Wells of Baján

Capture of Hidalgo and Allende

Wells of Baján (Spanish: Norias de Baján) are wells located between Saltillo and Monclova in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila where the leaders of the insurgents of the first phase of the Mexican War of Independence were captured.

Background

After the insurgents' defeat at the Battle of Calderon Bridge, the insurgent army was diminished, fled north, and Ignacio Allende and other insurgent leaders took military command away from Miguel Hidalgo, blaming him for their defeats. Hidalgo remained as head politically but with military command going to Allende.[1]

Insurgent leaders Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, Jose Mariano Jimenez, and others fled northward while en route to the United States through the northern state of Coahuila, hoping they would receive military and financial support from the young, independent nation.[2][3] Royalist general Ignacio Elizondo pretends to join the insurgency but he betrays and captures them on 21 March 1811.

Capture

First convoy

The insurgent caravan is half an hour from the place of the tragedy is composed of more than 20 carriages, its passengers, who had already walked more than a thousand kilometers, tired and hungry, followed by about 1,500 men who come under the command of Iriarte they did not malice the kind attitude of Elizondo. At nine o'clock in the morning the vanguard of the caravan was sighted, the cars of the insurgents approached Acatita. Following these a picket consisting of sixty-six men, which the Elizondo troops let pass and who were arrested after they were in the center of the royalist column, they immediately disarmed and tied them without delay. Surprise that was carried out or easily so much by the absolute confidence with which the independents walked. At that point the road curved around a small hillock behind which the bulk of Elizondo's forces hid, crouched unseen by the insurgents.

Second convoy

After another hour, other carriages appear, one of them coming from Lieutenant Nicolás González, who is killed in the act for not accepting the order of surrender. There was also a carriage with women, escorted by twelve or fourteen men, who tried to defend themselves, and three of them were killed and the rest were taken. Up to fourteen cars arrived with all the generals and ecclesiastics, among them was a brother of Miguel Hidalgo.

Third convoy

The carriage with Ignacio Allende, his son, Indalecio, Mariano Jiménez and Juan Ignacio Ramón arrived, Vicente Flores orders them to surrender but Allende refused to surrender, who calling him "infamous traitor" fired three shots from his pistol at Elizondo but missed, prompting Elizondo to order his soldiers to fire on the car, leaving Allende's son dead and a badly hurt Joaquin Arias who died days later on 28 March. They lacked the forces of the insurgents to oppose and surrendered to their captors, overwhelmed, bewildered and frightened. It was then that Jiménez, who was accompanying Allende in the same car, jumped out of the car and told Allende that there was no way to surrender and they handed over the weapons to Elizondo, they were immediately arrested.

Fourth convoy

Miguel Hidalgo, who had gotten off his carriage and mounted on a dark horse and marched behind the other transports, was surrounded by a 20-man escort with weapons present headed by Agustin Marroquin, an infamous executioner and criminal. Elizondo goes out to meet them and goes behind the rear guard as if escorting them. When arriving at the referred site, they were ordered to surrender. Surprised, Hidalgo resorts to his pistol and before making use of it, his apprehenders prevent him from firing it. Hidalgo was the only one who's hands were not tied as his companions were, respecting his august figure.

The arrests continued, with the insurgent soldiers and the other chiefs and officers. The fateful task continues until nightfall with the arrest of 893 more insurgents, including 22,000 kilograms of silver. The trap had ended with the death of 40 people and others more wounded. headed by Miguel Hidalgo.

Rafael Iriarte was the sole escapee of the encounter and fled back to Saltillo.

After apprehending them, the insurgents were taken to Monclova and the insurgent leaders were transferred to Chihuahua, in the nearby province of Nueva Vizcaya, where they were tried.

