Veracruz Mexico

Freedom Route: Miguel Hidalgo Campaign - Tracing the progress of the "Father of Independence" from the small town of Dolores (now Dolores Hidalgo) to Chihuahua, this route was inaugurated by President Adolfo López Mateos in 1960 and has been expanded to include sites associated with Hidalgo's main collaborators. It tracks through Michoacán, Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz and Mexico states and the Federal District (Mexico City).

Hidalgo, a criollo Catholic priest, called his parishioners to arms with his now-famous Grito ("Shout") de Dolores. He marched to Guanajuato, where the Spanish barricaded themselves in a grain warehouse. A massive monument to El Pípila, a miner who burned down the doors and gave Hidalgo the first victory of the independence movement, stands on a hill high above the city. With Ignacio Allende, he defeated Spanish forces at the battle of Monte de las Cruces, just outside Mexico City. But rather than pressing to the capital, he retreated to Guanajuato and spent the rest of the war fleeing from a bolstered royalist army. His forces occupied Guadalajara but then were pushed northward toward the U.S. border, where they hoped to find refuge. The Spanish army caught up with Hidalgo in the state of Jalisco and convicted him of treason. He was executed by firing squad in Chihuahua in 1811, and his head was put on public display in Guanajuato for 10 years.

Sentiments of the Nation Route: José María Morelos Campaign
This route is based on the military campaigns led by Morelos and collaborators such as Nicolás Bravo and Vicente Guerrero. Its broad sweep takes in the states of Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Morelos, Mexico, Puebla, Veracruz and Chiapas.

Morelos, a former student of Hidalgo and also a parish priest, assumed leadership of the revolutionary army after Hidalgo's death. He blockaded Mexico City for a month and occupied the cities of Oaxaca and Acapulco. In 1813, he convened the Congress of Chilpancingo, which signed the "Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America" and adopted guiding principles for independence. Two years later, the Spanish captured Morelos and executed him for treason in San Cristóbal Ecatepec, Mexico state. His army split into guerilla bands, the most notable led by Guadalupe Victoria in Puebla and Vicente Guerrero in Oaxaca. It was Guerrero who worked out the Plan de Iguala, guaranteeing independence, with Gen. Agustín de Iturbide, a royalist officer who had been sent to quash Guerrero but defected to the rebel side.