Ignacio Allende He was one of the first leaders of the movement that led to the independence of Mexico. Born in 1769, he belonged to a family that enjoyed a good social and economic position. From a very young age he showed a very strong character and great military gifts that led him to be appointed captain in 1797.
Despite being part of the viceregal army, Allende from very early on sympathized with those who wanted greater self-government for Mexico. In 1809, he was part of the conspirators in Valladolid and, when this conspiracy was discovered, he returned to his hometown to organize a local council to fight against the colonial government..
The failure of a new conspiracy, this time organized in Querétaro, led to the Grito de Dolores, the call with which the War of Independence began. Allende, appointed Lieutenant General, was one of the leaders of the first stage of this process and led his troops to several important victories.
The realistic counterattack resulted in a series of defeats that forced the rebels to withdraw from their positions. Allende, Hidalgo, and other pro-independence leaders tried to move to the United States to seek support, but were betrayed, captured, and executed..
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Ignacio José de Jesús María Pedro de Allende y Unzaga, the name with which the future independence leader was baptized, came to the world on January 21, 1769 in San Miguel el Grande, Guanajuato. The town was later renamed San Miguel de Allende in his honor..
His father was a wealthy merchant and, in addition, he was also dedicated to agriculture, with which the family enjoyed a very good economic and social position.
The young Allende showed during his early years a great fondness for the tasks of the field and the charrería. Despite the fact that information about this stage of his life is scarce, it is commonly accepted that he studied at the Colegio de San Francisco de Sales in his hometown..
In that educational center, run by the Salesians, he befriended the Aldama brothers, who later participated together with Allende in the independence movement.
One of the points on which Allende's biographers agree is the strong character that he demonstrated since he was very young. The anecdotes that demonstrate his way of being are varied and all coincide in his predilection for physical effort and for showing his companions his courage.
Some of those stories claim that he was fond of activities that put his life at risk. On many occasions, just for fun.
One of those anecdotes, related by his neighbors, affirms that on one occasion he saved the life of a shopkeeper who was quite disregarded in the town. His stingy attitude was compounded by the high price he put on the most necessary products.
One day, while the shopkeeper was resting in the back room, a fire broke out on the premises. The man was soon surrounded by fire, preventing him from approaching the exit. Allende found out what was happening and did not hesitate to go to help the affected person, regardless of his background.
Finally, Allende entered the store through the flames and rescued the shopkeeper, ignoring the warnings of the others and putting his own safety at risk..
Ignacio Allende entered the army by vocation in 1795. After two years of solid training, he became captain in 1797, a position for which he competed with his friend and fellow countryman Juan Aldama..
Viceroy Félix Berenguer appointed him lieutenant in the Corps of Grenadiers in 1801. Under the command of Félix María Calleja, Allende was transferred to the north of the viceroyalty of New Spain.
On a personal level, Allende married Maria de la Luz Agustina de las Fuentes in 1802. Despite the fact that his wife passed away a few years later, the couple had three children.
In one of the destinations to which he was sent as a military man, in the Canton of Jalapa, Allende came into contact with creoles of liberal ideology and with army officers who agreed with his ideas of freedom..
Soon he began to try to convince his contacts to join his ideas. In some of their letters you can read their sadness because, despite their efforts, "they do not join as I would like".
In January 1808, his detachment was near Jalapa preparing exercises and drills for Viceroy Iturrigaray. It is said that Allende could not repress his desire for change and painted the following sentence on a wall: "Independence, you cowardly Creoles !!!"
That same year, after spending time in Texas, then part of the viceroyalty, Allende returned to San Miguel with his detachment. His superiors had sent him to command the Queen's Dragons, an elite regiment of cavalry.
In his town, Allende frequented circles in which an uprising against the viceregal authorities was beginning to be prepared..
In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte's French troops had invaded Spain. The emperor had succeeded in getting the Spanish king to abdicate and had appointed his brother, José Bonaparte, in his place. Those who tried to resist the invasion were organized in Government Boards loyal to Fernando VII.
In New Spain, news of the invasion was received negatively. Before that, there was already a generalized discontent towards the viceroyalty authorities, especially among the Creoles. With the new political situation, many of them began to fight for greater self-government, although in principle with fidelity to the Spanish monarch.
The first conspirators of the viceroyalty began to organize following the scheme of Juntas that the Spanish were using against the French..
One of those initial conspiracies took place in Valladolid, where the participants wanted to create a constitutive board that would act as their own government. At that time, his intention was to swear fidelity to Fernando VII, although opinions were beginning to appear that demanded to go further..
Allende participated, albeit in a secondary way, in that conspiracy in Valladolid. When the viceregal government discovered the conspiracy, it detained part of its members to try to dismantle the independence movement.
Allende and Mariano Abasolo, a companion of his in the Queen's Dragons, were able to escape the raids carried out by the Spanish in Valladolid. After returning to San Miguel, Allende organized a local meeting to confront the viceregal government.
As early as 1810, a new conspiracy began to take shape in Querétaro. Ignacio Allende and the rest of the participants met at the house of the magistrate and his wife, Miguel Domínguez and Josefa Ortiz.
At first, they made the decision to start an armed uprising in December of that same year, in the town of San Juan de los Lagos. Due to his military experience, Allende had to take command of the same.
