Hidalgo execution infuriated woman
“Now that Hidalgo is gone, who will be our leader in our time of need?
Who will settle this chaos that is forming now that our father of independence, along with Allende, has been brutally put to death?”
The statement is one of the numerous entries in a diary kept by a Guanajuato City woman over years and preserved for more than 200 years to become part of Mexico’s national archives — Archivo General de la Nacion.
The entries were published in a reference segment of the Garay Dictionary, although the diary initially was cited in a book that featured biographies of the heroes of Mexico’s war for independence — “Biografias de los heroes y caudillos de la Independencia, Ciudad de Mexico.” Every entry was signed by a woman named Luisa.
The diary was dated and signed by a woman whose husband had joined the earliest insurgents called by Father Hidalgo to revolt against “el mal gobierno” (the bad government).
Historians who researched the material concluded that Luisa was among rural peon families who lived in the immediate area and who lived in impoverished conditions under the Spanish government.
The viceroy’s backers long had suspected the town priest of Dolores, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, was encouraging the native parishioners to rebel.
“The woman was heartbroken when she learned that Father Hidalgo and some of his closest allies had been executed after their capture,” a biographer quoted from papers preserved in the national archives.
According to the documents, the woman’s entries in the diary are dated through a period from 1810 to 1823. Luisa’s lament over the death of Father Hidalgo was dated Jan. 31, 1811.
She wrote, “Dear Diary, we have looted the Peninsulares! We have taken gold and other supplies, and in fact, we have raised an army of 80,000, which we pay for with the looted gold.
Nevertheless, today is a sad day.”
She expressed her outrage at the viceroy, Francisco Javier Venegas, and his successor-to-be, Gen. Felix Calleja, “who have fought back furiously.”
She added: “Hidalgo’s forces were defeated at the bridge of Calderon.
I think our troops were too unorganized and not trained well enough to withstand the prepared and adroit soldiers of the government.
Not only that, but there were several people who did not join in on our cry for freedom.
Our army was pressuring the residents of Mexico City; however the peasants had the nerve to refuse to unite with us.
When I heard that, I thought it was ridiculous.
This revolt is for them and the rest of the people who are not the upper class.
We’re trying to help the population, not destroy it.
What will this mean for the future of our army, for our cause?
How many more people will drop out and refuse to rally for the revolution?
I am afraid, but also excited and curious as to what is in store for the future. I pray that God is on our side.”
In that same entry, Luisa related: “It’s a miserable day.
Hidalgo was executed today.
At the battle in which we defeated General Felix Calleja, Hidalgo was captured and then tried by the Inquisition.
It is said that during his trial he confessed that he should not have started the revolution because too many people have and will die.
They eventually murdered him. I hear that they mutilated his body and his head was displayed in Guanajuato as a warning to all the others who fought for independence along with him.”
More from Luisa
The entry suggests that Luisa got word of Hidalgo’s execution days or weeks after the event in Chihuahua where he and others were executed by firing squads.
“I am extremely disturbed and angered by this. We do not deserve this humility.
Is this not our country? Who are these people to think they have the right to do this to us?
I am very frightened now and do not know where this revolt will take us,” she wrote.
She added: “I am glad I am a strong woman with a family, because I would not be able to hold on for much longer without them.
I am afraid to send my children to school now, for fear that they will hear rumors of what has happened to Hidalgo.
They might fear that Europe will come for others, maybe even their father, who has been collaborating with others for independence.
But now that Hidalgo is gone, who will be our leader in our time of need?
“Who will settle this chaos that is forming now that our father of independence, along with (Ignacio) Allende, has been brutally put to death?
I fear the outcome of this insurgence, and I can only hope someone will take a stand.”
A month earlier, Luisa wrote an entry on Christmas Day in which she referred to her husband, Cruz, who was away from home fighting with the Hidalgo insurgents after the initial uprising at the entrance to his church in little Dolores in 1810.
(Odie Arambula is at email@example.com)