The failure of mobilization: The civic militia of Mexico in 1846

Mexican Studies - Estudios Mexicanos

Volumn 12, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 169-194

  Santoni, Pedro ^a  

^a CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0012291995     PISSN: 07429797     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/1051843     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. Ramón Alcaraz et. al., The Other Side: or Notes for the History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, trans. Albert C. Ramsey, (reprint, New York: Burt Franklin, 1970), 439;
2. David Pletcher, The Diplomacy of Annexation: Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican War (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1973), 441-442.
3. In addition, the civic militia sometimes went under the names "local militia" or "national local militia," but to avoid confusion I will refer to it as the "militia" or "civic militia." For an overview of this military force prior to 1846, see Fernando Escalante Gonzalbo, Ciudadanos imaginarios: Memorial de los afanes y desventuras de la virtud y apología del vicio triunfante en la república mexicana: Tratado de moral pública (Mexico: El Colegio de México, 1992), 197-205;
4. Juan Ortiz Escamilla, "Las fuerzas militares y el proyecto de estado en México, 1767-1835," in Cincuenta años de historia en México, coords. Alicia Hernández Chávez and Manuel Miño Grijalva, 2 vols. (Mexico: El Colegio de México, 1991), 2:272-279;
5. and Pedro Santoni, "A Fear of the People: The Civic Militia of Mexico in 1845," Hispanic American Historical Review (HAHR) 68, no.2 (May 1988), 269-288.
6. David Brading, The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State 1492-1867 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 640.
7. This paragraph draws upon the ideas of Nettie Lee Benson, The Provincial Deputation in Mexico: Harbinger of Provincial Autonomy, Independence, and Federalism (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992), 61-62;
8. Charles A. Hale, Mexican Liberalism in the Age of Mora, 1821-1853 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), 80, n. 17;
9. Brian R. Hammnett, Roots of Insurgency: Mexican Regions, 1750-1824 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986);
10. Jaime E. Rodríguez O., "The Struggle for the Nation: The First Centralist-Federalist Conflict in Mexico," The Americas 49, no.1 (July 1992), 1-22;
11. John Tutino, From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: Social Bases of Agrarian Violence, 1750-1940 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), 216-217;
12. and Eric Van Young, "Are Regions Good to Think?" in Mexico's Regions: Comparative History and Development, ed. Eric Van Young (University of California, San Diego: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, 1992), 14.
13. Michael P. Costeloe, The Central Republic in Mexico, 1835-1846: Hombres de Bien in the Age of Santa Anna (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 8;
14. Stanley C. Green, The Mexican Republic: The First Decade, 1823-1832 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987), 82;
15. Jorge Alberto Lozoya, El ejército mexicano, 2d ed., rev. (Mexico: El Colegio de México, 1976), 27-28.
16. For details on the military regulations implemented by Herrera and Paredes, see Miguel Soto, La conspiración monárquica en México, 1845-1846 (Mexico: EOSA, 1988), 128-129
17. and Costeloe, The Central Republic, 265-266, 285.
18. Donald F. Stevens, Origins of Instability in Early Republican Mexico (Durham: Duke University Press, 1991), 29, 33-38.
19. The factors that allowed the military to attain this preponderant role are discussed in Josefina Zoraida Vázquez, "El ejército: Un dilema del gobierno mexicano (1841-1846)," in Problemas de la formación del estado y de la nación en Hispanoamérica, eds. Inge Buisson, Günter Kahle, Hans-Joachim Konig, and Horst Pietschmann (Bonn: Bolhau Verlag, 1984), 321-327.
20. Green, The Mexican Republic, 187.
21. Gonzalbo Escalante, Ciudadanos imaginarios, 201-202;
22. and Stevens, Origins of Instability, 34, 112.
23. Stevens, Origins of Instability, 34-36.
24. Guillermo Prieto, Memorias de mis tiempos (Mexico: Editorial Porrúa, 1985), 190.
25. Santoni, "A Fear," 274, 278, 286-287.
26. Unsigned to the governor of the department of Mexico, Mexico City, Jan. 9, 1846, Archivo del Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de México, Revoluciones (hereafter cited as AACM/R), vol. 2280, exp. 105, fol. 218.
