The Mexican War of Independence: Hidalgo’s Insurgents - Part 2

By the latter half of the 17th century, the rule of Spain in the New World was reaching 200 years. Times were changing, both in the New World and in Europe, and the leaders of Spain knew it. Their problem was what to do about it. Spain had never had a coherent policy in its imperial rule. Since 1492, Spain was seemingly constantly at war, with an endless series of crises thrown into the mix. Solutions had to be found for the here and now, the future would take care of itself.

Erick Redington continues his look at the independence of Spanish America by looking at the Mexican War of Independence. Here he looks at the evolution of the war and some successes for the revolutionaries.

If you missed them, Erick’s article on the four viceroyalties is here, Francisco de Miranda’s early life is here, his travels in Europe and the US is here, and his later years is here. Then, you can read about the Abdications of Bayonne here, and the start of the Mexican War of Independence here.

A painting of Ignacio Allende. By Ramon Perez, 1865.

Revolutionary Fire

When Hidalgo went to his parish church and assembled the people, he summoned all of his natural charisma and speaking abilities. He knew he had one chance to rally the common people to the cause of rebellion.

The speech that Hidalgo gave, known to history as the Cry of Dolores, was not written down and has varied in its retelling over the years. What is known is that Hidalgo’s theme was to revolt against oppression and tyranny. For him, the symbols of that tyranny were the Spanish peninsulares, or as they were called resentfully, the gachupines. For Hidalgo and the others in the conspiracy, it was the peninsulares who kept them from the highest orders in society. So, Hidalgo laid it on to the people. If only they could get rid of the gachupines, tyranny would be abolished. To add further insult to injury, he told the crowd that the hated gachupines were going to surrender the colony to the Bonaparte usurper carried on the coattails of the invading French army. These atheistic Frenchmen would further oppress them if they did nothing.

This was to be a rebellion, not to destroy the established authorities, which went directly against Biblical teaching, and would be odd coming from a priest, it would be a holy crusade for both religion and their true king, Ferdinand VII, still living a prisoner of the French. The cry went up from Hidalgo, “Long live the King! Long live America! Death to bad government!” Ominously, the response he got back from the crowd was “Death to the gachupines!”

There is no known telling of this story that says Hidalgo attempted to tamp down on this spirit of bloodlust from the crowd. Indeed, he fostered it. This first stage of the Mexican War of Independence lost the character of the clean military coup with little bloodshed that men like Allende hoped for. This was to be a social revolution intending the destruction of the social class at the top of the social pyramid. Hidalgo, like many revolutionary leaders, understood that to will a result implies an absolute acceptance of the means to achieve that result. If the end of Spanish tyranny meant the deaths of everyone who exercised such tyranny, then so be it.

The Revolutionaries Move

Revolutionary movements have a history of either growing or dying. Hidalgo understood that with the passions of his followers at a fever pitch, they had to move out of the colonial backwater they were located in and gain new followers. Further, the passions of the people could glow white hot, but without proper channeling, those passions could dissipate just as fast as they grew. The insurgent army had to strike.

To secure his local region, Hidalgo first ordered the emptying of the local jails. This was to make room for the hated gachupines whose haciendas he authorized to be plundered and burned. The people took to this work with gusto. Homes were burned and their Spanish owners were beaten, imprisoned, and killed. The people who had lived on these haciendas and worked them would, in the frenzy, join the insurgents. Hidalgo’s army grew with every hacienda burned.

“Take, my children! Everything is yours!” This was the battle cry from Hidalgo to his followers at this stage (yes, he really did say this). One thing that was taken by Hidalgo himself was a representation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Located at a shrine in Atotonilco, this representation became the symbol of the budding revolution.

At San Miguel, the birthplace of Allende, the insurgents sacked the properties of the gachupines. For the primarily indio and mestizo insurgents, they could not tell the difference between a creole and a gachupine. This led to many creoles being attacked and beaten, and their property seized. For Hidalgo, this was just the justifiable rage of the people. For the original conspirators, such as Allende, this was terrifying. All the bloody scenes of revolutionary Paris were coming to New Spain. This was not a targeted activity to change the government, this was a mob indiscriminately committing crimes.

For Allende, this was doubly frustrating. He was supposed to be the military leader of the revolution. Yet, Hidalgo would not allow him to exercise any command. Hidalgo had even proclaimed himself the “Captain-General of America,” assuming a military rank higher than the professional conspirators. Their leader was now bestowing grandiloquent titles on himself while leading a mob on an excursion of pillage and murder.

