So, what are we all doing for Camerone Day? Two battalions of the Foreign Legion formed part of the French expeditionary force in Mexico. In 1863, their role was one of protecting the French lines of communication, but disease and combat took a heavy toll of the men. On April 30, one company of the 1st Battalion had been reduced to 62 men by attrition, and led by Captain Jean Danjou and two other officers (Sous-Lieutenants Maudet and Vilain) detached from headquarters to replace the company's own officers, who were ill. It was assgned to patrol along a road that was to be used by an important convoy. Not long after 0700, a patrol flushed out a large force of nearly 2,000 Mexican infantry and cavalry intent on ambushing the convoy. Danjou withdrew his command into an old hacienda near the village of Camerón de Tejeda . When the Mexican commander demanded the surrender of Danjou and his legionnaires, Danjou replied: 'We have ammunition. We will not surrender' and swor...
Local and military history