27. Circular letter of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Mexico City, Jan. 29, 1846, in El Monitor Constitucional, Jan. 31, 1846. Unless otherwise noted, all newspapers cited were published in Mexico City.
28. Sebastián Camacho to the minister of war, Jalapa, Mar. 27, 1846, Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, exp. XI-481.3-2147, fol. 501 (Bancroft Library microfilm reel no. 66). I did not gain access to the Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional in Mexico City. Its contents, however, have in large part been microfilmed by the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Hereafter the archive will be cited as AHSDN and the microfilm reel upon which the citation appears will be included.
29. Government representatives had been unable to accomplish this task as of late April. In any case, these weapons did not present a real threat to Paredes's administration, as many of them were out of order and unsuited for use in combat. Pedro María Anaya to the general director of artillery, Mexico City, Dec. 28, 1845, and unsigned to the governor of the department of Mexico, Mexico City, Dec. 28, 1845, in AACM/R, vol. 2280, exps. 74 and 77, fol. 132;
30. Faustino Molina to the primer alcalde constitucional, Mexico City, Apr. 24, 1846, AACM/R, vol. 2280, exp. 108, fol. 225.
31. Timothy Anna, "Demystifying Early Nineteenth-Century Mexico," MS/EM 9, vol.1 (Winter 1993): 126;
32. Wilfrid H. Callcott, Santa Anna: The Story of an Enigma Who Once Was Mexico (reprint, Hamden: Archon Books, 1964), 204;
33. Cecil Allan Hutchinson, "Valentín Gómez Farías and the Movement for the Return of General Santa Anna to Mexico in 1846," in Essays in Mexican History, eds. Thomas E. Cotner and Carlos E. Castañeda (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1958), 186-187.
34. Santa Anna first became established as a regional leader in his home province of Veracruz during Mexico's war of independence. Christon I. Archer, "The Young Antonio López de Santa Anna: Veracruz Counterinsurgent and Incipient Caudillo," in The Human Tradition in Latin America: The Nineteenth Century, eds. Judith Ewell and William H. Beezley (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1989), 3-16.
35. Jesús Velasco Márquez, La guerra del 47 y la opinión pública (1845-1848) (Mexico: Secretaría de Educación Pública, 1975), 15, 19-20;
36. Prieto, Memorias, 245-246.
37. El Monitor Republicano, June 4, 1846.
38. El Republicano, June 21 and 23, 1846.
39. Don Simplicio, July 4 and 25, 1846;
40. El Indicador (Veracruz), May 25, 1846, in El Monitor Republicano, May 31, 1846;
41. El Semanario Político (Monterrey), July 2, 1846, in El Monitor Republicano, July 17, 1846.
42. The class antagonisms that later contaminated the militia momentarily interrupted the recruiting process in Veracruz. On May 26, Luis Haro, a regidor of the Veracruz ayuntamiento, proposed that city officials begin raising civic militia battalions. When another regidor then suggested that membership in the militia be restricted to property owners, Haro responded that such an action would instead augment divisiveness in Mexico. The ayuntamiento cast aside Haro's proposition, but not before inviting him to present it at a later date. El Telégrafo (Veracruz), n.d., in El Monitor Republicano, June 5, 1846. This impasse was apparently resolved shortly thereafter, for militia units had been organized by early June. Carlos María Bustamante, "Memorá ndum, o sea, apuntes para escribir la historia de lo especialmente ocurrido en México," June 2, 1846. This manuscript is located at the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, and has been microfilmed in six reels, which were consulted at El Colegio de México. Since Bustamante recorded on a daily basis those events he witnessed or which were referred to him, I have used the date of his entry as a reference in order to facilitate its location.
43. Soto, La conspiración, 193-200.
44. José Antonio Mozo to the minister of war, Veracruz, July 15, 1846, and minister of war to the commander in chief of the Army of the East, Mexico City, July 22, 1846, in AHSDN, reel 69, exp. XI-481.3-2196, fol. 104. Available documentation does not reveal why General José María Tornel, who occupied this cabinet post, espoused conflicting views regarding the militia. Given the context of domestic politics, which made speaking of avoiding open conflict with the United States tantamount to treason, it is reasonable to assume that Tornel's public pronouncements intended to portray him as a zealous patriot, while his private communication to the commander in chief of the Army of the East reflected the political exigencies that confronted Paredes's regime.