First Resistance

As the insurgent army approached Guanajuato, the leader of the Spanish forces there, José Antonio Raiño, decided to make a stand against the rebel army. He ordered the fortification of a granary, and much of the wealth of the city was stored there for defense, including almost three million pesos in cash and gold. On September 28, 1810, the battle began.

The insurgents up to this point had relied upon numbers and fury to carry them forward. This was the first time they had encountered an organized military force armed with cannons. When Hidalgo ordered an attack upon the granary, he found that his men were joined by many locals, especially miners, who were eager to destroy the gachupines and get some of that gold.

Wave after wave of insurgents flung themselves at the granary. Hidalgo, who had read books on military tactics as part of his Enlightenment studies, did not have military experience, despite his title. Allende, the man with experience was not able to exert command authority. So, bodies piled up in front of the granary. Yet the fervor of the insurgents did not flag in this trial. Raiño was shot in the head leading the defense. In the confusion that the lack of leadership caused, the insurgents were able to set fire to the building. The defenders tried to surrender. With the insurgents’ blood up, surrender was not an option. The defenders were killed to a man.

The Turning Point

The fall of the granary was not the end of the insurgents’ first battle. The capture of Guanajuato had just begun. Angered by the deaths of their friends and family, the insurgents proceeded to put the city to the torch. Three hundred years of hate, oppression, slavery, and ignorance were brought out on this one night. Guanajuato was burned and pillaged. Any Spaniard that could be found was killed out of hand. Worse happened to the Spanish women of the city. Since this movement had a working-class tinge to it, the machinery used to work the mines was also destroyed in the hatred of their labor.

It was at Guanajuato that the Hidalgo insurgency showed its most important characteristic. It was not really about the future. The idea did not exist in the minds of the movement that it was working to create a free and prosperous Mexico, unshackled by tyranny and foreign, racial domination. No, this was about the past. The actions of everyone in New Spain since November 8, 1519, the day Cortés met Montezuma II, had led to this moment. This revolution was about the hacienda system, the racial caste system, the destruction of indio independence, and a thousand other incidences in the almost three hundred years since. Hidalgo’s enlightenment ideals on the superiority of human reason over emotional barbarism and superstition were held in the balance and found wanting. For Hidalgo, this was only a minor obstacle. Consistency is for fools; he was the leader of a movement. Ever onward.

Guanajuato also taught one other lesson, the price of failure. For the leadership in Mexico City, they saw a preview on a smaller scale of what would happen in case the insurgents took the capital. Negotiating and compromising with the insurgents was no longer an option. For both sides, it was only victory or death.

The Revolution Moves Forward

Hidalgo’s next target was the city of Valladolid. This city of about 50,000 people was one he was intimately familiar with. As a young man, Hidalgo had been a teacher here. The Bishop, Manuel Abad y Queipo, had been a friend of Hidalgo’s. Abad, however, believed that Hidalgo’s ideas were heretical, and did not support the atrocities carried out in Hidalgo’s name. On his own authority, Abad excommunicated Hidalgo. Despite this, the garrison of the city went over to the insurgents, as the people of the city did not want to see the scenes of Guanajuato repeated. Abad abandoned the city, and it was peacefully occupied.

From the regional capital of Valladolid, Hidalgo began sending out agents throughout New Spain to attract new followers. Hearing of the collapse of authority among the gachupines, many, especially in the north of New Spain, began declaring for Hidalgo. Many leaders in San Luis Potosí, Saltillo, and many others were all in on destroying the hated Spanish. It had seemed that despite the scenes in Guanajuato, Hidalgo would sweep all before him, mostly without a fight.

The defection of the north to the insurgents presented a problem for the Spanish. Where to focus efforts? In the north, the revolution was sweeping everything before it, but there was no organized army, and could seemingly be reconquered easily. In the south, Hidalgo had what passed for an army, but its numbers were enormous. With limited resources at his disposal, the viceroy could not directly confront both threats. In the end, he chose to send an army north under an able, if extremely ruthless, general, Félix María Calleja.

Attempting to Bring Order to Chaos

Relieved of any pressure from the viceroy, Hidalgo tried to put some organizational and ideological backing into his revolution. He attempted to assuage the creoles by emphasizing that his only goal was to create a new congress, and that would be under the authority of Ferdinand VII. He did not support independence or a republic, he assured the creole leaders. To marry patriotism and self-interest, Hidalgo passed out military ranks and offices in his new government to men of influence., hoping to win them over.

