One Man's Hero

The film tells the story of Jon Riley and the Saint Patrick's Battalion, a group of Irish immigrants who desert from the U.S. Army to the Mexican side during the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 after encountering prejudice against them especially for their religion (the majority of Irish being Catholic and a majority of U.S. Army being Protestant) and ethnic origins. The story centers around Riley and a couple men in his U.S. Battalion who are whipped for "desertion" when actually they were not allowed to attend Mass at the Catholic church on the Mexican side of the border. They escape to Mexico to hopefully find a ship back to Ireland only to find out that the U.S. and Mexico are now at war and if they are captured they could be hanged.