45. Pletcher, The Diplomacy, 447.
46. Plan of the Ciudadela, Mexico City, Aug. 4, 1846
47. Diario del Gobierno de la República Mexicana, Aug. 25, 1846;
48. El Locomotor (Veracruz), Aug. 20, 1846, in El Republicano, Aug. 26, 1846.
49. Miguel Rojas to Fermín Gómez Farías, Querétaro, Aug. 8, 1846, Valentín Gómez Farías Papers (located in the Nettle Lee Benson Collection, University of Texas; hereafter cited as VGFP), 1474, fol. 49.
50. Domingo Ibarra to Valentín Gómez Farías, Puebla, Aug. 17, 1846, VGFP, 1556, fol. 49. Ibarra became governor of Puebla shortly thereafter. He kept Gómez Farías and other government officials abreast of his efforts to raise militia units in that area. Diario del Gobierno de la República Mexicana, Aug. 24, 1846.
51. See his letters of Aug. 23 and 27, Sept. 1 and 9, 1846 in VGFP, 1597, 1627, fol. 49, and VGFP 1664, 1726, fol. 50.
52. El Monitor Republicano, Aug. 18, 20, 25, 26, 1846; Sept. 4, 1846;
53. El Republicano, Aug. 11, 15, 19, 1846.
54. Circular letter of the Ministry of War, Mexico City, Aug. 13, 1846, in the Diario del Goblerno de la República Mexicana, Aug. 15, 1846.
55. José María Yáñez to the minister of war, Guadalajara, Aug. 25, 1846, AHSDN, reel 5, exp. XI-481.3-2197, fols. 291-292. Yáñez's reasoning proved persuasive and he received authorization to keep those militia units under arms. Anonymous (probably the minister of war) to the commander general of Jalisco, Mexico City, Aug. 31, 1846, AHSDN, reel 5, exp. XI-481.3-2197, fol. 294.
56. José Fernando Ramírez, Mexico during the War with the United States, ed. Walter B. Scholes, trans. Elliot B. Scherr (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1950), 72.
57. Manuel Dublán and José María Lozano, eds., Legislacion mexicana, 42 vols. (Mexico City: Imprenta del Comercio, 1876-1904), 5:155-156.
58. Pacheco to Rejón, Mexico City, Sept. 8, 1846, in El Republicano, Sept. 12, 1846.
59. Dublán and Lozano, Legislación, 5:161-169.
60. A set of bylaws issued on September 28 to assist with militia organization in the Federal District complemented the September 11 legislation. These bylaws can be found in the Diario del Gobierno de la República Mexicana, Oct. 1, 1846.
61. Draft of proclamation by Gómez Farías, Mexico City, late Oct. 1846, VGFP, 4641, fol. 62.
62. The designation of Generals Rangel and Sierra y Rosso to this commission should have also given the puros reason for skepticism. While their inclusion in this board probably intended to reassure the politically conscious public that the alliance between puros and santanistas was genuine, it is not far-fetched to suppose, given Santa Anna's mercurial political views and the credentials of both military chiefs, that Rangel and Sierra y Rosso had instructions to restrain the puros' influence over the militia. Rangel and Gómez Farías had a stormy relationship during the war with the United States. Rangel allied himself with the puro leader on at least two instances, the June 7, 1845, revolt against then president Herrera and the February 1847 Rebellion of the polkos, only to betray him and side with Santa Anna on both occasions. In addition, although Sierra y Rosso had assisted the puros in toppling Paredes's regime, he had formed part of Santa Anna's entourage since the 1830s, and in that capacity had looked after Santa Anna's personal affairs. Pedro Santoni, "Background to the Mexican-American War: Valentín Gómez Farías and the Aborted Federalist Uprising of June 7, 1845," paper delivered at IX Conference of Mexican and North American Historians, Mexico City, Oct. 28, 1994;
63. Pedro Lemus to the commander general of the department of Mexico, Mexico City, May 25, 1846, VGFP, 4648, fol. 62;
64. Don Simplicio, Oct. 10, 1846;
65. José Lázare Villamil to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Oct. 30, 1846, Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico City, Ramo de Gobernación (hereafter cited as AGNM/RG), box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 4;
66. El Republicano, Oct. 9, 1846.
67. Melchor Ocampo to the minister of foreign relations, Morelia, Oct. 16, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 4.
