Accidental Lessons from Hollywood on Monarchy

The 1939 film "Juarez", a biopic of Mexico's most famous president, is well worth looking at for monarchists, even if that seems odd. Juarez is upheld as the 'Abraham Lincoln of Mexico' and this point is driven home hard in the film to the extent that Juarez is rarely seen on-screen without a portrait of Lincoln in the background. It is a love letter to Benito Juarez and makes no apologies for that. However, it does not vilify Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota either. Being all about deifying Juarez, it certainly is against the monarchy and their very presence in Mexico, however, it spares the idealistic couple and focuses its wrath on the French Emperor Napoleon III. From the perspective of this film, Napoleon was the real villain, a wicked tyrant on a mission to eradicate democracy and republicanism in the New World whereas the handsome young couple, Maximilian and Carlota, are pitiable dupes; good people tricked into an "evil" enterprise by a manipulative Frenchman. Because of this, the Emperor actually comes off as a rather sympathetic figure. For a broad overview of the film, you can read a review of it here.

For me, one part of the film, two scenes, really stand out as being worthwhile, though they will be of most benefit only to those who know their history and in light of the events of our own time. In the first, Emperor Maximilian comes to meet with the captured rebel General Porfirio Diaz in his prison cell, in an effort to convince him to take a message to his president, offering to make Juarez the Prime Minister of the Mexican Empire. Emperor Maximilian has some very good lines as he makes the case for having a free and liberal society with a benevolent monarch at its head as a sort of safety valve. He presents such a good case that he seems to have won Diaz over and convinced him that the Emperor is a man of sincerity who wants the same things for Mexico that Juarez wants and Diaz goes to deliver this message to the President along with his offer to make Juarez his premier and allow him to run the government of Imperial Mexico. The next scene is Juarez, with kindly bemusement, listening to the naive, young general who has been duped by Maximilian. Juarez then starts preaching the republican gospel to Porfirio and showing him the error of his ways.

This scene, coming after the heartfelt speech of Emperor Maximilian in the previous one, is enough to make any monarchist who is familiar with the history of republicanism, and Mexico in particular, roar with laughter at how Hollywood inadvertently shows just how painfully wrong Juarez was in all of his speechifying on the glories of democracy. In the first place, they make much about the constitution that Juarez wrote, however, any honest historian of the period knows that Juarez himself violated the constitution he wrote on numerous occasions. Part of what makes constitutions ultimately worthless is that they can only do good if they are adhered to voluntarily, which could be done without them, and they have no power on their own to prevent anyone from violating them. Even the United States is proof of that and it has a record better than most republics in that regard.

Juarez explains to poor, ignorant, Porfirio that Maximiliano duped him. When Diaz explained how honest and sincere the Emperor was, Juarez responds that, "virtue is a powerful weapon in the hands of an enemy" which is meant to sound "wise" but is absurd if you think about it for more than a second. It essentially says that Maximilian is wrong regardless of whether he is wicked or virtuous. He says that the unbridgeable gulf between himself and Maximilian is "democracy" and that this is the right of men to rule themselves. He explains that since a man never rules himself into bondage, freedom flows from democracy like the rivers flow from the mountains, just as naturally and serenely. This is, of course, quite hilarious given that Mexico itself democratically voted itself into bondage more than once. The PRI, for example, held tyrannical control over Mexico for the better part of the last century. Yet, the current President of Mexico was the leader of the PRI, voted back into power after a break of only two non-PRI presidents. It is also extremely laughable in the context of Juarez, a man who came to the presidency not by election, speaking to Porfirio Diaz who would go on to lead a rebellion against Juarez, then run for president himself, winning on the promise that he would serve only one term, only to then rule as dictator of Mexico for the next 35 years!

It is quite a howl that virtually everything Juarez and Diaz talk about in these scenes as being the major problems of their country; too much land owned by too few, a privileged elite prospering while the masses are impoverished, freedom of speech being suppressed, even selling out to foreign influences (such as the French) are ALL accusations made by many against General Diaz himself during his hold on power from 1877 to 1911 (with a small break in there). At the end of the scene, Juarez says, again -so profoundly, that when a monarch misrules, he changes the people but when a presidente misrules, the people change him. A perfect ending really, given that the liberal-democratic leaders of North America and Western Europe are doing precisely what Juarez said the wicked monarchs do, they are changing out their peoples for a new batch that will keep them in power. Irony doesn't begin to describe it. And yet, what is the final cherry on top of this heaping bowl full of republican hypocrisy? The fact that Juarez, the native Mexican fighting against an Austrian Emperor, was played by Paul Muni, real name Friedrich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund, a Jew from Galicia in what was then Austria-Hungary. So, yes, instead of giving the part to a Mexican actor, Benito Juarez was played by an actor from Austria.

Oh Hollywood, you really are too much sometimes...

Today in Mexican Monarchist History

It was on this day in 1867 that HM Emperor Maximilian of Mexico was executed, by firing squad, on orders from President Benito Juarez, and in violation of the republican constitution Juarez himself wrote which forbid the death penalty. He was executed alongside his top generals Miguel Miramon and Tomas Mejia (others were executed elsewhere). From the past Monarch Profile of Maximilian:

Between March and May of 1867 Emperor Maximilian and his army were besieged at Queretaro by a massive republican force. The Emperor displayed his generosity and courage on this occasion, many times exposing himself to danger and often sleeping wrapped in a blanket alongside the frontline soldiers. Finally, he was betrayed by Colonel Miguel Lopez who allowed a republican column to enter the city and the imperial defenses fell apart. Maximilian was given the opportunity to escape but would not abandon his faithful generals who would be killed because of their loyalty to him. After a short military show trial he was sentenced to death with his generals Tomas Mejia and Miguel Miramon. The three men were taken to the ‘Hill of Bells’ and executed by firing squad on June 19, 1867. Maximilian, who was only 34 years old, died shouting “Viva Mexico!” while his generals died shouting, “Viva el Emperador!”

Struggle for Monarchy on the U.S.-Mexican Border

Throughout most of the 1860’s war was raging on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. North of the Rio Grande American fought American and south of the Rio Grande Mexican fought Mexican with outside assistance for each. It was inevitable that the two would overlap but few today are aware of the struggle between republicans and monarchists that was going on right in the backyard of Texas. At the end of the American Civil War roughly eight to ten thousand Confederates fled to Mexico (then the [second] Mexican Empire) rather than live under Union rule. The Mexicans called them los Confederados and some of the more notable ones included Texas governors Edward Clark and Pendleton Murrah as well as generals such as Edmund Kirby Smith, Sterling Price, John B. Magruder and Joseph O. Shelby. For some, the war in Mexico was quick to greet them such as when Missouri General Mosley Monroe Parsons along with his officers and their families were robbed and then massacred by republican bandits. Others made the trip safely and offered their support to the embattled Emperor Maximilian.

Confederates in Mexico

The welcome given to the Confederates in Mexico did not help the already tense relations between the United States and the Empire of Mexico. General Tomas Mejia of the Imperial Mexican Army was wary of the increasing number of U.S. troops being sent to the south Texas border. The U.S. had been openly antagonistic about the French intervention in Mexico and never recognized the government of Emperor Maximilian. The largely African-American force of U.S. soldiers on the border were sympathetic to the fugitive Mexican president, Benito Juarez, with only some of the more devoutly Catholic Irish-American U.S. soldiers speaking favorably of Maximilian because of his greater respect for the Church compared to the notoriously anti-clerical Juarez. In time, both the Mexican imperial and republican armies on the border would come to include former U.S. and Confederate soldiers. The Confederates naturally took the side of Emperor Maximilian for the most part, due to his closeness with Imperial France which had been somewhat friendly toward the Confederacy. Most of the Union soldiers sided with Juarez and the republicans. Some still serving with the U.S. Army were allowed and even encouraged to “desert”, cross the border and join the forces of Benito Juarez. Despite orders from Washington to the contrary, Union officers provided large amounts of supplies, uniforms, guns and ammunition to the Juaristas.

