The Last Stand of the Mexican Empire

The siege of Queretaro is one of the most famous battles in Mexican history and should rightfully be considered significant in the history of the New World at large. That battle, in many ways, determined whether or not the Monroe Doctrine would stand, whether or not the New World was strictly the domain of republicanism and totally within the sphere of influence of the United States or whether a new power would emerge. It was a battle that decided the fate of an empire, it decided the future of Mexico and it decided whether or not the United States would remain dominant in North America. However, it was also, in itself, a rather useless battle since the grand cause represented had already been defeated. It was defeated when General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House in 1865 and it was decided when the French agreed to withdraw their forces and leave the hard used Mexican monarch to his fate. They offered to take Maximilian with them but the noble young monarch refused as it would be an unpardonable stain on his honor as a Hapsburg to leave his loyalists to face certain death for fighting on his behalf.

The last French troops marched out of Mexico City on February 5, 1867 as Maximilian watched from the rooftop of the National Palace. Little more than a week later on February 13, 1867 the Emperor was on the move as well, marching south at the head of his army to meet the republican forces of Benito Juarez in one last, climactic battle. His 9,000 men were a ragged looking bunch, most of them pressed into service in Mexico City not long before. They carried a wide array of weapons, many of them antiquated, as was their artillery which included guns which had seen service with the Spanish army. Women and children followed along the strung out, meandering column which was barked along by lieutenants who were often in their teens, some as young as fourteen, but with an abundance of general officers. At the top of the army it was a veritable list of who is who in the conservative, monarchist camp. Emperor Maximilian was on hand as were his top commanders; General Miguel Miramon (the dashing, young former president) who commanded the infantry, General Tomas Mejia (the noble and devoutly religious Indian) commanded the cavalry, General Ramon Mendez commanded the reserves, the fearsome General Leonardo Marquez (the Tiger of Tacubaya) as chief of staff, Manuel Ramirez Arellano commanded the artillery and Prince Felix zu Salm-Salm stole away as well and ended up commanding the light infantry.

It was noteworthy who was not present and that was the foreign contingents of the Mexican Imperial Army; the Austrian and Belgian troops who had remained behind and who were generally considered the best and most reliable Maximilian had. However, he had been persuaded to leave them behind and improve his nationalist credentials by entrusting his fate solely to his loyal Mexican soldiers. Some of the Austrians of the famous Red Hussars disguised themselves and rode along anyway and Prince Felix got around the situation by obtaining a place on the staff of General Santiago Vidaurri, a displaced governor of Nuevo Leon known as the Lion of the North who had also briefly served as finance minister. There was also the dashing blonde Colonel Miguel Lopez who had first escorted Maximilian and Carlota to Mexico City. He had served in a variety of military positions, the Emperor was godfather to one of his children, his niece had married the French commander and he was one of only a handful of Mexicans to be honored with the award of the Legion of Honor. They marched north 170 miles to Queretaro to make their stand against the massive Republican Army of the North under General Mariano Escobedo. Thanks to massive military aid moved (unofficially of course) across the Rio Grande from the United States these were the best armed and equipped soldiers Juarez had. Many were so totally outfitted by American charity that they might have been mistaken for US Army soldiers (and there were several thousand actual Americans in their ranks) as they fought in blue US Army uniforms with belts and ammo boxes stamped US and armed with the latest and most technologically advanced weaponry such as Henry repeating rifles and the latest rifled artillery from the United States.

