Before it there stands a bronze statue of this earliest of the
Mexican patriot leaders.
Shall we add a few words descriptive of the later course of the struggle
for independence? The death of Hidalgo left many patriots still alive, and
one of these, Moreles the muleteer, kept up the war with varying fortunes
until 1815, when he, too, was taken and shot.
The man to whom Moreles owed his downfall was Augustin de Yturbide, a
royalist leader, who pursued the insurgents with relentless energy. Yet it
was to this man that Mexico in the end owed its independence. After the
death of Moreles a chief named Guerrero kept up the war for liberty, and
against him Yturbide was sent in 1820. As it proved, the royalist had
changed his views, and after some fighting with Guerrero he joined hands
with him and came out openly as a patriot leader. He had under him a
well-disciplined army, and advanced from success to success till the final
viceroy found himself forced to acknowledge the independence of Mexico.
The events that followed--how Mexico was organized into an empire, with
Yturbide as emperor under the title of Augustin I.
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