I first read the term in the printed journal of British Army officer Arthur JL Fremantle. In 1863, he had disembarked from the HMS Immortalite (a sailing frigate) in Baghdad, Mexico, which was at the mouth of the Rio Grande. Brownsville, Texas, is located on the other side of the Rio Grande River. The squibs and crackers were fireworks. Always demanding in language and meaning, Fremantle, a high-born Briton, distinguished between firecrackers that explode (crackers) and those that are fake (squibs, which bubble but do not explode).

In his diary, he wrote that the letters, introducing him, were sent by both British consulates and British generals, prior to his trip, an attempt to gain support for him during his planned trip from Texas to New York. (during the War between the States). He was sent to observe activity in the southern states, which had separated from the union of the United States. In his journal, he wrote about his experiences, giving an extraordinary account of daily life, those of high birth, those who had nothing, and many people in between. He watched the squibs and crackers during a Mexican celebration of a recent Mexican army victory over the French army.

The Republic of Mexico was formed in 1824 after its successful bid for independence from Spain, but it was dominated by strong military autocrats, such as Santa Anna, who tried to crush an organized revolt of American émigrés in Texas in 1846. In that, Santa Anna it failed, and the United States quickly invited Texas to become a state (leading to the two-year Mexican-American War). By 1848, Mexico’s land mass was cut in half and they were very weak. The British were interested in world affairs, and especially in the affairs of the United States (having lost the American colonies in 1783 and the stagnation of the War of 1812). The British became more interested when France invaded Mexico in 1861.

The British pointed to the timing of French intervention, parallel to the weakening of the United States by the secession of the southern states, also in 1861. They had reason to be concerned: many intelligence advances suggested France’s intention to establish a monarchy in Mexico (Emperor Maximilian) and, through that monarchy, establish an alliance with the seceding southern states of the United States, which had been forced to confederate since President Lincoln was able to hold the remaining states of the Union together as a force. political (and military).

Even with all this history moving around her, Fremantle was able to capture in her journal the real essence behind the conflict: the surprising behavior of individual human beings. In addition, he preserved the time-honored tradition of British humor (uttering an insult disguised as a compliment). For example, he thought that Mexicans were rude in their dance, and when asked to participate in a dance, he said: “Europeans cannot dance in elegant Mexican fashion.”