The Capture of Orizaba was a battle of the War of Mexican Independence that occurred on 28 October 1812 at Orizaba,

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

. The battle was fought between the royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown, commanded by General José Antonio Andrade, and the Mexican rebels fighting for independence from the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

, commanded by José María Morelos y Pavón. The battle resulted in a victory for the Mexican rebels.

Context

José María Morelos José María Teclo Morelos Pérez y Pavón () (30 September 1765 – 22 December 1815) was a Mexican Priesthood in the Catholic Church, Catholic priest, statesman and military leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming it ...

had by this time in the war, made it his goal to conquer the mountainous region of south east

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. This was made difficult because such a conquest also involved taking the more heavily defended Spanish cities of

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

and

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

. To accomplish his objectives, he moved to cut off communications between

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and the port at

. To accomplish this, Morelos had to occupy the city of

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

or Orizaba as both these cities fell between these objectives. While based in Tehuacán, Morelos reviewed the defenses at Orizaba and decided that its capture would be the most strategically viable of the two. He decided on Orizaba also in part because of the large sums of money and property in the city belonging to the

Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. Morelos marched from Tehuacán on 25 October with his army which was made up of around 10,000 soldiers. The column reached Orizaba on 28 October 1812. The city was defended by a garrison of around 600 Spanish loyalists commanded by Colonel José Antonio Andrade. In an effort to avoid a battle with such lopsided odds, Morelos sent a representative to discuss terms of surrender with the defending Spanish garrison who promptly refused his offer.Zárate, 1880; 324-325

The battle

After the rejection of his offer of surrender, the insurgent forces advanced upon the city until arriving at the city

Bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...

where Colonel Andrande had made his defensive stand. The rebel forces were there met with a strong barrage of artillery and musket fire causing relatively high casualties. Morelos retreated from his initial attack and again gathered his forces together while he waited for his soldiers from Santa Catarina and San Cristóbal to get into their strategic positions of attack. Morelos ordered General Hermenegildo Galeana to commence a frontal attack on the city. Morelos took direct command of the Santa Catarina column with which he was able to successfully take the Cerro del Borrego, one of the high ground areas surrounding the city. From this cerro, he commenced an artillery barrage of the city plaza. The loyalist colonel, José Antonio Andrade, caught in the crossfire between Galeana and Morelos, retreated from the city around 11:00 am when Morelos was finally able to enter in the wake of the Spanish.

References

Bibliography

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Orizaba Conflicts in 1812 History of Veracruz Orizaba Orizaba 1812 in New Spain October 1812