General José Figueroa's Career in Mexico, 1792–1832
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New Mexico Historical Review Volume 48 Number 4 Article 2 10-1-1973 General José Figueroa's Career in Mexico, 1792–1832 C. Alan Hutchinson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr Recommended Citation Hutchinson, C. Alan. "General José Figueroa's Career in Mexico, 1792–1832." New Mexico Historical Review 48, 4 (2021). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr/vol48/iss4/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Mexico Historical Review by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. 277 GENERAL JOSE, FIGUEROA'S CAREER IN MEXICO, 1792-1832 C. ALAN HUTCIllNSON GENERAL JOSE FIGUEROA is perhaps best known for his Man ifesto to the Mexican Republic written in 1835 while he was gov ernor of Alta California. It was published in Monterey in that year -the first book-length imprint to appear in California. Although there is a good deal of information about Figueroa's career in Alta .' California, remarkably little is known about his life before he w~nt .f r ;. there, and it is with this period of his life that the following 4.1., • study is concerned. Jose Secundino Figueroa y Parra, or as he normally signed his name, Jose Figueroa, was born in 1792 at Jonacatepec in the south .1" eastern border regions of the present state of Morelos. He had a brother Francisco and a sister whose name is not known. Altho!:l;gh nothing is known of his parents, they are likely to have bee.n~. of predominantly Indian origin, for he was short of stature, dark skinned, and proud of his Jndian blood; Since he was entrusted with a number of clerical and accounting jobs in the revolutionary armies, they may have been sufficiently well-off to give their son some education. He joined the forces of Jose Maria Morelos, the major revolutionary leader in the south, on December 20, 181 I, at the head of a band of some twenty men from a local hacienda and was immediately made a captain. He was nineteen years old and had just married Maria Francisca Gutierrez, also of Jonacatepec. She did not see or hear from him again for eleven years of brutally l harsh civil war. For two years the young captain served under the immediate orders of Morelos' second-in-command, Mariano Matamoros, the 278 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW XLVIII:4 1973 famous 'fighting general who had been the parish priest of Jante telco a few miles northeast of Jonacatepec. Matamoros had joined Morelos' forces a week before Figueroa and quickly showed his out standing abilities as a military leader.2 Captain Figueroa took part in the successful attack on Oaxaca in November 18 I 2, serving in the infantry regiment of Our Lady of Carmen. In April 1813 he went with Matamoros on his campaign to the Guatemalan border where they defeated the royalist Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Ser vando Dambrini, who had planned to retake Oaxaca.3 Meanwhile, on January I, 1813, Figueroa had been put in charge of the mili tary treasury of Matamoros' forces, evidence of the confidence his commander had in his reliability and competence. From July 21 to October 2, 1813, Figueroa was one of a pool of officers acting as military secretaries to General Matamoros. His services under Matamoros were rudely cut short when the general was captured at the siege of Valladolid (now Morelia) in December 1813 and shoton February 3,1814.4 For the remainder of 18 I 4 and throughout 1815 Figueroa served under Morelos. In 1813 Morelos had made the small coastal town of Tecpan, some fifty-five miles northwest of Acapulco, the head of a new province roughly corresponding to the modern state of Guerrero.5 He thought well enough of Figueroa to appoint him Secretary of the Intendencia of Tecpan on December 3, 1814- It is unlikely that Captain Figueroa was present,at the fateful battle of Tesmalaca on November 5, 1815, when Morelos was captured, and he remained at his post of Secretary to the Intendencia after 6 Morelos' execution on December 22. Sometime in December 18 I 7 he gave up his work as secretary and took on the duties of treasurer, a position he had first obtained on September 18, 18 17, and re tained until November 25, 1819. During this period the treasury offices moved about from one small town to another as the fortunes of war directed. Early in 1817 they were in Ajuchitlan in north west Guerrero, by the end of September they had moved to Cutza mala in southeast Michoacan, then on to Huetamo, Michoacan, andto other places in the area.7 HUTCHINSON: GENERAL JOS~ FIGUEROA 279 Captain Figueroa also took part in