Miguel Miramon

Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo (Mexico City, November 21, 1831-Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro, June 19, 1867) was a Mexican conservative general who It first stood out in a special way during the Reform War. He first as second chief and later first chief of the conservative army, achieving great victories over the liberal army. He was known as "the young Maccabee".

In 1859 he was appointed interim President of Mexico by the Conservative Party under the principles of the Tacubaya Plan, in opposition to the liberal President Benito Juárez, who had come to power as president of the Supreme Court of Justice through the resignation of Ignacio Comonfort. Miramón is the youngest president Mexico has had in its history and for the next two years he distinguished himself as the top leader of the conservatives. He was also the first president born as a Mexican citizen as all of his predecessors were born as subjects of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

After failing in his attempt to defeat Juárez in Veracruz, he suffered a definitive defeat in the Battle of Calpulalpan and with him the entire Conservative Party. After his defeat, he was forced to leave the country along with Juan Nepomuceno Almonte and José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, among other distinguished conservatives. He never participated in the negotiations that finally culminated in the offer of the crown of Mexico to Maximilian of Habsburg in 1863. He finally returned in 1867 after the departure of the French to put himself in the service of Maximilian. At the Siege of Querétaro he was defeated and captured along with the other supporters of the Empire. He died shot next to Maximiliano de Habsburgo and Tomás Mejía.

Early Years

He was born in Mexico City on November 17, 1831, into a wealthy family, a descendant of the Marquis de Miramón, who died alongside Francisco I, and of French descent; he was baptized four days later in the Church of Santa Veracruz.. He was the son of Colonel Bernardo de Miramón and his wife Carmen Tarelo, who apparently had twelve offspring. Some of them were Joaquín, Carlos and Mariano; they figured alongside his brother in his various military campaigns.

Miguel Miramón was, according to Luis Islas García, “a weak, dreamy, willful and intelligent boy”. Miguel attended the elegant Colegio de San Gregorio where he began his literary studies in the humanities course; On one occasion and taking advantage of an oversight by those who guarded the school gate, he escaped in the company of four other students and reached San Agustín de las Cuevas, Tlalpan, but he does not know the way back and gets lost. His father goes looking for him and they return home together.

Miguel Miramón's father, furious at the mischief, sent him to the Military College as punishment and in the hope of thus disciplining him; he officially entered the Chapultepec Castle facilities on February 10, 1846.

Battle of Chapultepec

Four months after Miramón entered the Military College, the United States declared war on Mexico. Finally, on September 12 and 13 of the following year, the decisive confrontation between the Mexican and American forces took place in the Battle of Chapultepec. Among the Mexican troops, was Miguel Miramón, at that time a young man only fourteen years old, in the company of almost fifty other cadets. He survived, was made a prisoner of war and then released on February 29, 1848, along with other prisoners. On November 11, 1847, he received the medal in honor of the defenders of the battle of Chapultepec, according to the list given by Manuel Azpilcueta and authorized by Mariano Monterde; It appeared on Monday, October 16, 1848 in El Correo Nacional del Superior Gobierno de la República Mexicana. Miguel Miramón spent a total of six months as a US prisoner of war and was released after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, with disastrous consequences for Mexico. According to Islas García, that time was definitive in the formation of his character, an anti-American sentiment was born in him. It seems that it was at that moment that Miramón decided definitively on the arms race. After his release, he immediately returned to the Military College, in which he excelled for his great discipline and expertise.

Beginnings in the Mexican Army

In 1851 he was appointed artillery lieutenant and later in 1853 promoted to captain of the Second Active Battalion of Puebla and in that same year commander of the Active Battalion of Baja California. These appointments were due to Miramón's very high discipline, which made him highly recommendable. However, he was about to lose his prestige because of a fight with a civilian in 1855, but the matter did not go any further.

That same year he participated in the battles of Mescala, Xochipala and the Zopilote Canyon, under the command of General Landa, in opposition to the rebels of the Plan de Ayutla, whose purpose was to remove General Antonio López de Santa Anna. He got one more promotion during the battle of Tepemajalco, in which he had a very outstanding performance. Finally, the rebels triumphed, Santa Anna fled the country and Juan Álvarez, general and leader of the revolutionaries, remained as president, and later Ignacio Comonfort. The change did not affect Miramón, who had served Santa Anna for not agreeing with liberal ideas, and he was appointed permanent lieutenant colonel by the new government in the Eleventh Line Battalion.

