José Santiago Vidaurri Valdez (July 24, 1809 – July 8, 1867) was a controversial and powerful

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the northern Mexican states of Nuevo León and Coahuila between 1855 and 1864. He was an advocate of federalism. In 1855, he supported the liberal

Revolution of Ayutla In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, which overthrew the dictatorship of Santa Anna. Vidaurri stood by the liberal president

Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...

during the subsequent War of the Reform, during which Vidaurri commanded the liberal armies of the north. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, he sought advantageous trade relationships with the neighboring

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

, and, during the

Second French Intervention in Mexico The Second French Intervention in Mexico ( es, Segunda intervención francesa en México), also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867), was an invasion of Mexico, launched in late 1862 by the Second French Empire, which hoped to ...

, he broke with Juárez and supported the Second Mexican Empire. When the Empire fell in 1867, Vidaurri was captured and executed by the restored Republican government. In Nuevo León he remains an important historical figure.

Early life

Vidaurri was born in Villa Punta de Lampazos,

New Kingdom of León The New Kingdom of León ( es, Nuevo Reino de León), was an administrative territory of the Spanish Empire, politically ruled by the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was located in an area corresponding generally to the present-day northeastern Mexica ...

on July 24, 1809, the oldest of the four sons of Pedro José Vidaurri de la Cruz and María Teodora Valdez Solís. A rumor circulated that "he was the son of an unknown Indian brave, raised to adulthood by roaming bands of ''indios bárbaros'', but his baptismal record shows that he was born in Lampazos in 1809.

Political career

Vidaurri is best known as the strongman of northeast Mexico during the 1850s and 1860s who defended that territory against outside intervention. The first notice of him appears when he cut off a soldier's hand in 1832, with unknown adverse consequences to him, but he went on to become a clerk for the police of Nuevo León and then, in 1837, an assistant to the governor of the state, Joaquín García, and then Manuel María de Llano. Vidaurri then became his secretary and was chosen by General Arista to spy on the

Texan Santa Fe Expedition The Texan Santa Fe Expedition was a commercial and military expedition to secure the Republic of Texas's claims to parts of Northern New Mexico for Texas in 1841. The expedition was unofficially initiated by the then-President of Texas, Mirabeau ...

, sponsored by Texas President

Mirabeau B. Lamar Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (August 16, 1798 – December 25, 1859) was an Lawyer, attorney born in Georgia, who became a Texas politician, poet, diplomat, and soldier. He was a leading Texas political figure during the Republic of Texas, Texas ...

. The purpose was to divert the Santa Fe Trail into Texas and establish control over New Mexico. In the 1840s and early 1850s, Vidaurri worked with Mexican conservatives, but broke with them and joined the liberal revolt against

Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...

. Santa Anna attempted to strengthen central government rule over Mexican states, which had held considerable autonomy. Vidaurri promulgated a plan called "Restaurador de la Libertad" (restorer of liberty), captured the main city of Nuevo León, Monterrery, in May 1855, and became both military commander in the state. In the southern state of Guerrero, strongman

Juan Álvarez Juan Nepomuceno Álvarez Hurtado de Luna, generally known as Juan Álvarez, (27 January 1790 – 21 August 1867) was a general, long-time caudillo (regional leader) in southern Mexico, and president of Mexico for two months in 1855, following ...

organized resistance to Santa Anna and a political plan to oust him. The

Plan of Ayutla A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. ...

resulted in uprisings in southern Mexico and were then joined by many in northern Mexico. The revolution of Ayutla then gained the necessary speed it needed when it was joined by

Santos Degollado José Santos Degollado Sánchez (born November 1, 1811, in Hacienda de Robles, Guanajuato – died June 15, 1861, in Llanos de Salazar, State of Mexico) was a Mexican Liberal politician and military leader. He was raised by a priest in Michoac� ...

and

Manuel Doblado Manuel Doblado Partida (12 June 1818 – 19 June 1865) was a Mexican prominent liberal politician and lawyer who served as congressman, Governor of Guanajuato, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1861) in the cabinet of President Juárez and fought ...

. Vidaurri supported the Revolution of Ayutla and had already seized the opportunity to create his own area of political control in northern Mexico. The northern supporters of the Revolution of Ayutla were important to its success; without such support it might well have been a southern regional rebellion penned in and suffering a war of attrition. In this period Vidaurri's reputation as a liberal was solidified. "Vidaurri had become one of the champions of Mexican liberalism during the first years of his ''cacicazgo'' olitical area of controlover the northeast, especially its most radical faction, the ''puros''. Historian Brian Hamnett argues that, following Mexican independence, the support for federalism for which many Liberals advocated was a kind of institutionalized centrifugalism. Santa Anna's attempts to centralize power met resistance from areas that had exercised a level of autonomy, such as Guerrero under Álvarez and northeast Mexico under Vidaurri. Vidaurri had overthrown the governor of Nuevo León and annexed Coahuila, eliminating any opposition. The forced merger of Coahuila and Nuevo León in April 1856 was opposed by President

Ignacio Comonfort Ignacio Gregorio Comonfort de los Ríos (; 12 March 1812 – 13 November 1863), known as Ignacio Comonfort, was a Mexican politician and soldier who was also president during one of the most eventful periods in 19th century Mexican history: La ...

