Ignacio Allende

Ignacio José de Allende y Unzaga (January 21, 1769 – June 26, 1811), born Ignacio Allende y Unzaga, was a captain of the Spanish Army in Mexico who came to sympathize with the Mexican independence movement. He attended the secret meetings organized by Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, where the possibility of an independent New Spain was discussed. He fought along with Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the first stage of the struggle, eventually succeeding him in leadership of the rebellion. Allende was captured by Spanish colonial authorities while he was in Chihuahua and executed for treason.

Biography

Allende was born on January 21, 1769, to a wealthy Spanish criollo family in San Miguel el Grande in Guanajuato. His father was Domingo Narciso de Allende, a wealthy trader.

In 1802, he joined the Viceregal army of New Spain, serving under general Félix María Calleja. In 1806, he started to favor the possibility of independence from Spain. His attendance at a conspiratorial meeting in Valladolid (today Morelia) was discovered, in 1809, by the Spanish and went unsanctioned. Regardless, Allende kept supporting the underground independence movement. He was eventually invited by the mayor of Querétaro, Miguel Domínguez and his wife Josefa Ortíz de Domínguez to discuss further plans for independence at their home. It was during one of these meetings where Allende met Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his captain Juan Aldama.