Hidalgo’s Youth

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (May 8, 1753 – July 30, 1811) was the first child born to Don Cristóbal Hidalgo y Costilla and Doña Ana María Gallaga at the estate of San Diego Corralejo in the Pénjamo jurisdiction.  Hidalgo was born a Creole.  (In Spanish-American history, the term Creole signifies one of pure Spanish blood born, not in Spain, but in one of the Spanish colonies.)  Under the system of the day, Hidalgo's rights as a Creole were far less than those of someone born in Spain but better than a Mestizo, someone with a mixture of Spanish and Native American ancestry.  Both of Hidalgo's parents were descended from well-respected families within the Creole community.  Hidalgo's father was a hacienda manager, which presented Hidalgo with the opportunity to learn at a young age to speak the indigenous languages of the laborers.  Eight days after his birth Hidalgo was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith in the parish church of Cuitzeo de los Naranjos.  Hidalgo's parents would have three other sons; José Joaquín, Manuel Mariano, and José María.

In 1759, when Hidalgo was six, Charles III of Spain ascended the throne; he soon sent out a visitor-general with the power to investigate and reform all parts of colonial government.  Privileges previously withheld from Creoles were granted and some opportunities were accorded them for self-government, at least in the Ayuntamientos or municipal governing boards.  They were for the first time since the Spanish conquest of Mexico admitted to the colleges and universities, and rendered eligible to careers at the bar, in the Church, and in the Government.

With the new opportunities available Don Cristobal was determined that Hidalgo and Joaquin should both enter the priesthood and hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.  Being of significant means he paid for all of his sons to receive the best education the region had to offer.  After receiving private instruction, likely from the priest of the neighboring parish, Hidalgo was ready for more formal education.

Hidalgo’s Education

At the age of twelve Hidalgo was sent to Valladolid (now Morelia), Michoacán to study at the Colegio de San Francisco Javier with the Jesuits, along with his brothers.  When the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1767, he entered the Colegio de San Nicolas.  There he chose to study for the priesthood.  He completed his preparatory education in 1770.  After this, he went to the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico in Mexico City for further study, earning his degree in philosophy and theology in 1773.  His education for the priesthood was traditional, with subjects in Latin, rhetoric and logic.  Like many priests in Mexico, he learned some Indian languages, such as Nahuatl, Otomi, and Tarascan.  Along with these he also studied Italian and French, which at the time were not commonly studied in Mexico.  Hidalgo was considered cultured and clever, earning the nickname El Zorro (the fox) from those at his school.  Hidalgo's study of French allowed him to read and study the thoughts and works of the Enlightenment that were current in Europe even though his knowledge was forbidden at the time in Mexico.

Hidalgo was ordained as a priest in 1778 when he was 25 years old.  From 1779 to 1792, he dedicated himself to teaching at San Nicolas as a professor of Latin grammar and arts, then as a theology professor. Beginning in 1787, he was named treasurer, vice-rector and secretary, working his way up to becoming dean of the school in 1790 when he was thirty-nine.  While he was dean, Hidalgo continued studying the liberal ideas that were coming from France and other parts of Europe.  This, as well as his mismanagement of school funds, put him in conflict with his superiors, leading to his ouster.  The Church sent him to work at the parishes of Colima and San Felipe Torres Mochas until he became the parish priest in Dolores, Guanajuato, succeeding his brother Felipe (also a priest), who died in 1802.

Although Hidalgo was educated as a priest in the traditional way, he did not advocate or live the life expected of 18th-century Mexican priests.  Instead, his studies of Enlightenment caused him to challenge traditional political and religious views.  He questioned the absolute authority of the Spanish king and challenged numerous ideas presented by the Church, including the absolute power of the Pope, the virgin birth, and clerical celibacy.  He engaged in behavior regarded as outside the parameters of priests, including dancing and gambling.  He openly lived with a woman named Maria Manuela Herrera, fathering two daughters out of wedlock with her, and later fathered three other children with a woman named Josefa Quintana.

This behavior resulted in his trial before the Court of the Inquisition, which, fortunately for him and the future of Mexico , did not find him guilty.  Hidalgo was also egalitarian.  As parish priest in both San Felipe and Dolores, he opened his house to Indians and Mestizos as well as Creoles.

The Parish Priest in Dolores

In 1803, at the age of fifty he arrived in Dolores accompanied by his family that included a younger brother, a cousin, two half sisters, as well as Maria and their two children.[8] He obtained this parish in spite of his hearing before the Inquisition, which did not stop his secular practices.

