Biography of Miguel Hidalgo

Who was Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla?

Known in Mexico as "the father of the country", Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1810) was a priest, military and revolutionary from New Spain (Mexican), who led politics and militarily to the insurgent troops of the independence movement since its inception - with the so-called Pain scream from 1810 — until July 30, 1811, when a partial defeat of the revolutionary ranks led to several of their leaders being executed.

The role of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the Mexican independency he was key. First of all, he participated in the Conspiracy of Querétaro, immediate antecedent to the Mexican independence movement. And furthermore, when the conspiracy was discovered by the viceregal authorities (on September 16, 1810), the priest Hidalgo y Costilla ascended to the bell tower of the Parroquia de Dolores in the State of Guanajuato and summoned the people to an armed insurrection, thus starting the War of Independence Mexican.

Birth and youth

Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo and Costilla Gallaga Mandarte and Villaseñor

was born in 1753, at the San Diego Corralejo farm, located in the current Guajanato. He was the second of the four children of the marriage of Cristóbal Hidalgo (administrator of the estate) and Ana María Gallaga.

His education began at the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo, in Valladolid (Michoacán), a college founded by the first viceroy of New Spain. There he received a training in classical letters, Latin, French and literature. It is said that at the age of seventeen he was already a teacher of philosophy and theology, whom his companions nicknamed "the fox", alluding to his cunning for the debates. It is also said that he was fluent in Nahuatl, Otomí, and Purépecha, since many of the peons on the paternal estate were of indigenous descent.

Once his studies were completed, Miguel Hidalgo he taught at his school, of which he became rector in 1788. That same year he was ordained a Catholic priest and assigned in 1803 to the parish of Dolores, in Guanajuato. There he carried out a very close teaching work with the indigenous population and worked side by side in the vineyards, the buildings and the bee farms.

The French invasion and the crisis of 1808

In 1808 Napoleonic troops invaded Spain and they deposed Ferdinand VII, and crowned Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, in his place. This created a favorable climate for insurrections throughout the Spanish Empire, and that same year The political crisis broke out in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, when Viceroy José de Itugaray.

This viceroy was accused by the monarchical sectors of the New Spain society of aspiring to the independence of the Viceroyalty, after he convened a Board to advise him on what actions to take in the face of the crisis in the metropolis. A new viceroy, Pedro de Garibay, was immediately appointed and the Archdiocese of Zaragoza ordered its parish priests to preach against Napoleon Bonaparte. Miguel Hidalgo was among them.

In 1810, Miguel Hidalgo was approached by a military man from New Spain: Ignacio Allende, who together with Juan Aldama and Mariano Abasolo were part of the Conspiracy of Querétaro, organized by the magistrate Miguel Domínguez and his wife Josefa Ortiz. The popularity of priest Hidalgo was such that the conspirators saw him as a possible leader for the insurgency, given his friendship with very influential figures of viceregal politics, such as the mayor of Guanajuato Juan Antonio Riaño or Manuel Abad y Queipo, bishop of Michoacán.

Hidalgo heard the revolutionary proposal and he agreed to lead the uprising. Together they agreed that December 1 (the day of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos) would be the date the uprising would begin. However, subsequent considerations forced them to advance it to October 2. Eventually, it emerged that viceregal authorities had discovered the conspiracy and were preparing to neutralize it, forcing the uprising to be improvised on September 16.

The Grito de Dolores and the beginning of the armed struggle

That early morning in September Allende arrived at the parish of Dolores with the News that very soon the forces of the new viceroy, Francisco Xavier Venegas, would proceed to capture the conspirators from Querétaro. In fact, Epigmenio González had already been captured and there was an arrest warrant against Allende himself. It was, then, now or never: they had to light the revolutionary fuse earlier than expected.

At about five in the morning, Hidalgo rang the church bells and summoned the employer's mass. Once the congregation gathered, he proclaimed the famous Grito de Dolores: a call to the people to insurrection, the uprising against the viceregal forces that were at the service of the French. The exact text of this speech is unknown, as no first-hand testimonies survived, but it is known which was a call to defend the homeland, the Catholic religion and the legitimate King of Spain, Fernando VII.

Hidalgo's call was immediately successful, and he was soon raised an army of about 6,000 men, at whose head were Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and Abasolo. And with this first insurgent army they advanced without any resistance on Celaya, Salamanca and Acámbaro, where Hidalgo was proclaimed Captain General of the rebellious armies, to the discomfort of Allende and Aldama, who were soldiers from race. Then they took Atotonilco, where they raised as their own the banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and also Saint Miguel el Grande (today called San Miguel de Allende), where the Queen's Regiment joined the insurrection.

The first great battle won by the revolutionaries was the Taking of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, the largest winery in the entire province of Guanajuato, on September 28, 1810. To do so, Hidalgo had to defeat his old friend Juan Antonio Riaño, who was killed in combat shortly before his detachment contemplated surrender. But peace did not come so easily: the Spanish troops took advantage of a moment of distraction to restart hostilities, and the Insurrectionary forces had to set fire to the cellar door, forcibly penetrate and massacre the Spanish, both military and civilians. Then, the city was sacked, which provided the army with the necessary funds to undertake the following campaigns, but at the same time it earned it a very bad reputation in the populations neighbors, many of whom would put up a fierce resistance to him.

