Series 3 - John Riley/San Patricios letters

58pp

The original manuscruipts of the Riley (San Patricios) letters are in the Records of the Office of the US Adjutant General (Misc. Papers, Box 7) in the United States National Archives, Washington, D.C. However, Kerby A. Miller received his photocopies and typed transcripts of the letters, plus supplemental information about Riley and O'Malley, from Professor Robert Ryal Miller, author of Shamrock and Sword (1989), a history of the St. Patrick's Battalion; and from Mark R. Day, maker of the documentary film The San Patricios (1996).

Materials pertaining to two letters dating to the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. The first letter was written 1847 by John Riley, an officer in the San Patricio [St. Patrick's] Battalion, in which Irish immigrants and other deserters from the United States Army fought with distinction for Mexico in the war. The second letter, dated 1848, was written by Riley's former employer and the recipient of his 1847 letter, Charles O'Malley of Mackinac, Michigan, an immigrant from County Mayo, now an affluent merchant and office-holder. O'Malley wrote to General Winfield Scott, US commander in Mexico City, trying to distance himself from Riley by denigrating his character. Per Kerby A. Miller, the letters illuminate: the Irish immigrant experience in the Mexican War, including the San Patricio Battalion; Irish immigrant workers on Mackinac Island, northern Michigan, early 1840s; and the adaptation and self-promotion/preservation strategies of the Irish Catholic bourgeoisie faced with possible accusations of disloyalty to the United States.
The series includes: Kerby Miller's description of the letters and associated documents; typed transcripts of the letters; a photocopy of the Riley letter; and Miller's correspondence with Robert Ryal Miller and Mark Day