The Mexican War of Independence first phase
In Mexico, the war of independence was a series of conflicts which began, again as a byproduct of Napoleon’s invasion on Spain, on September 16, 1810. When news reached Mexico City of the removal of King Ferdinand and the placement of Joseph Bonaparte of the Spanish throne, the city council and the viceroy declared themselves sovereigns in the name of the rightful Spanish king. The attempt was stopped by a coup against the viceroy and the council members were arrested. Civil disturbances took root in other areas and cities, including in Dolores, where peasants and Amerindian residents were called to action by a Catholic priest, Miguel Hidalgo.
From the pulpit, Hidalgo issued the Grito de Delores (Cry of Delores), condemning the tyrannical Spanish government and calling the peasants to action. As his followers’ ranks swelled, they marched through several towns and villages, a growing mob exhorted to slaughter by religious fervor. The route of their march was marked by the bodies of any Spanish soldiers, authorities, or private citizens they encountered, invariably slaughtered. At the town of Guanajuato on September 28, they discovered about 500 Spanish and criollo supporters barricaded in a granary, and killed them all before marching toward Mexico City.
The mob swelled to an army of more than 25,000, marching under the banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe. They were reinforced with troops from another revolutionary junta under Ignacio Lopez Rayon and defeated another much smaller Spanish force at the Battle of Monte de las Cruces, where they again disdained to take prisoners. Emissaries sent by Hidalgo to the Spanish commander in an attempt to avoid battle and bloodshed were executed by the Spanish, so there was disregard for the rules of war on both sides. By the time of the battle Hidalgo and his associate Ignacio Allende were at the head of an unruly mob of at least 70,000 men.
With Mexico City lying open and relatively helpless before him, Hidalgo ordered a retreat after defeating the Spanish force at Las Cruces. More than half of his “army” deserted following the victory, to pillage and take their loot home. The Spanish followed the remains of Hidalgo’s mob as it retreated. After the rebels were defeated at the Battle of Calderon, they began to flee towards the United States. They were cut off by Spanish troops, and the ringleaders, including Allende and Hidalgo were captured, as well as other leading supporters of an independent Mexico.
Allende and other officers were tried by a military court martial, convicted of high treason, and executed by firing squad, shot in the back to demonstrate their lack of honor. Hidalgo’s sentence was subject to the review of the Inquisition, and he was defrocked as a priest before he was executed on July 30. His head and those of several ringleaders were placed on display in the public square in Guanajuato as a warning to others. Spanish authorities ran down any accused of having taken part in the insurrection, and they were either executed or sentenced to slavery in Spain or other parts of the Spanish Empire. Another leader, Jose Maria Morelos, took over as the head of the rebellion.