Queretaro was a safely conservative city, loyal to the Emperor and very reliable, which was about the only blessing that they had going for them as they were outmatched in every way by their enemies. Almost as soon as Maximilian arrived the Juaristas began moving in around Queretaro and were much more numerous, much better equipped and much better armed than his own meager forces. Emperor Maximilian had already demonstrated his own quality on the road to Queretaro. At San Miguel Calpulalpam the imperial column was fired on by liberal troops in the surrounding hills. Spurning all concern for his own safety Maximilian had went forward with the skirmishers to determine the exact strength and position of the enemy. When they captured some ragged liberal conscripts he ordered that their lives be spared and made it clear he wanted no executions. It was a noble order though there is some doubt whether the notoriously brutal General Marquez obeyed his monarch in this regard. Later on Maximilian and company discovered some of their own men who had been taken by the republicans. They were hung in the plaza of a small village upside down and had been hacked all over. Despite all of the bad press Maximilian has gotten in subsequent histories for his Black Decree of 1864, make no mistake about it, the republicans were not good about taking prisoners either and most conservatives who fell into their hands could expend not only death but torture and mutilation as well.

General of the Infantry Miguel Miramon

Queretaro could be the best or the worst place for a siege as it was ringed with mountains and high ground. If one had enough soldiers they could have spread out on the mountains and in the passes and held the place almost indefinitely. Unfortunately, Emperor Maximilian with his 9,000 men did not have those numbers, so they had to be content to hold the area right around the city while the republicans took advantage of the high ground and could place their canon there to rain death down on the imperialist forces. In quick order the 9,000 imperialistas were surrounded by 30,000 Juaristas. The only real hope Maximilian had was to use Queretaro as a fortified base from which to move out and strike the republican columns one by one before they could unite against him but even that was a very fleeting hope as the republicans had moved in behind Maximilian even as he marched into town and were soon looking to attack his stronghold and bring the Second Mexican Empire to a swift and inglorious end.

General Miguel Miramon favored this strategy though any plan would require no lack of daring considering the forces moving against them. The republicans were advancing on Queretaro in three columns. There was the northern army of General Mariano Escobedo with 12,000 men, General Corona with 8,000 and General Riva Palacios with 7,000 all moving in on the small imperialist army. They had marched into a sea of enemies that closed up around them and General Escobedo was eager to strike. The first attempt was made by the dashing General Miguel Miramon who had spent much of the life of the empire in Europe. He tried to enlist the help of General Mejia who had been the best imperialist general throughout the life of the empire but the brave Indian was laid low by sickness. Miramon attacked on his own and was thrown back by superior republican forces. More Juaristas had come up from Toluca under General Vicente Riva Palacio and closed the last outlet around Queretaro. Soon the number of soldiers surrounding the city had grown to 40,000 and the situation must have seemed hopeless.

Emperor Maximilian could see the truth of his predicament and quickly sent word to Mexico City asking for all available reinforcements to be forwarded to him at once. On March 2 he got a negative reply and was convinced that the squabbling politicians were only worried about saving their own skins and could send help if they so desired. The estimation was most likely correct as looking out for number one had become almost an art in the world of Mexican politics and at that time there was still the southern republican army under the young General Porfirio Diaz who was advancing northward. Whether or not the republicans were aware of this correspondence they were leaving nothing to chance and on March 6 began laying siege to Queretaro and started to work cutting off the imperial troops from all outside help and supply.

On March 11, 1867 destroyed the ancient aqueduct to choke off the primary supply of fresh water to the city. There was a river which ran through town but General Mariano Escobedo made a point of dumping the dead bodies of imperialist soldiers into it from upstream to contaminate the water and make it useless to Maximilian and his forces. Prince Felix fished the bodies out and had them burned but this only attracted liberal artillery fire which pounded the flaming heaps in a show of malicious disrespect to the loyalist dead. General Mariano Escobedo was arguably the preeminent soldier of the Juarista cause. He had commanded the northern army of Juarez when the northern desert frontier was one of the few areas Juarez could claim some control over and he had won the battle of Santa Gertrudis in 1866 which became known as the Waterloo of the Mexican Empire. An unprepossessing figure, he seldom wore a uniform and was a very tough, no nonsense general and common sense tactician. Like a matador moving in on a fighting bull he proceeded to prod the imperialist army with strike after strike to wear them down for the final death blow.