At the same time, Hidalgo attempted to shore up his support with the lower classes. He abolished the privileges of the haciendas and ended all tribute that the indios owed to the haciendados. Slavery was to be abolished. Despite the promises made, and regardless of the merit of any of Hidalgo’s decrees, many of the potential intellectual, political, and military leaders of the revolution saw Hidalgo’s support for, what was in their minds, economic and social radicalism as an existential threat to their position in the economic and political order, let alone their hoped-for societal dominance. Hidalgo even allowed himself to be addressed by his indio followers as “His Most Serene Highness.” Social revolution by a racial underclass exacting bloody revenge had precedent in their minds: Haiti. The specter of a Haitian-style race war hovered over Hidalgo’s insurgency. Many creoles with Hidalgo’s main force now began to slowly filter out of the insurgent army.

Despite offering ranks and titles to some, while at Valladolid, Hidalgo was unable to bring any semblance of order to what was in essence, a mob. Placing the indios and mestizos under military discipline would defeat the purpose of the revolution in his eyes. It went against the core ideals of what he, and they, were fighting for. This lack of discipline would be one of the primary undoings of the insurgent army.

Attempt on the Capital

Understanding he had to keep moving, Hidalgo ordered his army to advance on Mexico City at the end of October. The insurgents numbered almost 80,000 by this point, dwarfing the numbers that the Spanish could deploy. The lesson of Guanajuato was ever-present. For the viceregal government and army, despite being heavily outnumbered, there could be no surrender. The Spanish had to fight.

The viceroy ordered a small force under General Torcuato Trujillo to engage the rebels. Trujillo, having the advantage in firepower, decided to find the most defensible ground possible and fight on his own ground. He chose the Sierra de las Cruces located between Toluca and Mexico City. Riddled with forests and steep ridges, this was the perfect defensive position.

On October 30, the battle began. The insurgent strategy was simple. With a colossal advantage in numbers, the most simplistic path to victory was to surround the Spanish force by enveloping it. For the Spanish, the imperative was survival on their part and killing as many insurgents as possible until one side had to retreat.

All day the battle raged. The insurgents sent waves of men into the teeth of Trujillo’s cannon. Thousands of insurgents would fall this day attempting to storm the Spanish lines. With only a few thousand men, time was not on Trujillo’s side. Although his men rebuffed attack after attack, in the end, they ran out of time. With the size advantage Hidalgo’s army enjoyed, it was almost inevitable he would find a weak spot in Trujillo’s defenses, and the Spanish were nearly surrounded.

Trujillo ordered the withdrawal of his forces. While the Spanish had lost less than 2,000 men, the insurgents had lost, by some estimates, 5,000. Although he would claim victory to the viceroy, Trujillo and everyone else knew that the battle was lost, despite the disproportionate casualties. The path to Mexico City now appeared clear.

Victory in the Palm of His Hand

Mexico City, the most populated city in the Western Hemisphere and the second city of all the Spanish realms, was now open to attack. The people in the city panicked. The viceroy ordered a service held at the cathedral, naming the Virgin of Remedios as the new Captain-General of New Spain. The army sent north was hastily recalled, but everyone knew it could not make it back in time. Many prominent peninsulares prepared to hastily evacuate the city. Everyone was prepared for an orgy of violence, pillage, and bloodshed.

In the insurgent army, Allende urged Hidalgo to immediately march on the capital. This was their chance. It was, unfortunately for the insurgents, the first time Hidalgo had been seen to vacillate. What was he waiting for? The hated gachupines were at his mercy. After waiting three days, Hidalgo made his decision. He ordered the insurgents to march back to Toluca.

Hidalgo told Allende that he planned to move back and finally allow him and the other creole officers to turn the disorganized mob into a disciplined army, one that could engage Calleja once he returned from the north. The officers were incredulous. Now, right on the cusp of victory, with the best chance they would have for total victory, now was when they would sit and attempt to create a real army. The professional soldiers could see the writing on the wall. This was all going to end in catastrophic failure.

Unlike the earlier ad hoc attempt, Hidalgo also tried to create a true government and outline his purpose. From Guanajuato, he would issue proclamation after proclamation, but it was too late. Desertions, from the highest creole officers to the lowest indio pikeman, were endemic. Momentum was lost. The local population was turning against the insurgents.

