So did Mexico keep France from helping Confederacy?

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2017 will be the 155th anniversary of Cinco de Mayo and once again my person plans to dress up in a U. S. Colored Troops officer's replica period uniform and Mexican hat and wander through four Mexican restaurants in Natchez Ms. and Vidalia La. Cinco de Mayo celebrations..where white folks, black folks and Mexican workers will be drinking, eating and dancing to non Mexican music. This is to show the connection to how the Battle of Pueblo near Vera Cruz on May 5, 1862 was instrumental in preventing the French army from conquering Mex-i-co in order to help the Confederate army and the south during the Civil War. What if they French had been successful Black folks?

Consequences to the United States

Some historians have argued that France's real goal was to help break up the American Union, at the time in the midst of a civil war, by helping the southern Confederacy:[24] "The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build a powerful army. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War." The consequence of Cinco de Mayo to the United States has been thus recognized: "The defeat of the French army had consequences for America as well...the French defeat denied Napoleon III the opportunity to resupply the Confederate rebels for another year."[25]

Donald W. Miles adds, "At the time, there were fears in the United States that the French would use Mexico as a base to back the Confederacy, so President Lincoln and his Secretary of State went out of their way to appear 'neutral' in the Mexican situation. They did not want to take on the French and the Confederates at the same time".[26] Dr. Miles goes on to explain that "Napoleon III had hesitated to take on the United States directly, but now the news of the Civil War changed everything". It meant that the Americans would be occupied with their conflict between North and South for some time. Upon hearing the Spaniards and the British had sailed off to grab the customs house in Veracruz to start collecting their duties, Napoleon decided he would not only send the French navy, but would also start looking for someone to place as emperor in Mexico. He would then use Mexico as a base to help the Confederates win their war against the United States. Napoleon saw this as an opportunity not to be missed.[27] Dr. Miles then concludes, "The Emperor of France ordered his generals to spend a few months taking on Mexico and then - using Mexico as a 'base' - help the Confederates win their war against the United States. What if they had succeeded? The United States would never become the significant world power it is today...the Mexicans not only took their nation back, but influenced the outcome of the U.S. Civil War."[28]

My person points out the importance of the Mexican and African Descent people who defeated the French in the battle of Pueblo in the Vera Cruz area that took place on May 5, 1862, now called Cinco de Mayo. It kept the French from aiding the Confederacy at that time.

By the time the French were able to achieve their aim of establishing a French empire in Mexico, it was in 1863, the Freedom summer of 1863, when thousands of enslaved and non-enslaved African descent people self-emancipated to be free. Thousands became Union military freedom fighters. Less than 24 month after they became freedom fighters throughout south, the north and from Canada and other countries, it was too late! Viva Cinco de Mayo!

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