Mexico - New Spain: Idependence War, IV part (1811-1815)

José Ma. Morelos' revolt: July 1811-Dec. 1815

Last modified: 2005-09-02 by juan manuel gabino villascán
Keywords: anahuac | morelos y pavón (josé maría) | vvm | bridge | aqueduct | bird: dove | virgin mary | aque victrix oculis et ungibus | bravo (nicolas) | victoria (guadalupe) |
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by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán,
August 2005.

• Morelos' hosts flags
• Mariano Matamoros - Battalion of San Pedro
• Other flags of the same period
• Erroneous reported flags

• América mexicana / Northern America (1813-1815/1821)

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1. Morelos' flags actually were not the first ones in featuring the Mexican eagle either crowned or crownless. Before Morelos, Spain-led troops formed by mestizos, natives and Spaniards, depicted the eagle and nopal in their standards during the Florida campaign (ca. 1550's) ¹.
   Through all the Colonial age, during civic celebrations Mexico City inhabitants, both criollos (creoles) and mestizos, flown standards and banners featuring all the eagle, snake and the nopal ².

2. In the Independence war, considering it from 1808 to 1821, the first to use the eagle with military purposes was not Morelos' but Hidalgo's hosts ³.

3. There are lots of standards and flags preserved in the Museo Nacional de Historia (Chapultepec Castle) who belonged either to Morelos or any of his generals. Such flags and standards, according its design, could be classified in two:
   
   a) Those, mostly in white field otherwise blue-bordered, depicting Virgin of Guadalupe alone or surrounded by the motto: NON FECIT TALITER OMNI NATIONI, and;
   b) Those bordered in blue squares depicting the eagle with or without the motto: OCULIS ET UNGUIBUS AEQUE VICTRIX.
   
   All of them date from ca. 1811-1812. Banderas (SG 1990) shows only five flags and standards out of all preserved in that Museum ⁴. The flag above is a reproduction of one of them:

   "José María Morelos' flag, took part in the attack of the Insurgent hosts to Valladolid [present-day Morelia], on 13 Dec, 1813, and captured by Royalist troops on 5 Jan, 1814 in Tacámbaro."
   Banderas (1990).

   The original flag measures 145 w x 189 h cm. The blue squares in the border hardly are visible. In addition to the arms depiction and motto, there appears the word, UNUM, meaning for "one" ⁴.

4. OCULIS ET UNGUIBUS AEQUE VICTRIX: "By her eyes and claws equally victorious": It is first attributed to Morelos, when on Aug. 19 1812 in Tehuacán, he granted her army a flag ⁵. Alamán (1985) says that:

   "...By then [Morelos] did not try to occupy Oaxaca, he led all his forces towards Tehuacán instead where he entered on August 10 [1812]... Once there, Morelos... focused in regularizing and disciplining his troops." ⁶

   Another motto specifically identified to Virgin Mary and also written on flags was taken from Psalm 147, 20: NON FECIT TALITER OMNI NATIONI, whose translation is:
   "[She -i.e.. Virgin Mary] has not done thus for any other nation" ⁷.

Notes:

1	José Luis Calvo Pérez and Luis Grávalos González.Banderas de España. Silex. España. 1983. pp 66-67.
2	Enrique Florescano. La Bandera Mexicana: breve historia de su formación y simbolismo. Taurus. 1998. México.
3	Luis Sorando Muzás. Banderas, estandartes y trofeos del Museo del Ejército 1700-1843 Catálogo Razonado. Ministerio de Defensa. España. 2001. Compact Disc annexed with PDF document. Marta Terán. La Virgen de Guadalupe contra Napoleón Bonaparte. In Estudios de Historia Novohispana. Vol 19. UNAM, México. 1999. pp 91-104.
4	Banderas (Catálogo de la Colección de Banderas). Museo Nacional de Historia INAH. Secreatría de Gobernación. México. 1990. pp 36-40.
5	Bandera de México. Miguel Ángel Porrúa. Mexico. 1995.
6	Lucas Alamán. Historia de Méjico. Jus. México. 1985. Vol. III. pp 149-150.
7	Holy Bible - The New American Bible. The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Psal 147, 20. Actually the verse in this Bible starts: ">>He<< [e. g. God] has not done thus for...", the fact that such a verse be related to Virgin Mary could be considered as a missinterpretation.

Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, August 2005.

by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán,
August, 2005.

"...known about the the Vicerroy's edict of June 25 [1812] by means of which the clergy took part in the revolution would be illegal, Matamoros, a priest who cosidered such an edict as an outrage, first in the hacienda of Santa Clara, then in Izúcar, raised up a regiment whom he named "San Pedro". He granted it a black flag featuring a red cross like those worn by priests at Ash Wednesday celebrations, and bearing the text: "Inmunidad eclesiástica" (Ecclesiastic immunity)." Bustamante (1985), Alamán's source, says the text read: "Morir por la inmunidad eclesiá stica" (to the death for ecclesiastic immunity). He also adds the flag "bore the Church arms".
"Both Morelos and Matamoros formed several companies until reach a remarkable number of disciplined troops, all regiments were baptized after the saints, such as that of Santiago de Galicia, capitained by Father Sánchez."

Lucas Alamán. Historia de Méjico. Jus. México. 1985. Vol. III. pp 149-150.
Carlos María de Bustamante. Cuadro Histórico de la Revolución Mexicana. FCE. México. 1985. Vol. II. pp 148-149.
Posted by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, August, 2005.

Other revolutionary leaders created their own flags. Between 1812 and 1817, the troops of Nicolas Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria used a green-white-red one.
Santiago Dotor, 29 Dec 1998, summarizing from http://dyred.sureste.com/club/6febrero/24feb.htm

by Jaume Ollé, 04 Aug 1995

The Hidalgo revolt was continued by the Generalisimo don José María Morelos y Pavón who adopted a flag on 19th August 1812 with a bridge of three arches and after each arch a letter: V.V.M. (Viva la Virgen Maria, Long Live the Virgin Mary); in this flag appears for the first time an eagle resting on a nopal, and over the aqueduct, with an imperial crown and a legend in latin. On 6th September, 1813, the flag was used to proclaim independence under the name Kingdom of Anahuac. Abolished 5 of November of 1815 when the Morelos revolt ran out of steam. (Source: [bas])
Jaume Ollé, 04 Aug 1995, and Jorge Candeias, 27 Oct 1997, translating from La Bandera Mexicana website