Rebellion against the government of Ayutla and union with the conservatives

The liberal measures of the Ayutla government caused discomfort among people who were supporters of conservative ideas, several people protesting. In December 1855, a group of conservatives led by General Antonio de Haro y Tamariz proclaimed the Plan of Zacapoaxtla in the town of the same name; in it it was declared that "the revolution started against the government of Santa Anna was highly national, the main causes of it being the lack of guarantees for civilians, exclusivism, among other things, that the current government presented the same vices and that the current president had not been chosen by the national will, thus distorting the cause of the revolution». This action ended by proclaiming the organic bases of 1843 in which the new president was elected. Miramón had been sent along with his battalion under the orders of Colonel Benavides to fight the rebels, but Miguel Miramón decided in the company of the other officers of the battalion to dismiss Benavides and join those of Zacapoaxtla. Other soldiers such as Luis G. Osollo, Severo del Castillo, among others, had already joined. He was also with his brother Joaquín from him. The rebels led by De Haro and Tamariz occupied Puebla with an army of 3,000 men and faced Comonfort in the battles of Texmelucan and Ocotlán.

Defeated, they had to return to the city of Puebla, resisting several days inside it to finally surrender, since Comonfort's army had surrendered block by block, burning a good part of the city (Jan Bazant, Antonio de Haro and Tamariz, his political adventures). The government offered the rebels the opportunity to remain in the army as private soldiers (which was considered a disgrace) or to retire from the army and leave the country. Miramón opted for the latter, leaving the army, but surprisingly he did not leave the country, instead he hid in secret. He then returned to Puebla and with a group of 50 officers, including Francisco Vélez, Leonidas de Campo, and Santiago Montesinos, took the Puebla plaza, joining them with most of the city's troops and several civilians. In front was General Joaquín Orihuela, with Vélez and Miramón as seconds. Due to their weakness, they could not carry out any offensive action, having to shut themselves up in the city, being besieged again by the government. For nearly two months the conservatives resisted in this action that was known as the "Sitio de Orihuela", in reference to their leader. Miramón became famous there for his great courage and ability to command. Finally the city fell and Orihuela was shot. Miramón managed to escape and take the lead with a group of men fighting alongside several other conservative soldiers such as Tomás Mejía and Osollo. He managed, among other things, to take the city of Toluca and later that of Cuernavaca in the Mexican campaigns.

War of Reform

In 1858, General Zuloaga proclaimed the Tacubaya Plan in the company of several conservative soldiers; Miramón joined these. After the sudden death of General Luis G. Osollo in June 1858, Miramón established himself as the leader of the conservatives. Winner of the Liberals in the battles of Puerto de Carretas, Barranca de Atenquique and Ahualulco, he was appointed interim president by the Conservative Party in February 1859. As of March 6, 1859, he besieged the Government of Benito Juárez in Veracruz, but the intervention of the US Navy, which captured two Mexican ships in Mexican waters, prevented him from achieving victory. On April 11, 1859, the conservative chief Leonardo Márquez defeated the liberal general Santos Degollado in Tacubaya and took two hundred military prisoners. Miramón ordered him to shoot the officers of the group. Miramón governed Mexico in two periods, both as interim president: his first term was from February 2, 1859 to August 13, 1860, succeeding Manuel Robles Pezuela; the second term was from August 15 to December 24 of that same year. Two days before, almost without resources, he made one last attempt to save his cause, but he was defeated by Jesús González Ortega in the battle of San Miguel Calpulalpan, ending the Reform War (1858-1861). Miramón resigned from the presidency and left the country, heading to Havana, Cuba.

The Second Empire

Miramon in military suit.

The republican government of Benito Juárez was strengthened with US support, but the constant economic problems, the debts contracted with other countries, the reigning anarchy and the definitive rupture between the Church and the State were concerns of the conservatives, who, Unbeknownst to Miramón, who was absent from the country, they sought help from the Spanish and French Cortes to impose a monarchy on Mexico. Napoleon III, Emperor of France, obtained the support of most of the Mexican conservatives to achieve his imperialist designs in Mexico. After convincing Maximilian of Habsburg-Lorraine, Archduke of Austria, to become Emperor of Mexico, he invaded the country in 1862 with his expeditionary troops. By occupying the capital, he left the Mexican government in a precarious situation and on the run from French persecution. The conservatives returned to power, but the emperor showed himself to be a moderate liberal. Although opposed to the Second French Intervention in Mexico, Miguel Miramón, at the request of Archbishop Antonio de Labastida, returned to the country to offer his services to the Empire, appearing in the capital on July 28, 1863. Maximilian, suspicious of his prestige, sent to Europe to study military tactics in Germany.