After Hidalgo settled in Dolores, he turned over most of the clerical duties to one of his vicars, Father Francisco Iglesias, and devoted himself almost exclusively to commerce, intellectual pursuits and humanitarian activity.   He spent much of his time studying literature, scientific works, grape cultivation, and the raising of silkworms.  He used the knowledge that he gained to promote economic activities for the poor and rural people in his area.  He established factories to make bricks and pottery and trained indigenous people in the making of leather.  He also promoted beekeeping.  He was interested in promoting activities of commercial value to use the natural resources of the area to help the poor.  His goal was to make the Indians and Mestizos more self-reliant and less dependent on Spanish economic policies.  However, these activities violated policies designed to protect Spanish peninsular agriculture and industry from competition with its colonies, and Hidalgo was ordered to stop them.

These policies, as well as exploitation of the lower classes, fostered resentment in Hidalgo of the Spain-born in Mexico.  In addition to the restriction of economic activities in Mexico, Spanish mercantile practices would cause misery for the native peoples.  A drought in 1807–1808 caused a famine in the Dolores area and rather than releasing stored grain to market, Spanish merchants chose instead to block its release, speculating on yet higher prices.  Hidlago lobbied against these callous practices.

Fearing his arrest, Hidalgo commanded his brother Mauricio, as well as Allende and Abasolo, to go with a number of other armed men to make the sheriff release the inmates  on the night of 15 September  They managed to set eighty free.

On the morning of the 16th, Hidalgo called Mass, which was attended by about 300 people, including hacienda owners, local politicians, and Spaniards.  There he gave what is now known as the El Grito de Dolores (the Cry, or Shout, of Dolores), calling the people of his parish to leave their homes and join with him to struggle against the vice regal government.

Hidalgo's Grito did not condemn the notion of monarchy or criticize the current social order in detail, but his opposition to the events in Spain and the current vice regal government was clearly expressed in his reference to bad government.  The Grito also emphasized loyalty to the Catholic religion, a sentiment with which both Creoles and Peninsulares could sympathize; however, the strong anti-Spanish cry of "Death to the Gachupines" (Gachupines was a name given to Peninsulares) probably caused horror among Mexico's elite.

Hidalgo's Army From Celaya to Monte de las Cruces

Hidalgo was met with an outpouring of support. Intellectuals, liberal priests, and many poor people followed Hidalgo with a great deal of enthusiasm.  Hidalgo permitted Indians and Mestizos to join his war in such numbers that the original motives of the Querétaro group were obscured.  Allende was Hidalgo's co-conspirator in Querétaro and remained more loyal to the Querétaro group's original, more Creole objectives. However, Hidalgo's actions and the people's response meant that he, not Allende, would lead.  Allende had acquired military training when Mexico established a colonial militia; Hidalgo had no military training at all.  The people who followed Hidalgo also had no military training, experience, or equipment.  Many of these people were poor who were angry after many years of hunger and oppression. Consequently, Hidalgo was the leader of undisciplined rebels.

Hidalgo's leadership would also give the insurgent movement a supernatural aspect. Many villagers that joined the insurgent army came to believe that Ferdinand VII himself commanded their loyalty to Hidalgo and the monarch was in New Spain personally directing the rebellion against his own government. They also believed that the king commanded the extermination of all peninsular Spaniards and the division of their property among the masses. Historian Eric Van Young [1] believes that such ideas gave the movement supernatural and religious legitimacy that went as far as messianic expectation.

Hidalgo and Allende left Dolores with about 800 men, half of whom were on horseback. They marched through the Bajío area, through Atotonilco, San Miguel el Grande (now Allende), Chamucuero, Celaya, Salamanca, Irapuato and Silao, to Guanajuato.  From Guanajuato, Hidalgo directed his troops to Valladolid, Michoacán. They remained here for a while and then decided to march towards Mexico City.  From Valladolid, they marched through the State of Mexico, through the cities of Maravatio, Ixtlahuaca, Toluca coming as close to Mexico City as Monte de las Cruces, between the Valley of Toluca and the Valley of Mexico.

Just through sheer numbers, Hidalgo's army had some early victories.  Hidalgo first went through the economically important and densely populated province of Guanajuato.  One of Hidalgo's first stops was at the Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Atotonilco.  There Hidalgo affixed an image of the Virgin to a lance to adopt it as his banner.   He then inscribed the following slogans to his troops’ flags: "Long live religion!  Long live our most Holy Mother of Guadalupe! Long live Ferdinand VII!  Long live America and death to bad government!"   For the masses of insurgents, this Virgin represented an intense and highly localized religious sensibility.  She was invoked to identify allies rather than to create ideological alliances or a sense of nationalism.