As always, the conflict on the border had a style all its own. On one side was General Mejia with 3,000 imperial troops, including about 300 French and Austrian soldiers. Their army was harassed constantly by the regular and bandit forces of Benito Juarez as well as the bandits of the local border chieftain Juan Cortina who switched allegiances several times. In the summer of 1865 General Mejia embarked on an offensive toward Camargo that cleared out the republican bandits and Juaristas. Consolidation was able to take place and the city of Matamoros was cleaned up and work even got underway by a Belgian company to build an opera house in anticipation of a visit by the Emperor and Empress.

Juan Cortina

The bandit-chief Cortina continued to be very problematic though. On May 1, 1865 he joined with Juarista General Miguel Negrete for a three-day attack on Matamoros. The Imperial Army of General Mejia defeated them and sent the Juaristas packing but Cortina stayed behind. U.S. forces even allowed the Cortinistas to recruit new men in Brownsville, Texas across the river, to use U.S. Army camps on the Texas side of the border and to buy U.S. guns and ammunition. The French, naturally, protested this blatant violation of American neutrality but the U.S. effectively ignored them. Cortina was even employed in trying to track down the Confederates entering Mexico but with little effectiveness.

Eventually, Cortina drove the imperialistas out of Camargo but he was in turn dealt severe defeats in an attempted raid on an imperial supply train and an imperialista attack on his own encampment. The situation soon degenerated into a no-holds-barred guerilla war. The French and Mexican imperialists decided to fight fire with fire and turned to the flamboyant and vicious Colonel Charles Dupin, leader of the contra-guerillas who struck the republican forces with such ferocity and cruelty that he was nicknamed the “hyena of Tamaulipas” and his men, the “Red Devils”. However, both sides were equally brutal no doubt about it.

General Tomas Mejia

The primary goal of the republican forces on the border was to drive the Imperialistas out of Matamoros. Toward this goal, U.S. General Lew Wallace (future author of “Ben-Hur”) and Mexican rebel Jose Maria Jesus Carbajal collected men, money and weapons for an ‘Army of the North’ to attack the city. The effort began in October of 1865 with an attack by Juarista General Mariano Escobedo. General Mejia met the challenge bravely, at one point personally leading a charge with five hundred cavalry to drive out Juaristas who had broken through his defenses. Supporting fire came from the French gunboat “Paisano” on the Rio Grande which shelled the Juaristas from the river. Another French gunboat, the “Antonia”, was actually openly fired upon by U.S. troops on the Texas side of the river. In fact, Escobedo’s republican army included many U.S. soldiers on “leaves of absence” to participate in the battle and help ensure a Juarista victory. Cortina’s men were also involved and harassed the French marines from the safety of U.S. soil. Of course, General Mejia and the local French naval commander in the Gulf of Mexico protested such blatant violations of American neutrality and, of course, it did them no good whatsoever.

The attack on Matamoros went on for sixteen days until an imperial cavalry patrol discovered that the Juaristas had abandoned their lines and retreated on November 9. Total losses for the Juaristas amounted to five hundred dead or wounded and fifty-eight taken prisoner while General Mejia had lost fewer than twelve. Yet, as long as the republicans remained in the area the fight went on with Juarista raiders attacking French and Imperialista detachments. In December, General Escobedo even managed to take Monterrey though it was quickly taken back by only seven hundred imperial cavalry. The town of Bagdad also came under attack, first by American land pirates and again in January of 1866 by forces allied with the scheming U.S. General Lew Wallace. Lt. Colonel J.D. Davis commanding the 118th Colored Troops (the official designation for African-Americans serving in the U.S. Army at the time) at Clarksville, Texas also allowed the invaders to pass and many of his troops even joined the expedition. The raiders overcame the guards at Bagdad on January 5, surprised and captured the guard commander and murdered the imperialist mayor. The town was seized and plundered by the American forces.

Austrian troops in Matamoros

With all sides taken by surprise, soldiers of the 2nd U.S. Colored Troops entered Mexico and took possession of Bagdad. Pressure from local merchants and leading citizens of the area forced a U.S. investigation but naturally no American officers were punished for what amounted to an unauthorized (presumably) U.S. invasion of a foreign country with which the U.S. was not at war. The Americans naturally allowed the republicans to take over, but these forces evacuated on the 24th and monarchist rule was restored though it took threats of a French blockade of Brazos de Santiago to see even a fraction of what was looted returned to Mexico. In the end, it was of little consequence because, with the U.S. again in control of the Texas side of the border, the Mexican Imperial forces could not hold out for long. Already the U.S. had applied diplomatic pressure to stop Austria-Hungary sending reinforcements to their volunteers in Mexico and equal pressure was being put on Napoleon III to get the French out before a massive American army invaded to push them out. With republican bandits to their south and unfriendly U.S. forces across the river to the north, supplies soon grew scarce for the imperialistas in Matamoros.

Emperor Maximilian

As spring turned to summer in 1866 the tide of war began to turn irreversibly against the forces of Emperor Maximilian on the northern frontier of Mexico. Throughout the summer of 1866 republican forces re-took Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Tampico, Acapulco, Monterrey, Saltillo and even Matamoros as the French pulled out of Mexico and U.S. aid to the republicans, in men and materials, increased. On the border, Matamoros was the key position and Mejia and his imperial forces were in a precarious position. As a change in the wind was felt by all, Mexican units formerly loyal to the Emperor began to waver and the key battle came on June 14, 1866. A large imperialista column, already brought near to ruin by thirst and lack of supplies, was ambushed by a massive republican army at the battle of Santa Gertrudis, known thereafter as the ‘Waterloo of the Mexican Empire’. During the grueling fight the equivalent of two whole battalions of Mexican troops deserted to the Juarista side, leaving their former comrades to their fate. Much of the cavalry abandoned the fight to save themselves while the Austrian contingent decided to go out in a blaze of glory, fixed their bayonets and launched a last, suicidal charge into the republican lines. The most unfortunate were the contra-guerillas who, whether armed or not, wounded or not, were immediately shot by the republicans. Millions of dollars worth of supplies, equipment and war materials were captured and in the aftermath, after learning of the disaster, General Mejia had no choice but to abandon Matamoros and retreat south. It marked the end of the conflict on the border and the beginning of the end for the cause of the noble Emperor Maximilian.

French Imperial Army in Mexico, Part II

Continued from Part I

Marechal de France Bazaine

Bazaine had started out as a private and worked his way up through the ranks, becoming a lieutenant while serving with the legion in Algeria. He had distinguished himself in Crimea, Italy and at the battles of San Lorenzo and the siege of Puebla. He was popular and well respected by his men but over time problems did develop between him and Emperor Maximilian. Even some on the French side feared that he was going too native and might have had aspirations toward local power after he married an obscenely young girl from the Mexican aristocracy. Bazaine was quickly promoted to Marshal of France and set out on a campaign to crush the remaining resistance under Juarez who was driven from San Luis Potosi to Saltillo, four hundred miles farther north. With every French victory more Mexicans defected to what seemed to be the winning side and soon Juarez was reduced to little more than a fugitive on the run in the barren deserts of northern Mexico. By the spring of 1864 the French controlled most of Mexico and had a force of 38,000 men plus 1,800 Mexican auxiliaries.

However, the situation was not as good as it seemed on paper or as sunny as the reports Marshal Bazaine was sending home to his Emperor in Paris. The French could not effectively garrison every area and the Juaristas were quick to flee before them only to return as soon as the French marched away. After suffering so many defeats Juarez adopted a guerilla warfare policy and Mexican republicans were reduced to behaving more like bandits than regular soldiers, avoiding confrontations with the French unless the odds seemed extremely stacked in their favor. The French also suffered from having small arms that were quite behind the times. At first this was not of very great consequence as the Mexican liberals were even more poorly armed. However, after 1865 the United States was able to send large numbers of the latest weapons to their republican allies in Mexico including repeating rifles and rifled artillery. French artillery was very good but none was left behind for the benefit of the Mexican Imperial Army once the French pulled out of Mexico.

