The Independence

The Independence

September 15, 1808. Spanish merchants and their servants, headed by Gabriel de Yermo, took the viceroy Jose de Iturrrigaray prisoner. He was accused of wanting Independence for New Spain, taking advantage of the fact that the French were occupying the Iberian peninsula and the Spanish royal family had been driven into exile. The very same night they apprehended the members of the Ayuntamiento of Mexico, led by the lawyer Francisco Primo de Verdad y Ramos. He was later found dead in the Corte prison. The members of the Ayuntamiento were distinguished Creoles (Mexican-born Spaniards) who were trying to find a solution to the immediate situation. The "Parianeros" -a name given to the tradesmen of "El Parián" market- appointed the old soldier Pedro de Garibay viceroy; they knew he could be manipulated.

December 21, 1809. A conspiracy was discovered in Valladolid to take up arms and rebel against the Spanish government of the Viceroyalty. The leaders were arrested. among them Lieutenant Mariano Michelena, Captain Jose Maria Garcia Obeso and Father Vicente de Santa Maria. Brought before the viceroy, at that time Archbishop Francisco Javier Lizana y beaumont, they were judged innocent and set free.

August 1810. General Francisco Javier Venegas arrived in Veracruz to replace Archbishop Lizana as viceroy. He took up his position in Mexico City on September 14.

A new conspiracy against Spanish rule organized in Querétaro, that included the priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Captain Ignacio Allende, Captain Ignacio Aldama and the wife of the magistrate, josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, was reported to the authorities on September 13, 1810.

Knowing that they had been discovered, father Hidalgo and his companions rose up in arms on September 16, 1810 to begin the Independence Revolution.

September 17, 1810. Father Miguel Hidalgo, passing through the small town of Atotonilco took up a religious banner bearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and this became the first standard of his troops. That same afternoon the insurgents -as Viceroy Venegas had begun to call them- took San Miguel el Grande, Guanajuato.

September 21, 1810. The insurgents entered Celaya. Hidalgo reviewed his forces and made his lieutenants into lieutenant generals, while he was acclaimed supreme commander.

September 28, 1810. Hidalgo, after ordering the governor of Guanajuato Jose Antonio Riaño to surrender, launched a series of attacks against the Alhóndiga de Granaditas (the public granary) where the royalists were entrenched. All these failed until the main door was set on fire, when the fortress, and with it the city of Guanajuato, fell into the hands of the insurghents.

October 17, 1810. Valladolid (Morelia) fell to the insurgents.

October 30, 1810. The insurgents defeated the royalists at the battle of Monte de las Cruces, very close to the capital of the Viceroyalty, but Hidalgo unexpectedly ordered his forces to withdraw.

November 7, 1810. The insurgents were defeated on the plain of San Jéronimo Aculco (now in the State of Mexico) by the troops of General Fe1ix Maria Calleja. Hidalgo marched to Valladolid, and Ignacio Allende to Guanajuato.

November 11, 1810. The rebel leader Jose Antonio Torres took Guadalajara, which Hidalgo reached on the 26th. Allende arrived on December 12.

The priest Jose Maria Morelos, who had talked with Hidalgo at Indaparapeo, Michoacán, received the order to incite the South to rebellion and take the port of Acapulco. On January 5, 1811 he defeated the royalists at Tres Palos.

While Hidalgo was in Guadalajara from November 11 to 29 1810 he organized an independent government and issued a decree abolishing slavery.

January 17, 1811. The insurgents were defeated by the royalist troops of General Felix Maria Calleja at the battle of Puente de Caldrón, Michoacán. The rebels withdrew northward.

The rebel leaders Hidalgo, Allende and Aldama and others who were making for the U.S.A. to buy arms, were caught in Coahuila by the soldiers of the royalist leader Ignacio Elizondo on March 21, 1811.

In April 1811, Ignacio Lopez Rayon who had been made the rebel leader in Saltillo, withdrew. On this memorable march he took the city of Zacatecas then continued from there to Zitacuaro, Michoacan.

May 24, 1811. Jose Maria Morelos took control of Chilpancingo, and of Tuxtla on the 26th. There he was joined by a young man called Vicente Guerrero, who was to become one of the most outstanding leaders of the Independence movement.

July 26, 1811. Ignacio Allende, Mariano Jimenez and Juan Aldama were executed by a firing squad in the city of Chihuahua. Hidalgo suffered the same fate on the 30th of the same month.

In July 1811, Ignacio Lopez Rayon called together an assembly of Supreme Chiefs at Zitacuaro to govern in the name of the king of Spain, Ferdinand VII. jose Maria Morelos rejected the idea of governing in the name of any monarch at all.

December 16, 1811. The forces of jose Maria Morelos were joined by those of Mariano Matamoros, who came to be his right hand.

February 19, 1812. The forces under Morelos repelledvthe royalist troops of Calleja at Cuautla (now in the State of Morelos). Calleja had to lay siege to the place.

