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2. The Rise and Fall of a Regional Strongman: Felipe de laGarza’s Pronunciamiento of 1822
- University of Nebraska Press
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catherine andrews Two. The Rise and Fall of a Regional Strongman: Felipe de la Garza’s Pronunciamiento of 1822 F elipe de la Garza’s pronunciamiento in Nuevo Santander in September 1822 has the dubious honor of being among the first military rebellions in independent Mexico. Coming only twelve months after the triumphal entry of the Army of the Three Guarantees to Mexico City, it challenged the imperial government established by Agustín de Iturbide, now emperor of the Mexican Empire. Unlike the subsequent pronunciamientos of December 1822 (Plan of Veracruz) and February 1823 (Plan of Casa Mata), which eventually led to the abdication of Iturbide, De la Garza’s uprising found little or no support outside his province and was consequently very short-lived. This essay seeks to understand the motivations behind De la Garza’s pronunciamiento and the reasons why it failed to make an impact upon national politics. It will also attempt to explain the regional context of the rebellion and the consequences it had for De la Garza’s later military career. General Felipe de la Garza was the most important military figure in Nuevo Santander during the 1820s. He served as military governor of Nuevo Santander between 1821 and 1822 and as commander general of the Internal Oriental Provinces from 1823 to 1824. However, little is known about his origins or his early military career. In his personal file in the archives of the Ministry of Defense, his papers are mixed up with those of his namesake, Felipe Rise and Fall of a Regional Strongman 23 de la Garza Villarreal, a younger man, who served in the civil militias in Tampico between 1828 and 1839. The service records in the file belong to the younger man, as does most of the correspondence contained within it. General de la Garza was born in Soto la Marina probably in the last decades of the eighteenth century. When news of Hidalgo’s rebellion arrived in Nuevo Santander in 1810, De la Garza was already a militia captain. In 1811 he served alongside Brigadier Joaquín de Arredondo (later commander general of the Internal Oriental Provinces from 1813 to 1821) in his campaigns against the insurgents in the south of Nuevo Santander and the northeast of San Luis Potosí in the Sierra Madre Oriental . A few years later, in 1817, he was the official charged with defending Soto la Marina from the invasion of Xavier Mina. It appears he impressed Arredondo in these campaigns and figured among his trusted lieutenants in Nuevo Santander. Nevertheless, although De la Garza remained firmly on the side of the viceregal authorities in 1810 and 1817, he was quick to adhere to the Plan of Iguala in 1821. As a result, he persuaded Iturbide to name him as military commander of Nuevo Santander, a position he occupied until the failure of his pronunciamiento in 1822.1 From the little information available, it seems that De la Garza was a wealthy hacendado. Certainly his position as militia captain in 1810 suggests that he was a member of the regional élite before independence. Local historians also affirm that he left a great quantity of land in Soto La Marina and numerous luxury items in his will; unfortunately, despite extensive searching in the local legal archives, I have been unable to locate this document.2 Even so, I do know that when applying for a license from the Secretary of War in order to contract matrimony to María Antonia de la Serna in 1824, he indicated his fiancée’s wish to renounce any [54.81.61.14] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 15:24 GMT) 24 Andrews claim to his military pension (“monte-pío”).3 This unusual step seems to suggest that his future wife was from a wealthy family or expected that her husband’s private income would be sufficient to satisfy her needs, even in the event of his death. Either way, it seems to show that De la Garza enjoyed a significant level of wealth in the first decade of independence. It is also known that De la Garza was related to at least one important family from the region, that of Servando Teresa de Mier. According to the correspondence Mier undertook during his stay in Soto la Marina during his time with Xavier Mina’s expeditionary force in 1817, he counted on a number of close relations in the village, including De la Garza, whom he referred to as his...