; the Riley plaque with misspelled surname missing Robert Ryal Miller, author of
Shamrock and Sword (1989), found what appeared to be Riley's death certificate in book of burials No. 6, entry 133, of the then parish (now cathedral) of
Veracruz. Like Riley's Mexican army records, it refers to the name "Juan Reley". It reads: In the H. [Heroic] city of Veracruz, on the thirty first of August of eighteen hundred and fifty, I, Don Ignacio Jose Jimenez, curate of the parish church of the Assumption of Our Lady, buried in the general cemetery the body of Juan Reley, of forty five years of age, a native of Ireland, unmarried, parents unknown; died as a result of drunkenness, without sacraments, and I signed it. However, while Miller at the time believed this was in fact the death certificate of the San Patricio commander, both his own research and that of subsequent scholars suggest that he was mistaken. which cast doubt on Miller's original presumption include: • The U.S. Army enlistment records from September, 1845 indicate that John Riley was born in Clifden, County Galway, and was twenty-eight years old at the time of his enlistment. That would mean he had been born between 1817 and 1818 so would have been 33 years old in 1850. The Juan Riley buried in the churchyard was 45 years old according to the curate. If this was accurate, it could not have been the leader of the San Patricios. • Major Riley was a teetotaler and his sobriety, leadership, ambition and example was commented on by several people who knew him. Even those who condemned his desertion were aware of these qualities. A death from drunkenness would have been highly unlikely. • Riley had been discharged on 14 August with medals for heroism, with uniforms, with a well-equipped horse and tack, with over $800 in retirement pay (the equivalent of $20,000 today). The death certificate for the indigent "Juan Riley" was dated 31 August, just seventeen days later. • No robbery was mentioned in any newspaper in Veracruz during this period, nor were there any police reports of big spenders. In such a small town they would have been noticed. Thus is highly unlikely that the well-known and highly decorated major, a redhead over six feet tall and handsome except for his scars, would have been suddenly impoverished and buried (as "Juan Riley") without last rites in the general cemetery just weeks after his discharge. Research conducted in September 2012 in Clifden, County Galway failed to turn up any John Riley who would fit into the age described on the death certificate. Peter F. Stephens, author of ''The Rogue's March: John Riley and the St. Patrick's Battalion'', agrees that the only Rileys which fit the profile had to be born in County Galway in 1818, a year that marks the birth of two male children to two different families each of whom were named John Riley, both of which were duly recorded by the Catholic Church records in Clifden, County Galway. ==Legacy==