In February 1812 the Spanish parliament was assembled at Cadiz in the absence of the monarchs, prisoners of Bonaparte, to continue the fight against the French who were still occupying part of Spain. Representatives of Spanish possessions in America and the Philippines were also present. The Constitution proclaimed in Cadiz on February 24 had great influence on the independence movements of New Spain and other Spanish possessions in the Americas.

Morelos raised the siege of Cuautla on May 3, 1812.

The rebel leader jose Antonio Torres was taken prisoner and hanged by the royalists of General Cruz at Zacoala, Jalisco, on May 3, 1812.

In July 1812, Morelos defeated the royalists at Huajuapan, Oaxaca and took Tehuacan, Puebla.

November 25, 1812. Morelos took possession of the city of Oaxaca.

March 4, 1813. General Fe1ix Maria Calleja was appointed viceroy of New Spain.

In May 1813. Jose Maria Morelos summoned a national congress at Chilpancingo.

Morelos took the fort of San Diego in Acapulco on August 17, 1813, which was a great victory for the rebels.

November 6, 1813. The Congress of Chilpancingo made the declaration of Independence and appointed Morelos supreme commander.

In January 1814, Morelos tried to take Valladolid but was repelled by the royalist leaders Iturbide and Torcuato Trujillo.

The royalists pursued the insurgents and on January 5, 1814 took Mariano Matamoros prisoner on the Hacienda of Pururan. He was shot at Valladolid on February 3.

In April 1814, the royalist forces of Colonel Armijo defeated the rebel general Vicente Guerrero and recovered the port of Acapulco.

The troops of Colonel Avi1es defeated the rebels under Hermenegildo Galeana on June 22, 1814. Galeana tried to withdraw but was caught up with and died fighting on the 27th of the same month.

Protected by the military forces of Morelos the rebel Congress declared the Constitution of Apatzingan (Michoacan).

Fearing that the royalists would attack, the Congress agreed to transfer to Tehuacan, Pueblo. On September 29, 1815 the assembly set out, escorted by generalissimo Morelos and part of his troops.

November 1815. While trying to ford the river Mescala, the Congress and its escort were surprised by the royalists at a spot called Tesmalaca. Morelos resisted in order to give the Congress time to reach safety, and was taken prisoner by the royalists.

Morelos was taken to Mexico City. He was unfrocked on November 27, 1815, given a military trial and condemned to death.

December 22, 1815. Jose Maria Morelos was shot at San Cristobal Ecatepec, now in the State of Mexico.

September 20, 1816. The naval captain Juan Ruiz de Apodaca took over from General Calleja as viceroy of New Spain. From the beginning Apodaca held a policy of pardon for the rebels. He ordered the execution of prisoners to be suspended completely, and this led to many rebels accepting the amnesty and laying down their arms. New Spain was almost at peace again; the only resistance was in some mountain areas that rebel leaders had made their stronghold.

April 15, 1817. An expedition landed at Soto de la Marina, Tamaulipas, It was led by Francisco Xavier Mina, a young Spanish liberal who had taken refuge in London and there met and been in close contact with the brilliant Mexican politician, Friar Servando Teresa de Mier. He had persuaded the young Mina, who had distinguished himself in the war against the French in Spain, to go to Mexico and fight for its freedom.

After a brilliant campaign General Mina, together with the rebel leader Pedro Moreno, was taken by surprise on the ranch of El Venadito, near Le6n, Guanajuato on October 27, 1817. Moreno died fighting;

Mina was taken prisoner and shot on November 11 of that year.

General Vicente Guerrero kept rebellion alive in the south and on May 14, 1819 defeated the royalist forces of General Armijo at Coahuayutla.

The French were defeated in Spain, and on March 9, 1820 Ferdinand VII was forced to swear allegiance to the Constitution of Cadiz. In May that year in Mexico there was the Profesa conspiracy to separate Mexico from Spain and offer the throne of Mexico to Ferdinand for him to rule the country as absolute monarch. In November, the viceroy, Apodaca, appointed General Agustin de Iturbide chief of military operations in the south.

In January and February 1821 the royalist general, Agustin de Iturbide and General Vicente Guerrero exchanged letters, and finally met for talks in the town of Acatempan to proclaim the Iguala Plan on February 24.

In this they undertook to fight together for the Independence of Mexico.

The viceroy, the Count del Venadito, unable to control the rebellion originated by the Iguala Plan, was removed from office by the Spanish Party on July 5, 1821 and General Francisco Novella appointed in his place. On July 30 Juan O'Donoju, appointed Captain-General of New Spain, landed at the port of Veracruz. He was invited by Iturbide to have talks with him at Cordoba, Veracruz, on August 24 where he signed the Treaty that bears this city's name, In this be recognized the independence of Mexico, which henceforth would be called the Mexican Empire, reserving the throne for a monarch from the house of Bourbon or, if necessary, whoever should be designated by the National Congress.

September 8, 1821. The prov ince of Chiapas joined the Iguala Plan.

September 27, 1821. The Army of the Three Guarantees, so called because it upheld the promises of the Iguala Plan -Religion, Union and Independence- entered Mexico City.

on to: Iturbide's Empire