Insurgent Denouement

Calleja had by now arrived from the north. The viceregal government had declared that anyone found armed would be declared a rebel and executed. This only brought further reprisals from the insurgents. Spanish prisoners were taken out and executed in retaliation for Spanish atrocities. Soon hangings and throat-slittings, the favored execution methods of the Spanish, and garrotings, the favored method of the insurgents, were common, daily occurrences. Reprisal begat reprisal and hate begat hate. Men commonly changed sides and executed their former comrades. Betrayals became as common as executions.

Hidalgo and his insurgents now only had thoughts of escape. The insurgent army began moving north to escape, possibly to the United States. Throughout the march, insurgents deserted, and the size of the once enormous army shrank daily. Finally, at Baján, a former supporter of Hidalgo, Ignacio Elizondo betrayed the rebels into Spanish hands. Elizondo had wanted to be appointed a Lieutenant-General in the insurgent army and had been rebuffed. His resentment over rank led him to surrender the rebel leaders into Spanish custody. On March 21, 1811, Hidalgo and the other leaders of the insurgency were captured.

Hidalgo was turned over to an ecclesiastical court. Because he was a priest, the civil authorities could not judge him. He refused to ask for a pardon. He wrote a statement, abjuring support for his own revolution. Later, it would be said that he wrote this due to being coerced and under torture, but the truth is unknown. Since he had been defrocked and excommunicated by the church, part of his sentence included the flaying of his hands. After this, he was executed, probably by firing squad. This was carried out by the civil authorities. Some of his last words were alleged to be “Though I may die, I shall be remembered forever. You all will soon be forgotten.” After his execution, his head was removed from his body and placed on display with those of the other insurgent leaders. The first phase of the Mexican War of Independence was over.

What do you think of the start of various changes in the Mexican War of Independence? Let us know below.

Now, read about Francisco Solano Lopez, the Paraguayan president who brought his country to military catastrophe in the War of the Triple Alliance here.

The Mexican War of Independence: Chaos and Confusion - Part 1

By the latter half of the 17th century, the rule of Spain in the New World was reaching 200 years. Times were changing, both in the New World and in Europe, and the leaders of Spain knew it. Their problem was what to do about it. Spain had never had a coherent policy in its imperial rule. Since 1492, Spain was seemingly constantly at war, with an endless series of crises thrown into the mix. Solutions had to be found for the here and now, the future would take care of itself.

Erick Redington continues his look at the independence of Spanish America by looking at the Mexican War of Independence. Here he looks at the Jesuit roots of revolution and Hidalgo and Allende.

If you missed them, Erick’s article on the four viceroyalties is here, Francisco de Miranda’s early life is here, his travels in Europe and the US is here, and his later years is here. Then, you can read about the Abdications of Bayonne here.

A painting of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

The Eve of the Revolution

New Spain on the eve of the Abdications of Bayonne in 1808 was a place of tension. The constant warfare in Europe meant that New Spain, as the wealthiest colony of Spain, was used as a source of money for Napoleon’s war machine. The Godoy government had been dedicated to extracting as much wealth as possible from the colonies. The people groaned under the financial burden.

Money was not the only cause of discontent. The example of the United States to the north was one of a free (slaves were ignored) federal republic that had thrown off their colonial masters and the king who ruled over them. Ideas from the French Revolution, such as liberty, equality, and fraternity, were highly influential on the literate classes. The economic arguments of free enterprise and the removal of colonial trade barriers were wrapped into the political language of the Enlightenment of the brotherhood of man and the liberation of the soul.

A further cause of resentment was the social caste system in place in New Spain. Slavery existed in Mexico, but it was not exclusively African slavery, as in the United States. Many of the natives, or indios, descendants of the Aztecs, Maya, and others, were enslaved, either in law or custom, through the encomienda system. This system, in place since the conquests by Cortes, bound the indios to labor to a man granted the right to own that labor, an encomendero. There were African slaves as well, just not in the numbers seen to the north. Above the slaves were mestizos, or mixed Spanish and indio, but they faced many legal and cultural barriers to success. Above them were the criollos. These were people who did not have any Native or African ancestry, but because they were born in New Spain, they faced certain legal disabilities, and in practice were second-class citizens. At the top of the pyramid were the peninsulares, people who were born in Spain. Not only did the peninsulares have more legal rights than everyone else, but they also owned and controlled a disproportionate amount of the wealth in New Spain. This added a large degree of economic resentment to the existing racial resentment.

Choices to be Made

In 1808, the news of the installation of Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain hit New Spain like a thunderbolt. Although there had been tensions between France and Spain, no one had expected something like this to happen. To whom was loyalty owed, to Spain? To the king? Who was the king, Carlos, or Joseph, or maybe it was the Infante, Ferdinand? These questions had to be answered. The person who had the responsibility for all decisions in New Spain was supposed to be the viceroy, José de Iturrigaray.

