LOS NIÑOS HÉROES OF CHAPULTEPEC ARE AMONG THE MOST ENDURING SYMBOLS OF MEXICAN PATRIOTISM. THEIR STORY DATES TO SEPTEMBER 13, 1847, DURING THE MEXICAN–AMERICAN WAR, WHEN U.S. FORCES LAUNCHED A DECISIVE ASSAULT ON CHAPULTEPEC CASTLE, WHICH AT THE TIME HOUSED MEXICO’S MILITARY ACADEMY. FACING OVERWHELMING ODDS, A GROUP OF YOUNG CADETS CHOSE TO DEFEND THE FORTRESS, EVEN AS DEFEAT BECAME INEVITABLE.

TRADITIONALLY, SIX CADETS ARE HONORED: JUAN DE LA BARRERA, AGUSTÍN MELGAR, VICENTE SUÁREZ, FRANCISCO MÁRQUEZ, FERNANDO MONTES DE OCA, AND JUAN ESCUTIA. MOST WERE TEENAGERS, AND SOME WERE BARELY CHILDREN. WHEN ORDERS WERE GIVEN TO RETREAT, THESE CADETS REMAINED AT THEIR POSTS, FIGHTING TO THE END. THEIR ACTIONS CAME TO SYMBOLIZE LOYALTY, COURAGE, AND ULTIMATE SACRIFICE IN DEFENSE OF THEIR NATION. THE MOST FAMOUS LEGEND TELLS OF JUAN ESCUTIA, WHO, RATHER THAN ALLOWING THE MEXICAN FLAG TO FALL INTO ENEMY HANDS, WRAPPED HIMSELF IN IT AND LEAPT FROM THE CASTLE WALLS, BECOMING AN ENDURING EMBLEM OF DEVOTION TO MEXICO.