FÉLIX CALLEJA: BIOGRAPHY OF A VICEROY OF NEW SPAIN - ARTE - 2024

Félix María Calleja del Rey (1753-1828) was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of New Spain, from March 4, 1813 to September 20, 1816, during the Mexican War of Independence. For his service in New Spain, he was awarded the title of Count of Calderón.

In 1775, he participated in the unsuccessful expedition against Algiers and in the siege of Gibraltar in 1779. In 1782, when he was a lieutenant, he took part in the reconquest of the port of Mahón. Later, in 1784, he was director of studies at the Military College of the port of Santa María, where he instructed several companies of cadets until the year 1788, in which this center was extinguished.

Felix Calleja. By Giuseppe Perovani

Calleja is famous for having ended the greatest insurrections of his time, those of 1811 and 1813. At the command of the San Luis Potosí post, when the revolution broke out under Hidalgo y Costilla, he led a great force in the field and defeated Hidalgo in Aculco and on the Calderón Bridge and besieged Morelos and Pavón in Cuautla in 1812.

As viceroy, Calleja continued to suppress the revolution, and by the time he left Mexico most of the insurgents were defeated. Upon his return to Spain, the King appointed him count of Calderón, and granted him the Grand Cross of Isabel la Católica and San Hermenegildo, as well as allowing him to form part of the Overseas Military Advisory Council.

On August 6, 1819 he received the appointment of Captain General of Andalusia, Governor of Cádiz. With the return of absolutism, he stayed away in Valencia, where he was sentenced to a purification trial in 1825. He died in this city on July 24, 1828.

Biography

Birth and childhood

Félix María Calleja was born on November 1, 1753 in Medina del Campo, Valladolid. In 1773, he enlisted as a cadet in the Savoy Infantry Regiment and achieved the rank of captain. His first act of war was the failed expedition against Algiers, on July 8, 1775.

Trip to New Spain

In 1789, Calleja accompanied the Count of Revillagigedo to New Spain, when he assumed the position of viceroy. He landed in Veracruz bound for the city of Puebla. There he acted as an instructor for cadets, sergeants and officers.

For this reason, he gained the trust of the viceroy, who commissioned him to inspect and study the military situation in the border territories, which allowed him to explore different regions.

In 1795, the new viceroy Marqués de Branciforte commissioned the inspection of the territories of the new Santander and the new Kingdom of León. To intensify the threat of invasion by English ships, the viceroy ordered plans for the defense of the ports and coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, and completed them by proposing that permanent military patrols be established.

Brigade commander

Later, with the military reorganization carried out by Viceroy Miguel Azanza, Calleja became commander of an infantry brigade in the San Luis Potosí quartermaster.

Under this new government, Calleja fought rigorously and cruelly to subdue the Indians in the area. He also fought against the Anglo-American filibusters who were invading the uninhabited territory of Texas.

On January 26, 1807, Calleja married María Francisca de la Gándara, a Creole who belonged to one of the most powerful families in San Luis de Potosí. She was the daughter of Manuel Jerónimo de la Gándara, owner of the Bledos farm.

Withdrawal of Hidalgo and insurgents

On the Monte de las Cruces, at the gates of Mexico City, with Miguel Hidalgo's Grito de Dolores on September 16, 1810, the supporters of independence rose up in many places in New Spain.

On October 30, 1810, 80,000 insurgents under the command of Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende defeated the royalists. However, in a moment of apparent indecision, the priest Hidalgo ordered a withdrawal to Valladolid.

After the withdrawal of the insurgents, Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas ordered Calleja, now a brigadier in command of a cavalry division, to come from San Luis Potosí to defend the capital.

Direct conflicts with insurgents

On the march between Querétaro and Mexico City, Calleja met the insurgents in the plains of San Jerónimo Aculco, where he defeated them on November 7, 1810.

Again, in the Battle of the Calderón Bridge on January 17, 1811, Calleja defeated the insurgents. He then resumed Guanajuato on November 25 and Guadalajara on January 21, 1811.

The insurgents were about to win the battle when a grenade ignited an ammunition car in their camp, causing confusion. The relalistas took advantage of this opportunity to definitively defeat the insurgents.