Hidalgo's campaign

After his victory in Guanajuato, Hidalgo led his army to Valladolid (the capital of Michoacán), which triggered the flight of the wealthy classes of the city. He took the city on October 17 and the following days he got very important allies: Ignacio López Rayón (in Tlalpujahua) and José María Morelos (in Charo). Both were important leaders of the independence movement after Hidalgo's death. On October 25, Hidalgo entered Toluca in command of nearly 80,000 insurgents. The success of the revolutionary troops was rumored to be imminent.

At the end of the same month, Hidalgo's army entered the State of Mexico, in pursuit of the viceregal capital. In Ocoyoacac, on October 30, he was opposed by a realistic army of around 7000 troops under the command of Torcuato Trujillo, and the Battle of Monte de las Cruces was carried out. The insurgent forces were victorious, but at a very high cost in human lives. With the viceregal capital just one step away, Hidalgo sent his emissaries to negotiate, in order to avoid another massacre like the one that occurred in Guanajuato. The viceroy, however, refused to capitulate and prepared for the siege.

The reasons why Hidalgo, then, chose not to advance on Mexico City are unknown. Instead, on November 2, he ordered a withdrawal to Toluca and Ixtlahuaca, in the direction of the Bajío, which generated enraged opposition from Allende and other pro-independence military leaders. There is no consensus among historians regarding the reason for this withdrawal, but it is known that from then on luck stopped favoring the insurgents.

With the wind blowing against

The independence army, irregular, poorly provisioned and demoralized after the inexplicable withdrawal, was ambushed on November 7 by the troops under the command of Félix María Calleja, who had left San Luis Potosí at the head of his 7,500 well-prepared soldiers and disciplined.

The meeting took place in Aculco, state of Mexico, with disastrous consequences for the insurgent army. After receiving a large artillery charge, the independence forces fled in terror, losing in the process numerous armaments and supplies, and faced casualties of around 12,000 soldiers insurgents.

The defeat further aggravated the situation for Hidalgo's army. Allende, unhappy with the priest's leadership, decided to reorganize his forces in Guanajuato, dividing the army between those who went with him and those who continued under the command of Hidalgo, marching back to Valladolid. This division, which weakened the independence forces, was not, however, too long: Calleja's troops advanced on Guanajuato in November of 1810 and captured the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, forcing Allende, Aldama and Mariano Jiménez to retreat to Guadalajara, where Hidalgo had armed his forces.

The year 1811 began with new defeats for the insurgent army. In view of his recent victories, Viceroy Venegas ordered Calleja to pursue the insurgents and put an end to the rebellion, so the viceregal troops marched on Guadalajara in January. On the 17th of that month, the Battle of Calderón Bridge took place, in which Félix Calleja ended up defeating the revolutionary army and putting it in a frank rout. Hidalgo's campaign thus came to a bitter end.

Capture and execution of Hidalgo

At this stage, the differences between the revolutionary leaders were insurmountable. Allende had even contemplated the possibility of poisoning Hidalgo, to take command of the troops and save what was left of the rebellion from the hands of the “priest's rascal”. On February 25, in Aguascalientes, Allende, Aldama, Abasolo and Rayón agreed to strip Hidalgo of command of the troops insurgents, while planning their escape to the United States, where they could buy new weapons and resume struggle.

In those days, the revolutionary leaders were invited by Ignacio Elizondo, a former royalist soldier who was now militant in favor of the rebellion, to the Norias from Acatita de Baján, in Coahuila and Texas, vice-royal territory then under his command, so that they could rest before marching to the border with the United States. United. The insurgent leaders accepted, not knowing that it was actually a plan of the viceregal forces and that Elizondo was a spy.

On March 21, when Hidalgo arrived in the supposed safe territoryThey had already captured his revolutionary colleagues, and it was not difficult to add him to the group of prisoners as well. The rebel leaders were sent to Chihuahua, where they were tried and convicted of high treason. Allende, Aldama and Jiménez were shot in the city square on June 26, while Hidalgo, being priest, he also had to face a Court of the Holy Inquisition, which convicted him of sedition, heresy and apostasy. However, before he died, he had the right to confession and communion, so that he was not really excommunicated.

On July 30, 1811, at dawn, Miguel Hidalgo was shot in the courtyard of the old Jesuit College of Chihuahua. He asked that his eyes not be covered, nor be shot on his back, as it was customary to do with traitors. After his death, he was beheaded: his body remained buried in Chihuahua, while his head was added to those of the rest of the the rebel leaders in the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, where they were displayed to the public in iron boxes, as a warning.

In 1821, after the independence victory, his body was reunited again and buried in the Altar of the Kings, in the metropolitan cathedral of Mexico City. And since 1925 his remains rest in the Angel of Independence, in the capital city of Mexico.

References:

• "Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla" in Wikipedia.
• "Birth of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla" in the National Commission for Human Rights of Mexico.
• "Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811)" in Banxico.
• "Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (Mexican leader)" in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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