the fighting that was going on all around him. In September 18 I 8 he fought under General Vicente Guerrero at the battle of Tamo, a victory over royalist forces under Colonel Jose Gabriel de Armijo, long one of the major opponents of the insurgents in the south. On September 22, about a week after the battle of Tamo, Figueroa represented Gue rrero, who was then comandante general of the province of Tecpan, at a meeting at the Hacienda de la Balsa, near Coahua yutla on the western boundary of the present state of Guerrero. General Guerrero had organized a junta, or committee, here after his recent victory in order to form a government. Disagreement developed among the members, and the document which Figueroa signed as Guerrero's representative was a plan to restore harmony.8 On November 25, 1819, Guerrero further showed his esteem for Figueroa by making him Colonel of the Carmen Regiment, a new outfit which Figueroa was to recruit. The letter promoting Fi gueroa mentioned his "honesty, patriotism, knowledge, and the positive services he has rendered the fatherland." According to his service record, the insurgent army also thought well of him for sometime in December I 8I 9 the officers of the forces operating in the western section of the province of Mexico made him co mandante general of the region "byacclamation."9 During I 820 Colonel Figueroa continued in charge of the insurgent forces in this area under the overall command of General Guerrero. Then, early in I 82I, a new move by Colonel Agustin de Iturbide, the long-time scourge of the insurgents, led to drama tic changes. On January 10 Iturbide wrote to Guerrero suggesting that he. surrender to the Spanish government which, he pointed out, with the recent reestablishment of the Constitution of 18 I 2, was now under liberal control. Iturbide added that Guerrero might send a person whom he trusted, to whom Iturbide could explain his views more fully. One of the four men he mentioned was Colonel Figueroa. Iturbide's letter reached Guerrero on January 20 and Guerrero immediately drafted a reply refusing to conside,! any move not aimed at independence. He voiced his distrust of Spain 280 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW XLVIII:4 1973 and exhorted Iturbideto join with him in promoting independence. If Iturbide agreed to these ideas he would be happy to serve under him. According to the contemporary historian, Lucas Alamim, who did not like Guerrero, his famous letter was written by Figueroa. Whether or not this is so, the letter had far-reaching consequences. Guerrero sent Figueroa with full powers to confer with Iturbide, who had already secretly decided for independence. Out of the conferences came Iturbide's pledge to unite with Guerrero and Guerrero's agreement to serve under Iturbide. The negotiations took place on February 18, 1821. On February 24 Iturbide pro claimed the celebrated Plan of Iguala which finally brought the long-drawn-out war for independence to a successful close. Al though Figueroa's part in these important negotiations is not well known, it is undoubtedly one of the high points of his career and was responsible for his high standing with the new government of Mexico under Emperor Iturbide.1o Colonel Figueroa remained on active duty with the army which now besieged Mexico City and entered it in gala parade on Septem ber 27, 1821. After a brief and uneasy period, during which ltur bide was president of the Regency awaiting a monarch from Eu rope, a movement suddenly sprang up in Mexico City on May 19, 1822, proclaiming him emperor. On May 28 Colonel Figueroa wrote lturbide a Battering letter protesting his loyalty and devotion. Guerrero was now Field Marshal of the Imperial Armies with a Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Guadalupe and the title of Captain General and Superior Political Chief of the Province of the South. When he examined Figueroa's service record and certi fied to its accuracy he wrote, "not only has he fully discharged his duty he has done it exquisitely and in so praiseworthy a fashion as to make him deserve the most distinguished consideration and appreciation to which his merit justly entitles him. Most of his record is personally known to me and the rest is common knowl edge." With a recommendation such as this it is hardly surprising that on July 29, 1822, the Imperial Government made Figueroa a Supernumerary of the Imperial Order of Guadalupe. 11 HUTCHINSON: GENERAL JOS~ FIGUEROA 28i Figueroa seems to have been spending most of his time at Chi lapa, the headquarters for Field Marshal Guerrero's command. Apparently he was once more in charge of army finances.