Iturrigaray had been viceroy in New Spain since 1803. He claimed to be a loyal servant of Carlos IV. The problem for him was, he was the viceroy for Carlos, and was Carlos still the king after the mess of Bayonne? What about Ferdinand, the heir and future king, was he legitimate? He was not appointed by Joseph Bonaparte, but many within the Spanish civil service did recognize Joseph and welcomed the Napoleonic reforms being enacted, including the ending of the Inquisition. Further, Iturrigaray was an appointee of Godoy, the ridiculously corrupt Spanish Prime Minister who was hated by nearly everyone in the Spanish domains. He knew that the Juntas would never accept him, as they were revolting against the existing Spanish government as much as against the French and King Joseph.

Thrown into the mix were those who saw this as a golden opportunity to attain, if not independence from Spain, then at least significant local autonomy. This group was primarily led by criollos who resented the privileges of the peninsulares and identified their country as New Spain. Many in this group believed that New Spain could remain loyal to the Spanish crown but be independent of Spain and the Spanish government. The situation was further complicated by the creation of the revolutionary Juntas in Spain in response to the invasion. The leaders in Spain were attempting to extend their authority over the colonies as well. If the Spanish leaders were able to solidify the loyalty of the colonies, that would eliminate any chance of New Spain achieving autonomy or independence.

When official delegations from two different Juntas, one from Oviedo, and one from Seville, arrived in the colony, it was the perfect excuse for Iturrigaray to delay. He announced that he would make no final decision on whom to support until September. In the interim, he had agreed to the formation of a Congress for the colony, ostensibly to learn the desires of the people.

Some were worried that Iturrigaray was thinking about declaring himself the leader of an independent New Spain, perhaps even as its king. To prevent this from occurring, a group of elites from New Spain organized and plotted to overthrow the viceroy. On September 15, 1808, just four months after the abdications of Bayonne, the conspirators removed Iturrigaray. Although the removal of the viceroy had been the action of a broad spectrum of elites, it seemed no one was happy with the situation. The new viceroy, Pedro de Garibay, was named by the Audencia, not for his ability or charisma, but because he was the highest-ranking officer in New Spain at the time. The pro-independence group wanted a definite break with Spain. The conservatives did not like how the coup played out, as the king was the only person who had the authority to appoint a new viceroy.

The overthrow of the viceroy was a watershed moment for one more reason that would only become clearer in the future. The revolutionary history of what would become Mexico started with a conspiracy overthrowing the legitimate government of the country. The lesson was not lost on those groups who would later compete for power: if you are not happy with the current government, just overthrow it. The English colonists revolted against taxes that barely impacted them. The peoples of Colombia and La Plata would revolt at far less provocation. Yet, the people of Mexico did nothing in the face of, what was essentially, a coup d’état. There was no mass uprising, nor did the independence-minded Creoles raise a voice. The prestige of the government of the colony suffered a blow that it would not recover from. This lesson learned in the cradle would be the curse of Mexico for generations.

The Jesuit Roots of Revolution

It would be odd to expect the main impetus for revolution to come from members of the clergy. Yet, in New Spain, the initial driving force for revolution came from priests. In an era with little formalized education, especially in far-flung reaches of the empire, families, especially creole families, which had a child who showed intellectual promise would send that child to receive an education with the church. It was within the lower orders of the church in New Spain that many of the enlightenment ideals from Europe found a receptive audience. These men were literate yet surrounded by illiteracy and what they saw as backwardness caused by oppression.

Many of the schools in New Spain by the mid-18th century were run by members of the Jesuit order. To the people of their areas, these priests offered spiritual comfort as well as education. Usually, the most learned people in their areas, the Jesuits would set up schools to spread their religion, but also to support and uplift the people, as they saw it. To the Spanish authorities, they were an organization with loyalties to the Pope, not to the king. In the era of the Bourbon reforms, when the Spanish government was attempting to centralize and gain a firmer grip on the empire, having this group of priests teaching the lower classes who knows what, as well as controlling a large amount of wealth and land in the empire, the Jesuits represented an existential threat (or a convenient scapegoat and source of wealth). In 1767, King Carlos III ordered the expulsion of the Jesuit order from the Spanish Empire.

