
From Wikipedia... "The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5 , 1862 , under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín . The outnumbered Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had not been defeated in almost 50 years. A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day , which actually is September 16 ( dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish), the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico" [...]