The extent and the intensity of the movement took vice regal authorities by surprise. San Miguel and Celaya were captured with little resistance. On September 21, 1810, Hidalgo was proclaimed general and supreme commander after arriving to Celaya.  At this point, Hidalgo's army numbered about 5,000.  However, because of the lack of military discipline, the insurgents soon fell into robbing, looting, and ransacking the towns they were capturing. T hey began to execute prisoners as well.  This caused friction between Allende and Hidalgo as early as the capture of San Miguel in late September 1810.  When a mob ran through this town, Allende tried to break up the violence by striking at the insurgents with the flat of his sword.  This brought a rebuke from Hidalgo, accusing Allende of mistreating the people.

On 28 September 1810, Hidalgo arrived to the city of Guanajuato.  The town's Spanish and Creole populations took refuge in the heavily-fortified Alhóndiga de Granaditas granary defended by Quartermaster Riaños.  The insurgents overwhelmed the defenses in two days and killed an estimated 400 to 600 men, women and children.   Allende strongly protested these events and while Hidalgo agreed that they were heinous, he also stated that he understood the historical patterns that shaped such responses.  The mass's violence as well as Hidalgo's inability or unwillingness to suppress it caused the Creoles and Peninsulares to ally against the insurgents out of fear.  This also caused Hidalgo to lose support from liberal Creoles he might have otherwise have had.

From Guanajuato, Hidalgo set off for Valladolid on October, 10, 1810 with 15,000 men.  When he arrived at Acámbaro, he was promoted to generalissimo and given the title of “His Most Serene Highness,” with power to legislate.  With his new rank he had a blue uniform with a clerical collar and red lapels meticulously embroidered with silver and gold.  This uniform also included a black baldric that was also embroidered with gold.  There was also a large image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in gold on his chest.

Hildago and his forces took Valladolid with little opposition on October, 17,1810.  Here, Hidalgo issued proclamations against the Peninsulares, whom he accused of arrogance and despotism, as well as enslaving those in the Americas for almost 300 years.  Hidalgo argued that the objective of the war was "to send the Gachupines back to the Motherland" because their greed and tyranny lead to the temporal and spiritual degradation of the Mexicans.  Hidalgo forced the bishop of Valladolid, Manuel Abad y Queipo, to rescind the excommunication order he had circulated against him on September 24, 1810.  Later, the Inquisition issued an excommunication edict on October 13, 1810 condemning Miguel Hidalgo as a seditionary, apostate, and heretic.

The insurgents stayed in the city for some days preparing to march to the capital of New Spain, Mexico City.   The canon of the cathedral went unarmed to meet Hidalgo and got him to promise that the atrocities of San Miguel, Celaya and Guanajuato would not be repeated in Valladolid.  The canon was partially effective.  Wholesale destruction of the city was not repeated.  However, Hidalgo was angry when he found the cathedral locked to him.  So he jailed all the Spaniards, replaced city officials with his own, and looted the city treasury before marching off toward Mexico City.  On October 19th Hidalgo left Valladolid for Mexico City after taking 400,000 pesos from the cathedral to pay expenses.

Hidalgo and his troops left the state of Michoacán and marched through the towns of Maravatio, Ixtlahuaca, and Toluca before stopping in the forested mountain area of Monte de las Cruces.  Here, insurgent forces engaged Torcuato Trujillo's royalist forces.  Hidalgo's troops made royalist troops retreat, but the insurgents suffered heavy casualties for their efforts like they did when they engaged trained royalist soldiers in Guanajuato

The Retreat from Mexico City

After the Battle of Monte de las Cruces on October 30, 1810, Hidalgo still had about 100,000 insurgents and was in a strategic position to attack Mexico City.  Numerically, his forces outnumbered royalist forces.

The royalist government in Mexico City, under the leadership of Viceroy Francisco Venegas, prepared psychological and military defenses.  An intensive propaganda campaign had advertised the insurgent violence in the Bajío area and stressed the insurgents' threat against social stability.  Hidalgo found the sedentary Indians and castes of the Valley of Mexico as much opposed to the insurgents as were the Creoles and Spaniards.

