Texas Ranger Capt. Samuel Walker was killed on October 9, 1847 at the Battle of Huamantla by an unseen sniper firing a shotgun from a balcony.
Walker is best known as the co-inventor along with Samuel Colt of the six-shot revolver. At his own expense, Walker went to New York to take a direct part in the design of the new handgun that made the Rangers even more of a force to be reckoned with in the war with Mexico.
The moment the Stars and Stripes was raised over Chapultepec Castle on September 13, 1847, thirty Irish deserters were hanged.
In a clever campaign to convince immigrant soldiers to switch sides, the Mexicans urged their Catholic brothers to turn against the “Protestant tyrants.” Santa Anna soon had enough Irish deserters to create the San Patricio Battalion that fought bravely in several battles. But those captured by the Americans faced long prison sentences or death on the gallows.