By the fall of 1864 the French army reached the northern border with Texas and was able to benefit from the lucrative trade with the embattled Confederate States of America in the Civil War north of the Rio Grande. Also, in the far south, Bazaine defeated and forced the surrender of 8,000 republican troops in Oaxaca in early 1865. Juarez was, by that time, living constantly on the run in the northern reaches of Chihuahua just south of the Arizona border. Still, bandits were running rampant throughout the country acting in the name of the republicans to give legitimacy to their age old occupation. Bazaine also had to juggle a bad relationship with Emperor Maximilian and with disgruntled subordinates like General Felix Douay. The Mexican Emperor resented the power the French held in the country as well as what he saw as the effort to strengthen their own position at his expense. As an example, one dust up involved the case of Colonel Charles Dupin, commander of the fearsome contra-guerillas. Maximilian objected to the colonel and his brutal tactics and obtained his transfer back to France. However, once there Dupin was able to convince Napoleon that with a few troops and a free hand he could clean out the bandits in northeast Mexico. Napoleon was convinced and sent him back which Maximilian (mistakenly) believed to be the work of Bazaine and an affront to his authority. It did not help that Dupin considered Maximilian a vacillating weakling and was not hesitant to say so. General Douay also argued that Bazaine did not understand the country and was not doing enough to reduce republican harassment.

Time was also against him as, ever since mid-1864 when things seemed pretty much under control the French public had begun to call for the troops to come home. There was also the typical problems of an overseas force dealing with guerilla warfare. There were fewer smashing victories to proclaim in the newspapers yet a small but steady stream of casualties from raids and ambushes as well as disease and desertion. As time went on morale also dropped as the French forces were marched back and forth across the country through often inhospitable terrain with seemingly no end in sight. All of that being said, it is often overlooked just how much the French military accomplished and especially how much good they did while deployed in Mexico. Even people who opposed the whole enterprise had to admit that even the most backward villages deep in the wilds of Mexico received hitherto unknown gifts of law, order and government efficiency thanks to the French forces. They erected telegraph lines between Queretaro and Veracruz (and, more miraculously, kept them running), built a railroad along the gulf coast and established a reliable postal service.

Emperor Napoleon III

It is sadly true that many of these advances receded as Emperor Maximilian took firmer control of the government and was eager to place more responsibility in the hands of native Mexicans. He had the best intentions in doing so, but the corruption and selfishness of the Mexican governing class was a major reason for the country being in so dilapidated a condition in the first place and few, if any, saw fit to change their ways. The tensions between the French army and Mexico City were also exacerbated by the arrival of the foreign volunteers from Austria and Belgium. Maximilian wanted them under his own control, Bazaine wanted them under his and the Austrians wanted an independent command of their own. The French troops were also torn as the threat of war with Prussia grew and most were more eager to defend France from the Prussians than to defend Mexico from liberal republicans. Morale began to drop and even the famed Foreign Legion, which suffered a higher casualty rate than any other unit, began to be plagued with desertions. On one march along the Texas border the Legion lost 93 men in one day to desertion.

Despite his earlier assertions of victory Bazaine had been forced to restrict himself to defensive operations as French forces simply held their fortified outposts in strategic areas. In the end though, it was no decisive defeat that evicted the French from Mexico but rather the diplomatic pressure and threat of military forces from the United States after 1865. A huge American army, fresh from victory in the Civil War, was dispatched to the border and the U.S. all but ordered Napoleon III to withdraw from Mexico or face the consequences. The Emperor bowed to the inevitable and ordered his forces to begin their evacuation. Despite the popular perception, this was not always popular with the Mexican public. In some small villages, the people begged the French to stay, even the presence of just one man in uniform would save them from the ravages of marauding (but cowardly) bandits and their common practice of extortion. But, this was not possible and the French army contracted its position further and further and began pulling out and marching to the coast. It is also noteworthy that the Mexican republicans were content to let them leave in peace. They shadowed the French army but never made any effort to actually do battle with them. Emperor Maximilian was offered safe conduct out of the country but, of course, refused and once the French had gone he bravely marched out with his loyal Mexican brigades to make his last stand at Queretaro.

French Imperial Army in Mexico, Part I

The French intervention in Mexico began in January of 1862 just after the arrival of Spanish and British troops in Veracruz. This initial commitment consisted of 2,000 French marines and 600 zouaves from the French Army of Africa. With the perpetual chaos in Mexico about the only revenues the government could count on were the import tariffs collected at the coast such as the principal port of Veracruz. However, the low lying coastal areas of Mexico are notorious hotbeds for disease and it is no wonder that Mexican President Benito Juarez took no action against the foreign presence and allowed sickness to decimate their ranks for him. By the middle of the following month the Spanish and British had had enough and after receiving new promises from Juarez pulled their troops out. The French, however, remained and had more far reaching goals in mind.

The Legion in Mexico

The French Imperial Army was strengthened by some 3,000 men under the command of the Brigadier General Ferdinand Latrille, Comte de Lorencez. On the same day that the other powers pulled out the French Empire effectively declared war on the liberal republican regime in Mexico City. After advancing to Cordoba General Lorencez issued a pronouncement which stated that France would pacify the country, restore order and he actively called for the recently defeated conservative faction to launch a counterrevolution. The French army was, at that time, fresh from victories in Africa, Italy and the Crimea and was considered possibly the best in the world. Throughout the length of the French intervention in Mexico the troops involved by the French Imperial Army included elements from 6 line infantry regiments, 3 zouave regiments, 4 light infantry battalions, squadrons from 3 cavalry regiments, 6 artillery batteries, 5 companies of engineers, 1 supply train squadron, colonial troops from Martinique, Algeria and the Foreign Legion, 1 marine regiment, 1 battalion of sailors and 1 battery of naval (marine) artillery. According to the treaty signed with then Archduke Maximilian of Austria the French Foreign Legion was supposed to remain in Mexico for 6 years even after all other French forces had withdrawn to form a corps around which the new Imperial Mexican Army could be built.

General Forey

To be sure, the French Imperial Army was a grand spectacle and carried an illustrious reputation with them as they began the march inland to Mexico City. However, this may have worked against them by causing a severe case of overconfidence. This was realized on the famous battle of the fifth of May when General Lorencez launched a frontal assault on the liberal stronghold at Puebla defended by Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza. The French were soundly repulsed in a bloody battle celebrated as a national holiday ever since and General Lorencez was forced to withdraw back to Orizaba to lick his wounds and wait for reinforcements. Emperor Louis Napoleon of France responded by increasing the size of the French forces in Mexico to 28,000 and gave the top command to General Elie Frederic Forey. As the French prepared to renew their advance Forey was most concerned with his long supply lines from Veracruz. To keep these lines open he entrusted their defense to the Foreign Legion and a battalion of Sudanese troops provided by the Khedive of Egypt. It was thought these African soldiers would be better able to resist the disease-ridden climate on the coast. Whether that was true is debatable but they earned a reputation for discipline, good order and for considerable cruelty toward the local populace.

After the debacle at Puebla it seemed that the French army began to take the whole enterprise more seriously. Many officers even adopted a more native appearance, in typical French style, wearing their coats open with wide sashes and large sombreros on their heads to shield them from the tropical sun. They also made use of allied Mexican forces such as the conservative troops under the fearsome General Leonardo Marquez who won a smashing victory at the battle of San Lorenzo in March as the French moved up to take Puebla again, this time by siege. This time, however, it was the Mexican republicans who made a stupendous mistake. Puebla was the only really half-way defensible place on the road to Mexico City and Juarez decided to gamble everything on holding Puebla despite the fact that the French were better trained, better disciplined, better armed and more experienced that his own forces and, despite the earlier Mexican victory there, in any face-to-face fight between the French and Mexicans the smart money would be on the French army. Nowhere was this more evident than in a little battle along the French line of supply that may not be as widely celebrated as Cinco de Mayo but is actually an even more remarkable battle and is still celebrated today as the official holiday of the French Foreign Legion.

