The St. Patrick Battalion
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My name is John Riley
I'll have your ear only a while
I left my dear home in Ireland
It was death, starvation or exile
When I got to America
It was my duty to go
Enter the army and slog across Texas
To join in the war against Mexico
And it was there in the pueblos and hillsides
That I saw the mistake I had made
Part of a conquering army
With the morals of a bayonet blade
And there amidst all these poor dying Catholics
Screaming children, the burning stench of it all
Myself and two hundred Irishmen
Decided to rise to the call
From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
We formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
We marched 'neath the green flag of St. Pat
Emblazoned with Erin go Bragh
Right with the harp and the shamrock
And Libertad para Republica
Just fifty years after Wolfe Tone
Five thousand miles away
The Yanks called us a legion of strangers
And they can talk as they may
But from Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
We formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
We fought them in Matamoros
Where their volunteers were raping the nuns
In Monterrey and Cerro Gordo
We fought on as Ireland's sons
We were the red-headed fighters for freedom
Amidst these brown-skinned women and men
Side by side we fought against tyranny
And I dare say we'd do it again
From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
We formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
We fought them in five major battles
Churubusco was the last
Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston
We fell after each mortar blast
Most of us died on that hillside
At the service of the Mexican state
So far from our occupied homeland
We were heroes and victims of fate
From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
From Dublin City to San Diego
We witnessed freedom denied
So we formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side
We formed the St. Patrick Battalion
And we fought on the Mexican side