However, the viceroyalty authorities ended up learning about these plans, although it is not known for sure how they were leaked. However, the complaint did not detail the participants in the conspiracy, so the Spaniards were only able to arrest one suspect.
Before the royalists could continue making arrests, Josefa Ortiz managed to warn Allende. Thanks to that, he was able to get to safety along with other colleagues.
Allende, who had managed to involve Miguel Hidalgo, priest of Dolores, in the conspiracy, hastened to warn him of what had happened.
On the night of September 16, 1810, Hidalgo and Allende met at the priest's house. During that conversation they decided not to wait any longer and take up arms to achieve their goals..
The next day, in the morning, the priest launched the one known as Grito de Dolores, in which he called on the entire nation to rise up against the colonial authorities. With that call the War of Independence began.
Hidalgo, very popular among the indigenous and peasants, and Allende managed to gather a small army, whose numbers were constantly increasing..
On September 22, Allende was appointed lieutenant general of the insurgent army, while Hidalgo assumed the position of captain general. Five days later, the viceroy offered a reward of 10,000 pesos to whoever delivered the leaders of the movement, dead or alive..
The first weeks of the war were very positive for the insurgents, largely thanks to Allende's military knowledge..
On September 28, the insurgent army took Guanajuato. Despite Hidalgo's attempts to make the royalist mayor surrender, he decided to try to resist. This caused a great massacre in the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, where Allende's soldiers mercilessly murdered the Spanish and their families..
This massacre caused the first confrontation between Hidalgo and Allende, in disagreement over how the assault on the city had been resolved.
After this victory, the insurgents headed for Valladolid, a city they took on October 18 without encountering resistance..
At that time, the army already had 80 thousand men. The plan of the rebellious leaders was to take Toluca and, from there, attack the capital, Mexico City. It was in this context that the battle of Monte de las Cruces took place.
This battle is considered the greatest triumph of the insurgents in the first stage of the war of independence. According to historians, Allende demonstrated great strategic capabilities that were essential to achieve victory.
After his victory in the battle of Monte de las Cruces, Allende was determined to march on the capital of the viceroyalty to win the fight. However, Hidalgo opposed this decision, as he feared another massacre such as the one in Guanajuato would occur..
Hidalgo's decision to order a retreat further deepened the differences between the insurgent leaders.
The situation worsened when the independence army was defeated by the royalist troops of Félix María Calleja in Aculco.
Allende tried to resist in Guanajuato, but had to abandon the city before the siege of the royalist army.
The next armed confrontation took place at the Calderón Bridge, on the outskirts of Guadalajara, on January 17, 1811. Although Allende managed to repel the royalist troops on three occasions, he was finally defeated again..
By this time, the relationship between the insurgent leaders was very deteriorated. In fact, Allende even confessed that he had tried to poison Miguel Hidalgo, whom he called "the priest's rascal.".
The defeats in Aculco and Puente de Calderón caused Miguel Hidalgo to be dismissed as head of the independentistas. Allende was then proclaimed a generalissimo.
The army was then divided into two factions: the first, headed by Ignacio López Rayón; and the second led by Allende himself. The first headed toward Michoacán, while Allende decided to march north to look for weapons, new troops, and money. Their purpose was to cross the border and seek help in the United States..
Viceroy Venegas had offered insurgent leaders a pardon in March 1811 if they relinquished their arms. These, however, refused and, on March 11, they left Saltillo bound for Monclova..
Near that place, in a place called Norias de Baján or Acatira, they had to meet Ignacio Elizondo, a former royalist soldier who had gone over to the pro-independence side..
Elizondo had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, but Allende denied him promotion to lieutenant general. One theory claims that this was the reason why the military organized a plan to capture all the insurgent leaders and hand them over to the viceregal authorities..
The caravan that left Saltillo consisted of more than a thousand men and several guns. In it traveled Ignacio Allende, Miguel Hidalgo, Abasolo and other insurgent leaders.
A shortage of provisions was added to the lack of water, since Elizondo had ordered the seven fountains that were on the road to be closed off. On the 19th, the traitor set out to meet the caravan with 350 men.
At 9 in the morning, the two groups met. Elizondo let those who were in the vanguard of the caravan pass without problems and, by surprise, began to arrest and disarm the occupants of each car.
Allende and his young son, Indalecio, were traveling in the last carriage. When they tried to stop them, Allende shot Elizondo calling him a traitor, although he could not even hurt him..
Elizondo ordered his men to open fire, killing Indalecio. Later, he arrested Ignacio and led him to Monclova, along with the rest of the captured insurgents..
In that town, General Commander Nemesio Salcedo proceeded to drop charges against the detainees. Some insurgents were sentenced and executed there, while Allende, Hidalgo, Aldama and Jiménez were transferred to Chihuahua.
The trial against Ignacio Allende took place on May 6. The independence leader was sentenced to death.
On June 26, Allende and the rest of the insurgent leaders were shot in Chihuahua. His body was beheaded and his head exposed in the Alhóndiga de Granaditas as a warning to those who wanted to continue their fight..
In 1821, once independence was achieved, the bodies of those first fighters were recovered. His mortal remains were buried in the Cathedral of Mexico City. Later, they were transferred to the Column of Independence in the capital.
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