The battle revolved around a French wagon train that was taking a payroll of three million in gold from Veracruz to the French forces at Puebla. The liberals quickly sent a force of republican cavalry and militia to grab the gold and a company of the Foreign Legion was dispatched to intercept them. The two sides met at the hacienda of Camaron on April 30, 1863 where Captain Jean Danjou and 62 legionnaires confronted 2,000 Juaristas. The legionnaires repulsed several cavalry charges after being caught in the open before barricading themselves in the nearby hacienda where they repelled attack after attack inflicting heavy losses on the Mexican republicans. After almost literally fighting to the death the legionnaires were overwhelmed and forced to surrender with only five of the original 62 still alive. This was a stunning example of the tenacity and effectiveness of the French Imperial forces and demonstrated why it was a good idea for the Mexican republicans to avoid formal battles with them considering the trouble they had defeating 62 men with 2,000 at their disposal.

Given that, it was not surprising that after two months under siege the Mexican republicans at Puebla surrendered on April 17, effectively clearing the way to Mexico City. Juarez, for his part, did not even try to defend the city and evacuated his government to San Luis Potosi and a week later General Forey and the French army marched into Mexico City and began establishing the conservative junta that would direct national affairs until a new government could be formed. It was this junta that eventually gave way to the triumvirate that invited Archduke Maximilian of Austria to become Emperor of Mexico. However, Napoleon III was bothered by the fact that his top commander, General Forey, seemed to have lost faith in the expedition and was extremely critical of the situation on the ground and the long term prospects for success. However, as he could hardly punish such a successful commander the Emperor decided to kick him upstairs by promoting him to the rank of Marshal of France, recalling him and replacing him with one of his divisional commanders General Francois Achille de Bazaine.

To be concluded in Part II...

MM Video: Emperador Maximiliano de Mexico

Maximilian, Last Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia

In February of 1857 Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was appointed by his elder brother, the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, that part of the Italian peninsula directly under Austrian rule. It was not an appointment he really wanted to make as he feared Max was too liberal to be entrusted with a great deal of political power. However, it was done, in large measure, to appease King Leopold I of the Belgians whose beloved daughter Charlotte had recently married the Archduke. The Belgian monarch wanted his daughter to be more highly placed than simply being the wife of the commander of the Austrian navy -Austria being less than a major naval power, and the King of the Belgians, by his reputation across Europe and his influence with his niece, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, was a man whose goodwill was important to have. So, the Austrian Emperor made the appointment, entrusting, in name at least, two of the five most important cities in the Hapsburg realm; Milan and Venice, to Maximilian.

Maximilian was greatly pleased with the appointment, seeing a chance to finally do some good, to show that his ideas of a liberal, benevolent monarchy would prove the successful pattern for the future. The new Vicereine Charlotte was also enthusiastic about the position and, being the studious young lady she was, immediately began teaching herself everything possible about the history of the Italian peninsula, the workings of the government of Lombardy-Venetia and learning the Italian language. The handsome young couple entered Milan on September 6, 1857, only six weeks after their marriage in Brussels. They had first traveled about their new domain in a rather low-key style, observing the region and gathering what information they could, but for their formal entry into Milan they donned their best Hapsburg imperial finery and entered in a sumptuous carriage. Rows of Austrian soldiers in their white coats were drawn up at attention, artillery thundered out a welcoming salute and the bands struck up, in turn, the Austrian and Belgian national anthems. It was a glittering and magnificent affair as they greeted everyone and took up their formal residence in the palace at Monza. Charlotte wrote to a friend about how beautiful and sunny Italy was and how happy she was, both in Milan and with her new husband saying, “Max is perfection in every way”.

However, trouble had been brewing in Lombardy-Venetia for quite some time. All across the Italian peninsula the national sentiment was coming to boil as more and more people became focused on uniting the Italian states and driving out the foreign armies that occupied Italian soil. Some of this was political, some academic but there were also the secret societies who would not hesitate to use violence to see their goal of a single Italian nation achieved. The area had been engulfed in rebellion during the Revolutions of 1848 and the Emperor Francis Joseph was worried about how his little brother would handle that section of the populace who were very much the unwilling subjects of the Hapsburg Crown. Archduke Maximilian had made no secret of the fact that he had long favored granting greater freedom and self-government to the two most significant non-German populations of the Austrian Empire; the Hungarians and the Italians. For the Emperor, who took his example from the very conservative Emperor Francis I, change was to be avoided at almost any cost. For the new Viceroy, change was essential and he thought himself just the man for the job.

Maximilian hoped to change the reputation of the Austrians in Italy by displays of trust and good will. It was a tall order as many in Italy associated Austria only with repression, bayonets, floggings and executions. Archduke Maximilian, however, was not a militarist of any kind and he walked among his new people alone and without an escort, greeting them and talking to them personally. His handsome face and charming smile won people over and, according to letters written by Charlotte at least, the people began to be won over by his good faith and trust. It was not easy though for one man to change attitudes set in place by years of history and conflict. An often told story was that when Emperor Francis Joseph and Empress Sissi had visited the region earlier troops had to force crowds out onto the streets to greet them and when ordered to cheer for the Imperial couple coming in the third carriage, responded by shouting, “Long live the third carriage!”. At Venice few people attended the imperial reception as crowds gathered to spit and curse at those who did. It was not an easy position Maximilian and Charlotte had been placed in for certain.

The new Viceroy did everything right. He gave to the poor, generously, went personally to help with the seasonal flooding and organized a lottery to benefit the displaced. He did his best to reclaim land, provide more reliable clean water to the cities, improve education and to beautify Milan and Venice. The Viceregal couple attended every local celebration and the people began to respond positively. No one who met them failed to be impressed by them and soon, in their young and idealistic way, Maximilian and Charlotte began to envision a grand future for themselves with their Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia not being an obstacle to Italian unity but the leader of it and that they might one day become King and Queen of an enlightened united Italy. However, that dream would most certainly never be realized. Many of the people, perhaps even most of the people, truly liked their handsome Austrian Viceroy and his beautiful Belgian wife and appreciated their kindness. However, that personal affection did not extend to political approval. They were still foreigners and in the rising nationalism of the time, that made a difference. Lovely as they might be, they were not Italian and Italy would belong to the Italians and none other. The couple could also expect no cooperation from Vienna in obtaining any greater autonomy for themselves or their kingdom.

Soon, the limitations of their personal popularity became apparent. When parties were thrown at the palace, hardly anyone would show up as those who did would be treated as outcasts or even traitors by their fellow Italians. The aristocracy shunned the Viceregal couple. Undeterred, they tried turned to the middle class for support but again, they would not associate with them. To do so would cause their countrymen to boycott their businesses. The educated class had never wanted anything to do with them since, as usual, it was the university professors who had long been the most adamantly liberal and opposed to Austrian rule. Things finally became so bad that when Maximilian and Charlotte ventured out, such as to the theater or opera, news of their arrival would precede them and the house would be all but empty when they arrived. When there continued to be student protests for Italian unity or when the Piedmontese flag appeared or articles calling for national unity were printed in newspapers, Emperor Francis Joseph in Vienna determined that, as he expected, his brother was being too lenient and firm measures would have to be taken.

