Leonardo Márquez

Career

Márquez fought in the Mexican–American War of 1846 to 1848 and was a prominent supporter of conservative General Antonio López de Santa Anna in the revolutionary movement of 1849. After Santa Anna fell in the 1854–55 Revolution of Ayutla, Márquez backed the conservative government in the Reform War (1858–60) against Benito Juárez. Alongside Miguel Miramón, he initially found success against the liberal army, but the tide turned in 1860. At the Battle of Tacubaya on 11 April 1859, he ordered the execution of liberal officers and some medical personnel, earning the nickname "The Tiger of Tacubaya."

After the conservatives' defeat on the battlefield, Márquez pursued guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Gorda and is blamed for the murders of Melchor Ocampo and General Leandro Valle. In 1862, he supported the conservatives' invitation to Maximilian Habsburg to become emperor of Mexico, though he did not participate in the planning. He joined French forces under General Charles de Lorencez in the initial invasion. In 1864, Márquez was given a mission to Constantinople.

By October 1866, Maximilian made him a division commander of forces around Mexico City, but Márquez caused dissension by forced conscription (leva) of troops and exacting protection money from residents of the capital, which French general Bazaine condemned. In March 1867, Maximilian sent him to Mexico City to form a cabinet and raise troops for the relief of Querétaro, then under siege. Márquez was a rival of Miguel Miramón and disagreed with him frequently; Miramón proposed an assault on the republican army while divided, but Márquez opposed the idea, possibly only because Miramón suggested it.

He joined Maximilian at Querétaro and broke through the besiegers, almost reaching the state capital, but was defeated before reaching the city and returned to Mexico City, where he was besieged by liberal General Porfirio Díaz. He conceived a plan to set up an independent government in the southern states with Puebla as its capital, but it was too late—the emperor was captured on 21 June 1867. Márquez remained in concealment for several months, then made his way to Vera Cruz and Havana, while Maximilian and generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía were executed by firing squad in Querétaro.

He was expressly excluded from Juárez's amnesty of 1870. He was allowed to return to Mexico in 1895, but returned to Cuban exile in 1901 due to his continuing unpopularity. He continued to defend his role in the Empire and lived long enough to see the start of the Mexican Revolution and the fall of Porfirio Díaz. Márquez died in Havana in 1913 at the age of 93.