General Mariano Escobedo

The Juaristas began preparing for a formal assault and by March 13 had emplaced guns on China Hill and were moving towards doing the same on the nearby Hill of Bells. The next day, March 14, 1867, they launched their primary offensive. On the outskirts of Queretaro they struck first on the southern flank between the Casa Blanca and the Alameda. General Tomas Mejia saw them through his spyglass and despite his illness he rallied and ran downstairs, mounted a horse, grabbed a lance and charged into the fray, leading his men. The imperial troops hit the liberals with such stunning force that they staggered back and withdrew to the safety of their emplacements as the desperately sick Indian general was taken from his horse back to his sick bed. Around the Convent of the Cross the liberals came on through the cemetery or Campo Santo, capturing the area and a small chapel. The entire 40,000 strong republican force converged on this one sector as they moved up through the headstones. The imperialistas pulled together and counter-attacked, blunting the offensive and pushing the liberals back.

However, the biggest push was made to capture the bridge over the Rio Blanco which separated Queretaro and the suburb of San Luis. On the opposite bank the republicans had a Parrot rifled canon (acquired from the US) set up and providing cover for their advancing troops. In this sector the hero of the day was Prince Felix zu Salm-Salm. With his cazadores he led a frenzied charge across the bridge and directly into the fire of the Parrot that was blasting away with canister round, a vicious piece of ammunition that sprayed shrapnel out like a massive shotgun. However, Prince Felix and his men came on so suddenly and with such force that they overrun the canon, fought of the crew and the nearby support troops and sent the canon back across the river to their own lines. The Celaya battalion fired into the retreating liberals who tried to barricade themselves in nearby houses. However, the doors were quickly blown in by a few precise shots and those inside were either killed or captured.

In their first brush with disaster the cause of the crown of Mexico had emerged victorious and lived to fight another day. All along the line the Juaristas had been defeated with Emperor Maximilian losing 630 men killed or wounded, who could not be replaced, but capturing between seven and eight hundred liberal prisoners who were, for the most part, pressed into service in the imperial army; a rather common occurrence in Mexico at the time. General Escobedo was disappointed by the result, but not disheartened. His men could withdraw to the heights where they were safe and he had the luxury of time on his side. Even the imperialist generals estimated they could hold the city for no more than a month at best Even if they were defeated at every turn Escobedo knew that the imperialists would eventually be starved out and he decided not to try a direct assault again. Instead, he prepared himself for a siege. Maximilian also made his own preparations in this regard by moving his headquarters from the Hill of Bells to the Convent of the Cross which provided much better protection with its thick walls. He sometimes came under fire but never showed the slightest fear.

In fact, Emperor Maximilian won nothing but praise for his conduct during the siege and everyone was impressed by his cool courage and his cheerfulness which lightened the hearts of all those around him. His affable nature was such that when a shell burst over his head as he was dismounting his horse, Abteburro, his quirky smile at the incident soon had everyone laughing. Every evening he went for a walk around Queretaro and always had money to give to the poor women who came begging to him and he expected all the officers with him to be equally generous. Prince Felix, for one, gave away 25 American dollars, quite a sum at the time, on just one such walk through town. Maximilian was constantly visiting his ragged and beleaguered soldiers, talking with them and worrying and fussing over them. He earned their zealous loyalty through his informality, cheerfulness and friendliness as well as the fact that he shared their privations and had no more or better food than his poorest soldiers had with the exception of bread made for him by sisters in the convent. As Maximilian sat down to a meal of ox meat marinated in vinegar he simply laughed as the taste was so terrible, he said, he could do nothing else. He accepted suffering with the cheerfulness of a saint rather than a pampered archduke.

