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In 1846 Catholicism was an unpopular religion in mostly Protestant America. To make this point, one only needs to look at the Republican Party platform in Illinois in 1858. There the party declared that the two main threats to US democracy was the Slave Power Conspiracy and Catholicism. More closer to modern day history, the first and only US president to be Catholic was John F. Kennedy. Yet there are tens of millions of Catholics in the US.With that said, the majority of Catholics in the US in 1846 were Irish immigrants. These people were highly discriminated against.
There had been a "slogan" or a "phrase" concerning Irish Catholics in the building of Southern railroads. Early in the 19th century, building railroads in the South was hard labor and often involved working in mosquito laden swampy areas. This caused the death of many of the workers. When asked why Irish workmen were used in this treacherous job instead of slaves, the answer was that slaves were much to valuable to work on the railroads.
As the Mexican War began to unfold,General Taylor had Irish troops among his army on the Rio Grande. In the Spring of 1846, Irish soldiers began to cross the river lured by the Mexican offer to grant them 320 acres of land and to be among their "Catholic" brothers in Mexico.
The Mexicans reminded the US Irish soldiers that they lacked full citizenship in the US and were subject to bigotry, which was true.
Desertion, however, is a capital offense. Deserters were treated equally. In order to stem this problem, General Taylor ordered "shoot to kill" instructions on soldiers swimming across the river to Mexico.
Some 200 Irish Catholics joined the Mexican Army and formed the San Patricio Battalion.
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