Félix María Calleja del Rey, 1st Count of Calderón
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Medina del Campo
Medina del Campo is a town located in the middle of the Spanish Meseta Central, in the province of Valladolid, Castile-Leon autonomous region, 45 km from Valladolid. It is the capital of a farming area, far away from the great economic centres.-History:...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
—July 24, 1828, Valencia
Valencia (city in Spain)
Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
, Spain) was a Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
military officer and viceroy of New Spain from March 4, 1813, to September 20, 1816, during Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
's War of Independence
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
.
Before the insurrection of 1810
Captain Calleja del Rey accompanied the Count of RevillagigedoJuan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo
Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of New Spain from October 17, 1789 to July 11, 1794...
to New Spain in 1789, when Revillagigedo took up the position of viceroy. Calleja became commander of an infantry brigade in the intendancy
Intendant
The title of intendant has been used in several countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office...
of San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....
. Under the government of Viceroy Miguel José de Azanza
Miguel José de Azanza, Duke of Santa Fe
Miguel José de Azanza, Duke of Santa Fe was a Spanish politician and diplomat, and viceroy of New Spain from May 31, 1798 to April 30, 1800.-Origins and military career:...
he fought with severity and cruelty to subdue the Indians of the area. He also fought against Anglo-American filibusters
Filibuster (military)
A filibuster, or freebooter, is someone who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country to foment or support a revolution...
who were encroaching on the underpopulated Spanish territory of Texas
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
. Among the officers under his command was Ignacio Allende
Ignacio Allende
Ignacio José de Allende y Unzaga , born Ignacio Allende y Unzaga, was a captain of the Spanish Army in Mexico who came to sympathize with the Mexican independence movement. He attended the secret meetings organized by Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, where the possibility of an independent New Spain was...
, who was later to become a hero of Mexican independence. Calleja is famous for his finishing of the biggest insurrections in his time, the 1811 and the 1813 insurrections. He succeeded in killing the three famous leaders of these revolts, Hidalgo, Allende, and Morelos.
Calleja married Francisca de la Gándara, a very rich Criolla
Criollo people
The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
and owner of the hacienda of Bledos.
General in the royalist army
Calleja is regarded by some historians as one of the greatest military commanders that have ever fought in Mexico, because of his astute yet sometimes barbaric methods. With the Grito de DoloresGrito de Dolores
The Grito de Dolores also known as El Grito de la Independencia , uttered from the small town of Dolores, near Guanajuato on April 19, 1810 is the event that marks the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence and is the most important national holiday observed in Mexico...
of Miguel Hidalgo on September 16, 1810, supporters of independence rose in many places in New Spain. Within a month many large cities in the central part of the country fell to the rebels — Celaya
Celaya
Celaya is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The municipality for which the city serves as municipal seat, had a...
(September 21), Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....
(September 28), Zacatecas
Zacatecas
Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....
(October 7), Valladolid
Morelia
Morelia is a city and municipality in the north central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital of the state. The main pre-Hispanic cultures here were the P'urhépecha and the Matlatzinca, but no major cities were founded in the...
(October 17), and Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
(November 11) among them.
At Monte de las Cruces, at the gates of Mexico City, 80,000 insurgents under Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende defeated the royalists on October 30, 1810. There was panic in Mexico City. However, in a moment of apparent indecision, Father Hidalgo ordered a retreat toward Valladolid. The reason for this has never been adequately explained.
After the retreat of the insurgents, Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas
Francisco Javier Venegas, marqués de la Reunión y de Nueva España
Francisco Javier Venegas de Saavedra, marqués de la Reunión y de Nueva España was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of New Spain from September 14, 1810 to March 4, 1813, during the first phase of Mexico's War of Independence.-Army career:He began studies for a literary career, but gave them...
ordered Calleja, now a brigadier in command of a cavalry division, to march from San Luis Potosí to the aid of the capital. On the march between Querétaro
Querétaro
Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
and Mexico City, Calleja met the insurgents in the plains of San Jerónimo Aculco, where he decimated them on November 7, 1810. He then retook Guanajuato on November 25 and Guadalajara on January 21, 1811.
Calleja defeated the insurgents again, decisively, in the Battle of the Bridge of Calderón on January 17, 1811. The insurgents were on the point of victory when a grenade ignited a munitions wagon in their camp, sowing confusion. The royalists took advantage, and routed the insurgents. A remnant of the rebel forces, including Hidalgo and other leaders, began retreating toward the United States. The leaders were captured by the royalists and executed.
Calleja's 4,000 troops became the basis of the royalist Army of the Center that fought Hidalgo, Ignacio López Rayón
Ignacio López Rayón
Ignacio López Rayón led the revolutionary government of his country after Miguel Hidalgo's death, during the first years of the Mexican War of Independence....
and Father José María Morelos
José María Morelos
José María Teclo Morelos y Pavón was a Mexican Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary rebel leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1811...