Hidalgo's forces came as close as what is now the Cuajimalpa borough of Mexico City.  Allende wanted to press forward and attack the capital, but Hidalgo disagreed.  Hidalgo's reasoning for this decision is unclear and has been debated by historians.  One probable factor was that Hidalgo's men were undisciplined and unruly and also suffered heavy losses whenever they encountered trained troops.  As the capital was guarded by some of the best-trained soldiers in New Spain, Hidalgo might have feared a bloodbath.  Hidalgo instead decided to turn away from Mexico City and move to the north through Toluca and Ixtlahuaca with a final destination of Guadalajara.

After turning back, insurgents began to desert.  By the time he got to Aculco, just north of Toluca, his army had shrunk to 40,000.  There, General Felix Calleja attacked Hidalgo's forces, defeating them on November 7, 1810.  Allende decided to take the troops under his command to Guanajuato instead of Guadalajara.

Hidalgo arrived in Guadalajara on November 26th with over 7,000 badly-armed men.  He initially occupied the city with lower-class support because Hidalgo promised to end slavery, tribute payment and taxes on alcohol and tobacco products.  Hidalgo established an alternative government in Guadalajara with himself at the head and then appointed two ministers.  On December 6, 1810, Hidalgo issued a decree abolishing slavery, threatening those who did not comply with death.  He also abolished tribute payments that the Indians had to pay to their Creole and Peninsular lords.  He also ordered the publication of a newspaper called Despertador Americano (American Wake Up Call). He named Pascacio Ortiz de Letona as representative of the insurgent government and sent him to the United States to seek support there.  However, this ambassador was apprehended by the Spanish army while in route to Philadelphia and executed.

During this time, insurgent violence mounted in Guadalajara.  Citizens loyal to the vice regal government were seized and executed.  While indiscriminate looting was avoided, the insurgents targeted the property of Creoles and Spaniards, regardless of political affiliation.  In the meantime, the royalist army had retaken Guanajuato, forcing Allende to flee to Guadalajara.  After he arrived to the city, Allende again objected to Hidalgo concerning the insurgent violence.  However, Hidalgo knew the royalist army was on its way to Guadalajara and wanted to stay on good terms with his own army.

After Guanajuato had been retaken by royalist forces, the bishop there excommunicated Hidalgo and those under him, declaring them to be heretics, perjurers, and blasphemers on December 24,1810.  The Inquisition pronounced an edict against him containing a large number of charges including denying that God punishes sins in this world, doubting the authenticity of the Bible, denouncing the popes and Church government, that Jews should not have to convert to Christianity, denying the perpetual virginity of Mary, preaching that there was no hell and adopting Lutheran doctrine with regards to the Eucharist.  Fearful of losing support of his army because of these decrees, Hidalgo responded that he had never departed from Church doctrine in the slightest degree.

Royalist forces marched to Guadalajara, arriving in January 1811 with nearly 6,000 men.  Allende and Abasolo wanted to concentrate their forces in the city and plan an escape route should they be defeated, but Hidalgo rejected this.  Their second choice then was to make a stand at the Calderon Bridge (Puente de Calderon) just outside the city.  Hidalgo had between 80,000 and 100,000 men and 95 cannons, but the better trained royalists decisively defeated the insurgent army, forcing Hidalgo to flee towards Aguascalientes.  At Hacienda de Pabellon, on January 25, 1811, near Aguascalientes, Allende and other insurgent leaders took military command away from Hidalgo, blaming him for their defeats.  Hidalgo remained as head politically but with military command going to Allende.

What was left of the insurgent Army of the Americas moved north towards Zacatecas and Saltillo with the goal of making connections with those the United States for support.   Hidalgo made it to Saltillo, where he publicly resigned his military post and rejected a pardon offered by General José de la Cruz in the name of Venegas in return for Hidalgo's surrender.  A short time later, they were betrayed and captured by royalist Ignacio Elizondo at the Wells of Baján (Norias de Baján) on March 21,1811 and taken to the city of Chihuahua.

The Execution of Hidalgo

Hidalgo was turned over to the bishop of Durango, Francisco Gabriel de Olivares, for an official defrocking and excommunication on July 27, 1811.  He was then found guilty of treason by a military court and executed by firing squad on July  3oth at 7:00 in the morning.  Before his execution, he thanked his jailers, Privates Soldiers Ortega and Melchor, in letters for their humane treatment.  At his execution, Hidalgo placed his right hand over his heart to show the riflemen where they should aim.  He also refused the use of a blindfold. His body along with the bodies of Allende, Aldama and José Mariano Jiménez were decapitated, and the heads were put on display on the four corners of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato.  The heads remained there for ten years until the end of the Mexican War of Independence to serve as a warning to other insurgents.  Hidalgo's headless body was first displayed outside the prison but then buried in the Church of St Francis in Chihuahua.  Those remains would later be transferred in 1824 to Mexico City.

