Ebbie - My Spanish isn't all that great either, but I think you have the correct literal translation. The colloquial translation would be something more like "the Irishmen" as in Mexico's version of an Irish Brigade. I hadn't really thought about before, but now I'm curious: did they choose the name themselves or did Mexican officialdom bestow it on them?

Sorcha - don't be so hard on your kinsman. He was twice decorated for valor as a junior officer during the war with Mexico and served brilliantly in the Civil War. His most apparent weakness was that he trusted his subordinates without question. Most historians consider him to have been impeccably honest personally, but his Presidential administration was corrupt because of his trusting reliance on subordinates. That is , perhaps, a necessary or even admirable trait in a military context, but one prone to exploitation in a political context. There is a good bit of scholarship available on him. I most respectfully suggest yhat you might change your view if you study a fair sampling of those writings.