.
Calleja retreated to Mexico City after an unsuccessful 72-day siege against Morelos in Cuautla
Cuautla, Morelos
Cuautla , officially La heroica e histórica Cuautla de Morelos, or H. H. Cuautla de Morelos, is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Morelos. In the 2005 census the city population was 145,482 and the municipality population was 160,285. The municipality covers 153.651 km²...
. In his home in Mexico City he received royalists who were discontented with Viceroy Venegas's inability to suppress the insurrection. The Audiencia
Real Audiencia of Mexico
The Royal Audience of Mexico was the highest tribunal of the Spanish crown in the Kingdom of New Spain or the Kingdom of Mexico...
and other officials resolved to complain about the viceroy to Regency
Junta (Peninsular War)
In the Napoleonic era, junta was the name chosen by several local administrations formed in Spain during the Peninsular War as a patriotic alternative to the official administration toppled by the French invaders...
in Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
.
Viceroy of New Spain
Calleja received his appointment as Venegas's replacement on January 28, 1813, but did not actually take up the post until March 4. His initial assessment of the state of affairs was not encouraging. The government coffers were empty, and the government was floating a large debt. More than two million pesosSpanish dollar
The Spanish dollar is a silver coin, of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. Its purpose was to correspond to the German thaler...
were owed to the troops. Whole units lacked adequate uniforms and boots. Armament was in a bad state and there was a shortage of horses.
With his characteristic energy, he threw himself into remedying the situation. He confiscated the property of the Inquisition
Mexican Inquisition
The Mexican Inquisition was an extension of the Spanish Inquisition into the New World. The Spanish Conquest of Mexico was not only a political event for the Spanish, but a religious event as well. In the early 16th century, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation and the Inquisition were in full...
, which had been abolished by the Spanish Constitution of 1812
Spanish Constitution of 1812
The Spanish Constitution of 1812 was promulgated 19 March 1812 by the Cádiz Cortes, the national legislative assembly of Spain, while in refuge from the Peninsular War...
. He solicited a loan of two million pesos from the commercial sector. He farmed out the alcabala
Alcabala
The alcabala or alcavala was a sales tax of up to fourteen percent, the most important royal tax imposed by Spain under the Antiguo Régimen....
(sales tax) to improve its collection. He reorganized the public treasury and required strict accounting of the viceroyalty's income and expenses. He reestablished commerce and the postal service, which had been interrupted by the war with the insurgents. With the money he raised he formed a powerful army, well equipped, paid, armed and disciplined.
In late 1813 an epidemic of fever killed tens of thousands of people. Morelos captured Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
on April 20, 1813. On November 6, 1813 the rebel Congress of Anáhuac, meeting in Chilpancingo
Chilpancingo
Chilpancingo de los Bravo is the capital and second-largest city of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. It is located at . In the 2005 census the population of the city was 166,796. Its surrounding municipality, of which it is municipal seat, had a population of 214,219 persons...
, proclaimed the independence of Mexico. On October 22, 1814 the rebel Congress of Apatzingán promulgated a constitution.
Meanwhile in Spain, Ferdinand VII had returned to the throne. He abrogated the Spanish Constitution on May 14, 1814, and reestablished government institutions as they had been in 1808. By a decree of July 21, 1814, he reestablished the Inquisition. On May 19, 1816 he authorized the Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
to return to Mexico, who had been expelled in the late eighteenth century.
Calleja had been exiling many insurgents to Cuba, and now he began exiling them to the Philippines. With the capture and subsequent execution of Morelos on December 22, 1815, the insurrection once again seemed to be at an end. But it soon broke out anew with the revolt of Vicente Guerrero
Vicente Guerrero
Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence, who fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and served briefly as President of Mexico...
in the south. Calleja's rule became more dictatorial.
Calleja was a determined, unscrupulous, cruel ruler who tolerated the numerous abuses of his commanders; he was someone to be feared. He was feared, and also hated, even by some of the more liberal royalists. They blamed his brutal methods for causing more rebellion after the death of Morelos. Their complaints against his dictatorial methods were received in the Spanish court and on September 20, 1816, he was relieved of his position.
Return to Spain
He returned to Spain, where he was given the title of Conde de Calderón and the grand crosses of Isabel the Catholic and San Hermenegildo. He was appointed military commander in Andalucía and governor of Cádiz. He was charged with organizing an expeditionary army to America. He took Rafael RiegoRafael del Riego
Rafael del Riego y Nuñez was a Spanish general and liberal politician, who played a key role in the outbreak of the Liberal Triennium .-Early life and action in the Peninsular War:...
, whose uprising against Ferdinand VII initiated the Liberal Restoration of 1820, prisoner.
He was commander in Valencia
Valencia (city in Spain)
Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
at the time of his death in 1828.