"Many were recent immigrants, fleeing the Great Famine in Ireland, who had joined the US Army for the promise of land and an enlistment bounty.
The reasons they deserted are complicated, Paredes says. As Irishmen and Roman Catholics, these immigrants faced a lot of discrimination in the overwhelmingly Protestant United States. “When the US actually went to war, many of them — being strong Catholics — saw what they considered an unfair invasion of a foreign country," Paredes says.
The Irish deserters formed the core of the "Battalion of Foreigners," which was later renamed the "Batallón de San Patricio." Roman Catholic deserters from Germany and other European nations also joined them, as did some foreign residents of Mexico City. There were also several African Americans who had run away from slavery in the southern United States."
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