Flag
There are conflicting accounts of the design of the flag of the Saint Patrick's Battalion. No flags or depictions of them are known to have survived to the present day. The only version of the flag known to have survived the war was subsequently lost or stolen from the chapel at West Point.
Jon Riley, who left an account of the battalion, noted the flag in a letter:
| “ | "In all my letter, I forgot to tell you under what banner we fought so bravely. It was that glorious Emblem of native rights, that being the banner which should have floated over our native Soil many years ago, it was St. Patrick, the Harp of Erin, the Shamrock upon a green field." | ” |
According to an American journalist covering the war with Mexico:
| “ | The banner is of green silk, and on one side is a harp, surmounted by the Mexican coat of arms, with a scroll on which is painted Libertad por la Republica Mexicana . Under the harp is the motto of Erin go Bragh! On the other side is a painting... made to represent St. Patrick, in his left hand a key and in his right a crook or staff resting upon a serpent. Underneath is painted San Patricio. | ” |
Two other eye-witness accounts of the flag exist, both from American soldiers. The first describes it as:
| “ | "...a beautiful green silk banner waved over their heads; on it glittered a silver cross and a golden harp, embroidered by the hands of the fair nuns of San Luis Potosí." | ” |
The second notes only:
| “ | "Among the mighty host we passed was O'Reilly {{sic}} and his company of deserters bearing aloft in high disgrace the holy banner of St. Patrick." | ” |
A radically different version of the flag was described in this Mexican source:
| “ | "Tenían una insignia blanca, en la que se encontraban los escudos de Irlanda y Mexico, y el nombre de su capitán, John O'Reilly bordado en verde." | ” |
Whatever the case, in 1997 a reproduction military flag was created by the Clifden and Connemara Heritage Group. Another was created the following year for the MGM film One Man's Hero. The film was a romanticised version of the San Patricios' history. A third version embodying the description of the San Luis Potosí flag was made for the Irish Society of Chicago, which hung it in Chicago's Union League Club.
Some theories suggest that the Saint Patrick's Battalion might have used different banners (as an artillery unit, an infantry company and as a reconstructed unit).
Read more about this topic: Saint Patrick's Battalion
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