Oftentimes, Emperor Maximilian would go out to the front lines and sleep among his soldiers wrapped in a simple blanket but no matter how much he raised the morale of his outnumbered forces he could not change the basic military situation. Prince Felix continually urged a breakout but General Marquez always opposed the idea. On March 21 a council of war decided that General Santiago Vidaurri should take 1,200 of his cavalry and punch through the enemy lines with an envoy from Maximilian to go to Mexico City and arrange a relief force. With all of the republican troops gathered in one place it would be winner-take-all fight and they could crush the republicans between them and emerge victorious. General Miramon was originally chosen by Maximilian to be his emissary on this mission, which seemed to make sense as he had long been the leader of the conservative cause and was a former president. Miramon had for some time been urging a breakthrough and escape from Queretaro but was always overruled by Marquez. This time General Marquez again protested on the grounds that the youthful vigor of Miramon would cause the enterprise to fail. He offered to go himself instead. Maximilian should have been more suspect of his motives but was not. Others had previously expressed doubts about the notoriously brutal Marquez such as why he had not seized the supplies of the surrounding haciendas for the siege (which were then sustaining the republican armies) but the general had always been very fawning toward the Emperor and Maximilian, being an innocent soul himself, always assumed everyone else was as well and he made Marquez a lieutenant general and entrusted him with the operation that might have meant the death or salvation of the entire monarchial cause.

Chief of Staff General Leonardo Marquez

On March 23 Marquez, with more than a thousand imperial cavalry, made his breakthrough and escape toward Mexico City with the promise that he would return within two weeks with men and money to decide the issue in their favor. By the time he rode south with the hopes of the Emperor and the Mexican Empire on his shoulders battle deaths and desertions had reduced the number of the defenders of Queretaro to a mere 7,000 men. The imperial troops pulled in closer to solidify their lines but their concentration, while making them stronger, also made them better targets for republican artillery in the heights beyond. Soon, they began to run out of ammunition and imperial forces were forced to strip Queretaro of any metal which could be used for bullets and artillery shrapnel. Their counter-attacks against the republican lines were often made with each imperial soldier carrying no more than 3 rounds of ammunition a piece. It was a dangerous game for the republicans showed their own bloodthirsty nature and took no prisoners. Any imperial soldier taken alive was tortured and killed and would be seen the next day at the republican lines hanging upside down with his throat slit while the liberal troops yelled down taunts and insults at them.

The citizens of Queretaro did their best to carry on business as usual but it was all a farce in the tragic opera that was unfolding around them. Two women with clumsy assistants fought a bull in the arena, cafes served up gruesome scraps for meals and liquor vendors and prostitutes plied their trade as if the world might end tomorrow; all the while the republican troops on the surrounding hills washed their uniforms, drilled and prepared their weapons for the death blow that was sure to come. General Mejia said he had never seen his enemies look better and they were certainly a far cry from the ragged collection bandits that had harassed his forces not so many months before. The odds against Maximilian were clearly hopeless, yet everyone hung their hopes on the mission of General Marquez and the promise of relief from the south. Every day they waited for the bloodthirsty general to appear with money, new recruits and the European soldiers that had been left behind to save the day and turn the tide in the battle for the Second Mexican Empire. Occasionally Maximilian would send out a messenger to urge Marquez to make haste but invariably they would see the man strung up the next day at the republican lines with his mutilated body bearing a sign which read THE MAIL OF THE EMPEROR.

Occasionally, when Maximilian would sleep among his men at the key position on the Hill of the Bells he would be awakened by a republican attack and would dash toward the danger with his spyglass and weapons while his aides urged him to take cover. Each time he would refuse on the grounds that his honor as a Hapsburg forced him to meet the enemy and take his chances alongside his soldiers as he showed himself at the point of greatest danger. To some it seemed as though he was actively seeking death in battle, but for all of this his remaining loyal soldiers came to revere him with an almost religious fanaticism. Never had they seen a ruler of Mexico cast off all pretensions and share the privations of his lowliest soldiers, never had they seen a president dash on to the field at the most dangerous point to expose himself to the same danger as his men. On every such occasion the air was filled with shouts of long life to the Emperor. Truly, he spurned any luxury as he lived on a paltry 50 US dollars a day which he spent on his doctor, cook and four aides and the rest of which he always gave away to the numerous needy around him. Even during this, his last stand, he was always generous in giving away his last peso to the poor of Mexico and all of that, combined with his ever cheerful spirit, made his men love him all the more and ever convinced that in all the history of Mexico and her self-serving dictators; this was a man worth dying for.

