Mexico and Central America: From Hidalgo's Grito to Iturbide's Empire

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, parish priest of Dolores, launched his "Grito de Dolores" on 16 September 1810 after a planned conspiracy was uncovered, calling on the population — chiefly peasants, Indigenous people, and mestizos — to rise against bad government. His army massacred peninsulars and royalist criollos at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato and issued a December 1810 decree abolishing slavery and Indigenous tribute, but Hidalgo retreated rather than attack Mexico City after his victory at Monte de las Cruces, was defeated at the Battle of Puente de Calderón in January 1811, and was captured, defrocked, and executed by firing squad in Chihuahua on 30 July 1811.