Matamoros y Guridi, Mariano (1770–1814)

Mariano Matamoros y Guridi (b. 14 August 1770; d. 3 February 1814), Mexican Independence leader and corevolutionary of Father Miguel Hidalgo. Born in Mexico City, Matamoros studied theology at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlateloco. In 1811, he was interim curate of Jantetelco. He offered his services to the insurgent chief José María Morelos, who named him a colonel and commissioned him to raise military forces. Matamoros accompanied Morelos to Taxco and was at Cuautla during the siege by the royalist army of Félix Calleja. Ordered to obtain provisions, on 21 April 1812, Matamoros and 100 dragoons broke through the royalist lines. When Morelos fled Cuautla, he dispatched Matamoros to reorganize the insurgent forces at Izúcar. A gifted military commander, Matamoros was a close adviser of Morelos during the Oaxaca campaign and was promoted to field marshal and later to lieutenant general. He was with Morelos at the abortive attack on Valladolid, Morelia, in 1814. Later, at Puruarán, Matamoros was captured by the royalists and executed.

See alsoCuautla, Siege of .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lucas Alamán, Historia de México desde los primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en el año de 1808 hasta la época presente, 5 vols. (1849–1852; repr. 1942).

José María Luis Mora, México y sus revoluciones, 3 vols. (1961).

Wilbert H. Timmons, Morelos: Priest Soldier Statesman of Mexico (1963).

Additional Bibliography

Agraz García de Alba, Gabriel. Mariano Matamoros Guridi héroe nacional. México: Edición del Autor, 2002.

Archer, Christon. The Birth of Modern Mexico, 1780–1824. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2003.

                                     Christon Archer