Some rebels, including Hidalgo and other leaders, were retreating to the United States when they were captured and executed.

Calleja's 4,000 troops became the loyal base to the Crown and would fight against Hidalgo, Ignacio López Rayón, and Father José María Morelos.

Retreat to Mexico City

Calleja withdrew to Mexico City after an unsuccessful 72-day siege against Morelos in Cuautla. At his residence in Mexico City, he received royalists who were unhappy with Viceroy Venegas' inability to suppress the insurrection.

Office of Viceroy of New Spain

Calleja was appointed Venegas's replacement on January 28, 1813, but did not actually take office until March 4. At first, the situation was not very encouraging. The government coffers were empty, and there was a great debt. The troops lacked proper uniforms and footwear. In addition, the state of the armament was very poor and more horses were needed.

With the energy that characterized him, he gave himself completely to solve the situation. He confiscated the property of the Inquisition, which had been abolished by the Spanish Constitution of 1812. He requested a loan of two million pesos from the commercial sector, in addition to mortgaging the alcabalas (the sales tax) to improve its collection.

He also reorganized the public treasury and required strict accounting of the viceroyalty's income and expenses. It restored commerce and the postal service, which had been interrupted by the war with the insurgents. With the money he raised, he built a powerful, well-equipped, paid, armed, and disciplined army.

End of the viceroyalty

In late 1813, an epidemic of fever killed tens of thousands of people. Morelos captured Acapulco on April 20, 1813. On November 6, 1813, the rebel Congress of Anahuac, meeting in Chilpancingo, proclaimed the independence of Mexico. On October 22, 1814, the rebel Congress of Apatzingán promulgated a constitution.

Meanwhile, in Spain, Fernando VII had returned to the throne. He repealed the Spanish Constitution on May 14, 1814, and reestablished the institutions of government just as they had in 1808.

Return of the Inquisition

By decree of July 21, 1814, he reestablished the Inquisition. On May 19, 1816, he authorized the Jesuits to return to Mexico, who had been expelled at the end of the 18th century.

Calleja exiled many insurgents to Cuba, and began exiling them to the Philippines. With the capture and subsequent execution of Morelos on December 22, 1815, the insurrection seemed to have ended once more. But it soon broke out again with the Vicente Guerrero revolt in the south. The Calleja government became more dictatorial.

Calleja was a determined, unscrupulous and cruel ruler who tolerated the numerous abuses of his commanders. Even some of the more liberal royalists feared it.

They blamed him and his brutal methods of provoking more rebellion after Morelos' death. Complaints against his dictatorial methods were presented to the Spanish court and on September 20, 1816, he was relieved of his position.

Back to Spain

Throughout his life, Calleja stood out for his cruel methods, but also for his gifts for organization. In the years of the French invasion and also with the existing concern among Creole society, Calleja managed to dominate the region with cunning and promote fidelity to the King. He mobilized donations to support the funds of the war against the French invaders and created corps of volunteer soldiers.

Calleja is considered by some historians as one of the greatest military commanders to have fought in Mexico, due to his cunning and sometimes barbaric methods.

Count of Calderón

Upon his return to Spain, he received the title of Count of Calderón, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of San Hermenegildo, for his actions against the insurgents. They named him military commander in Andalusia and governor of Cádiz.

He was commissioned to organize an expeditionary army to America with the intention of reconquering territories from Spain. However, he was captured by Rafael Riego, whose uprising against Fernando VII started the Liberal Restoration of 1820.

Death

Calleja was imprisoned in Mallorca until the absolutist restoration of 1823. When he returned, he was commander in Valencia until the moment of his death in 1828.

References

1. Benavides Martinez, J. (2019). Realistic Bastion. Félix Calleja and the Independence of Mexico. History and Life Magazine, August 2016. Taken from academia.edu
2. Espinosa Aguirre, J. (2019). The moment of politics. Félix María Calleja and his party to prevent military abuses (1813). Taken from academia.edu
3. Félix María Calleja del Rey. (2019). Taken from ibero.mienciclo.com
4. Félix María Calleja del Rey - Royal Academy of History. (2019). Taken from dbe.rah.es
5. Martínez, J. (2019). The germ of an army: Félix Calleja and the creation of the royalist force in Potosí in 1810. Taken from