Campaign of Morelos

The campaign of Morelos refers to the campaign of the priest Carácuaro José María Morelos and Pavón in the independence of Mexico. It began on October 20, 1810, when the curate of Carácuaro, José María Morelos y Pavón, met with Miguel Hidalgo to join his movement. Hidalgo commissioned him to raise troops in the south and take the port of Acapulco. During its first campaign the main objective of Morelos was able to control the proximities to Acapulco and to cut the trade novohispano. In 1811 he tried unsuccessfully to take the port, but was defeated and had to withdraw to Chilpancingo. He managed to take some cities of what is now Guerrero, such as Tixtla, Chilpancingo and Chilapa, where he was joined by Galeana, Bravo and Vicente Guerrero. Thus, at the end of 1811, he began his march towards the center of the country, and on 12 December the priest Mariano Matamoros joined forces.

In February 1812 Félix María Calleja besieged Morelos in the town of Cuautla. After resisting for more than seventy days, Morelos broke the siege and defeated the realists. Shortly afterwards he went to Huajuapan to help Valerio Trujano and on November 25 he took Oaxaca.

By April of 1813 Morelos and his forces returned to Acapulco, city that finally capitulated at the end of that month. In September of that year the Congress of Anahuac was held in Chilpancingo, where Morelos obtained the title of Servant of the Nation and published his famous Feelings of the Nation. They then marched to Valladolid, where Iturbide defeated them in December 1813.

By 1814, Morelos lost its two most valuable generals, Matamoros and Galeana. One of his most important achievements consisted of the Constitution of Apatzingán, published on October 22, 1814. On November 5, 1815 Morelos was captured, tried, sentenced to death and executed on December 22, 1815. > books

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