Hidalgo's death resulted in a political vacuum on the insurgent side.  The royalist military commander, General Felix Calleja, continued to pursue rebel troops.  Insurgent fighting evolved into guerrilla warfare, and eventually the next major insurgent leader, Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, who had led rebel movements with Hidalgo, became head of the insurgents.  In time the conservatives came to support the revolution and Augtin de Intrubide, a conservative, gained independence from Spanish rule when forces under his command entered Mexico City and established a junta to rule Mexico.

Hidalgo's legacy

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla had the unique distinction of being a father in three senses of the word:  a priestly father in the Roman Catholic Church, a biological father who produced illegitimate children in defiance of his clerical vows, and the father of his country.  Hidalgo is hailed as the Father of the Nation, although it was Agustin de Iturbide, not Hidalgo, who finally obtained Mexico’s independence from Spain on September 27, 1821 when he entered Mexico City and established a junta to govern Mexico.  Shortly after gaining independence, the day to celebrate it varied between September 15-16th, the day of Hidalgo's Grito, and September 27th the day Iturbide rode into Mexico City ending Spanish rule.  

Although Miguel Hidalgo started the war that resulted in Mexico’s independence from Spain he never lived to see Mexico achieve independence.  He was captures by Royalist forces and executed on July 30, 1811.  

For a number of years following the death of Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos the revolution was leaderless and ineffective.  Guerilla warfare continued being conduced by small independent groups scarred throughout Mexico.   A stalemate resulted with Royalist forces gaining supremacy but being unable to completely wipe out the independent revolutionary forces.  Spain, faced with domestic unrest and a disintegrating empire, in 1812 adopted constitution promulgated by Spanish liberals.

In time Mexican conservatives came to see Spain’s new government as a threat and switched their support to the revolutionary movement.  Agustin de Iturbide, a conservative, became the leader of these forces.  It was when forces under his command entered Mexico City on September 27, 1821, after the defeat of the forces loyal to Spain, that a governing junta was established and Mexico finally became independent of Spanish rule.

Thus it was Agustin de Iturbide, not Miguel Hidalgo, who finally obtained Mexico’s independence from Spain on September 27, 1821.  Shortly after gaining independence, the day to celebrate Mexico’s Independence varied between September 15-16th, the day of Hidalgo's Grito, and September 27th the day Iturbide rode into Mexico City ending the Spanish rule over Mexico.

Later political movements would favor the more liberal Hidalgo over the conservative Iturbide as the Father of the Mexican Nation.  Consequently in time September 16, 1810 became the officially recognized day of Mexican independence.   The reason being is that Hidalgo is considered to be precursor and creator of the rest of the heroes of the Mexican War of Independence.  

Thus there was a time when Austin de Iturbide was seen as the Father of his County and September 27th as Mexico’s Independence Day.  It would be as if at one time in American history that Samuel Adams, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, was seen as the Father of His Country and October 19th was celebrated as America’s Independence Day because of the surrender of the British forces at Yorktown on October 19, 1781 that ended the American Revolutionary War hostilities.

Austin de Iturbide and the September 27th celebrations have become footnotes in Mexican history.  Today, of course, it is Miguel Hidalgo who is seen as the Father of the Nation and Mexico’s independence from Spain is celebrated on September 15-16.

Hidalgo has become an icon for Mexicans who resist tyranny.  Diego Rivera painted Hidalgo's image in half a dozen murals.  José Clemente Orozco depicted him with a flaming torch of liberty and considered the painting among his best work. David Alfaro Siqueiros was commissioned by San Nicolas University in Morelia to paint a mural for a celebration commemorating the 200th anniversary of Hidalgo's birth.  The town of his parish was renamed Dolores Hidalgo in his honor and the state of Hidalgo was created in 1869.

Today Hidalgo is seen as the Father of the Nation and every year on the night of September 15th, the president of Mexico re-enacts the Grito from the balcony of the National Palace at 11 pm as part of Mexico’s two day independence celebration.  This scene is repeated by the heads of cities and towns all over Mexico.

The remains of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla lie in the column of the Angel of Independence in Mexico City.  Next to it is a lamp lit to represent the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for Mexican Independence.