, with Vidaurri appealing to the federal congress for support. The central government was too weak to counter his defiance, and it acquiesced to the situation out of necessity. With the ratification of the liberal

Constitution of 1857 The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1857), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Co ...

, which had federalist principles of a weak central state and strong states' rights, Vidaurri, as leader of Coahuila-Nuevo León, was de facto head of a sovereign nation. He had an army, collected customs revenues, and was free of central government interference. He was powerful and potentially dangerous, given the size and location of the territory he controlled in northern Mexico. In Nuevo León-Coahuila, he had dealings with one of the elite families of the region, the Sánchez Navarros, the largest landowners in Mexico. At various points, Vidaurri attempted to force the family to sell him an hacienda, shook them down for a 10,000 pesos "contribution" to shore up the Vidaurri administration when it was short of funds, and sacked a family mansion in Saltillo.

War of the Reform

During the War of the Reform (1858–1860), Vidaurri supported the Mexican Republic headed by Benito Juárez, but, during the French intervention in Mexico, he supported the French. Vidaurri raised an army in his merged states of Coahuila and Nuevo León. In September 1858, Vidaurri's forces were defeated by conservative general

Miguel Miramón Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo, known as Miguel Miramón, (29 September 1831 – 19 June 1867) was a Mexican conservative general who became president of Mexico at the age of twenty seven during the Reform War, serving ...

. One way Liberals sought to finance the civil war against the Conservatives was the sale or confiscation of property held by the Catholic Church. Vidaurri did not wait for formal sanctioning of this policy, but implemented it in his territory, as did Jesús González Ortega. A major source of revenue for Vidaurri were those that were collected by the customs houses along the U.S.–Mexico border, which he kept rather than turning them over to the federal Liberals. For that, Benito Juárez denounced him, and some of Vidaurri's allies deserted him to follow Juárez. Evaristo Madero, grandfather of

Francisco I. Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...

, who challenged Porfirio Díaz for the presidency in 1910, was a successful businessman in Northeast Mexico, and was for a time an ally of Vidaurri; Madero broke with Vidaurri and supported Juárez. Later the Madero family married into the Milmo Vidaurri Family.

Second Mexican Empire

With the secession of Southern states from the United States and the formation of the

, Vidaurri established relationships with the nascent Confederate government. Vidaurri met with Confederate agent Juan A. Quintero in June 1861. Vidaurri believed that relations with the Confederacy could prove profitable for his territory and insure border peace, and he made his overture to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. During the Second French Intervention in Mexico and the establishment of the Second Mexican Empire, Vidaurri broke with Juarez, as early as March 1864, over the administration and finances of his state, and had even held a referendum on joining the Empire. Republican troops drove him into Texas, but troops loyal to Viduarri remained active in the region. As Republican forces in the north were diverted by Imperial advances. Vidaurrist troops captured Monterrey on August 15, 1864, with President Juarez barely escaping, and pursued as far as Parras in a bullet-riddled carriage. The triumphant Vidaurri then headed towards the capital where he was made a councilor of Maximilian. By the end of the year, the imperialists controlled

Nuevo Leon Nuevo is the Spanish word for "new". It may refer to: * Nuevo, California, a town in the state of California * Nuevo (band), featuring singer and musician Peter Godwin * Nuevo (Bayamón), a settlement in Puerto Rico * "Nuevo", Spanish-language vers ...

and the greater part of Coahuila to the banks of the Rio Grande.

Death

As the Empire collapsed in 1867 and Emperor Maximilian was captured, Vidaurri was arrested by a squadron "and executed without a trial as a traitor to the Mexican nation."

Legacy

Although Vidaurri is often written out of the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

of Mexico or disparaged for his support of the Second Mexican Empire, he remains an important historical figure in his home state of Nuevo León. A 2007 attempt to erect a statue of Vidaurri in Lampazos, where he was born, was embroiled in controversy. On April 23, 1857, his daughter, Prudenciana Vidaurri, married prominent Irish businessman Patrick Milmo O'Dowd, of Irish descent, who profited from the cotton trade with the Confederate States of America. The family continued to play an important role in late nineteenth-century Monterrey. The union produced a son, Patricio Milmo Vidaurri, who would marry Patricia Hickman Morales. Patricio and Patricia become the parents of Laura Milmo Hickman, wife of Emilio Azcarraga Vidaurreta, pioneer of Mexican television and one of the founders of

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

. Emilio and Laura were the parents of famous Mexican entrepreneur Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, father in turn of the current board president of Grupo Televisa, Emilio Azcarraga Jean.Los hijos de Vidaurri
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References

External links

*Handbook of Texas Online, Edward H. Moseley, "Vidaurri, Santiago," accessed March 14, 2017, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fvi24. *Video on the career of Vidaurri https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDjgJZdf1GI

Bibliography

LosVidaurri.com (Vidaurri Family portal)
* Guillermo Prieto – ''Lecciones de historia Patria'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidaurri, Santiago

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Governors of Nuevo León People from Lampazos, Nuevo León Mexican Secretaries of Finance Mexican monarchists Governors of Coahuila Second French intervention in Mexico Liberalism in Mexico Mexican generals 1809 births 1867 deaths 19th-century Mexican politicians Politicians from Nuevo León