JOSÉ ANTONIO TORRES: BIOGRAPHY, INSURGENCY STAGE, DEATH - ARTE - 2025

José Antonio Torres (1760-1812) was a recognized military man in the history of Mexico who participated in the initial stage of the struggle for independence. He had no basic studies or military training, but he was highly respected as a leader.

Two of his sons also participated in the independence movements in Mexico. Torres was captured, sentenced to die, and hanged. To discourage other insurgents or supporters of the pro-independence movements, Torres was dismembered and various parts of his body were exhibited in different towns.

Statue of José Antonio Torres in Mexico. Source: Salvador alc, via Wikimedia Commons.

He was nicknamed by the people of the time as Amo Torres. He was one of the most respected and remembered figures in Jalisco. Even in 1829, 17 years after his death and in an already independent Mexico, he was honored by naming a town in Jalisco in his honor: the town of Zacoalco de Torres.

Biography

Early life and family

On November 2, 1760 in San Pedro Piedra Gorda, a town in Zacatecas, José Antonio Torres Mendoza was born thanks to the union between Miguel and María Encarnación, classified as mestizos. Little is known about the insurgent leader's early life.

It is known that Torres did not have extensive training and did not have military knowledge. His first work dealt with the transport of animals throughout the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This work was vital in the future when he joined the movements for the independence of Mexico.

Later he had administrative tasks in the Atotonilquillo farm, today part of Guanajuato.

When he was 28 years old, he married Manuela Venegas, a woman of Spanish origin. The couple had five children, two of them joining the libertarian cause. The most famous was the eldest of his sons: José Antonio Torres Venegas. He fought in what is now known as Colima, at the same time that his father fought in Guadalajara.

Nickname

Torres's nickname during his life had little to do with his struggle for independence from Mexico. At that time he was known as 'El Amo', but he received the nickname for his work as an administrator on a farm.

The nickname was also a reflection of the respect that many people felt for Torres, who would later become one of the most important characters in the history of Jalisco.

First steps as an insurgent

His main influence was the revolutionary and priest Miguel Hidalgo. Torres learned of the conspiracy that was beginning and when, on September 16, 1810, the Grito de Dolores occurred in Guanajuato, he traveled to meet with Hidalgo and request his permission to continue the fight in other sectors.

Hidalgo appointed Torres as a colonel and was the leader of the independence movement in Guadalajara and Zacatecas. He was in charge of a hundred men. Some insurgents criticized the father's decision by assigning that responsibility to someone without military knowledge or training.

Battles

Master Torres' results in the battles served him well in defending his position as colonel to some critics. Torres was a fundamental part of the taking of Nueva Galicia that began on November 3, 1810 and defeated the army led by Tomás Ignacio Villaseñor, a royalist who spared his life.

This victory allowed Torres to have a larger army, with better weapons and a more comfortable economic capital in order to continue in the fight for the independence of Mexico. A week later Torres was heading to Guadalajara to continue his fight.

In a single month, since he had joined the fight, Torres already had a group of thousands of insurgents. He fought in Puerto Piñones, where he achieved one more victory for the independence movement. Months later he was one of the protagonists of the capture of Zacatecas and Maguey.

Help Hidalgo

Torres was always unconditional to the priest Hidalgo. Once control was achieved in areas of Nueva Galicia, Torres invited Hidalgo to take refuge in the area after several important defeats against the royalists.

Hidalgo took control of Nueva Galicia and ignored Torres's request to release other insurgent leaders who had been captured in Coahuila.

Capture

José Antonio Torres's fight did not last long. A year and a half after joining the revolutionaries, thanks to Father Hidalgo's permission, Torres was captured by the royalists. It all started with Torres' defeat in Michoacán at the end of 1811.

As the days went by, Torres was losing allies and his army, at some point numerous, was diminished and vulnerable. The Spanish soldier José de la Cruz made a special effort to search for Torres. Finally it was José Antonio López Merino who captured the rebel. López Merino had previously fought with the insurgents, but asked for a pardon from Spain and later defended royalist ideas.

López Merino had managed to capture one of the most important leaders of the insurgents and showed no mercy against Torres. The insurgent was considered and declared a traitor to the Crown.

Captured in April in Michoacán, Torres was sent back to Guadalajara to be sentenced. He arrived in the city in May, a journey he had to make while tied up while being transported in a cart despite his multiple injuries.

Sentence to death

One of the most macabre details in the life of José Antonio Torres has to do with the way in which he died. Almost two weeks after arriving in Guadalajara, it was decreed that Torres would go to the gallows.

On May 23, 1812, when Torres was only 52 years old, he was hanged in a plaza in Guadalajara. But his sentence did not end there, the Spanish dismembered the body of the insurgent leader.

The arms, legs and head were hung in various public places in nearby towns. There was also a sign that read that Torres was considered a traitor to Spain. This kind of display by the royalists was visible for more than a month to prevent other citizens from following their ideas of freedom.

References

1. Annals of the National Museum of Archeology, History and Ethnology. Tom. 1-5. The Museum, 1909.
2. Castro Gutiérrez, Felipe, and Marcela Terrazas Basante. Dissidence and Dissidents in the History of Mexico. National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2003.
3. Fregoso Gennis, Carlos. The Insurgent Press In Western Mexico. Government of the State of Colima, Secretary of Culture, 2002.
4. Rodríguez O, Jaime E. "We Are Now The True Spaniards." Stanford University Press, 2012.
5. Sierra, Justo et al. The Political Evolution Of The Mexican People. University Of Texas Press, 2014.