Hidalgo

One such young man who received his early education from the Jesuits was Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Hidalgo came from a wealthy family in Michoacán that sent him to the Colegio de San Francisco Javier. It was here that first learned of the philosophers of the enlightenment. When the Jesuits were expelled from the empire, he transferred to the Colegio de San Nicolás, later moving on to the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, earning his degree and entering the priesthood. While conducting his studies, he also learned philosophy and French, allowing him to read the Enlightenment philosophers in the original language.

After becoming a priest, he became a teacher himself. Hidalgo, however, could not just ignore his beliefs in the enlightenment and against some of, what he saw, as the more obscuritan elements of Catholic theology. As a member of the faculty of the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo, he was also the school’s treasurer. The church leaders did not want to bring attention to his heretical and liberal teachings, so in removing him, they cited financial irregularities and shipped him off to several small parishes. It was while ministering to these small, rural parishes that Hidalgo’s resentments toward the church hierarchy and the corrupt viceregal government in Mexico City bloomed.

Finally settling in the small town of Dolores, Hidalgo began the work of educating the people of the region. Unlike many in the leadership of the colony, Hidalgo did not care about social caste and would take everyone equally, including indios, who up until that time, were kept uneducated as a matter of policy. Hidalgo, always a believer in self-improvement, attempted to teach the native how to improve their lot. Instead of being subsistence farmers, Hidalgo believed that they should grow cash crops, earning more money. He attempted to teach the indios how to grow olives and grapes for wine. By improving their crops and their methods, the indios could be lifted out of poverty, and with the education and literacy he gave them, they could become prosperous.

It was not to be. Spanish law and the colonial authorities forbade the growing of certain crops to prevent competition from arising for Spanish producers. The local authorities came and cut down the groves that Hidalgo had directed to be planted. Knowing the stupidity of this action, Hidalgo’s resentment would only grow.

The Conspiracy Forms

In Querétaro at the same time, a group surrounding Ignacio Allende began forming. Allende was a captain in the royal army but had been mistreated by the viceregal government due to his New Spanish birth. Creoles were looked down on by their peninsulares comrades and had a very difficult (but not impossible) time rising to higher ranks. It proved very easy for Allende to recruit fellow members of the royal army into his conspiracy.

This conspiracy did not start with the goal of independence.  On the contrary, their goal was a New Spain under the crown of Ferdinand VII, just run by creoles. Allende wanted a bloodless coup, just like the one that unseated Iturrigaray. This required more than just lower-ranking officers, though. He knew he needed to reach out to all segments of creole society to gain a broader base of support. Allende just assumed that if he could recruit creole leaders, he would have the support of the mestizos and indios, as they would naturally follow the lead of their creole betters.

This is where Allende and Hidalgo come together. Both men resented what they saw as peninsulares corruption and fecklessness. Hidalgo, however, did not agree with Allende that a revolution should be led by a small clique of creole army officers. He wanted this to be a broad-based movement in which all elements of society had a place and would actively participate.

Any broad-based movement can be difficult to control. With more people brought into the conspiracy, word began to leak out that something was happening in Querétaro. The latest of Spanish governments, now a regency acting in the name of Ferdinand VII on the island of León, dispatched a new viceroy to New Spain, Francisco Venegas. Before he even arrived, however, the government in Mexico City wanted to consolidate its power. The conspiracy had to be broken up.

The Conspiracy Unfolds

The corregidor of Querétaro, Miguel Domínguez, was given the order to arrest Allende, Hidalgo, and the rest of the conspiracy. The problem was that Domínguez was part of the conspiracy. He was also a very indecisive man. With one foot in each camp, Domínguez needed to commit himself, but instead, he panicked. He even locked in the house his own wife, as she was also a member of the conspiracy.

Domínguez’s wife, Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, would be one of the heroes of this first act of the war of independence. On September 15, 1810, Josefa figured out a way to contact her fellow conspirators and sent a message to Allende, informing him of the arrest order. Allende immediately went to Dolores to inform Hidalgo and formulate a plan.

At 2:00 AM on September 16, Allende arrived at Hidalgo’s house in a panic. He wanted to go underground with his fellow conspirators. Hidalgo, the local parish priest, exiled to a backwater due to being seen as dangerous, saw that the moment had come. His decisiveness instantly gave him leadership in this revolution. Allende’s plan for a bloodless coup was gone. A simple political change of regime would give way to mass social revolution. Hidalgo put on his boots and walked to the church, ordering the bell to be rung. The revolution was on.

What do you think of the start of the Mexican War of Independence? Let us know below.

Now, read about Francisco Solano Lopez, the Paraguayan president who brought his country to military catastrophe in the War of the Triple Alliance here.