Santiago Vidaurri

Santiago Vidaurri

VIDAURRI, Mexican soldier, born in the province of Nuevo Leon in 1S03; died in the city of Mexico, 8 July, 1867. He was descended from a wealthy family of Indian extraction,received a good education, and in 1826 was admitted to the bar, but he soon entered politics, and, after filling some minor offices, took part in the civil wars in Mexico. He had obtained the rank ofcolonel when, toward the close of 1852, he was elected governor of the state of Nuevo Leon, and when, in April, 1858, Santa-Anna returned to Mexico and declared himself dictator, Vidaurri protested. As hewas gathering the militia, Santa-Anna appointed Gen Pedro Ampudia military chief of the northern states; but Vidaurri refused to recognize his authority, and when the revolution of Ayutla began, inMarch, 1854, he joined in the campaign for the overthrow of Juan Alvarez was contending against the latter in the south, he took the field in the north, acting independently as commanding general.After the downfall of Santa-Anna he was a candidate for the presidency in the junta of Cuernavaca, 4 October, 1855; but Alvarez having been preferred to him, he assumed a semi-independent position anddecreed the confiscation of church property in the northern central states. He also refused to submit to Alvarez's successor, Ignacio Comonfort, and decreed, in February, 1856, the union of Coahuila andNuevo Leon, proclaiming himself their governor. This union was disapproved by Comonfort, who ordered an army of observation under General Parrodi to the north, when Vidaurri, under pretence ofprotesting against the tariff and the tobacco-privilege, recalled the deputies of Nuevo Leon from congress, and was accused of an intention to form the independent republic of Sierra-Madre, consisting of thenorthwestern states. Being defeated by the government troops at Mier, he retired to Saltillo" but after resigning the executive of Coahuila, in September, 1856, he was re-elected by a packed...