrived, the 9 ½ [[drachm]] cartridges were compatible with none but the San Patricio Companies "[[Brown Bess]]" muskets, and they made up only a fraction of the defending forces.{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=295}} Further hampering Mexican efforts, a stray spark from an artillery piece firing [[grapeshot]] at the on-coming U.S. troops caused the just-arrived ammunition to explode and set fire to several men, including Captain O'Leary and Gen. Anaya.{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=296}} A [[Withdrawal (military)|withdrawal]] behind the walls of the [[Monastery|''convento de Churubusco'']] was called when the threat of being outflanked proved too great.{{sfn|Downey|1955}}
[[File:George Ballentine Mexican-American war -2.jpg|thumb|240px|left|A depiction of George Ballentine, an eyewitness of the battalion]]

The {{lang|es|San Patricios}} used this battle as a chance to settle old scores with U.S. troops: "The large number of officers killed in the affair was&nbsp;... ascribed to them, as for the gratification of their revenge they aimed at no other objects during the engagement".{{sfn|Ballentine|1860|p=256}} At some point during the fighting for the convent, two American officers led fifteen men against a point in the Mexican defenses, and mistook {{lang|es|San Patricio}} members for friendly U.S. army troops; the {{lang|es|San Patricios}} opened fire on them, killing or wounding all but one of the group.{{sfn|McCaffery|1994|p=179}} Though hopelessly outnumbered and under-equipped, the defenders repelled the attacking U.S. forces with heavy losses until their ammunition ran out and a Mexican officer raised the white flag of surrender. Officer Patrick Dalton of the {{lang|es|San Patricios}} tore the white flag down, prompting Gen. [[Pedro María de Anaya|Pedro Anaya]] to order his men to fight on, with their bare hands if necessary.{{sfn|Fogarty|2005}} American Private Ballentine reported that when the Mexicans attempted to raise the [[white flag]] two more times, members of the {{lang|es|San Patricios}} shot and killed them.{{sfn|Ballentine|1860|p=256}}{{sfn|Meltzer|1974|p=197}} After brutal [[Close Quarters Battle|close-quarters]] fighting with [[bayonet]]s and [[Sabre|sabers]] through the halls and rooms inside the convent, U.S. Army [[Captain (land)|Captain]] James M. Smith suggested a surrender after raising his white handkerchief.{{sfn|Nordstrom|2008}} Following the U.S. victory, the Americans "ventilat[ed] their vocabulary of Saxon expletives, not very "courteously", on Riley and his beautiful disciples of St. Patrick."{{sfn|Ramsey|1850|p=299}}

Gen. Anaya stated in his written battle report that 35 {{lang|es|San Patricios}} were killed, 85 taken prisoner (including a wounded John Riley, Captain O'Leary, and Anaya); about 85 escaped with retreating Mexican forces.{{sfn|Fogarty|2005}} Some 60% of the {{lang|es|San Patricios}} were killed or captured in the engagement.{{sfn|Miller|1989|p=89}} The survivors were reformed before the [[Battle of Mexico City]] some two weeks later and were stationed at [[Querétaro]] where the Mexican government had decamped, with some 50 members serving as a body-guard for the commander-in-chief.{{sfn|Carpenter|1851|p=102}} The battalion were caught up in the infighting and politicking of Mexico at the time, and were under the patronage of a faction that favored suing for ending of the conflict peacefully.{{sfn|Foos|2002|p=110}} New units were later made up of the free survivors of the battle of Churubusco and a roughly equal number of fresh deserters from the U.S. Army.{{sfn|Nordstrom|2008}}{{sfn|Stevens|1999|p=286}} Following the war, the Mexican Government insisted in a clause of the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] that the remaining {{lang|es|San Patricio}} prisoners held by the Americans were to be left in Mexico, and Major General [[William Orlando Butler]] issued General Orders 116 on 1 June 1848 stating that; "The prisoners confined at the Citadel, known as the {{lang|es|San Patricio}} prisoners, will be immediately discharged"—[[Drumming out|Rogue's March]] was played upon their release.{{sfn|Paredes|2010}} The Saint Patrick's Battalion continued to function as two infantry companies under the command of John Riley, with one unit tasked with sentry duty in Mexico City and the other was stationed in the suburbs of Guadalupe Hidalgo.{{sfn|Paredes|2010}} The {{lang|es|San Patricios}} were officially mustered out of Mexican military service in 1848; some members were alleged to have been involved in an abortive [[military coup]],{{sfn|Stevens|1999|pp=290–291}} while historians have said the group was disbanded because of Mexican budget cuts.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}