Alhóndiga de Granaditas - Guanajuato, Mexico
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Torgut
N 21° 01.143 W 101° 15.466
14Q E 265337 N 2325914
The battle of Alhóndiga de Granaditas took place in the center of Guanajuato, capital of the Mexican state with the same name. It was decisive in the Mexican War of Independence.
Waymark Code: WM15JCX
Location: Guanajuato, Mexico
Date Posted: 01/12/2022
Views: 1
The battle of Alhóndiga de Granaditas was the first major confrontation of the Mexican War of Independence and took place on the 28th September 1810, when the Spanish troops barricaded theirselves in an granary which would be suitable to use as a defensive position. They couldn't resiste the Mexican nationalists though, and a local miner, known as El Pipila, set the wooden gate of the building on fire, which opened the way to the insurgents who slaughtered the Spanish soldiers trapped inside.
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When Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's insurgent troops threatened to take over this city during the Mexican War of Independence, Riaño secured himself in the Grain Exchange on 28 September 1810, along with many other Spaniards and some rich criollos.There were about 300 loyalists who took refuge from 20,000 rebels led by Hidalgo. Riaño believed that the strength of the building, its ample supplies and its positioning would make it easy to repel the insurgents' attacks. In addition to the corn the building already held, other provisions and twenty-four women were brought in to "make tortillas."
At first the building held, but soon the insurgents surrounded the building and began throwing rocks. Riaño died in this attack. His death caused "division and discord among the defenders of the Grain Exchange." The insurgents decided to burn down the eastern door to be able to enter and attack those that were inside. According to a popular tradition the man chosen to perform this task was Juan José Martínez "El Pípila", an extraordinarily strong local miner. He is said to have tied a large flat stone to his back to protect himself from the bullet and rock storm expected once he entered. He poured petroleum on the door and lit it using a torch. When the door burnt down, the attackers stormed into the Grain Exchange, led by Martínez. Everyone inside the Grain Exchange was killed and the building sacked. Reportedly, blood stains from the attack could still be seen on the pillars of the building and the main staircase as late as 1906. At the end of the day, hundreds of bodies were buried, and the whole city of Guanajuato pillaged. This event would encourage Hidalgo not to attack Mexico City, afraid his followers would repeat the massacres and looting of Guanajuato.
These first insurgents eventually fell. The four main participants - Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, and José Mariano Jiménez - were shot by Spanish firing squads, and their bodies decapitated.[10] The four heads were hung from the corners of the Grain Exchange, to discourage other independence movements. The heads remained hanging for ten years, until Mexico achieved its independence. They were then taken to Mexico City and eventually put to rest under el Ángel de la Independencia in 1910.
In 1867, during the French Intervention in Mexico, the Emperor Maximilian ordered the Grain Exchange building to be converted into a prison. It remained a prison for nearly a century.
Between 1955 and 1966, artist José Chávez Morado painted murals on the building reflecting the historical significance of the place. In 1958, the Grain Exchange opened officially as a museum."