Maximilian, of course, resisted this, reasserting that patience and goodwill were necessary to truly win over the public. He also had the audacity to ask for what amounted to autonomy for his kingdom with its own military, governmental, educational and taxation systems. This, Maximilian argued, was the only way to keep Lombardy-Venetia united to the Hapsburg Crown. The Emperor refused and instead encouraged his brother to rely more on the army and police and even went so far as appointing the long-time Austrian army commander in the region, General Count Gyulai, something of a co-Viceroy alongside Maximilian and who would have to co-sign all major decisions. Of course, the Archduke was outraged by this and became more and more depressed with his position. He tried to get around the move by asking to have control of the army himself so that military and civil matters would be united in the office of the Viceroy but the Emperor refused. Maximilian and Charlotte even went to Vienna to argue in person on behalf of their unwilling subjects but they gained not a single concession.

When they returned, things had only grown worse. The Italians still liked the couple but viewed them, not entirely unfairly it must be said, as powerless tools in the hands of those in Vienna they viewed as enemies. It was fair enough as Vienna viewed the Italians as enemies as well. Maximilian was deeply depressed and sent Charlotte to visit her family in Belgian while he remained alone in the palace surrounded only by his soldiers. Soon, in 1859, war clouds gathered between France and Piedmont-Sardinia on one side and Austria on the other. In such a crisis, the Emperor did not feel he could trust his high-minded brother and on April 21, General Count Gyulai arrived with a letter from Vienna informing Archduke Maximilian of his dismissal. Two days later, to the horror of many, including the elder statesman Prince von Metternich, Francis Joseph ordered a general mobilization. In the short Second War for Italian Independence, Lombardy-Venetia was annexed by Piedmont-Sardinia, coming under the reign of the House of Savoy, according to the Treaty of Zurich. In 1866, by the Treaty of Prague, Venice was ceded as well. Archduke Maximilian and Archduchess Charlotte again found themselves with nothing to do, at least until some elegant Latin aristocrats and French officials arrived from Paris sounding out their opinions on the idea of an empire in Mexico…

Monarch Profile: Emperor Maximilian of Mexico

The man who would be the last Emperor of Mexico was born Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph von Hapsburg-Lorraine on July 6, 1832 to Archduke Francis Charles of Austria (son of Emperor Francis II) and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria in Vienna, Austria at the Schoenbrunn Palace. His older brother, Francis Joseph, would go on to be the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary but unlike his very disciplined and conservative brother, Archduke Max, from the very beginning, was known for being warm, friendly, romantic and keeping his head ever in the clouds. He loved the arts, botany, cataloging plants and flowers and catching butterflies. However, duty demanded military service and he joined the Austrian Imperial Navy.
The Archduke was only 22 when he took command with the rank of Grand Admiral but he took his position seriously, sincerely wanting to do his best in all endeavors. His leadership saw the creation of the port at Trieste, greatly reformed, modernized and improved the fleet, undertook a number of scientific expeditions, and a circumnavigation of the globe. The fleet he built would later be led to victory by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff but the Archduke would not be around to see it. In 1857 he married Princess Charlotte of Belgium, daughter of Belgian King Leopold I, and although different in many ways the two seemed to complement each other and were utterly devoted to one another. With their, rather liberal for the time and place, ideas it was thought they might be a good match for Austria’s troublesome Italian possessions and the Archduke was made viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia.

However, though Maximilian loved the area and lavished his attention on it, his hands were often tied from Vienna and he could not rule his corner of the Hapsburg empire as he saw fit. This made him more susceptible to the offer of the throne of Mexico where the French troops of Napoleon III had recently taken Mexico City and allowed the return of a conservative government. A delegation arrived under leading Mexican traditionalists to offer the throne to the young Hapsburg, a descendant of Emperor Charles V. Emperor Francis Joseph did everything he could to stop his brother from accepting while his wife urged him to do so. The Archduke wavered for a time but was much more in-line with the thinking of his wife than his brother. He accepted and boarded ship for Mexico.

His doubts and worries melted away as he learned Spanish, adopted Mexican dress and customs and did everything he could to make himself thoroughly Mexican. This would be his great chance to prove himself and his ideas. With his supportive wife and the stabilizing presence of the French he would be the savior of Mexico and open a new era of enlightened monarchy in the New World. He would be grand without being remote, dignified without being snobby, he would stand apart and unite the feuding factions; bring unity out of division, order out of chaos, advancement from stagnation, prosperity from penury; his dreams for Mexican greatness were boundless. He would establish peaceful relations with the United States and the Empire of Brazil (which he had visited and much admired). Imperial Mexico would expand into Central America in his vision and he would build a powerful navy that would rule the Gulf of Mexico. As the USA dominated North America and the Brazilian Empire dominated South America his Mexican Empire would balance the two by dominating the middle. He would make Mexico City the most magnificent city in the world. Even his arrival on the Mexican coast and viewing the sad state of affairs did not interfere with his magnificent dream for the future.

Emperor Maximilian was welcomed by many but his impartial attitude and fair-mindedness often resulted in making enemies of both sides. Liberals dismissed him outright, even though they could be charmed by him and greatly admire him personally his status and his nationality made them oppose him. A number of conservatives also turned against him after he did not give in to all their demands and restore all of their favored status. The US never recognized his government and ignored all of his efforts to establish friendly relations. Thus, as soon as the War Between the States ended in a Union victory, the US was able to apply pressure to the French to get out of Mexico and start sending massive amounts of money, supplies, weapons, uniforms and even (unofficially) thousands of volunteers to Maximilian’s republican enemies. The Emperor tried to make peace with his leading antagonist, Benito Juarez, but his overtures were spurned.

After 1865 pressure from the US, financial problems and approaching difficulties at home caused Emperor Napoleon III to abandon Mexico and withdraw the French army. It was a betrayal of the agreement signed with Maximilian before he accepted the throne but nothing could be done about it. Napoleon advised Maximilian to leave with the French forces for his own safety as they was a vast segment of the population that shifted allegiance to whichever side seemed to be winning. Maximilian, however, refused. He may not have ever grasped the monotony of administration, the art of political intrigue, he certainly never understood finances and he may have been happier designing new avenues and monuments than dealing with government corruption, but, he was a Hapsburg and a man of honor. He had sworn an oath to God at his coronation and he refused to abandon his country and his people no matter the odds. He sent his wife to Europe in an effort to rally support and then marched north with his small army of Mexican loyalists for a climactic battle with the republicans that would settle the issue.

Between March and May of 1867 Emperor Maximilian and his army were besieged at Queretaro by a massive republican force. The Emperor displayed his generosity and courage on this occasion, many times exposing himself to danger and often sleeping wrapped in a blanket alongside the frontline soldiers. Finally, he was betrayed by Colonel Miguel Lopez who allowed a republican column to enter the city and the imperial defenses fell apart. Maximilian was given the opportunity to escape but would not abandon his faithful generals who would be killed because of their loyalty to him. After a short military show trial he was sentenced to death with his generals Tomas Mejia and Miguel Miramon. The three men were taken to the ‘Hill of Bells’ and executed by firing squad on June 19, 1867. Maximilian, who was only 34 years old, died shouting “Viva Mexico!” while his generals died shouting, “Viva el Emperador!”

People mourned across the world. For some it reiterated their prejudice that Mexico was simply a backward and barbaric country that Maximilian should have avoided. For others, even those who opposed the empire and supported republicanism and the revolution against Maximilian, it was a stain on their cause. In France it was a black mark on the record of Napoleon III who was held by many to have had the blood of Maximilian on his own hands just as much as Benito Juarez. However, the pain did not end there. The republican government in Mexico refused to return the body of the fallen emperor until the next year when an Austrian frigate carried his ruined remains back to Vienna to bury in the Hapsburg crypt. The Mexico he envisioned would never come to be and immediately after his downfall the country fell back again into the cycle of presidential tyrants, military coups, civil wars and revolutions.

Happy Birthday Emperor Max

It was today in 1832 that HIRH Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph von Hapsburg-Lorraine was born in Vienna, Austria who would of course go on to be Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. There has never been another leader like him since and I will leave it to the honest observers to look at the current state of Mexico and determine whether or not such has been to their ultimate benefit or not. Viva el Gran Emperador!

