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| Miguel Hidalgo | |
|---|---|
| 1753-1811 | |
 A manuscript image of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. |
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| Allegiance | Mexico |
| Service/branch | Revolutionary Army |
| Years of service | 1809-1811 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | Mexican Army of Insurgency |
| Battles/wars | Mexican War of Independence/Battle of Monte de las Cruces |
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (May 8, 1753 – July 30, 1811) or Miguel Hidalgo was a Roman Catholic priest in Mexico and revolutionary rebel leader. He is regarded by most Mexican people as the "Father of the Country" and was the founder of the Mexican War of Independence movement which fought for independence from Spain in the early 19th century, although he did not live to see Mexico gain its independence.
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Hidalgo y Costilla was born in Pénjamo, Guanajuato,[1] to a criollo family (historically, a Mexican of unmixed Spanish ancestry). Growing up in an hacienda, where his father Cristóbal Hidalgo y Costilla was employed as a superintendent, Hidalgo y Costilla developed an early sympathy for the unskilled Amerindian workers. He attended El Colegio de San Nicolas de Valladolid and studied philosophy. He presents himself as a man of unusual physical and intellectual energy. Examples of his atypical behavior for that time period would include reading Moliere and protesting Catholicism. His rebellion or practical jokes involved hiding the wafers during mass and practicing fornification with many women over the years.One of these mistresses, Josefa Quintanilla, he had two children, a son and a daughter. He adopted ideas which stemmed from Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Hidalgo also believed in the ideals of the "French Liberty." At his home, which adoopted the nickname "Little France," Hidalgo had austentatious parties involving theater, card playing, and discussions about church rituals relating to the Inquisition.
Hidalgo trained as a priest, and was finally ordained in 1789 in Dolores, Guanajuato. He had been educated in Latin literature,theology,rhetoric,logic,ethics,Italian, and French. He also could speak two native languages Nahuatl and Otomi. He retained an interest in political and social questions, which he carried with him to his first parish in the town of Dolores, now called Dolores Hidalgo, in the modern-day central state of Guanajuato. His unusual interests in the economic advancement of his parishioners soon garnered suspicion from Spanish authority. This interest marked Hidalgo as a possible activist. He learned several indigenous Amerindian languages, wrote texts in the Nahuatl (Aztec) language and organized the local communities in Michoacán.
In 1808, Spain was invaded by French troops, and Napoleon forced the abdication of King Ferdinand VII of Spain in favour of the French emperor's brother Joseph Bonaparte, prompting the Spanish colonial government to oppose the new king. Many Mexicans became divided and formed secret organizations; some supporting King Ferdinand VII, and others desiring independence from Spain. It is impossible to say exactly when Hidalgo turned his thoughts towards rebellion against the colonial power, but the break is thought to have come sometime after Bonaparte replaced Ferdinand on the throne of Spain.
Organizations began to emerge, expressing a variety of radical views, discontented against the French political leadership; and issues of Spanish oppression in the Spanish Empire. Hidalgo y Costilla, a priest of unconventional views, attended one such provincial group in Guanajuato. It was there that educated criollos started conspiring for a large-scale uprising of mestizos and indigenous Amerindian peasants.
Napolean invaded Spain capturing Ferdinand VII which caused the birth of the seperatist movements.
By 1809, Hidalgo's sense of discontent was turning openly into revolutionary politics, and the possibility of an uprising against the colonial government of what was then the Viceroyalty of New Spain. He was joined by Ignacio Allende, a career military officer from the nearby town of San Miguel, also a criollo, who was frustrated by the inherent chauvinism in the colonial administration, which preferred the advancement of Spaniards and foreign immigrants, rather than criollos born in Mexico, no matter how "pure" their blood. The fall of King Ferdinand VII of Spain created a void which Allende and other ambitious criollos were determined to fill.
On the late night of September 15, 1810, Hidalgo y Costilla and Allende received a message of warning from Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, that the Spanish colonial authorities had intelligence of the rebellion, and were on the move. Josefa had said to Hidalgo these lines: "On the heel of these words come the threat of prison and death. Tommorrow you will be a hero or you will be a prisoner." Just before the dawn of September 16, Hidalgo y Costilla rang the bells of his church in the village of Dolores. Many parishioners, indigenous Amerindians and mestizos had been coming in from the surrounding countryside, expecting to hear mass; instead they heard a call to arms. He made a speech known as Grito de Dolores ("Cry of Dolores"), in which he demanded independence. Hidalgo called on his people to expel all foreign invaders and rulers out of Mexico, so that Mexicans could govern their own country. Flyers had been written that slandered the Spanish and they were tied up and mounted on donkeys in the early stages of the uprising.