Prince Felix zu Salm-Salm

If anyone was to prove a disappointment it was General Leonardo Marquez. He had been specifically ordered to make haste for the capital, arrange a relief column and return immediately and was forbidden to divert himself on any other operation for any reason. However, away from the watchful eyes of Maximilian, General Marquez could let his true colors show. Once in Mexico City Marquez illegally shook down the foreign colony for 500,000 pesos and when he heard that Porfirio Diaz was moving against Puebla he scraped together 4,000 troops and went off to meet him rather than hurrying back to Queretaro as he promised. Needless to say his hastily assembled and outnumbered army was no match for the veteran republicans and at the battle of San Lorenzo they were all but annihilated. Marquez himself only survived by using the 400 Austrian and Belgian troops on hand as his body guard and deserting his army in the field. When the liberals pursued him he escaped by overturning a wagon of gold in the way and fled as the republicans stopped to loot. Once he returned to Mexico City the already unpopular general was shunned as a coward and a traitor. When the republicans later took the city he hid himself in an empty grave and later escaped into exile with what wealth he could carry.

Back in Queretaro Emperor Maximilian was outnumbered 5 to 1 and by April 3, two days before the promised return of Marquez, he began to express doubts about his general but would quickly reassure himself that it could not be true that Marquez had abandoned him. He continued to expose himself to danger and was once almost killed when an artillery shell exploded close to him and rained down masonry all over him. He made light of the incident and even sent a piece of the artillery shell back to Europe with instructions to place it in the museum at his old castle of Miramar on the Adriatic. Maximilian was constantly among his soldiers. As he was constantly smoking he would often start a conversation by asking some soldier for a light, or on the other hand offering a light to a soldier who appeared to need one. Everyone was greatly impressed by his cool courage, his unprepossessing attitude and friendly character. Yet, it all disguised a very desperate situation. By the middle of April it was clear to everyone that Marquez was not coming and that their fate was almost certainly sealed. The republican strikes became more numerous and more damaging. The imperialist forces made counter-attacks and Prince Felix continued to urge for a breakout but every jab at the republican lines only revealed how strong the enemy emplacements were becoming.

Finally, Maximilian and his generals decided to try a ruse. On April 26 they had all the bells in town rung and made a show of rejoicing as if some good news had just arrived. They hoped the republicans would take this to mean that a relief force was evident and would make them nervous. Maximilian had his men spread the news that General Marquez was due to arrive and would strike the Juaristas from behind, hoping that the liberals would hear of it and believe the story. The next day General Miramon launched an attack on the republican lines in the northern sector and toward the road to Mexico City. With their typical zeal Miramon and his imperial troops broke through the first line of republican trenches and captured the forward slopes of Cemetery Hill. In their first hour of battle they bagged 500 prisoners and 21 Juarista canon. The Emperor had his things packed that morning in the hope that they could break out and make for the capital. However, in all the excitement of their early victory everyone seemed to lose sight of the purpose of the offensive and by the time Miramon got the second wave of the assault organized the republicans had moved in more reinforcements and placed canon on the crest of the hill which brought a halt to the imperialist forces. They had given the Juaristas a bloody nose and cost them some men and guns but the overall situation had not been changed.