Monarchist Profile: Adrian Woll

Adrian Woll was born on December 2, 1795 in St Germain-en-Laye near Paris and at an early age embarked on the military career that was to see him serve numerous governments in three countries on two continents. His first service was as a lieutenant in the Imperial Guard lancers of the Emperor Napoleon. After rising to the rank of captain he went to America when the Bourbon monarchy was restored in France. Introduced to famed General Winfield Scott of the US Army he served with a reduced rank for a short time before Scott pointed him in the direction of Mexico as being a place better suited to soldier of his background and ambition. So, in 1816 he joined the staff of the revolutionary Spanish General Francisco Xavier Mina with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He went with Mina to Mexico and stayed after his expedition failed and joined the Mexican forces Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in the Mexican War of Independence. In time he became a Mexican citizen and married a local girl named Lucinda Vautrey Griggi. In 1828 he was promoted to colonel and served as an aid to Santa Anna at the capture of Tampico from the Spanish in 1829 -the act more than any other that secured Santa Anna’s rise to power. Woll’s star continued to rise and in 1832 was promoted to brigadier general and awarded the Cross of Tampico. That same year he participated in the coup against conservative president Anastasio Bustamante and his victory at Taxinastla helped place another general, M. Gomez Pedraza, in the presidency. When Santa Anna came to power he knew General Woll as a man he could trust and in 1835 he served as quartermaster-general in the army Santa Anna used to crush the federalist rebellion in Zacatecas.

General Woll held that same position the following year in the Mexican Army of Operations in Texas which Santa Anna organized to enforce his rule there. He was not present at the Alamo, reaching San Antonio two days after the mission-fortress had fallen. Santa Anna’s second-in-command, the Italian-born General Vicente Filisola, assigned Woll to General Joaquin Ramirez y Sesma who was to take 725 men, 2 cannon and 40 dragoons to pursue the Texas army and government that was retreating through the colonies toward the Louisiana border. Santa Anna went on to epic defeat at the battle of San Jacinto (blaming the absence of Filisola for the loss rather than his own inept overconfidence). Woll became chief-of-staff to Filisola who took command of the army following Santa Anna’s capture. Woll was taken prisoner by the Texans but later released at Goliad after which he rejoined the army on the retreat back to Mexico. Speaking of Goliad, General Woll claimed later that he had persuaded Santa Anna to rescind his order to execute the hundreds of Texan prisoners there but that the new instructions did not arrive until the massacre had been carried out.

In terms of the army Woll’s career had suffered something of a setback by the failed war in Texas and two years later when the “Pastry War” broke out with France Woll resigned rather than fight against his countrymen. However, the Mexican government refused to accept his resignation. Afterwards he joined his old chief Santa Anna again in the on-again-off-again war between the centralists and federalists. Later posted to the northern border he was ordered to lead another Mexican invasion of Texas in 1842. There had been other incursions into the Republic of Texas but not got so far as the forces of General Adrian Woll who captured San Antonio and marched along the Guadalupe River to Gonzales in a single month. He returned to San Antonio on September 11 but was defeated at the battle of Salado Creek on the 18th. Two days later he evacuated San Antonio and returned to Mexico. Texas celebrated the defeat of the Mexican invasion but in Mexico the campaign was termed a ‘punitive expedition’ and declared a victory as well with General Woll being wildly celebrated, given the Cross of Honor and promoted to major general. His fall from grace came only a few years later though in 1844 when he joined another military revolt, this time against Santa Anna, for which he spent the most of a year in prison.

When war with the United States broke out, General Woll served Santa Anna again until the final defeat after which he went to Europe and then to Cuba where he joined his old commander in returning to Mexico. Santa Anna made Woll a governor but when he again assumed dictatorial power, and was again overthrown, Woll had to go as well. Several years later though, he was back, this time supportive the young conservative (and future monarchist) Miguel Miramon in the so-called Wars of Reform. He won a number of victories, showing his old talent, taking Zacatecas and successfully defending Guadalajara from the liberals. However, the conservatives finally lost, Benito Juarez became president and Woll went home to France. His next chance for action came in 1862 when the French Emperor Napoleon III declared war on Benito Juarez and invaded Mexico. It must have seemed like his life had come full circle. Woll was again serving a French Emperor named Napoleon and going back to Mexico, this time with the French Imperial Army.

After the arrival of the French forces, who were joined and supported by the Mexican conservative-clerical party, General Woll was named commandant general of the state of Vera Cruz. In this capacity he had dealings with the local Confederate agent, A. Superviele, who urged the French to take the border city of Matamoros, across the river from Brownsville, Texas which would open up trade that would benefit the French cause in Mexico and the Confederacy. That job done, Woll also served on the Superior Junta organized by the French to organize the provisional government that would eventually call for the restoration of the Mexican monarchy. Adrian Woll was dispatched with the official delegation that invited Archduke Maximilian of Austria to become their Emperor and after Maximilian accepted he was asked by the young monarch to draw up plans for the organization of the Imperial Mexican Army.

When Emperor Maximilian arrived in Mexico he assigned Adrian Woll the post of adjutant general of the army and chief aide-de-camp. He was also decorated with the Legion of Honor. He carried on in this capacity until the fall of 1865 when Maximilian, who was frequently at odds with the French commander Francois Achille Bazaine, dispatched Woll to Paris to explain to Napoleon why his marshal needed to go. It was only upon arriving that General Woll learned that Napoleon III was abandoning Maximilian and preparing to evacuate all French troops from Mexico. Seeing no future for himself in his adopted country, and being a fairly old man by this point, Adrian Woll remained in France and never saw Mexico again. He died at Montauban, north of Toulouse in the south of France in February of 1875.

Monarchist Profile: Jose Maria de Salas

Jose Mariano de Salas was born on May 11, 1797 and joined the Royal Spanish Army in Mexico (then New Spain) in 1813 as a cadet in the Puebla Infantry Regiment and he saw his first action with the royalists putting down anti-Spanish rebels. Later he fought alongside Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at the capture of Jalapa in Veracruz. In 1821, when General Agustin de Iturbide issued his Plan of Iguala calling for an independent Mexican Empire, Salas enthusiastically embraced the cause. During the rebellion that arose after the Plan of Montano was issued in 1827 he fought in defense of President Guadalupe Victoria and two years later he fought to repel the invasion of Spanish General Isidro Barradas at Tampico.

Through all of this Salas was becoming aware of how chaotic republican rule could be and like many he began to support the idea that it would take a strong-man to keep order. The most prominent candidate on-hand was General Santa Anna. In 1832 Salas was promoted to lieutenant colonel and he supported Santa Anna as President of Mexico. When Texas rose in rebellion against Santa Anna, Salas joined his Army of Operations in Texas to put down the rebels and was given command of the Permanente Jimenez Battalion. When Santa Anna attacked the Texan forces at the Alamo on March 6, 1836 Salas was second-in-command of the third assault column of about 400 men from the Jimenez, Matamoros and San Luis battalions under Colonel Jose Maria Romero that attacked the mission from the east. Salas later fought against the Texan forces of Colonel Fannin near Goliad and after the epic Mexican defeat at San Jacinto he helped cover the retreat of the army back to Matamoros.

A few years later, in 1840, Salas helped put down a mutiny at the National Palace and in 1844 he was exiled from Mexico for his continued loyalty and support of the recently-deposed dictator General Santa Anna. De Salas soon returned, however, and in a switch for him led an uprising in 1846 in Mexico City to restore the government regime that had favored states’ rights over centralized control. From August 5 to December 23, 1846 Salas was President of Mexico and he restored the states rights constitution of 1824 (the original republican constitution and ironically the one the Texans at the Alamo had been fighting for prior to the declaration of independence). He called Congress back into session and given his experience he knew that war was all but inevitable with the United States and he ordered the enlargement of the militia and the raising of addition war funds to prepare for this eventuality.

