Abasolo, Mariano (c. 1783–1816)

Mariano Abasolo (b. ca. 1783; d. 14 April 1816), Mexican insurgent leader. A native of Dolores, in 1795 Abasolo entered the regiment of the Queen's Provincial Dragoons at San Miguel el Grande. He joined Miguel Hidalgo in Dolores when the priest led an uprising against the colonial regime in September 1810. Abasolo became a colonel in the insurgent forces and eventually rose to the rank of field marshal. On 28 September 1810 he besieged Guanajuato and demanded its surrender, but he did not participate in the sack of the city. After the insurgents' defeat at Calderón Bridge in January 1811, he fled north with Hidalgo. He refused to remain in command of the troops when the principal insurgent leaders decided to continue to the United States. Captured at Acatita de Baján on 21 March 1811, Abasolo was taken to Chihuahua, where during his trial he denied all responsibility for the insurrection. Because of his denials and his wife's efforts he was condemned to perpetual exile rather than to death. He died in the fortress of Santa Catalina in Cádiz, Spain.

See alsoAllende, Ignacio .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

José María Miquel I Vergés, Diccionario de insurgentes (1969), pp. 2-3.

Hugh M. Hamill, Jr., The Hidalgo Revolt, 2d ed. (1970).

Lucas Alamán, Historia de Méjico, vol. 1 (1985).

Carlos María De Bustamante, Cuadro histórico de la Revolución Mexicana, vol. 1 (1985).

Additional Bibliography

La independencia de México: Galeana "El Pípila," Jiménez, Villalongín y Abasolo. Mexico: Magesterio, 1969.

                                        Virginia Guedea