General Santa Anna mourned: "Give me a couple of hundred more men like Riley's and I would have won triumph." It is assessed that somewhere around 60 percent of the regiment fell at Churubusco, with the surviving 85 individuals, including Riley and Dalton, being walked away for preliminary. 72 were quickly accused of abandonment by the US Army.
Two separate courts-military were held, right off the bat at Tacubaya on 23 August 1847 and another at San Angel on 26 August. No lawful portrayal was given and 48 of the men were condemned to be hanged by General Winfield Scott in an immediate infringement of the Articles of War, which stipulated that the punishment for departure or absconding to the foe at time of war was passing by terminating squad.
RE: The St. Patrick's Battalion - The Story of John Riley, A Mexican War Hero - Part I [history]