Acapulco and the Priest Morelos

The battle for Mexico’s freedom and sovereignty was begun by the Catholic priest, Miguel Hidalgo, on September 16, 1810. A month later he met, in Indaparapeo, a tiny Michoacan village, with Don Jose Maria Morelos y Pavón, a priest from nearby Caracuaro. He commissioned Morelos to “raise troops on the southern coast.”

Morelos initiated his campaign on October 22. While his early combats were largely successful, in Acapulco he failed. Morelos managed to take the mountain ramparts surrounding the bay, but the Fort of San Diego held fast against his onslaught, a bombardment that took place on February 8, 1811. The rebel priest realized that his campaign was still premature. On April 6, 1813, he attacked again, laying siege to his prey. Five terrible months passed until finally a realistic garrison decided to surrender its pentagonal fortification.

The following year the viceroyal authorities decided to attempt to recover the port of Acapulco and a military column began 1st march. By this time Morelos, in addition to suffering several heavy losses and serious setbacks, was no longer a generalissimo; he deduced that entrenchment would be useless. Before abandoning the main square he destroyed the fort’s defenses and from his vantage point at Pie de la Cuesta, on April 9, 1814, ordered Lieutenant Colonel Isidore Montes de Oca to set the port on fire. At the same time he beheaded his prisoners and shot all resident Spaniards.