Emperor Maximilian held a review of his army and handed out bronze medals for valor to his troops who had distinguished themselves. General Miramon took it upon himself to bestow one such medal on Maximilian, calling him the bravest of all. That night his generals presented him with a fancy document which read: No monarch has ever descended from the height of his throne under similar circumstances, to endure with his soldiers, as we here see it, the greatest dangers, privations and necessities, which do not find their equal in the world; with soldiers to whom Your Majesty understood how to give such striking examples of self-denying patriotism and endurance in suffering. Both the nation, whom Your Majesty endeavors to save and so enhance, and impartial history will once do justice to the monarch of Mexico--Maximilian the First. It was a moving and entirely honest and deserved tribute to a man who had behaved like no other leader in the history of the Mexican nation. There could have been little doubt about the future that was facing the embattled garrison and yet there was no doubt at all that for Maximilian and the Empire of Mexico this was certainly their finest hour.

Indeed, the republicans were becoming exasperated that Queretaro was proving such a tough nut to crack. They had expected the battle to have long been over. They had the imperialistas massively outnumbered, had superior weapons and a superior position and yet every time they pressed forward they were thrown back and such a defeat was usually following by a stinging counter-attacked that showed the tiny army of the Emperor still had some venom in their fangs. While Maximilian insisted on kindness and humanity to one and all the anxious republicans were having men flogged to ribbons for the least dereliction of duty. They did, however, have one important ally on their side and that was General Privation. By the end of April the supply situation in Queretaro had become desperate. The imperial forces were eating mules and dogs. General Miramon came up with cat pie for a treat. Mattresses were torn open to feed the emaciated horses and when these finally starved to death their bodies were fed to the troops. Prince Felix continued to urge the Emperor to try to break out or slip away in disguise. However, Maximilian was bound by Hapsburg honor to spurn any talk of running away and leaving his soldiers. He could not leave the townspeople and his own wounded who would surely suffer at the hands of the republicans for his sake.

By May 1, 1867 the siege had been going on for two and a half months and the starvation rations were taking their toll. Anything seemed worth considering in the face of slow death. General Ramon Mendez promised the Emperor that if he could escape to the Indian lands of the Sierra Gorda where General Mejia was the hometown hero Maximilian would be welcomed and surrounded by loyal subjects who would protect him until a favorable turn of events presented itself. Virtually everyone agreed and urged the Emperor to try it but Maximilian refused to leave his soldiers. One thing that they were against was Maximilian abdicating or trying to escape on his own. General Mejia was the most honest and stated that without the Emperor they would all kill each other fighting over who would be the president. The situation grew worse every day and soon there were days when the imperial troops had nothing to eat at all. Patrols were sent out to try to obtain some food but they invariably returned empty handed and decimated by the surrounding republican army.

The imperial forces were growing weaker and ever more on edge. On May 5, the anniversary of the liberal victory over the French at Puebla, the imperialistas were convinced that an attack was eminent. However, all of the canon fire, rifle fire and rockets turned out to be merely republican celebrations. The only attack came when a group of drunken liberals made spur-of-the-moment attack on the bridge over the Rio Blanco but the imperial forces had little difficulty sending them running back to their own lines. However, the next day the bombardment from republican artillery as it had been doing on a daily basis. The tiny monarchist army was exhausted, starving and increasingly decrepit. Maximilian himself was continuously ill and finally agreed to attempt a breakout with his army on the night of May 14 provided that the doctors and nurses stay behind to tend to those who had shed their blood for the Emperor. Yet, when the day came General Mendez fell ill and Maximilian postponed the effort 24 hours though General Miramon warned him that literally every minute was crucial. Little did Emperor Maximilian know that he was about to fall victim to treachery by one of those closest to him.