In December Salas handed the presidency over to his old chief General Santa Anna and the following year was promoted to General of Division. When war with the United States did come Salas was deputy commander of the northern army and he was taken prisoner by the Americans at the battle of Contreras on August 20, 1847. Ultimately, Mexico lost the war and following the peace agreement Salas was released and named military governor of the state of Queretaro. During the Reform Wars he briefly served as President of Mexico again, holding power until the return of the conservative leader Miguel Miramon. One Miramon returned Salas effectively acted as his vice-president and was the commander of the Mexico City garrison during the war.

All of this trouble had convinced many Mexicans that a monarchy was needed, one led by an impartial outsider with no ties to the existing power struggles. With the intervention of the French the opportunity for such a change presented itself. In the summer of 1863 a regency for the Mexican Empire and General Salas, General Juan Almonte and Archbishop Antonio de Labastida were chosen to hold power while a monarch was chosen. It was this triumvirate that sent the delegation to Miramar to offer the Mexican throne to Archduke Maximilian of Austria. The Archduke accepted and on June 12, 1864 Maximilian and Carlota entered Mexico City as Emperor and Empress. Emperor Maximilian made Jose Mariano de Salas one of his generals in the Imperial Mexican Army but, by that time, the veteran soldier was too old for service in the field. Salas died on December 24, 1867 after seeing his Emperor executed and the empire he had fought so long and hard for collapse and Mexico return to the political chaos of squabbling presidents and dictators.

Birth of the Second Mexican Empire

It was on this day in 1864 that HIRH Archduke Maximilian von Hapsburg was elected Emperor of Mexico. Ironically, it was almost exactly one year later, on April 9, 1865, that General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate army in Virginia, effectively ending the American War Between the States. In many ways this surrender was the doom of Maximilian and his Mexican Empire as the United States was then able to bring her full attention to supporting the republicans in Mexico and threatening invasion if the French did not withdraw their forces.

Monarchist Profile: Colonel Charles Dupin

Perhaps the most colorful and controversial of those who fought on behalf of the Mexican Empire was the French cavalryman Charles Dupin. At the time of the campaign in Mexico he was already a decorated veteran of the war in China where he had earned something of an unsavory reputation. He was a zealous participant of the looting of the Summer Palace when French and British forces occupied Peking and he brought back a number of pilfered Chinese art treasures as spoils of war. When he openly advertised these items for sale in Paris he was dismissed from the army for conduct unbecoming of an officer. However, he had gained a reputation as a cunning and hard fighting commander.

When the war in Mexico, particularly along the northern frontier, degenerated into guerilla warfare it was Emperor Napoleon III himself who recalled the aging Dupin for service in Mexico. Emperor Maximilian though actually singled out Dupin for exclusion from his service since, although he had a reputation for courage and fearlessness, he was also known to employ methods ranging from extremely harsh to downright brutal. Nonetheless, Colonel Dupin came to Mexico and was given command of the contra-guerillas operating on the coast and along the Texas border. He cut an imposing figure in his braided uniform, wide sombrero and a cigar always clenched in his teeth. His mission was to fight fire with fire, to wipe out the bandits and Juaristas in the region and he had no qualms about returning harshness with harshness and cruelty with cruelty.

When the contra-guerillas seized a local village, their commander often issued a statement to intimidate the public such as this: "I am Colonel Dupin. Obey or you are dead! All resistance is futile...I protect the good but have no mercy for evil men. I kill men, I rape women, I murder children; I exterminate the enemy by fire, by steel and by blood; remember my words!" How much of these were serious threats or simply fearsome bombast is hard to say, but it all took place in an area where brutality was the order of the day on both sides. It must also be remembered that Dupin was based at Ciudad Victoria, operating in an area long held as the territory of the notorious bandit leader Juan Cortina. The men Dupin was up against also behaved in the most brutal fashion.

It was these guerillas and bandits that Colonel Dupin was charged with eradicating and terror was a primary tactic of his, realizing that without the support or at least the silence of the populace these guerilla units could not function. Therefore, Colonel Dupin launched a reign of terror across northern Mexico. His ferocity became legendary, as he probably wished it to, as stories spread of his troops hanging "invalids and cripples", executing civilians, destroying entire villages, burning crops, plundering homes, killing farm animals and burning public buildings. Those who were even suspected of being sympathetic to Juarez were killed on the spot.

Because of all of this, Colonel Dupin earned the nickname of "The Hyena of Tamaulipas" which at least one foreign visitor thought he seemed quite proud of. He and his men certainly inspired no great love or loyalty for Emperor Maximilian, but he did succeed in making himself feared all across the northern frontier. The name of Charles Dupin became like that of the bogey man and as a result of his operations his own men were often singled out for particularly brutal deaths when they happened to be taken prisoner. The contra-guerillas had good horses, good weapons and were well paid. Most of them were recruited from Matamoros, some even being Americans who had crossed into Mexico. They were a hard riding, hard fighting, totally ruthless elite within the Imperial Mexican Army. It also helped that they were so loathed by the Juaristas that any who were captured in battle by the republicans were executed on the spot.

In one of the bitter examples of the often less than cordial relations between the French and the Mexican Empire, Emperor Maximilian dismissed Colonel Dupin and sent him back to France. However, once there the old campaigner appealed to Napoleon III that with a thousand men and a free hand to use whatever tactics necessary he could wipe the northern border of Mexico clean of Juaristas. Napoleon believed him and to the outrage of Maximilian Colonel Dupin returned and took command of his own sector. The animosity was also certainly not one-sided. Colonel Dupin spoke openly of his dislike for Maximilian, dismissing him as a weakling who should stick to growing plants and flowers rather than being a monarch. However, one must keep in mind when hearing this that Colonel Dupin was the rough, ruthless, take-no-prisoners sort of man who would have called Rocky Marciano a sissy. Nonetheless, he did his job up to the end of the French presence in Mexico and while he may not have made friends of the populace he certainly succeeded in cowing them.

What finally became of the Hyena of Tamaulipas, I cannot say. Most of the information for this page came from only four sources and I have found details about Colonel Dupin impossible to come by in either French or English sources. If anyone has any further information that could be added here I would be only too happy to include it. I would assume that Colonel Dupin left with the evacuation of French troops since he was sent on orders from Napoleon and had to have known that he would have faced the most gruesome death if the Juaristas could have ever taken him alive. My guess is he returned to France and being a fairly old man, lived in retirement there until his death, though I cannot confirm that. What is certain is that he was the most shockingly brutal and the most feared man in the Imperial Army as well as being one of the most horrifyingly effective.

The Legend of Maximilian's Gold

By 1867 the Mexican Empire was in its death throes but the core of committed loyalists around Emperor Ferdinand Joseph Maximilian refused to accept defeat. The Empress Carlota had gone to Europe to try to rally international assistance and Maximilian tried to ensure that the treasury did not fall into rebel hands and could be used to continue to fund the imperial cause. The Emperor chose four Austrian officers and between fifteen and twenty Mexican loyalists who he could trust to load fifteen wagons with an estimated $10 million in gold, silver and jewels.

It was considered too risky to try to take the treasury across Mexico to a Mexican port since so much of the countryside was infested with rebel bandits. Instead, it was decided to get the treasure out of Mexico to neutral territory as soon as possible and then load it on a ship where it could be taken to a safe place. The Austrians and Mexicans headed for the port of Galveston, Texas. After making it safely through the wilds of northern Mexico on an erratic course to throw off any pursuit the party crossed the Rio Grande into Texas and camped at Presidio del Norte. There they met six former Confederate soldiers from Missouri.