Trial and executions

Allende, Aldama, and Jimenez were tried and found guilty in May 1811, and executed by firing squads and decapitated on 26 July 1811,[4] with the exception of Mariano Abasolo, due to his public denouncement of the insurgent cause and the intervention of his wife, María Manuela Rojas Taboada, whose family had connections with aristocrats of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.[5] He was instead sentenced to life in prison in the Santa Catalina Castle at Cádiz, Spain, where he died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 14 April 1816.[6] Hidalgo was tried by the Mexican Inquisition by the bishop of Durango, Francisco Gabriel de Olivares, for an official defrocking and excommunication on 27 July 1811. He was then tried by a military court that found him guilty of treason and was executed on 30 July 1811. There are many theories about how he was executed, the most famous that he was killed by firing squad and then decapitated on 30 July at 7:00 in the morning.[1] Before his execution, he thanked his jailers, two soldiers, Ortega and Melchor, for their humane treatment. At his execution, Hidalgo stated, "Though I may die, I shall be remembered forever; you all will soon be forgotten." [3][7]

Aftermath

Rafael Iriarte was the sole escapee of the encounter at the Wells of Bajan and delivered the news to Ignacio López Rayón, Miguel Hidalgo's secretary who remained in Saltillo, Coahuila during their march north, that the insurgent leaders were captured. Iriarte was subsequently executed according to the previous instructions left by Allende, based on suspicions such as having freed General Felix Maria Calleja's wife.[8] On 26 March 1811, with control of the insurgent army numbering about 3,500 men and 22 cannons, fled southward.[9][10] López Rayón would go on to meet with Jose Maria Morelos and other insurgent leaders to establish a prototypical governing body known as the Council of Zitácuaro for the nation, inasmuch as it did not recognize the subjection to the vice-regal structure.

The four heads of the executed insurgent leaders were hung from the corners of the Grain Exchange Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato, to discourage other independence movements.[11] The heads remained hanging for ten years, until Mexico achieved its independence in 1821. Their bodies were then taken to Mexico City and eventually put to rest under el Ángel de la Independencia in 1910.

References

  1. 1 2 (in Spanish)Sosa, Francisco (1985). Biografias de Mexicanos Distinguidos (in Spanish). 472. Mexico City: Editorial Porrua SA. pp. 288–92. ISBN 968-452-050-6.
  2. ↑ (in Spanish)"Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla". Mexico Desconocido (in Spanish). Mexico City: Grupo Editorial Impresiones Aéreas. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  3. 1 2 (in Spanish)"¿Quien fue Hidalgo?" (in Spanish). Mexico: INAH. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  4. ↑ "Guanajuato". History. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Villaseñor y Villaseñor, Alejandro (1918). "Don Mariano Abasolo". Biografías de los héroes y caudillos de la independencia (PDF). Ciudad de México: Imprenta El Tiempo de Victoriano Agüeros. pp. 65–68. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  6. ↑ (in Spanish)Villaseñor y Villaseñor, Alejandro (1918). "Don Mariano Abasolo". Biografías de los héroes y caudillos de la independencia (PDF). Ciudad de México: Imprenta El Tiempo de Victoriano Agüeros. pp. 65–68. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  7. ↑ Vidali, Carlos (4 December 2008). "Fusilamiento Miguel Hidalgo" (in Spanish). San Antonio: La Prensa de San Antonio. p. 1.
  8. ↑ Villaseñor y Villaseñor, Alejandro (1910). "Rafael Iriarte". Biografías de los héroes y caudillos de la independencia (PDF). Ciudad de México: Imprenta El Tiempo de Victoriano Agüeros. pp. 111–114. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  9. ↑ (in Spanish)Zárate, Julio (1880). "La Guerra de Independencia". In Riva Palacio, Vicente. México a través de los siglos. III. México: Ballescá y Compañía. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  10. ↑ (in Spanish)Herrejón Peredo, Carlos (1985). La Independencia según Ignacio Rayón. Biblioteca Digital Bicentenario. Cien de México (1ª ed.). México: Secretaría de Educación Pública. ISBN 9682905338. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  11. ↑ Baird, David; Bairstow, Lynne (2006). Frommer's Mexico 2007. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Publishing, Inc. p. 204. ISBN 9780471922421.
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