Welcome to Finding Medina.

Episode 2, The Casas Revolt.

I'm Brandon Seal.

On September 16th, 1810,

El 16th de September, Father Migueldaalgo and Costilla, a parish priest in the small town of Dolores Juanuato,

unleashed a cry of protest over centuries of Spanish exploitation of New Spain.

His grito set off a revolt that swept across Mexico more rapidly than anyone could have predicted,

including probably Father I'dalgo himself.

Five days after the Grito, I'dalgo and his growing band of followers captured the nearby town of Celaya.

Seven days later, they defeated the small Spanish garrison of Juanuato and killed the Spanish governor there.

A month later, they took Modern de Morelos, and by November 1st, they were at the gates of Mexico City.

Father Idaalgo, like Napoleon in the previous episode, quickly recognized that San Antonio was fertile ground for an independence movement

and a critical supply station to a sympathetic United States.

As such, he endorsed the plan of a retired San Antonio militia captain named Juan

Baptista de las Casas to capture the town, raise the banner of revolt there, and use it to supply the

heartland of Mexico in the battles to come. De Las Casas was encouraged in his plan by San Antonio's

civic leaders, who had grown concerned over Governor Manuel Salcedo's stated intention to send

San Antonio's military units south to help put down Idaugo's revolt.

San Antonio's were, frankly, still undecided as to the merits of Father Iidalgo's revolt,

yet they were united in their opposition descending away the military units on which the town depended

for its defense against hostile Indians, civic instability, and foreign invasions,

all of which menaced at the moment.

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