Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla

Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseor (8 May 1753 - 30 July 1811), also known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo, was a Catholic priest and leader of the Mexican War of Independence.

Hidalgo, a professor at Valladolid's Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo, was influenced by Enlightenment ideas, which contributed to his ouster in 1792. He worked in a church in Colima before moving to Dolores. He was astounded by the rich soil he discovered upon his arrival. He attempted to assist the poor by teaching them how to grow olives and grapes, but in New Spain (modern Mexico), growing these crops was discouraged or prohibited by colonial authorities in order to avoid competition with imports from Spain. On September 16, 1810, he delivered the Cry of Dolores, a speech calling on the people to protect the interests of their King Ferdinand VII, who was imprisoned during the Peninsular War, by revolting against the European-born Spaniards who.

He marched across Mexico, gathering an army of nearly 90,000 poor farmers and Mexican civilians to attack the elites of the Spanish Peninsula and the Criollo. Hidalgo's troops were poorly trained and armed. In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, these troops were defeated by an army of well-trained and armed Spanish troops. Following the battle, Hidalgo and his remaining troops fled north, but Hidalgo was betrayed, captured, and executed.