He returned in 1866, only to see how the Empire was retreating before the Republican forces, which counted on the decisive financial and material aid of the United States Government. This country was recovering from the recently ended American civil war and turned its gaze towards Mexico. The withdrawal of Napoleon III's support for the Empire, by ordering his troops to return to France—in the face of possible direct American intervention—contributed to the rapid recovery of the territory by the Republicans. Maximilian, abandoned by Napoleon III, finally relied on the conservative military that he had relegated, mainly in Miramón, to raise a Mexican army to support his empire, but it was too late. The emperor wavered at the advice of General François Achille Bazaine, who, like many others, was calling on him to abdicate the throne and return to Austria. Maximilian thought about accepting this recommendation and had serious doubts about doing so, but he outweighed his conviction that a Habsburg had a sense of honor that prevented him from abandoning his duties; he chose to stay in Mexico and continue fighting against the liberals. Miramón's tireless activity paid off, for in a short time he organized a respectable army of around nine thousand men, of which the emperor himself was placed in command.

In February 1867, despite Miramón's well-founded objections, General Leonardo Márquez—with whom Miramón had serious difficulties—persuaded Maximilian to establish the city of Querétaro as his base of operations. This decision was unwise, since that plaza presented greater defense difficulties than the headquarters of the imperial powers in Mexico City, in addition to being susceptible to being completely besieged, without the possibility of outside help, as indeed happened from March. Márquez, accompanied by Santiago Vidaurri and Julián Quiroga, returned to Mexico with the task of recruiting and sending reinforcements; In Querétaro, Generals Miramón and Mejía would be in charge of defending the plaza and commanding the imperial troops. The forces of Miramón and Mejía, completely besieged by a Juarista army far superior in number and weapons, were weakening despite partial successes, such as the surprising action of the Cerro del Cimatario led by Miramón on April 27, 1867, which managed to open momentarily the fence, a fact that inexplicably was not taken advantage of, as he advised. General Miramón planned to break the siege, but before carrying it out, the end was precipitated by the betrayal of Colonel Miguel López, who, at dawn on May 15, handed over the vital position of La Cruz to the besiegers, leaving the city at the mercy of the liberals. However, on July 8, 1867, General Escobedo issued a report to President Benito Juárez, in which he notified that he had kept secret in consideration of the dignity of Maximilian of Habsburg, that in reality Colonel López was commissioned by the emperor himself. to negotiate the delivery of the position, in exchange for his abdication and departure from the country.

Maximiliano was arrested along with General Mejía and soon Miramón was also arrested, who upon learning of the betrayal, went to the center of the plaza and found an enemy force. There was a shooting, in which Miramón was wounded in the face and a finger on his left hand; He managed to take refuge in the house of a doctor named Licea, who tortured him for two hours, pretending to extract a bullet that had come out and already defenseless, he was betrayed and captured. The three characters were put on trial and sentenced to death according to the decree of January 25, 1862, proclaimed by the republican government. Both the two generals and the emperor bravely accepted their fate.

Execution

The prisoners were led to the hill of the bells, arriving there at seven, Maximiliano gave him the place of honor, and at five past seven in the morning of June 19, 1867, on the Hill of the Bells in Querétaro, Maximiliano, Miramón and Mejía were shot by a squad of Republican soldiers from the army of General Mariano Escobedo. The body of General Miramón was taken to be embalmed in one of the rooms of what is now the house of the Zacatecana, later his remains were originally deposited in the Pantheon of San Fernando, where his cenotaph can still be seen, but after the burial of Benito Juárez in the same pantheon was that at the request of his wife Concepción Lombardo, his remains were transferred to one of the chapels of the Cathedral of Puebla.

Legacy

Here are the last words that Miramón addressed to the liberal troops before being put to arms:

Mexicans: in the Council, my defenders wanted to save my life; here soon to lose it, and when I am going to appear before God, I protest against the stain of traitor who has wanted to throw me to cover my sacrifice. I die innocent of that crime, and forgive their perpetrators, hoping that God will forgive me, and that my compatriots will turn away so ugly stain of my children, doing me justice. Long live Mexico!

Portrait of Manuel Miramón, together with those of Maximilian Habsburg and Tomas Mejía in the regional museum of Querétaro.

Miguel Miramón is remembered as a leading figure in key periods in the history of Mexico such as the War of Reform and the French Intervention. Many Mexican historians and authors have reassessed the figure of Miramón as a patriot and military genius, and his tragic love story with Conchita Lombardo has recently received special attention, with his personal letters being published in Mexican publications.. The journalist Armando Fuentes Aguirre reminds him in his book & # 34; Juárez and Maximiliano: La roca y el ensueño & # 34; as follows: "Miguel Miramón has been one of the best men Mexico has ever had."

Final Rest

In the first instance, the remains of the illustrious conservative general were deposited in the Pantheon of San Fernando, in Mexico City; However, upon the death of Benito Juárez and when Miramón's wife, Concepción Lombardo, learned that Juárez would be buried in the same cemetery, she ordered that her husband's remains be exhumed, in order to transfer them to the Puebla Cathedral, where they still rest.

External links and bibliography

• Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia gallery on Miguel Miramón.
• Text, which narrates the offspring of the Miramon family.