General Tomas Mejia

Aside from Prince Felix the closest confidant Maximilian had during this time was Colonel Miguel Lopez. The tall, fair haired officer could easily have been mistaken for one of the Europeans than a native Mexican. He had commanded the escort that first took the Imperial couple from Vera Cruz to Mexico City for their triumphal entry. He had been colonel of the elite Empress Carlota Regiment and had served with the Imperial Guard. Yet it was this same man who was to betray his monarch for the promise of money and advancement. Sometime before May 15, Colonel Lopez slipped away and met with Juarista General Mariano Escobedo to discuss his cooperating in the republicans taking Queretaro if Maximilian himself would be spared. The general refused to make any commitments and referred the matter to Benito Juarez in San Luis Potosi. When word from the former president arrived it was adamant that any surrender must be unconditional with no promises of life or mercy for anyone involved. Colonel Lopez wavered for some time but after another meeting on the night of May 14 came to an agreement. For the promise of 2,000 ounces of gold and a high rank in the republican army Lopez agreed to turn traitor and let the Juaristas into Queretaro.

General Ramon Mendez

At 4:30 AM on May 15 Prince Felix was awakened when Colonel Lopez burst into his room in the Convent of the Cross shouting that the enemy was upon them and to save the life of the Emperor. Maximilian was awakened by his secretary, grabbed his sword and went out into the hallway where he met Prince Felix and surmised that they had been betrayed. As they came outside there were no imperial troops about, Colonel Lopez had evacuated the sector he was charged with defending and republican forces were pouring into the city. In the forefront were the elite of the republican army, the gray uniformed Supremos Poderes who were armed with they latest Henry repeating rifles from the United States. Also on hand was the Aguascalientes Battalion and in command was Lieutenant Colonel Jose Rincon Gallardo and as soon as the Emperor saw him he saw Colonel Lopez by his side. There was no doubt who the Judas Iscariot of Queretaro was.

When Gallardo allowed Maximilian to pass as if he did not recognize him the Emperor assumed the colonel was doing him a good turn out of appreciation for the kindness Empress Carlota had shown one of his sisters. As usual, Maximilian was giving credit for qualities that was not deserved, Gallardo simply did not want to deal with him. As the group walked on Colonel Lopez rejoined them and urged the Emperor to accompany him to a hiding place but Maximilian refused and decided to head for the Hill of the Bells where he still had some soldiers and could make a last stand. General Mendez was nowhere to be found, General Miramon was badly wounded and had been captured. When Emperor Maximilian, General Mejia and Prince Felix reached the Hill of Bells they found only about a hundred troops and four canon. Maximilian asked General Mejia if they could perhaps fight their way out. The loyal Indian said this was not possible but that if the Emperor ordered it he was ready to die in his service.

Across Queretaro the trio could see white flags appearing from windows as the republicans closed in on them. The troops nearby began to throw down their weapons and walk towards the enemy with their hands in the air. Maximilian hoped that he might be hit by a lucky bullet but it was not to be. He finally found a white cloth and tied it to a stick and approached the liberal forces. A republican officer met him and announced that he was a prisoner. At that moment the Second Empire of Mexico came to an end with the end of the siege of Queretaro which had lasted 71 days. They could at least take comfort in the fact that they had gone down in honorable defeat to a vastly superior foe. For those 71 days they had defied the odds and accomplished far more than anyone could have expected of them and no one could utter one word against the character, nobility and heroism of Emperor Maximilian. General Escobedo rode up and Maximilian surrendered his sword to him according to military protocol. The era that was to be the dawning of a new day for monarchy in the New World was over.

Colonel Miguel Lopez: the traitor

A republican officer appeared with Maximilian's horse and allowed him to ride back to the convent where he had previously stayed as monarch but would now stay as a prisoner. A final touching scene was about to unfold. As the defeated monarch approached there was a large group of surrendered imperial troops gathered around and as they saw Maximilian they all silently stood up, came to attention and took off their hats in the presence of the Emperor who had so impressed and inspired them during the last 71 days of mutual hardship. It was then ten in the morning and the act of the battle was over and the final act, that of appeals, trials and ultimate executions was about to begin.

(left) Emperor Maximilian as he appeared during the siege of Queretaro. This is his last known photograph while he was alive.