Félix María Calleja del Rey, 1st Count of Calderón

Félix María Calleja del Rey, 1st Count of Calderón ( _es. Félix María Calleja del Rey, primer conde de Calderón) (November 1, 1753, Medina del Campo, Spain—July 24, 1828, Valencia, Spain) was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of New Spain from March 4, 1813 to September 20, 1816, during Mexico's War of Independence.

Before the insurrection of 1810

Captain Calleja del Rey accompanied Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, conde de Revillagigedo to New Spain in 1789, when Güemes took up the position of viceroy. Calleja became commander of an infantry brigade in the intendencia of San Luis Potosí. Under the government of Viceroy Miguel José de Azanza he fought with severity and cruelty to subdue the Indians. He also fought against Anglo-American filibusters who were encroaching on the distant and now nearly abandoned Spanish territory of Texas. Among the officers under his command was Ignacio Allende, who was later to become a hero of Mexican independence.

Calleja married Francisca de la Gándara, a very rich Criolla and owner of the hacienda of Bledos.

As general in the war with the insurgents

With the Grito de Dolores of Miguel Hidalgo on September 16, 1810, supporters of independence rose in many places in New Spain. Within a month many large cities in the central part of the country fell to the rebels — Celaya (September 21), Guanajuato (September 28), Zacatecas (October 7), Valladolid (October 17), and Guadalajara (November 11) among them.

At Monte de las Cruces, at the gates of Mexico City, 80,000 insurgents under Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende defeated the royalists on October 30, 1810. There was panic in Mexico City. However, in a moment of apparent indecision, Father Hidalgo ordered a retreat toward Vallodalid. The reason for this has never been adequately explained.

After the retreat of the insurgents, Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas ordered Calleja, now a brigadier in command of a cavalry division, to march from San Luis Potosí to the aid of the capital. On the march between Querétaro and Mexico City, Calleja met the insurgents in the plains of San Jerónimo Aculco, where he decimated them on November 7, 1810. He then retook Guanajuato on November 25 and Guadalajara on January 21, 1811.

Calleja defeated the insurgents again, decisively, in the Battle of the Bridge of Calderón on January 17, 1811. The insurgents were on the point of victory when a grenade ignited a munitions wagon in their camp, sowing confusion. The royalists took advantage, and routed the insurgents. A remnant of the rebel forces, including Hidalgo and other leaders, began retreating toward the United States. The leaders were captured by the royalists and executed.

Calleja's 4,000 troops became the basis of the royalist "Ejército del Centro" (Army of the Center) that fought Hidalgo, Ignacio López Rayón and Father José María Morelos.

Calleja retired to Mexico City after an unsuccessful 58-day siege of Morelos in Cuautla. In his home in Mexico City he received those of the royalist party discontented with Viceroy Venegas's inability to suppress the insurrection. The Audiencia and others of the Spanish party complained to the Junta of Cádiz.

As viceroy, still at war with the insurgents

Calleja received the nomination to replace Venegas as viceroy on January 28, 1813, but did not actually take up the post until the following March 4. His initial assessment of the state of affairs was not encouraging. The government coffers were empty, and it was in debt. More than two million pesos were owed to the troops. There were units almost without uniforms or boots. Armament was in a bad state and there was a shortage of horses.

With his characteristic energy, he threw himself into remedying the situation. He confiscated the property of the Inquisition, which had been abolished by the constitution of 1812. He solicited a loan of two million pesos from the commercial sector. He farmed out the "alcabala" (sales tax). He reorganized the public treasury and required strict accounting of the viceroyalty's income and expenses. He reestablished commerce and the postal service, which had been interrupted by the insurgents.

With the money he raised he formed a powerful army, well equipped, paid, armed and disciplined.

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 Anáhuac, meeting in Chilpancingo, proclaimed the independence of Mexico. On October 22, 1814 the rebel Congress of Apatzingán proclaimed a constitution.

Meanwhile in Spain, Ferdinand VII had returned to the throne. He abrogated the constitution of Cádiz on May 14, 1814 and reestablished government institutions as they had been in 1808. By a decree of July 21, 1814 he reestablished the Inquisition. On May 19, 1816 he authorized the Jesuits to return to Mexico.

Calleja had been exiling many insurgents to Cuba, and now he began exiling them to the Philippines. With the capture and, on December 22, 1815, the execution of Morelos, the insurrection again seemed to be at an end. But it soon broke out anew with the revolt of Vicente Guerrero in the south. Calleja's rule became more dictatorial.

Calleja was a determined, unscrupulous, cruel ruler who tolerated the numerous abuses of his commanders, someone to be feared. He was feared, and also hated, even by some of the royalists. They blamed his brutal methods for causing more rebellion after the death of Morelos. The complaints against his dictatorial methods were received in Cádiz, and on September 20, 1816 he was relieved of his position.

His return to Spain

He returned to Spain, where he was given the title of "conde de Calderón" and the grand crosses of Isabel the Catholic and San Hermenegildo. He was military commander in Andalucía and governor of Cádiz. He was charged with organizing an expeditionary army to America. He took Rafael Riego, a rebel against Ferdinand VII, prisoner.

He was commander in Valencia at the time of his death in 1828.

References

*es icon "Calleja del Rey, Félix María," "Enciclopedia de México", v. 2. Mexico City: 1996, ISBN 1-56409-016-7.
*es icon García Puron, Manuel, "México y sus gobernantes", v. 1. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
*es icon Orozco L., Fernando, "Fechas Históricas de México". Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1988, ISBN 968-38-0046-7.
*es icon Orozco Linares, Fernando, "Gobernantes de México". Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.