68. These three letters, as well as those which Juan N. Cumplido (Jalisco), Manuel Doblado (Guanajuato), and Francisco Berduzco (Querétaro) sent to the minister of foreign relations in October 1846 can be found in AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 4. These individuals, with the exception of Gonzáles Cosío, also made their fears known to Gómez Farías. Their dispatches are located in VGFP, 1960, 1977, 1986, and 1988, fol. 51.
69. Circular letter of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Mexico City, Oct. 23, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 4.
70. Cortina to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Sept. 24, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 2.
71. Rejón to Cortina, Mexico City, Oct. 3, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 2. The emphasis is mine.
72. José Guadalupe Covarrubias (who transcribed Morales's report) to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Dec. 22, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 313, leg. 220-1, exp. 4.
73. Valentín Canalizo to the minister of foreign relations, Jan. 5, 1847, AGNM/RG, box 313, leg. 220-1, exp. 4.
74. Anaya (who transcribed Ramón Gamboa's report) to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Nov. 17, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 313, leg. 220-1, exp. 7. For more information on the atrocious conditions of the weapons allotted to Mexico City's militia battalions and various regional units, see Appendix.
75. Manuel Gonzáles Cosío to Gómez Farías, Zacatecas, Sept. 11, 1846, VGFP 1765, fol. 50.
76. For the historical background of this phenomenon, see Christon I. Archer, The Army in Bourbon Mexico, 1760-1810 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1977), 223-253;
77. María del Carmen Velázquez, El estado de guerra en Nueva España, 1760-1808 (Mexico: El Colegio de México, 1950), 32, 60;
78. Escalante Gonzalbo, Ciudadanos imaginarios, 176-178;
79. Lozoya, El ejército, 19.
80. Villamil to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Oct. 31, 1846, and Almonte to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Nov. 25, 1846, in AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 3.
81. José María Jarero to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Nov. 5, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 4.
82. "Bando del gobierno del Distrito Federal," Mexico City, Nov. 30, 1846, Archivo del Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de México, Guardias Nacionales (hereafter cited as AACM/GN), vol. 3276.
83. Enumerating the inhabitants of Mexico City proved to be a burdensome, if not impossible, responsibility. See the numerous letters to this effect in AACM/GN, vol. 3276.
84. Jarero to the minister of foreign relations, Mexico City, Dec. 17, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 3.
85. o de diciembre de 1846," n. p., Dec. 17, 1846, AGNM/RG, box 348, leg. 244-2, exp. 3.
86. Don Simplicio, Dec. 26, 1846. Since most cívicos were illiterate and did not read the daily press, a man probably would not care if the papers mentioned either him or his associates. Officers or those with the potential to be officers might have had reason to be concerned, but even at that level many men were functionally illiterate. Consequently, this measure probably would have had little effect, if any, in prompting cívicos to fulfill their duties.
87. Bustamante, "Memorándum," Sept. 12, 1846.
88. José María Lafragua, "Manuscrito autógrafo de José María Lafragua que trata sobre los acontecimientos de principios de 1846 hasta Septiembre de 1847," Biblioteca Nacional de México, Colección Lafragua, 398: 16-17;
89. Niceto de Zamacois, Historia de Méjico desde sus tiempos más remotos hasta nuestros días, 22 vols. in 25 (Barcelona: J. F. Parres y Cía., 1878-1902), 12:635;
90. Pletcher, The Diplomacy, 485, n. 4;
91. Ramírez, Mexico during the War, 86.
92. The best discussion of the 1828 tumult is Sylvia M. Arrom, "Popular Politics in Mexico City: The Parián Riot, 1828," HAHR 68, vol. 2 (May 1988): 245-268.
93. Moses Y. Beach to James Buchanan, New York, June 4, 1847, in Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States - Inter-American Affairs, 1831-1860, ed. William R. Manning, 12 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1932-1939), 8:906-907;
94. Pletcher, The Diplomacy, 486, 490.