Under the leadership of Miguel Hidalgo, a rebel army mobilized and gathered into the Mexican town of Dolores on the dawn of September 16, 1810. Miguel Hidalgo had just earlier been warned that his conspiracy against the Spanish regime had been discovered. He spoke before the people of Dolores crying out that they must break out into war against the gachupines, cheering "Long live America! Death to the gachupines! Down with the foul government!" Once the Spanish government was aware of the moving mob, they sent out an army to head them off and begged the Indians not to enlist in the revolution. The army marched to the city of Guanajuato, a major colonial mining center, where Spanish governor Antonio Riaño attempted to organize a defensive strategy. He was only able to assemble some 500 Creole and Spanish soldiers against Hidalgo's proclaimed Amerindian and mestizo army of 50,000 soldiers. He promised the Spaniards to disarm if they surrendered to him...but of course this wasn't the case. The town fell to the onslaught on September 28, during which many of the Spaniards and Creoles were massacred at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas. It was this rebellion that won Hidalgo the name of Mexico's revolutionary symbol. But his military strategy was lacking, and he had very little control over his troops.
Of course there were consequences for Hidalgo's brave uprising, and he was ordered by Spanish government to appear before the tribunal within thirty days. When he ignored the demand, Hidalgo was excommunicated along with his followers, under accusation of heresy.
Meanwhile, the army settled in Guadalajara, Mexico in order to solidify political ideology that they were moving for. On January 17, 1811, the battle between the royalists and insurgents erupted. Hidalgo's army outnumbered that of the Spaniards, but a grass fire broke out among the insurgents and disabled their army, allowing the Spaniards to utterly defeat them. The insurgent leaders were hereafter captured and taken to be tried and executed. Miguel Hidalgo himself was accused of high treason against the government and the Church, but he apologized for the slaughter that he had brought upon the Mexican people. Despite his sincerity, only days later Hidalgo was executed as well and his head displayed in an iron cage at Guanajuato.
Calleja, with an enhanced army, followed in close pursuit, finally forcing Hidalgo y Costilla and Allende to make a stand on the banks of the Calderón River, where the Battle of the Bridge of Calderón was fought on the morning of January 16, 1811. Although small in numbers, Calleja's soldiers were still heavily armed. Hidalgo, moreover, had poorly organized his army, ignoring the advice of the more experienced Allende. Under sustained attack by the Spanish cavalry, infantry and artillery, the rebel army collapsed in panic, prompting a Spanish victory.
Allende had grown increasingly frustrated with Hidalgo y Costilla during the campaign, a mood that was compounded by the murderous indiscipline of the criollo, Amerindian and mestizo army. He promptly relieved his leader of command, and carried him northwards with his remaining force, towards the United States-Mexican border, where he hoped to buy arms. However, on March 21, they were betrayed and handed to the Spanish army, and taken prisoner.
Four leaders of the revolution, including Hidalgo y Costilla, Allende, José Mariano Jiménez and Juan Aldama, were held in the Federal Palace of Chihuahua. They were tried for treason, found guilty and executed by firing squad; Allende, Jiménez and Aldama on June 26, 1811 and Hidalgo on July 30, 1811 at Chihuahua's Government Palace. Prior to his death, Hidalgo thanked his jailers for their humane treatment of him and expressed regret for the bloodshed unleashed by the revolt, though he remained firm in his conviction that Mexico must be freed. The corpses of the four leaders were decapitated and their heads were placed on the four corners of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato, with the intention of intimidating the insurgents. Following the death of Hidalgo, one of his surviving soldiers, José María Morelos y Pavón assumed leadership of the army and continued the war of independence.
Hidalgo and the other three leaders heads remained on display in Guanajuato until 1821, when Mexico finally won its independence. Hidalgo y Costilla's decapitated body was disinterred from his burial place in the San Francisco Temple in Chihuahua and re-buried in Mexico City after independence had been achieved.
After Hidalgo was executed, the revolution was not squelched. The people of Mexico still desperately wanted freedom from the Spanish crown. The newly available leadership of the insurgency was passed to priest Jose' Maria Morelos. He was a strong supporter of the abolition of Indian slavery and fought for agrarian reform. He presented the idea that Mexico should have the right to create their own government. Contrary to the prior distinction between mulattoes, mestizos, and Indians, Morelos established that there was to be one people of Mexico...the Americans.
In 1813, congress finally declared Mexico independent from Spanish rule, and agreed to abolish slavery. Following the newly glorifying independence, Mexico adopted its own constitution and created a system of indirect elections and legislature, and began to create their new state of sovereignty.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla is a national hero of Mexico. In his honor, the state of Hidalgo and city of Dolores Hidalgo are named for him, as is the international airport in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Hidalgo's image is portrayed on the 1000 peso note, and, in addition, a monument to his honor stands on the periphery of the Walled City in Manila, the Philippines. In the United States, Hidalgo County, Texas, and Hidalgo County, New Mexico, are named in his honor.
Every year on the late night of September 15, just before the dawn of September 16, Mexico's president re-enacts the event by ringing the bells of the National Palace in Mexico City and repeats a cry of patriotism to all Mexicans, based upon the Grito de Dolores. September 16 is celebrated as Mexico's Independence Day.
