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Mexico - New Spain: Independence War, V part (1815-1821)

Other independentist guerrillas

Last modified: 2005-09-02 by juan manuel gabino villascán
Keywords: mexico | mina (francisco xavier) | moreno (pedro) | aury (louis michel) | matamoros (mariano) | guerrero (vicente) | guerrilla | independence |
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Francisco Xavier Mina

Francisco Xavier Mina's has no any flag for his own, but his followers, most of them from the US, England, France and Spain flew a flag combined all elements described in the Pururán Decree (War flag). Nevertheless, the inscription on the scroll read "Independencia Mexicana. Año de 1811", instead of "1810".
In 1823, Fr. Servando Teresa de Mier called for adopting this flag as the National one, but the Republican Congress voted for the Inturbide's.
Juan Manuel Gabino Villáscan, May , 2002.


Louis Michel Aury
Mexican (América mexicana) flag in Florida (?)

I greatly enjoyed your very informative website, "The Flags of Florida History". I am writing especially in regard to the entry you have concerning Gregor MacGregor's 1817 expedition to Amelia Island. I edit the Suffolk County Historical Society Register, a publication of the Suffolk County Historical Society in Riverhead NY. We have in our collections an account of the participation in that expedition by Harry Hunt of Sag Harbor NY, written by his granddaughter. The account says that after MacGregor left in September 1817 until December of that year Amelia Island, Florida, was under the command of Louis Aury, a French privateer holding a commission from the Republic of Mexico, and flew the Mexican flag. Hunt served as Superintendant of Public Works under Aury.
In 1817 the flag flown would not have been the current Mexican tricolor of green/white/red. I do not have an adequate description of what flag Aury would have flown, but it would probably have included red, white and blue, and the Mexican Eagle-Snake-Cactus arms [see "Flags Through the Ages and Across the World", Whitney Smith, McGraw-Hill, 1975, p.149].
Interestingly, by 1818 Aury was holding islands off the coast of Honduras under commission of the United Provinces of Rio Plata, now Argentina, and there is speculation that his use of that nations blue/white/blue horizontal triband flag led to the adoption of a similar flag by the Central American Confederation, which in turn was the source of today's flags of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica [ibid., p. 241].
Ned Smith, February 12, 2000


This is fascinating, but I think there may be a chronological problem. My sources tell me that Mexico was not a Republic in 1817. After the defeat of the first Mexican revolt in 1811 Spanish control was generally restored (I don't know how completely). Mexico didn't become independent until 1821 and was briefly an Empire. The republic was established only in 1823.
James L. Woods, February 14, 2000.


According to the sources I consulted, after the leader of the 1810 revolt, Fr. Miguel Hidalgo, was executed in 1811, the revolt was carried on by Fr. Jose Maria Morelos y Pavón. In one of the FTTAATW references in my original post, Whitney Smith stated the Mexican revolutionary forces apparently adopted a National flag on 14 July 1815 [p. 149]. After Morelos' capture and execution in 1815 the revolutionary forces became disorganized and ineffective- but they were never completely eliminated.
At Francisco Xavier Mina web-site there is specific reference to Louis Aury. In 1816 he was appointed revolutionary governor and naval commander at Galveston Island, Texas (then a Mexican province)- a fact also alluded to in the document I cited in my original post. This webpage describes some actions he was involved in the Spring of 1817, but nothing specific is attributed to him for the Fall, so the alleged expedition against Amelia Island, Florida, is perfectly plausible chronologically.
See also: Mexican Revolution
TMTFR- the webpage also says that Aury flew a unique flag- an illustration is given on the page- and also the Venezuelan flag, by permission of that republic.
The document stating that he flew the Mexican (América mexicana) flag at Amelia Island was written by the grandaughter of one of the expedition's participants. Her sources came presumably from her grandfather, but we don't have his originals. It is possible that, being a Yankee, he confused the Venezuelan flag for the Mexican (América mexicana), but he had been a merchant in the Caribbean and thus had some familiarity with the area. Also, he was relatively high in the command structure. IMHO, while this document cannot be accepted as conclusive proof that Aury flew a Mexican (América mexicana) flag in Florida, the claim merits some consideration, and there is nothing inherently implausible about it.
Right after posting this I did find this website (citing work in a scholarly journal) which agreed that the flag of the Republic of Mexico did fly over Amelia Island in 1817.
BTW, in my last post I did not describe the other flag attributed to Aury at this web site. It had a red-bordered white field with a green wreath above blue crossed sword & olive branch. I don't recall that flag being mentioned on the list previously.
Edward Smith, February 14, 2000