At the end of the American Civil War many Confederates had gone to Mexico rather than surrender to Yankee rule. Many had even fought in the Mexican Imperial Army. Because of these close political ties and sympathies the Austrians, Mexicans and Missourians soon became good friends. The Austrian officers did not reveal the truth about their cargo, but they did ask the Confederates to ride as escort with them to Indianola to guard against bandits or Indian attacks. As it turned out, the Austrians were right to be suspicious as poverty and the chance of fabulous wealth can easily overpower subtle wartime alliances.

At the border of Crane and Upton Counties, near where route 385 is today, at Castle Gap the Missourians discovered the truth about what was in those fifteen wagons belonging to the Emperor of Mexico that they had been escorting. Immediately overpowered by temptation the Missourians shot and killed all of the Austrian officers and their Mexican drivers. The six former Confederates buried the treasure there at Castle Gap, taking only as much gold as they could carry on their persons to pay their way until they could return for the rest of it. They ran off the animals and burned the wagons over the spot they had buried the treasure and then rode off toward San Antonio. However, the strange story of the Emperor’s treasure was far from over.

As the six soldiers turned bandits rode back to civilization one of them fell ill at Fort Concho. With all that loot waiting behind them and the gold they had on them burning holes in their pockets the other five Missourians were in no mood to wait on a sick man and left the comrade behind as they rode on. However, the fear of being cut out of his share of the treasure was powerful medicine and before the sick man had fully recovered he got back on his horse and set out after his comrades. To his shock he found them sooner than he expected; not far down the road he discovered their bodies at the spot where they had been attacked by Indians and killed to the last man. This meant that this one sickly Confederate was then the only man alive who knew the location of the lost treasure of Emperor Maximilian.

However, this man suddenly decided that he had had enough of the wild west and as he could not possible take all the treasure out by himself he gave up on Texas and headed for home in Missouri. The fact that he was still very ill also influenced his decision. Yet, bad luck seemed to plague the old soldier. He fell in with a group of men who, unbeknown to him, were horse thieves wanted by the law. One night the law caught up with them when a posse from Denton captured them and took them to jail; including the Missouri Confederate whom they assumed was just another member of the gang of horse thieves. The doctor at Denton informed the fading soldier that he had contracted a disease and would soon die.

This Denton doctor had been very good to the dying Missourian and so, with no hope of ever claiming the treasure himself, he told the doctor the tale about he and his buddies discovering the gold and jewels, killing the Austrians and Mexicans and hiding it at Castle Gap. He told him how his partners had been killed by Indians and drew a crude map for the doctor and tried as best he could to describe the area where they had buried the treasure so the doctor who comforted him in his final days could find it. The Missourian died and a few months later in 1868 the doctor from Denton organized a group of men and rode off toward Castle Gap to find the treasure of the Mexican Emperor.

The doctor and his men rode all over the Crane and Upton County line at Castle Gap but to their great disappointment could never find any trace of the buried treasure. Tales and legends of the buried gold of Emperor Maximilian are still told across Texas to this day. Many people have searched for the secret cache and there are several versions of the story about what exactly happened. Some believe that Maximilian never had such riches himself at the end of his reign and that the entire story is a fabrication (probably the most realistic point of view). Others, however, believe that the gold was found by someone else who knew how to keep a secret while still others believe that the lost treasure of Emperor Maximilian is still buried in Texas today waiting for someone to find it and confirm the legend to be true.

Monarchist Profile: Leonardo Marquez

Perhaps the most loathed member of the military high command of the 2nd Empire of Mexico was General Leonardo Marquez. He entered the era of the empire with an already fearsome reputation and ended it with one close to being treasonous. He was born probably sometime in 1820 and as a young officer fought against the revolution of General Paredes and captured the guerilla chief Jarauta near Guanajuato in 1848. Like many in the army he was disgusted by the liberal government and declared his support for Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna against President Herrera. His army deserted him and he was eventually arrested and then freed in a general amnesty. In the ongoing liberal-conservative civil war he backed the conservative General Zuloaga and took Zacatecas from the liberals on his behalf in 1858. He joined the forces of the young General Miguel Miramon in opposition to the liberal self-styled President Benito Juarez.

Marquez proved instrumental in this campaign, doomed though it was. When liberal troops under Santos Degollado marched against Mexico City, Marquez intercepted and totally defeated them at Tacubaya on April 11, 1859. However, the public was shocked when following the victory General Marquez executed the majority of his prisoners as well as six medical students who had come to treat the enemy wounded. Marquez claimed to have been ordered to do this by General Miramon, but throughout his career Marquez never showed any hesitation about dealing brutally with his enemies. Because of this incident he was known forever after by his nickname, the "Tiger of Tacubaya". In spite of this blot, General Marquez was celebrated when he and his men returned to Mexico City the next day. A group of leading ladies gave him a silk sash which read, "To virtue and valor, a token of the gratitude of the daughters of Mexico."

During the offensive into Michoacan Marquez won a number of victories In a raid on Tepic he executed a number of prominent liberals and carrying back 20 loads of bar-silver. On his way back, General Marquez moved against Guanajuato but was attacked by the forces of General Jose Maria Arteaga. Nonetheless, Marquez got round Artega, surprised his rear guard and routed the enemy army. Still, Marquez was not always popular. He had fallen out of favor with General Miramon and in November of 1859 Miramon ordered his arrest for taking $600,000 in silver in Guadalajara. However, circumstances saved Marquez as the conservative defeat at Silao on August 10, 1860 forced Miramon, who needed every experienced commander he had, to release Marquez.

Later overwhelmed and defeated by the liberals Marquez was forced to flee to Mexico City where he was besieged by Juarez' army. With no money, and desperate for resources to mount a defense, Marquez controversially raided the British legation of $620,000 on November 17, 1860. He joined with Miramon again for the last campaign of the war but the conservative cause was defeated at Calpulalpam. Marquez, however, refused to admit defeat and took to the mountains of Michoacan where he raided and harassed surrounding liberal forces, sometimes in conjunction with fellow conservative general Tomas Mejia. When the pair defeated and captured the liberal General Escobedo in Rio Verde, Marquez did his best to have him executed, but Mejia refused to allow it. Ultimately, Escobedo would greatly trouble their cause again and this may have fuelled a desire in Marquez to show no mercy to his enemies. In March of 1861, Marquez publicly decreed that anyone who served the government of Benito Juarez was a traitor to Mexico and if taken by his forces would be summarily put to death.

He continued his guerilla war against the liberal regime and Juarez put a $10,000 bounty on his head. In subsequent raids Marquez also captured, shot and hung General Leandro Valles. When the French became involved in Mexico, he cooperated with their operations and lead the vanguard of General Louis Forey's army in 1863. He supported the enthronement of Emperor Maximilian and was rewarded with the position of commander on the Pacific coast. In 1865 he fought with the French General Douay and was wounded in the eye after which Maximilian dispatched him as envoy to the Ottoman Empire.

As French support began to fade, Maximilian recalled Marquez and he returned to Mexico in November of 1866. He was given command of the troops in Mexico City but when General Miramon was defeated at San Jacinto on February 1, 1867 Marquez took his 4,000 men and joined Emperor Maximilian at Queretaro. Marquez was later dispatched with orders to organize a relief effort against the forces of General Escobedo that were besieging Queretaro. Instead, Marquez tried to relieve Puebla, which was besieged by General Porfirio Diaz. He failed to prevent the fall of Puebla and was himself defeated by Diaz at San Lorenzo on April 10. Marquez retreated to Mexico where he shook down the populace for all the money he could get his hands on and was soon besieged by General Diaz. Marquez tried to suppress news of the defeat of the Emperor at Queretaro, but ultimately Mexico City fell to the forces of Benito Juarez. Hiding himself in a grave and escaping through a secret tunnel General Marquez went into exile in Cuba where he lived for many years. Only able to return after a general amnesty and when years and other civil wars and revolutions had made him a distant memory he returned to Mexico to live out the rest of his life, by that time, according to some reports, a devoutly religious man.